Loved the recap page in the beginning. I've read the entire arc BUT his is issue 5 of the arc meaning it started two months ago and I probably forgot s thing or two. So we need more recap pages in comics!!! I personally didn't see old man Zod coming, which was a nice surprise. I like how Superman overcame Lor by saying it's because of the lack of fighting experience... makes enough sense to me. The side store with Lois is the worst part to me. Lois gets to break out her pops, but I want to see how Lois explains why her son is in a war zone and not some type of super powered hero. I don't see her "logically" getting out of this one. They did a good job getting her into the country in a reasonably believable way but now with her dad seeing Jon, It went down hill to me, especially with them getting gunned down on the last page. I zoomed in... definitely blood all over Lois and her dad with bullet holes. They are DEAD!!! And Skeets... he was the way out to me. And now he's gone!!! How does Superman and Booster get out of this one? Loved the Superman parts!!!! Great art!!! If you like what you heard, love talking comics, and are interested in joining a DC book club, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com. Catch you all later! Peace

To be honest, when this arc started, I was disappointed. I wanted more answers about Mr Oz. I thought that's what we were going to get. Then it turned into Bill and Teds excellent adventure. And honestly, I liked Bill and Ted! Thank goodness it didn't turn into their bogus journey. And for as disappointed as I was to not really get answers about Mr Oz, the arc was fun and nicely done with great art! I honestly didn't know how they were going to escape from the last issue and finding Skeets transporting himself into a cyborg eradicator surprised me and made a great twist and a way for them to escape! Loved that! I loved the Lor part when he was willing to let his dad die and called him a "buzzard". That was great too! But the best part of the entire arc was the end of this issue. Superman watches his mom die, which was heart breaking. Jor el is literally zapped away and she dies alone while her son watches. Wow... Booster saves the day and breaks his rule of fixing time to save Lois... and does it before Superman finds out. This tied together the side story well. It's Boosters M.O. He comes off as a hack but saves people without taking the credit or them even knowing. He's awesome! But who better to write Booster than Jurgens. Lastly, the sly humor in the issue, matched with the art, made this issue, as well as the arc, truly a pleasant twist. I also hope this issue ties into Hal Jordan. They set it up for Superman to pop in and help out so he can stop the Zod planet and future from happening. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. To summarize this issue, Sam Lane comes to visit the family while Clark is off in space splitting up an asteroid. Sam and Lois fight while Clark creates a prison out of the material from inside the asteroid to hold Cyborg Superman. As Sam Lane is getting ready to leave, Clark saves the day by doing his best to get them to reconcile and they all end with a nice dinner. That’s is on the surface but this comic was so much more. The Sam Lane/ Lois Lane debate on freedom of speech and press vs safety and freedom of our country was great! And both sides have such good points. Then, they debated again about Superman and who keeps Superman in check. Lois said the press helps keep the military in check and gives them someone to answer to but who keeps the strongest and most powerful being in the world in check? Sam Lane has another great point! Sam’s point is the same as Lex or Bruce, who would keep Clark in check? At any time, he could be mentally manipulated ( poison ivy currently) or just decide to take matters into his own hands ( injustice). Whose going to stop him? But as Lois says, he’s always done good for the entire human race. It’s a great debate that I would love to hear from anyone about. Which side are you on? And then, we get led into another debate. What is more inhumane: making up a prison and putting memories in someone’s mind ( a matrix if you will) or keeping the person in the phantom zone? Clark, for some reason now feels awful that Cyborg Superman is in the phantom zone so he created a special prison with a crystal that only puts in positive memories from his past. Either place is still a prison. Is one better than another? Does Cyborg Superman want to change anyway? It didn’t seem like it. I would love your thoughts in this too!

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. So I normally open with a quick rundown of what happened in the issue BUT this issue was a bit different. You see; it was a bunch of little stories that described what truly makes Superman so dang Super. They really were all well done. Now, my personal two favorites were Neil Adams and Patrick Gleason’s. Gleason’s showed Superman stuck in a time loop fighting criminals and villains from throughout his 80 years with FANTASTIC ART!!!! Eventually, Superman escapes to stop Vandal Savage with the help of ..... himself. And, did I mention the art was fantastic? His short story paid homage to everyone who wrote Superman, as well as the character and villains throughout the years while giving some of it an updated look. It was Awesome! And then we had Neil Adam’s classic Lex Luthor vs Superman story but with a 1970’s comic twist. Superman offers up a chess match out of the blue and challenged Lex, which of course he accepted. Superman manages to defeat Lex but Lex traps him in kryptonite chains. But with a little help from Mister Miracle’s motherbox, Superman manages to escape. Personally, I loved the classic feel of this story. No hero would just drop by now in 2018 and offer to play a game of Parcheesi with their sworn enemy. But that’s how comics worked back then. And as crazy as it may sound, we occasionally need a little Parcheesi in our lives. Every comic can’t be earth shattering and world ending can it? Each story was pretty good but as a runner up, I did like Geoff Johns take on the car from Action Comics 1 but from the perspective of the driver. That was also very creative with fantastic art while also paying homage to the crux and foundation of what makes Superman who he still is today. And ultimately, that was the point of this 1000th. We get to see a her

The story doesn’t really go anywhere new but it kept my interest. The cliffhanger was a bit of a let down as well as the Question entering the story. The art was fantastic but I need more out of a monthly. The flying around everywhere was great, the little cameos were great but if only I had a better ending to draw me into next issue, I’d be more onboard.

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Action Comics Special was another 3 parter with each telling a different story. Each story was pretty good but only one had a ton of action, which ultimately was my favorite. So I’m going to go in order of least favorite to most favorite. Ready? The last story was nice and shows how human Superman is. Lois got into a car accident and totaled her car she’s had for 12 years. It meant the world to her. Needless to say; Lois was upset but leave it to Clark to save the day. On Christmas morning he wrote Lois a note telling her to go on the roof and meet him. Clark saved the car seat and stirring wheel from her totaled car and flew her around in the sky as a gift. I feel people love Superman so much because of his personality, and the hope he exudes. Even with more power than any being known to man, he is still has feelings and emotion like one of us. He is a God among men but chooses to live by our means not because he has to but because he wants too. The irony is that their is no one better to represent the human race than an alien from another planet. Think about that! The next story was about Lois and Clark talking at an awards dinner for Superman. Lois explained to Clark prior to the interview that it’s important to take fun jabs at people sometimes because if they can laugh at themselves about what your saying, it shows the character that the person has. It also shows if they are a sadistic psychopath or not. Turns out; everyone Clark made fun of could handle it but Lex. And we get to see that Lex enjoys a good Moon Pie like the rest of us. This one was ok. It wasn’t bad but again it really didn’t have much to it like the first story. But the trend you should see here is that it appears Lex is heading back down that path of villainy again.

We open with Norman Osborn talking, which appears to be to himself. And it seems like he's dealing with his goblin personality as well as Carnage, and even just being Norman. Basically, he's looking like he's in need of his meds. Norman appears to be going stalker level 12 on Spider-man and is trying to figure out who he is while an intruder arrives to scavenge for old goblin tech. But using the Carnage symbiote, Norman lays waste to the Goblin King rather quickly. By the end, we realize that Norman wasn't taking to himself, even though part of it probably was.... but he has JJJ all tied up and he let some clues of Spider-mans identity sneak out, ideally the part about his girlfriend dying. That triggers a repressed memory in Norman and badda-bing badda-boom we have lift off! He now remembers that Spider-man is Peter Parker. I'm VERY interested to see a Goblin Carnage. Two of the most crazy and ruthless villains together in one disgusting package. It feels like something new but with a bit of legacy attached to it. This issue is a great time to jump out if you've been off of Amazing for a while now. Great art and dynamic story telling. Go get a copy! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. All I can say is, why a Fresh Start? Marvel 2-1, Thanos, Mighty Thor, currently Avengers, and this bad boy are some of the BEST comics happening in any company right now. This feels new, creative, and back to the basics, while sticking to tradition. We finally get the Red Goblin, who looks amazing! He doesn’t set off Peters Spider sense and has the intelligence of Norman, the flare and creativity of a goblin, with the sadistic nature of Carnage and abilities of the symbiote. At first, the Green Goblin shows up and Peter puts and end to him quick. It even appears to end with the death of the Green Goblin again, But not so fast! The Carnage symbiote basically heals Norman and we get a Red Goblin that makes a deal with Peter telling him to quit being Spider man or else he will basically slaughter everyone he knows. It appears Peter is down and out with know where to turn. We will need to wait until next month to find out. Put Pete let’s us know it’s not the costume that makes the man... so let’s see where we go from here. I got my thoughts... This is getting fantastic right around issue 800. Way to go Slott! And your art team of Immonen, Grawbadger, and Garcia are truly amazing! This is a must read this week and it has been for a couple months now. Pick it up. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. So, Spidey is out of commission AND is not supposed to physically be Spider-man anymore or the Red Goblin will kill everyone Peter knows. Peter does what every kid would do and play on the semantics of what was said and “he” won’t “physically” be Spider-man but will organize others to “hide ja kids, hide ja wife’s” for him like Johnny Storm, Clash, Silk, Miles, and Agent Venom. After Peter organizes his crew to help protect his friends and family, Peter eventually finds out the J. Jonah is the one who spilled the beans on his identity AND realizes that Harry and his family are the first targets. We also learn that rich people microchip their kids like puppies and the nanny was actually Harry’s long lost mommy. Torch and Clash think they can take Red Goblin down since fire and sound hurt symbiotes. WRONG! A symbiote mixed with the goblin formula magically gets the best parts of both with none of the nasty side effects, which seemed rather convenient. Good thing Anti-Venom ( Flash) is on the scene to which we find out his powers still hurt the symbiote. Being the hero Flash Thompson has become, he tries to help his injuried comrades by healing them with his symbiote but Red Goblin sneaks up on him and takes him down. When Red Goblin leaves he takes his grandson and makes him a Mini Red Goblin... like Mini Me ( R.I.P). Spidey swings in after Norman leaves and Flash does a Hail Mary to use the last of his powers to fix Spider-man to get him off the bench and back in the game. But will Spider-man actually help? The first 2 issues of this arc were great and this issue wasn’t terrible by any means BUT it seemed a bit rushed to get to wrapping it up by issue 800 and possibly Slotts last issue ( not sure on that one).

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. And that’s a wrap with Dan Slott. And let me tell you, it was an exciting ride and incorporated so many elements from his time on the book which made it truly amazing. It was a great issue 800 that any Spider Fan or Slott fan would be pleased to read. Let’s swing on in to this 80 page behemoth! The issue opens with Spider-Man playing clean up after last issue. If you remember, Red Goblin laid waste to all of the web-heads friends leaving Flash to heal them up with his Anti-Venom. Spider-Man checks on his friends and swings off to Alchem-x (the old Oscorp) to basically make anti-venom web shooters since it’s the only thing that appeared to work against Red Goblin. Meanwhile, Jonah feels awful about letting Spider-Man’s identity out of the bag, so he tries to help the best he can. He digs through his old stuff and realizes that Eddie Brock is Venom, tracks him down, and tells Venom to go help Spider-Man or he’ll basically out Venom’s identity too. So, Venom goes to help Spider-Man but it doesn’t really work out too well. Eddie’s not the same as he was before. Red Goblin attack’s MJ at Stark Industries, since she runs the show there now instead of Pepper, and she puts up her own fight with some hand repulsers and gets some help from Venom until Spidey shows up only to have all three of them get their butts kicked by Red Goblin. Red Goblin takes off leaving them to lick their wounds and heads for Aunt May. Brock tells Spider-Man to take his symbiote to help since Brock physically doesn’t have it in him anymore AND since the fight took a lot out of him. Spider-Man reluctantly accepts and heads after Red Goblin who took off after Aunt May. But what Peter doesn’t know is that the Goblin Child (little Normie Osborn... grandson of Norman) was already trying to kill Aunt May. But while Normie was trying to kill her, Doc Ock stepped in and saved the day. I LOVED THIS PART! Turns out, he still has the mixed memories of Peter from when he was Superior Spider-Man ( great run for Slott... read it) and cares for Aunt May. So, he was watching out for her and saw this happening. He stepped in to help out. This part was even more shocking to me than the Venom part. Again, if you’re a Slott fan, you probably loved it like I loved it. Jonah tries to continue to help out by opening up the old Spider Slayer tech and using that to stop Red Goblin. So Jonah, operating the Spider Slayer tech, tries to help Doc Ock protect Aunt May but everything swings sideways and the place blows up. The Red Goblin decides to leave his calling card by throwing his symbiote shards all over Aunt May in hopes to kill her. Spider-Man arrives on the scene to find that Doc Ock threw himself in front of Aunt May and protected her. It’s not stated if Doc Ock is dead or not but he’s very badly hurt. Peter even forgives him for the entire Superior Spider-Man switching brains fiasco. Next, Norman and Normie go to Alchem-x to get the company signed back over to Norman and get Oscorp back. But Harry is there with a slew of robots ready to take down his Daddy and fight to get his son back. Norman turns back into Red Goblin and throws Normie’s Mom, Liz, out the window. Luckily, Spider-Man makes it on time to save Liz. Normie starts to see how bad his Grandpa (Red Goblin) is and doesn’t want anything to do with him anymore. Norman decides he’ll just kill his grandson too. But again, Spider-Man swings in to save the day. Red Goblin and Spidey fight outside of Alchem-x and Red Goblin tells Spidey his real plan. Each time Red Goblin came across any of his friends and family, he made sure to hit them all with a little shard of the symbiote. This shard was made to gradually infect and kill each and every one of them. Spider-Man, truly appalled by this, gets interrupted by Flash Thompson who figured out Red Goblin’s plan. Turns out, while Flash was healing Spidey’s friends after the last encounter, he found the shards and removed them from everyone. Figuring out what they were, he tracked down all of Peter’s family and friends and removed all the shards from them. But, he did so at the expense of his Anti-Venom Symbiote. So, he’s basically human again. Flash grabs Red Goblin and starts using the last of his Anti-Venom to try to weaken and stop him. It kind of works. But eventually , Red Goblin takes advantage of this and basically beats him to death sending Spider-Man into a rage making him resemble Venom. Flash calms Peter down and rejects Peter’s offer of rejoining with the Venom Symbiote knowing that others are in danger and knowing he will surely die. And truly, that’s it for Flash Thompson. The bully. The friend. The hero. He’s gone... Red Goblin flies into downtown Manhattan and kills a Spider-Man look alike and drives everyone into a panic. Realizing that all he had to do was kill anybody and not just Spider-Man’s family, Red Goblin goes on a killing spree. Spider-Man tries to save as many as he can. As soon as Red Goblin gets the upper hand, Spider-Man finally figures out a way to beat him. He plays on his pride, lust, and desire for taking down Spider-Man. Peter basically tricks him into separating from the symbiote because everyone will think Carnage is the one who killed Spider-Man and not the Goblin. So, both Spider-Man and Green Goblin go mono-a-mono and Peter kicks his butt! Jonah even makes another appearance right at the end. Still feeling bad for giving out Peter’s secret, he marches to downtown Manhattan with a gun to find Goblin finished and tied up. He pulls out his gun to shoot him only to have Spider-Man jump in front of the bullet and stop Jonah from killing him. He explains to Jonah that his job isn’t to kill and take lives. It’s only his job to protect and when someone has the ability it’s their responsibility to do what needs to be done. The story ends with Norman in jail but thinking he’s Cleatus Cassidy (Carnage), a funeral for Flash Thompson, and Harry and Liz trying to get all of the symbiote off little Normie. But we are lead to believe it didn’t completely work. But the best part of the ending is the connection between Jonah and Peter. Peter has always been searching for the father figure he’s never had since Uncle Ben. Slott did the unthinkable and let Jonah in on Peter’s dirty little secret. There relationship as come a long way but to see how far Jonah and Peter have come was a great way to end Slott’s run. I hope the next writer keeps this great dynamic going onward. Let me just say, thank you Dan Slott. When you first signed on with Spider-Man, you had a mess of writers and a mess of directions to clean up. You fought your way through it and came to the other side with some truly amazing stories. The character of Spider-Man has come a long way and some epic changes have happened to the character that are fantastic. Peter is so much better because of you. Thank you for some really great stories about everyone’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. I wish you only the best on your next ventures and I will definitely be following your career and other titles. Good luck and keep up the great work! As for this issue, get it regardless. It’s issue 800! It ends Slott’s Run! You’d be a fool to not read this and own it. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

I wasn’t going to read this. Looked like something I could skip. I’m so glad I didn’t. It was so well done and so sad. Book of the week out of both big companies and I’ve read them all from DC and Marvel this week including Immortal Hulk (incredible) and War of the Realms (Fantastic). Excellent issue and worth a read from anyone and everyone. Gosh it’s so sad

It's fine enough. This is the story as to how Taskmaster got the Lizard into the hunt. It wasn't anything too fancy and it wasn't anything too bad either. It was an average issue. The art was fine but appeared to be more cartoonish in nature. So, was the issue necessary? Ultimately, the issue was not needed and unnecessary to experience ”the Hunted” series. If you're a Lizard fan, the issue is for you. Otherwise, is skip it and save your money.

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We open with “X” ( prof x in someone else’s body) and Psylocke some how fused together with a psychic link and archangel and wolverine pull them apart with there metal since it somehow hurts Proteus who put them that way. “X” tells them that while he was linked to Proteus , he saw his plan of bringing the astral plane to our world, which that’s a concept I can’t even wrap my brain around TBH. While the team goes to find him, we see Proteus in a town giving people whatever they want, building walls around that town with guards, and hoping to get all these people on his side by giving them anything they want AND setting up a fortress for himself in the process. I personally don’t see how one part of the story connects to the other. This is where the catch up page is so key in comics because i was lost. I didn’t remember where we left off from the last issue so I was confused in the beginning... AND... I don’t know why Proteus chose that town and would want to bring the astral plane here. AND why is he giving everyone what they want? Basically how does A, lead to B, and then to C? Maybe the summary page was there any I missed it but this issue confused me from jump street. I don’t know where it’s going either or it’s purpose. I thought it was to bring back Charles but younger and get everyone on board with that.... but I feel like we are just skimming over that part to fight Proteus. And if Proteus is truly this powerful, it seems like you may need more than what you got on this team to stop him. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Well, we've been building up to the Hulk returning for about 3 weeks. And we get the reveal at the end; the Challengers trump card appears to be the Hulk. Jarvis comes out of his coma and then goes back under and flatlines. Red Wolf gets a pyrmaroid for team avengers and it appears they are winning. All I know is: I'm excited to see the Hulk back and I can't wait for next week to see him actually fight! Not bad. I've jumped in since the beginning of Legacy and I feel this is currently a better team book than Justice League is right now. If your looking for action, multiple heroes, and epic battles, this is the team book for you right now. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

We begin with Lightening getting his team caught up and trying to figure out how to save some of the other teams. We again learn that when one hero dies or is frozen, another one is unfrozen somewhere else. Then we jump to the hospital where the 5th pyramid thingy shows up. Lucky us, in the hospital with Jarvis! It looks like purple ghosts are all over the place. So Nadia and Beast decide to split up and help Jarvis while also helping the people in the hospital. Nadia tries to sacrifice herself BUT it won't let her touch the pyramid thingy. So, she shrinks down with Beast, who was already inside Jarvis to inject that virus and get it out of him. While inside Jarvis, we see his mind and all interactions with all Avengers throughout the years. He's seen them all! The safe Jarvis and enlarge to find Voyager ready to sacrifice herself to touch the pyramid thingy but Jarvis screams No!!! We realize that Voyager wasn't actually a retconn! Jarvis is the only one that truly remembers that she was never an avenger because he was knocked out when she arrived and his memories were not altered like everyone else's. After seeing Jarvis' memories, Beast believes him. This weekly run on "No Surrender" has been fun. It's what a team book should be. The best part is: we aren't even getting the big guns and it's still fun. And, I love the fake retcon. That is the first time I ever was led to believe for the last 8 issues that we have this new character that we are going to decide has always been there only to find out NOPE not the case. Excellent writing! Even the return of Banner Hulk has been teased. This weekly Avengers book has been a great pull that's tons of fun with pretty great art each week. As a DC guy myself, it gets me jealous to see how a team book should be written unlike JLA or JL right now... Go grab a copy. Better yet, get the entire arc! You'll love it! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. What we find out is that you cannot kill the Hulk. He’s been “dead” numerous times before but he always comes back. Arrows made special to kill him, decapitation, viruses or disease, heck he’s even in the future with Thanos as a dog. He is truly immortal. Hulk is a force of nature truly. And he will always be around. He may be missing or misplaced; he may be quiet or calm; but he is always there. It looks like the Immortal Hulk is back and the Challenger has him on his team. The Grandmaster better watch out because even his Voysger tricks aren’t going to stop him. This Hulk looks TOUGH... maybe not world breaker tough but still pretty tough. And the iron Hulk looks pretty Awesome too! These issues have been pretty dang good for a weekly comic especially the art. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. So I’m not going to lie, I was hoping for more or a fight from Iron Hulk. On that note, I hope the Iron Hulk stays. I liked the idea but not used in this issue well. A Hulk that is large enough to slip on Hulk Buster armor sounds pretty cool to me.. especially if it’s not Banner or Cho. This issue: Hulk takes down Iron Hulk, Pod, and Vision. He’s mindless and unstoppable. We end with Wonder Man trying to talk to Hulk and a cover of the next issue with Rogue on it. I’m curious to see what Rogue can do. The story didn’t really move forward but gave us some interesting ideas and fun fight scenes , as well a my boy Hulk! This has been a great weekly book and continues to provide a consistently fun story. I wish the story moved forward more But.... either way oh should Pick it up! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. I haven’t been reading Marvel as long as I’ve been reading DC (which is ironic because my favorite books currently are in Marvel), BUT how does Wonder Mans ionic Powers work? And why is he a pacifist? Anyone who knows, hook a brother up! But Simon (AKA Wonder Man) tries to talk to Hulk but it doesn’t work. Rogue, Thor, and Hercules jump in to help but he basically destroys them.... I mean come on... he’s the HULK. Hulk breaks through the door finding Voyager, who is the Grandmasters daughter, and destroys the pyramoid. Since Hulk was the Challengers player and destroying the pyramoid was a penalty, he loses. However, Challenger finds out that the Grandmaster put his daughter in the game which makes him a cheater-cheater pumpkin eater! So, Challenger kicks his butt while the Hulk depowers back to Banner. Honestly, this has been going on weekly for maybe two months now or more... and it’s awesome! It’s just straight up fighting with tons of characters. It’s fun and makes sense more than DC Metal; but honestly what couldn’t make more sense right now? Pick this book up. I know we are getting s Fresh Start but they continue to be fun reads with great art. The ramifications may not be huge but we get the Hulk back and the introduction into some new characters. Take the leap! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. This week’s No Surrender is a catch up issue on what’s been going on up to this point. Honestly, since it’s been coming out weekly, it really wasn’t needed. It wasn’t bad... it just wasn’t needed since it’s been weekly. We get a nice insight with Jarvis and the Hulk with a great quote from Paradise Lost.... GREAT QUOTE. It fits the Hulk and honestly life perfectly. The Avengers ask Voyager for help and it appears as though Challenger killed the Grandmaster... “appears”.. and now Challenger has taken Earth hostage and is going to destroy it himself. Again, the issue did a much better job of explaining what has been going on throughout the story so far, how Voyager manipulated the Avengers, and a little history of the Grandmaster and the Elders. This issue wasn’t bad it just wasn’t as good as the rest. That said; it was still pretty good with some pretty darn good art. I will certainly continue through No Surrender! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We open with the Challenger calling himself the new Grandmaster Prime. He has basically decided to destroy the Earth... surprise-surprise... Dr Banner overhears the heroes talking about this and Hulks into action attacking Grandmaster Prime. He gets in a few shots until Grandmaster Prime sends Hulk into orbit. Meanwhile, Quicksilver is chasing down the beacon because he thinks it’s important to stopping all of this madness. So, he gets help from Wanda and Synapse to help him move faster than he ever has in order to catch it. The issue ends with Quicksilver catching the beacon ( and disappearing into a possible Marvel speed force), which I think will unfreeze all our heroes. Thor, as well as Lightning, head up to the orbiting satellite in order to get the earth rotation back on track. This wasn’t as good as the other issues but it was definitely action packed, exciting, and full of great art as always. I’m still interested in the series, the next issues, and love the weekly releases. It hasn’t had as many great cliffhangers recently but it’s still been a fantastic series. Honestly, if you haven’t been following along until now, just get the trade. But if other comic companies are reading this review PLEASE LISTEN UP: plan ahead like No Surrender did. This run was done months ago, including art, so it could be released weekly. This is how it’s done. It’s time to give us more epic stories in this fashion. We live in the binge and now and Marvel’s No Surrender is exactly how events need to be done. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We open with all of our heroes coming together to fight the new Grandmaster ( Challenger). And together, they get beat up and broken. They split into teams to hit him in waves but it still won’t work. Falcon somehow connects mentally to him, since we now assume Grandmaster is part bird, and tries to telepathically bring him down to no avail. But a plea to Voyager for help to alter everyone’s memories to get them to remember truly what they are fighting for, gives our heroes the last burst they need to push beyond their limits and take him down. Meanwhile, we get Lightening challenging the old Grandmaster to a game of poker. If he wins, he puts the world back to how it was before and releases all the heroes and villains that were trapped. If Lightening loses, the old Grandmaster gets all of earth as his trophies to play with as he wishes. However, Lightening throws it all on the line and bluffs the Old Grandmaster to fold by raising the stakes too high that he has to fold. Lightening offered up what it truly means to be a hero. He was willing to sacrifice himself and his existence if he lost but the Grandmaster wasn’t willing to do the same. You see; he would have been forgotten by everyone, never existed, and not even a memory to everyone. A true heroes choice. It’s what makes a great hero and a great human being. The idea is No Surrender. Now we finally get the title. No matter what, no matter what gets in our heroes way, humans will never give up. Humans will never back down. We will never surrender. It’s what makes us human. With free will comes choice. The choice to do right and wrong. And even though many humans choose themselves, choose the wrong choice over and over, there are so many of us that choose to do what’s right. We choose hope. We choose to fight.

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. This issue was mainly a wrap up issue of the big event No Surrender. If you’ve read the entire thing to this point, the big bads Challenger and Grandmaster used earth as a playground for their game to see who would become the new Grandmaster and who would be banished. They had their teams and froze our A listers so they couldn’t help but even our B and C squad rose to the occasion and were able to triumph. In this issue, we mainly see the direction our Avengers will be heading. The mansion is being rebuild, certain members are leaving to go on their own, some names of organizations are changing, and new teams will be rebuilt, along with a new statue out in front of Avengers mansion portraying all types of heroes. Honestly, I’d go over the details of some of the changes but I have no doubt the beginning of each issue in Fresh Start will do just that. This issue is hard to grade being an issue of information and direction of the book. The arc as a whole was fun and exciting. This issue was again mainly just informative. It wasn’t bad but it certainly wasn’t as good as the rest. Personally, it was nice but it wasn’t needed. If you have read them all to this point, then read this one to wrap it up. Otherwise, just wait until next week when Jason Aaron starts his run! But I highly recommend the trade! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Every band gets back together again... well almost. If the Velvet Underground can get back together after almost 20 years, even if it was for at least one more go around, certainly the big 3 of the Avengers can get back together? We can even turn to the Sex Pistols to see even more evidence of bands reuniting if only for a short time, and they were hardcore anti-corporation. Point is: it’s been a while with different Avenger line ups giving us one or two of the big boys but it looks like the bands back together again... at least to kick this bad boy off. And it looks pretty epic! We open with a trip back to Marvel Legacy 1. If you didn’t read it, it’s not necessary to the story. It’s helpful for some background BUT Aaron’s gives you the gist in this issue. You see; a million years ago we had the first Avengers. Odin himself, the Phoenix herself, a Ghost Rider on a mammoth, the O.G. Agamotto, a black panther, a female iron fist, and a Starbrand Hulk. No lie; this part was sick and I need more of this line up. They took on a Celestial in Marvel Legacy 1 and are ready to take on some more before we fast forward to the future with the Big 3: Cap, Tony, and Odinson. The three of them are hanging out and talking about getting the band back together again. Aaron’s does another great job of summarizing what the Big three have been up to over the last couple years to give us some background but again it’s not needed for the story. You can just jump right in. But while they’re hanging out, Tony gets some alarms to check out a disturbance. So, they all go together to take a look. Thor, with a golden arm and hammer ( which I need more info on after last week’s Mighty Thor) and Cap look pumped about the reunion. But Tony appears to be the Lou Reed of the group as the story opens.

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We last left our heroes fighting these mad Celestials, while bugs came up from the center of the Earth and 100’s of other Celestials rained from the sky. Turns out, we picked up right where we left off, with our Avengers continuing the fight. She- Hulk hops in the fray now but somehow gets teleported to Ghost Rider and they begin to fight one another. Meanwhile Thor, Cap, and Iron Man continue to fight the Final Hosts (Mad Celestials) without even making a dent. So, Captain Marvel comes down to offer her help with some warp grenades set up to teleport the Final Hosts into the sun. However, since Cap couldn’t get clear, she didn’t use them in time and our heroes suddenly became frozen in this purple force field. Well, it turns out these Final Hosts are somehow connected to Loki. The issue ends with Loki revealing himself, She-Hulk and Ghost Rider teaming up to fight more bugs, and the Final Hosts showing us its strength by ripping a head off one of the other regular Celestials that fell from the sky and tried to put up a fight. Things just get worse for our Avengers. My thoughts: I’m going to compare this book to “No Justice” from DC. Both books started of with something Epic and World Ending that culminated in Final Hosts (Mad Celestials) or Omega Titans ( basically Mad Celestials). This week in No Justice, even though I was confused on that story, there was a ton of action, ton of characters, a ton of excitement, and a huge reveal at the end. This issue didn’t hit those marks as well as “No Justice”. We had action, not as many characters, and a reveal that was pretty straight forward since you could read the green narrator writing to predict Loki was involved. My point is that sometimes insane action and epic team up battles can mask a confusing and convoluted story. That may be the case in “No Justice” but is not the case here. But, what “No Justice” had in confusion, this issue lacks in epic and insane action. I wanted more character involvement and I wanted a bigger reveal. The entire issue seemed like it’s purpose was to involve Loki, which again we knew from the narrator word balloons. Overall, I know we don’t get the purpose of the Final Hosts yet and their reason for being at Earth, but the story roles out with an ease for any dummy, like myself, to read... and I like that. In the end, this first arc is about getting the band back together but replacing the bassist and drummer with Ghost Rider and She-Hulk. And yes, She-Hulk would be the drummer. Ultimately, the art is fantastic and the story is an easy read. I do leave wanting more and hope to get some answers in the next issue. Knowing Jason Aaron, I’m sure we will. Definitely pick this up and keep it on your pull. Currently, move it to the top quarter of your comic stack. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

There is a ton of cool stuff happening in the issue. Rocket grows large, Al Ewing Himself is written into the issue, Nyx gets the final shard, Conan appears to be an avenger for the time being, the Hulk appears straight up evil, the D team of avengers with Bill the Lobster are even formed.... it has its moments but I’m just getting confused as to what is going on right now. The issue was all over the place. I love Big Al, and Mark Waid but the issues lately seem a bit confusing as to where we are going.

This two parter shows the connection that Bruce has to Selena and leads us to believe their love will last. If the annual didn't get you to think that way, maybe this will. I would love to no more about the Gentle man and maybe we'll get that in the future. But this issue has great art, great takes on Diana and Bruce, and I hope continues to show a special bond between Diana and Bruce in the future. Favorite part: When asked if they would say yes and go back to fight in the future, Selena basically answers for Bruce to say, "sure, as long as I come too." Now Superman and Wonder Woman accept the relationship, which I feel is important for this set up to become permanent. If you like what you heard, love talking comics, and are interested in joining a DC book club, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com. Catch you all later! Peace

This was a pretty interesting start to an Ivy Arc. I loved her portrayal as a villain but a villain that isn't crazy, or trying to kill millions of people, or trying to hurt anyone. She's genuinely trying to make the world a better place "her" way. I was confused in the beginning but later figured out that Bruce was trying to get the antidote before it was too late. So it appears Ivy has billions in her control including the Flashes, Alfred, Cyborg, and we can assume many more. My question is: Who is not under the control of Ivy? Who haven't we seen or heard from in Batman Comics for a bit? Who fits both criteria that could save the day, or at less help to save the day? Will we see swamp thing again maybe? Great start! Great art! Loved it and loved the quick read! I love that Kings writing isn't too wordy and blends with his artists to tell a story. I don't need "read" everything that's happening. I can also be shown it too! If you like what you heard, love talking comics, and are interested in joining a DC book club, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com. Catch you all later! Peace

Answers. Many complain because King won't give us answers. Well, we know how Ivy's doing it. She controls the green in which is put in all things people eat. On burgers, in salad, you name it! But Bruce references someone who appears to be basically allergic to greens named Johnny Suntres. And Ivy has hidden him somewhere. I did a quick google search to find NOTHING on this name other than it is very close to John Siuntres, who is the host of the Word Balloon podcast! BTW, listen if you never have. It's a great show with great interviews with writers and artists. You'll love it! And since King has been on the show a couple times; I bet you he's writing him in! Maybe Bruce and Selina are looking for a cure through this boy/ and or podcaster? Maybe that is why Ivy hid him? We will have to wait to find out. Next, I understand many reviewers will be upset to see Bruce defeat Superman with a whistle and Selena taking down the Flashes with a couple kicks. But I think King did a good job explaining why that is the case. Bruce said Clark knows when not to listen, which implies Ivy is literally controlling everyone. And if she is, the heroes may have there powers but she doesn't have control over the powers themselves. She doesn't know how to use them and use them well. Sure, she can use their speed, but every nuisance of the speed or strength... she doesn't understand that avenue of it. We get Bat burger again with the KGBLT ( love BLT's) as well as the Killer croque. We also get funny back and forth with Selena and Bruce and ultimately we can see Ivy's reasoning: she truly wants to make the world a better place. Sorry to say it Poison Ivy League, but she is a villain here or at least an anti-hero. Now, her means are to make the world a better place but most villains come from a good place when they start their journey. We find out that she killed Bruce and as we know from Grant Morrison, every Bat writer must kill Bruce before they are done.

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. So here is the lowdown. Bruce awakens in the hospital surrounded by all the Supers ( nice touch having the Superman from China) and Ivy having her focus split between Bruce, the world, and Selena personally talking to her. Bruce’s game was to get to Harley to knock some sense into Ivy since in current continuity they are an item. In order to do this, Selena literally knocks out Ivy but says Bruce only has 15 seconds to get a hold of Harley and snap her out of it or planes will literally fall from the sky, which appeared to be the plan all along. In my humble opinion, this was basically placed in here to shut up the complainers who need a play by play and rant about everything throughout TK’s stories. They would say, “well if she’s knocked out and controls everyone wouldn’t people who are working heavy machinery basically die?” This is TK listening to his complainers and whiners. This is just bogus and unnecessary for the story but we get it for people who need their hands held. We find out that the reason Ivy was doing his is because she went down a dark path after killing those 5 people in the WoJaR’s and so has the world. Therefore, she trying to make it a better place. Turns out the Riddler did the killing of them not her. Oh my!!!! She’s saved and is really a good person after all!!! This is the dumb part that was probably put in here AGAIN because of the complainers on the net who have nothing better to do than to literally @ TK in an ignorant way about their glorious opinions about how the book should be written. So now, TK retcons his Ivy take to make haters happy.

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. I’m going to start by saying the art was amazing! The art was so good that I felt like you could see details in the leather from the coloring.... just amazing! So, King writes and issue trying his best to summarize possibly 70 years of the Bat and Cat relationship. We see the back and forth between the two throughout the years and how their relationship has truly been their all this time. It kind of makes you wonder why a wedding has never happened before now. My problem with the issue is not the writing or art at all. It’s the placement of this story. The Ivy arc ends, which in my opinion attempted to silence King haters and Ivy followers. And, ends disappointingly, in my opinion, with little action. Now, we get this story, which I feel is great, but also timed with little action. So, I feel like we’ve had about two to three issues without anything happening. Something needs to happen already. Where is the fireworks factory? Is it the wedding? If so, give it to me next issue already. Or, give me some excitement, some action, some flare! The issue itself, was again great. It was a good prelude to the wedding AND if we just had an action packed arc, this would have been a great fill in. Probably raise my score a bit. Honestly, I feel like Joelle’s art actually told more of the story for me than King’s writing. Again, words can’t explain how amazing her art is! As a stand-alone, it’s a must read. As part of the overall story and flow with what we’ve got so far, it didn’t give much other than showing their relationship throughout the years and show us that their are certain things that Selena will never be able to let go, even when it comes to her wedding.

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We open with Hal Jordan uncharacteristically grinning, breaking ring protocol, and shooting himself in the head with his ring. We aren’t sure but it does look like he killed himself and the “grin” points us to something involving the Joker. Booster and Skeets basically tell us that they got Batman a gift and go in search for him. We see that Tim Drake never became Red Robin and works for Wayne Tech; Jason Todd has his own tire business that tazes Jokers; and Duke must have been “Jokered” at one point and had brain surgery to try to fix the problem... making him a vegetable. Booster and Skeets find Batman pretty quick. Turns out, Batman is all about guns, bombs, grenades, armor, and is actually Dick Grayson. And did I mention that THIS BATMAN is amazing and I want stories about him! I wish we could explore this timeline. King, if your listening, how bout a maxi black label of this universe? The art, as always, is fantastic but the Grayson-Batman art is phenomenal. Batman tries to kill Booster at least twice but fails since Skeets upgraded his suit with body armor at some point, which was a smart move Skeets! We also see that Penguin is President and Ra’s runs Europe and Asian, while Talia is the heir with no children (meaning no Damian), and somehow people become Jokers... tons of them like some form of being Jokerized but worse. And this all happened because Booster stopped Thomas and Martha from dying as a wedding gift to Bruce. Booster wanted Bruce to see how important him being Batman was. But like usual, Booster realized he made a mistake and went to find Bruce to fix it. Turns out, Bruce thought something was off and had dreams about what should have been. But we end with Bruce grabbing a fire poker and smashing Skeets so they can’t change back time.

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Let’s dive in to this litter box shall we. We open one year later with Booster being stuck in this alternate timeline. Gotham is in utter chaos, War is everywhere and Thomas Wayne feels like he’s FAILED THIS CITY (arrow tv style). Booster thinks that if he can set up a meet and greet with Selina, Bruce will fall in love with her and fix everything. So, Booster breaks out Selena, sews together a Batman Returns Catwoman suit for her, and they head to Wayne Manor to confront Bruce. Meanwhile, Thomas Wayne had a heart attack and is recovering at home while Dick Grayson Batman is on Booster Gold and Selina’s tail. They arrive at Wayne Manor and Selina goes cat lady crazy killing Alfred and then Thomas. Dick Grayson Batman comes in from behind and shoots Selina in the back. Selina gets up and slices off Batman’s fingers so he retaliated and shoots at Selina only to misfire and kill Martha. Bruce, out of rage, picks up a gun and shoots Batman in the head while Booster is laying on the ground injured thinking he saved everything. Ok so I have no doubt we are going to have lovers and haters of this issue. I don’t think we will have anyone in between. Here is my take, which you can probably judge from my score that I liked it, but here it is anyway. Let’s begin with the this statement: these are my opinions and you are free to disagree, argue, and rant about them if you choose just like I am free to love whatever I want to for whatever reason. If you are interested in a fight, I am not your man nor will I respond. I hope I answer your reasons as to why I like it and hopefully they are helpful to you. If not, maybe someone else’s opinion is more to your liking. And with that, here is why I liked it. This is an else-world story told in current continuity and these are some of my

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Ok, so here goes. Let’s unwrap up this gift shall we!?! We open with Bruce, and probably some of his Waynetech peeps, trying to fix Skeets so they can go back in time. Skeets reboots only to find that Boosters voice is the only voice that will operate Skeets. So, Bruce goes to unlock Booster who has been locked up in chains for over a year in (possibly) what would be the Batcave.... that’s how I took it. Bruce cleans up Booster, while he gives his backstory, and a Bruce Wayne who drastically looks like the Punisher wants to go back in time to 10 minutes before his parents murder and stop his parents death. Well, that works perfectly for Booster because they travel back in time to the moment Booster originally saved his parents.... just 10 minutes before. Bruce realizes that he’s been screwed and starts kicking Booster time traveling butt. Skeets gets shot again so he can’t work but from behind comes the past Booster that originally saved his parents (two Boosters in the past now). Ok so, I could be wrong but here is how I see it; “older” Booster grabs Bruce’s gun having it miss fire shooting “younger” Booster that just arrived the first time to save Bruce’s parents. It hits Booster in the heart killing him. This leaves us with a “younger” working Skeets and an “older” Booster.... the one that was tied up.... if that makes sense..... Bruce’s parents hear the gun shot and decide to go down the alley where they are murdered. Both “little boy” Bruce and “alt timeline” Bruce watch his parent’s death. “Alt Timeline” Bruce can’t take it and shoots himself in the head committing suicide. Being only one Booster and one Skeets as well as the timeline being restored, Booster heads to the future ( our present) and tells Batman and Catwoman the

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Well, so Joker wants to be the best man. Is he really deserving of the title? I mean really? Come on man. They have had their bromance for a while now.... since Jokes and Riddles... but is that long enough to be Batman’s best man? Let’s find out. The issue is a quick read and won’t take to long to summarize to be honest. Joker goes into a church where a small wedding was happening, and basically goes nuts killing everyone to draw Batman to him. Joker has a theme. He puts the gun to the hostages heads and tells them not to move “one inch” or he’ll shoot them... but each time he shoots them anyway. Go figure? Well, Joker shoots and kills the groom and Batman comes flying in through a ceiling window.... I think... to save the day. So, he was too late to save the groom. Joker grabs the bride and goes through his “one inch” routine again but blows her head up anyway. Batman and Joker fight it out for a bit until Joker, realizing that he has no more hostages because they’re all dead, shoots Batman in the head while wrestling with him. But his cowl is bullet proof so he wasn’t hurt. Joker then uses himself as a hostage and puts the gun to his own head. Joker continues his long diatribe about his mother and bends down to pray in front of the church with Batman only to find out that he placed a bomb there blowing them both up knocking Batman unconscious and leaving Joker up and ready for action. We end the issue realizing that Selina was told to wait outside the entire time and now is heading in to save Bruce. So, I got a couple things. The first is the art was fantastic as always and I loved the portrayal of Joker. He looks nuts! Not cut off my face Texas chainsaw nuts, but still crazy enough that we wouldn’t want to be alone with him at an Applebee’s. I loved Jokers look as well. He seemed new age-y with his hair style which is what the kids are doing these days. So, the highlights in the issue were definitely Joker. The parts that bothered me were with Batman to be honest. Let’s just say he didn’t know the groom was about to get shot and give him a free pass on him and the others in the church. Batman isn’t Omnipresent and can’t be everywhere at once nor can he save everyone. And ultimately, he didn’t shoot anyone. But remember, Batman arrived after that happened. So again, I say free pass for those deaths But he saw Joker take the bride as a hostage. Why didn’t he do something else to stop him from blowing her head off? And after that happens, Batman looks totally unfazed. And then, Joker puts the gun to his head and asks him to kneel with him or he’ll kill himself. I understand Batman is about saving everyone and doesn’t want anyone to die but he just lost tons of good people and now your going to kneel beside the man who just killed them all to stop him from taking his own life? No way! I get it. Every life matters and I am all for that. But Joker would never have killed himself. No way! Batman’s rule is no killing. But, he wouldn’t have killed Joker. Joker would have killed himself. Throw a batarang and wrap him up right there. And if he happened to shoot himself in the process, think of all the future killing you would have saved. I can understand not doing that to save the bride since you may be nervous that you could potential have the gun go off and kill her. But, that would never have happened with Joker. He would have never done it. I just feel like too many people died because Batman wasn’t reacting how I feel he should be. Batman seems indecisive on every decision lately. Honestly, in every book he’s in. That’s a big problem to me. Huge problem! I could forget about it in Jokers and Riddles. I could tell myself that Batman’s new and still working through some stuff. But this is a Batman that just got back from fighting evil Dark Batmen, possibly Batmen from the future and Brother Eye, and maybe back from space, and your telling me he let’s that bride die like that AND falls into that simple trap from Joker totally unfazed. I’m sorry but I can buy it. Something is wrong with Batman. Is it the wedding? Is he going to realize that he can’t be happy and that he shouldn’t be with Selena because too many people are dying? Because he has not been focused for a long time now. I’m not saying I haven’t liked Kings run. I actually love it. But something just hasn’t felt right for me since the poison ivy issues. Also, Joker vs Batman... that fight should be totally uneven. Batman should kick his butt repeatedly. Over and over again. But not in here. Joker gets hit and keeps on coming. I don’t know, I feel like this idea of the wedding and the gift and the telling his family and friends is just dragging on now. I’m just getting tired of it and want to move on now. This wasn’t what I expected BUT that said, I loved his take on Joker and I loved the art. I personally feel like King has done better. But I think I’m ready for a new story line right now. Should you read it... yes. Will I read the next issue... yes. Am I frustrated that I feel like the run has stalled... yes. It’s still better than many issues we are getting at DC right now in my opinion. But I think I’m more frustrated in general at the character of Batman as a whole in all books. Lots of people are dying and he just seems to get a free pass for that... again in all Batman titles. Can we fix that issue please? If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Since King didn’t use many words, either will I. Art is amazing but this book is a nightmare... literally. And yes, I’m sure that’s what he’s going for... so deep of him. NOT! We haven’t moved forward one bit since the wedding issue 17 issues ago. That’s 34 weeks of stories that haven’t moved the story forward....8.5 months... If this type of story telling continues, one could create a child in the amount of time and have said child without the story progressing. The 5 is for the art... all 5 points. This needs to stop. Please tell a story.

I NEVER and I mean NEVER give a score this low. I hate giving a score this low because their is so much work that goes into making a book. That said, I think TK threw in the towel on this arc and issue. What did I just read? The art was good enough but appeared too cartoonish from what I’m used to seeing from this book so that even threw me out of the issue . That said, the art was the entire 3.5. Where to begin? Ok, so how much longer do we need to see dreams? Why would Bruce have dreams about a bachelorette party in the Fortress of Solitude? Why would he dream about Selena and Lois becoming buddies? Why would Bruce think that’s a nightmare? Why would Bruce dream about Lois breaking into the fortress, having robot supermen strip for her and Catwoman? This issue was more wasteful than the rest. This arc was a waste. The book is becoming pointless. And this needs to stop. Next, I’m truly disappointed in what TK showed us even if it was a dream. I would NEVER ask my wife, or my robot wife that looks identical to her, to strip for my friend! That was disgusting and out of line for the character even in a dream. Why did TK waste a page on describing wine? Was it to be funny? Because it wasn’t. Who cares about the football player Campbell? No one does. Let’s move on! And if someone is having a dream or nightmare it’s from their perspective not Lois Lane’s. Was this done to make us wonder if it was actually a dream? And this is how you choose to end the arc? DC should be angry that this arc has waste their time, the readers time, and that TK has ruined the credibility of this book. A story can take 100 issues to build up to a big event but you can put in filler for 18 issues after a big event. This has to stop! And this is was done with such poor taste. Such poor taste.. I truly wonder if TK gave up. There is NO WAY when he sat down to tell his story to Dan Didio that he said “I want to do a 6 issue arc of only dreams that really mess with Batman and the reader. AND one issue will be About Selena and Lois breaking into the fortress, watching naked Supermen, drinking diamonds and beetle wine, while swimming in a lake made by Brainac to trap Superman.” TK is winging it and has lost is mind! Awful... truly awful....

Question 1: Why does Batman like Sophie Tucker? Who listens to that? The song is creepy, and old, and does make you feel lonely.... sure... which Batman is BUT, who even knows that song and why is King tying that song into this dream? Again, how many people know they song? I can thank my grandma for that knowing that song but 1/10 readers will get that .... AND it doesn’t really add much to the story other than show that King is trying to be poetically deep. Question 2: Why does Bane like to fight nude? Why would someone want to fight him nude? Thomas Wayne clearly was ok with it. And how would Bane not realize Thomas had a gun in his pocket? He was wearing pjs. That gun would have fired in his pocket while fighting or wrestling Bane. Is the point again something deep that I simply can’t understand about Bane? He sits in the dark on skulls naked and he fights naked. What does that show me and why is it important? Please someone tell me the importance because I guess I’m an idiot. Question 3: In a dream, Batman figures out that his dad is involved FROM ANOTHER EARTH because he saw him right before he went unconscious. Makes sense.... are we supposed to believe after like 6 issues of a dream, Batman can just snap out of it after hearing a Sophie Tucker song and figure out his daddy doesn’t want him to be Batman so he’s working with Bane? That makes NO DANG SENSE!!!! And we explain 6 issues by scarecrow gas???? King just wants to play this cerebral game with his readers when in all reality he writes himself into a corner and has to explain it out quickly and easy. I’m frustrated because we were given 5 pointless issues that could have been summarized in one issue. This arc was not necessary for the story and did not progress the story at all. We could skip it in trade and not miss a beat just like the gift story arc and like 2 other arcs his written. Question 4: who buys Thomas working with Bane as simply “he doesn’t want Bruce to be Batman so he’s going to hurt him?” And more importantly, how did Thomas get here? How did Bane even know he existed? Many would assume Skeets but how did Bane piece this together? COME ON!!! King is stretching this out, milking it to get to 100, and putting plot threads together as he goes that don’t really fit. Statement 1: I am currently not a fan of Kings writing BUT whoever tweeted that awful pic to him earlier this week should be ashamed. We may not like what a writer writes, but their is no reason to attack them directly with something ignorant and so hateful. I will give this a 6 simply because the dream is done... I’m confused still and think he’s trying too hard to give us a story that’s deeper than Pizza Hut deep dish pizza when that’s not what anyone asked for or wants. Just make it straight forward and give us answers. Please.

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We now kick off our lead up to the wedding with Damian and Ra’s. And it wasn’t that bad. The art was fantastic and the story kind of made sense... to a degree. Let’s take a look. The story opens with Damian and Selena going to a tailor to have Damian fitted for the wedding. While Damian is getting fitted he gets pricked by a sowing needle, which we later find out had a drug on it that made Damian go a bit coo coo for cocoa puffs. After the fitting, Damian uses his assassin skills to break into an arcade to play a video game named Cheese Viking, which sounds amazing by the way. But he bumps into some person dress like a mix between Catwoman and Batman...but a kid. Later, Damian realizes that the kid he’s fighting is himself. Now at first, I thought this was actually another clone/ test tube Damian. But then, things started to get pretty weird and I realized he was just drugged. Damian puts it all together and realizes that it was Ra’s who drugged him and asks him to show himself. He does and they fight for a bit only to leave me wondering if Ra’s was even there. But the point of the story wasn’t to fight Ra’s or for him to even actually be there, it was for Damian to come to terms with the marriage and how he fits into his Dad’s new life. It’s something that any kid must deal with when marriage is involved. Will you be replaced? Will you move on from me? And even a 10 year old assassin will still have these feelings. Honestly, throughout the entire engagement, Damian and the rest of the boys for that matter, haven’t really been apart of all of this. Bruce has talked to Clark and Diana but not the boys. Alfred kind of told the boys. So, this is the first interaction and reaction to the wedding we get from any of his boys and it’s totally valid for Damian to feel this way. However, with all of Damian’s worries, it turns out Selena says the greatest thing a little boy struggling with this type of life change could say, she basically says how amazing Damian is, especially after all the crap he’s gone through, and tells him that he’ll never have to think over her as a mother but basically wants them both to be family. Well done Selena and well done Seeley. It was an interesting take on the Selena/ Damian dynamic and it was totally unexpected. I just thought we’d get a fight and that’s it. Ra’s vs.Damian. But to see that we get character development from Selena and Damian leads me to lean more on the side of this marriage being permanent and not a short term thing. I loved the direction the issue went in and I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next in the rest of these prelude issues as well as the wedding. Will we see this same character development from all the boys? Who knows? But I was genuinely surprised by the issue. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. I have mixed opinions on this issue. On one hand, we get some pretty good art and a couple answers to some questions that we needed about this wedding. For example, why isn’t Dick the best man? Why has it seemed like Dick and Fam were the last ones to know about the marriage? Is Bruce Wayne marrying Selena Kyle too? These were questions we all had wondered without an answer for months. However, on the other hand, this story was kind of silly. Who would go on a bachelor party in their costume to Batburger? And I know I haven’t read comics my entire life, but where has Superman been keeping this lightning door and why didn’t he use it in Metal to you know.... escape? The set up as to why they were in this situation was honestly just dumb too. Now why don’t we “hush” for a minute so I can “gray”s-us with a play by play of this issue. Dick and Clark plan a bachelor party in Gotham at Batburger and decide to exclude everyone else who knows Batman. Somehow, Dick rented out the place as a costume party for the night so they could all show up wearing their costumes too. It didn’t totally make sense how he set that part up BUT we got the explanation early on as to “who” is actually getting married.. Batman and Catwoman. I know you’re thinking, duh you idiot. But that’s not what I mean. Bruce and Selena are not getting married on their alter egos are getting married. Bruce and Selena have nothing to do with this which tells me personally that this marriage isn’t even real! Two pseudo people can’t get married AND who would marry them? It won’t be official anyway. So, this marriage has an out before it starts. I get it. How would it look for Bruce and Selena to get married? Red flags would be drawn left and right. But I honestly thought somehow Bruce and Selena were going to get married secretly so this entire thing would be legit. Wrong again! Well, back to the story. Batburger lasts two minutes before they go back to the limo and see a lightening door created by Superman. He uses them to get to other universes and across space and time super fast. And can I again say that this is the first I’m hearing about these doors. I’m not saying they don’t exist but they do seem rather convenient and useful for situations like... getting across the universe in time to stop Omega Titans... just saying. Well, this lightning door takes them to a pond that is a universe that’s totally just a pond to fish. It was honestly a sweet idea. Something calm and quiet for Batman to do. But Hush has different plans. Hush draws Superman away and then shoots a rocket launcher into the limo messing with the lightning door indirectly. It wasn’t his intent to mess with the door. Hush was just trying to blow them up. Well, Nightwing jumps into action and knocks himself and Hush through the lightening door. The thing is; they don’t land in a pond. They land in the inbetween/ kind of the bleed. It’s the place between realities. And in the inbetween, these faceless ghost creatures are trying to suck out their souls.... I think. Basically, it’s a world of Slender men. So, Dick saves Hush and takes him to Wayne Manor, since the inbetween is literally a backwards Gotham. Dick was told by some rando, I’ll call him Slendo, that runs the inbetween that they could possibly beat these ghouls in a place that was meaningful to both of them. Well, since Hush (Tommy childhood friend of Bruce) and Dick both spent tons of time with Bruce at Wayne manor, Dick figured this would be the best place to go. Tommy takes off Dicks mask to see who his secret identity really was and we get my favorite part of the issue. We see that Tommy is not obsessed with being Batman or Bruce Wayne anymore. He just wants to be close to him. So, he’s altered his face to become Bruce’s ward Dick Grayson. Side thought: do we still have wards? Anyway, I thought that was an interesting twist if they decide to stick with it. But that idea was short lived anyway because Batman reaches into the inbetween, saves Dick just in time, and Tommy gets taken away by the weird soul suckers. At the end, Dick has a heart to heart with Bruce basically telling him he understands why he’s not the best man. And to be honest, I buy it. It makes sense. Dick is never around and is always doing his own thing. He has forcefully been trying to leave Batman’s shadow for ages. And again, he’s busy with his own city and his own team. Clark may be in a different city, but they see each other so much more and work together so much more. I personally can buy this reasoning and it cleared up that part of this entire wedding thing for me. However, I leave the issue a bit pissed that Hush was left in the inbetween AND I bet we will never see how he got out. He will just show up some day. I’m also upset about the marriage not happening between actual people. There is nothing to hold this together now. And I’m not stupid. I know the two actual people couldn’t have a big wedding due to her checkered past BUT if more time would have been spent clearing Selena of some of these wrong-doings, oh I don’t know like being a mass murderer for example, some of this stuff may be easy to wrap our heads around for a wedding now. But since two alter egos are the ones truly getting married, then in my opinion, this marriage is doomed before it started. Lois and Clark legitimately are married. Batman and Catwoman cannot be legitimately married since they have no birth records stating who they are... I don’t know it just doesn’t sit right for me. But we will have to see how the Riddler is effected by all of this with Batgirl. And, will she be in the wedding? Inquiring minds want to know!!! Because we also found out that the Joker is going around sharing with everyone that Batman is getting married. So who else is going to show up in these next issues? The issue was ok. I more enjoyed getting to see Hush than anything else. I also enjoyed getting some of the burning questions about the wedding cleared up. But unless you are a huge fan of the wedding and King’s Batman run, it seems pointless for you to read any of these. If you are a fan, then you totally need to grab all of these wedding issues. Otherwise, your good without them. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

We see the pills are effecting Jack so I see him turning back before the end. Iwe see Batman getting angry and confused that no one seems to understand what the Joker is doing. He's upset everyone can't see that Joker is playing them. And for the first time throughout the arc, I agree with Batman. I feel like we were lead to believe that Joker is the good guy in the story and Batman is the villain. But I think the M-night shamalamadingdong twist is that Batman was always the good guy and the joker played everyone including the reader. If I'm right, the book goes from a B to an A+. I hope that's the direction this is going. Again, the Wayne's being connected to Nazis... just plays more into the reader thinking Bruce is bad and the villain. Nice set up by SGM. Keep it up But I am confused on the ending, what did Neo Joker find? Well I guess we shall see on a month If you like what you heard, love talking comics, and are interested in joining a DC book club, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com. Catch you all later! Peace

The series in general has been a pretty good surprise. I was down on it to start because I was hesitant on a story that had Joker as the hero and Batman as the villain. But again, I have been pleasantly surprised. This issue shows the new GCPD with the help of Duke, Gordon, Bullock, and Nightwing to trap Batman and take him down. I loved this part the most. I wondered why Gordon was in a car blind but once I saw the bright lights flashing, it all came together. Nice trap even though it didn't completely work. They needed the help of Jack Napier fighting an injured Batman to ultimately take him down. Great scene with Batman carried over Jacks shoulders. So now we are at the beginning of the story again where we saw Batman trapped in Arkham. And finally we get the Joker back, which we all knew would happen at some point. Parts I wasn't a fan of: the freeze-thomas Wayne connection. I didn't totally follow it all and was a bit confused with what I was supposed to get out of it other than, Freeze was friends with Thomas and that Freezes Dad built the big weapon used to freeze the city. I see this book heading to Batman and Joker ( not Jack) working together to take down Neo Joker, which I'm also not a fan of. I thought the idea of two Harley's was a interesting idea but her becoming the big villain of the story... I'm not a fan. BUT, I would love to see Joker step up and become the villain we know we truly is. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. This was by far the BEST issue of the series so far. This gave us answers we have wondered, creative connections to our Batman mythos ( new and old), and of course great art! This was fantastic! Out of the gate, I expected Joker to be in full control and to turn out becoming the villain. But that was not the case. Jack keeps going back and forth between Joker and Napier. So he’s losing control but not totally... until the end... which may also not be the case. We’ll have to wait to see. Jack tries to talk some sense into Neo Joker but it doesn’t work. So, thanks to The OG Harley, Jack gets the idea to do the last thing Neo Joker would expect and work with Batman. Batman says ok if Jack turns himself in for everything, which as much as this book has been trying to paint Joker as the hero, he was basically breaking the law to get the job done... just like Batman. Batman asks Jack what happened to Jason Todd and it turns out, Joker tortured Jason until he basically told him who Batman was. Instead of killing him, joker let Jason go but it turns out... Jason ran off and never came back. This part was AMAZING! I loved it. This was such a good twist that made sense and probably, should have been worked into continuity somehow. We find out that Thomas Wayne built tunnels throughout all of Gotham and Neo Joker got those plans, which is how she was able to move the ice cannon and navigate throughout Gotham unseen. We end with Batman wising up, having a heart to heart with Dick and Babs, and telling Gordon that he will also be taking off the mask after all of this. There have been some ups and downs throughout this arc, but seeing and issue like this draws you back in and gets you pumped for the last issue! I’m excited to see how it concludes and leave this issue wondering if

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Honestly, the ending is not what I thought it would be. It’s not what I thought we were building to. With this being an alternate timeline “what if” story, I thought we’d get some type of crazy ending. Something kind of nuts like this story began. Turns out, it’s end is as predictable as any other summer movie... dare I say Michael Bay? We open where we left off. The crew team up in their Batmobiles to stop Neo Joker, destroy the freeze gun, and unfreeze Gotham. There are explosions and ultimately the cannon is destroyed and Gotham is unfrozen. There is also tons of fighting with all the Batman villains. Batman’s crew seems to be winning until Mad Hatters mind control breaks off of Clayface and he pieces himself back together outside of the villian’s bodies. Clayface is angrier than a hornets nest and chases down Joker. Joker grabs a Batmoblie and starts to turn back into Jack Napier. Harley hops in the Batmobile with him and they drive off to get away from Clayface. Neo Joker drives up beside them trying to escape and she closes this huge gate behind her so the Batmobile won’t make it through. Jack Napier sacrifices himself and shoots Harley out on a Batbike leaving Napier to blow up giving us more Michael Bay explosions. The ice is melting and flooding our heroes and villains trapped but they all work together to escape as well as Batman finding Jack Napier and rescuing him. OMG!!! He didn’t actually blow up! That’s a good thing because Harley tracks down Neo Joker and tries to kill her but she hears from Jack on the walk-talkies and decides to just knock her out instead. Smells like summer blockbuster to me! Joker goes to jail as Jack, but in order to give us a happy ending, he gets a much nicer cell this go around AND he marries Harley right before he

When we last left Black Bolt, Blinky got taken over by that Psychic Vampire. This basically starts off there with it eating the people who kidnapped Blinky and Black Bolt. Everyone tries to fight the "jailer/ psychic vampire but fails. Titania goes for help but finds Lockjaw who teleports her back to Crushers grave where she finds him alive. Meanwhile, Black Bolt holds his own and somehow summons his son and Blinky as astral projections to show them images of Black Bolt as a baby and his parents "testing" him. Personally, I think the jailer is related to Black Bolt somehow. Maybe the jailer was once an inhuman that was tested as well? They mentioned in the astral dream that Black Bolt was tested on by showing him nightmares so maybe that's what happened to the jailer? My guess is: they are connected somehow. Great read overall. This story made me care about Crusher Creed, care more about Black Bolt, and make Lockjaw one of my favorite animals in comics. Pick it up and read! He only dislike is the art. It's just not my style. Art is more personal and effects people differently. I can appreciate what the artist is trying to do but it's not for me. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. This issue, as well as this run, made me love Crusher so dang much. And this issue doesn’t stop that trend at all. Crusher has an opportunity to run off and leave all of this nonsense behind but makes the heroes choice and helps Black Bolt take down the Inhuman-Psychic-Vampire creature that recaptured Black Bolt and Blinky once and for all. Lockjaw, who is truly one of my favorites as well and both of my little boys, gets to make an appearance to help save the day again, and we get a nice wrap up to the story with the reconnect between Medusa and what appears to be a changed Black Bolt. Again, this issue, as well as the run, were fantastic. It ends with literally “The End” and since I do not like to read solicits in case I get spoiled, I don’t know if the run is continuing. If it is; I’m all in! If not, this was a great run that anyone reading this should pick up in trade. You get, in my opinion, two huge character changes in Crusher and Black Bolt that, if others continue to use them this way, will benefit the growth of these characters in the future. I left wanting more from Black Bolt, Lockjaw, and dare I say, a mini or maxi about Crusher! Pick up the trade! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Marvel has been killing it lately. Creativity has been literally oozing from these comics as of late and this Issue of Black Panther fits that mold. Now, before I start, let me just be honest with all of you to say that I’ve read very few Black Panther comics. I’ve never been too interested in the character but told myself I was going to read all the “Fresh Start” number 1’s to see the direction of the comics, the creative teams, and to see if I should stick it out or not throughout the series. Well, after reading issue 1, I’m definitely in for issue 2! We open with someone, who we “think” is T’challa waking up and marooned on some slave planet to work the mines... probably mining vibranium. He’s having visions of again someone I assume is Storm... not sure. Anyway, he tries to escape and gets really close. But, they grab him and throw him back in the mines. While in the mines, he’s working hard and the soldiers there guarding the prisoners tell this alien dude name Dauod to basically put “T’challa” in his place. Again I say “T’challa” because we are still uncertain at this point who he is. The two fight and Dauod gets his butt kicked. Meanwhile, we find out that over 2000 years ago, a group of Wakandans traveled the galaxy and set up an outpost on a planet which eventually grew into a galaxy, and then another until they had over 5 galaxies in their name. There mission appears to be gaining more vibranium, freeing slaves, and extending peace and their empire... at least that’s how I took it. Well, right after the fight with Dauod, these intergalactic Wakandans land on this slave planet to free the slaves and ask them to join their empire. The character we think is T’challa, picks up Dauod who he just kicked the poop out of, and drags him onto the Wakandans ship through a hail of gun fire. Then, he turns around, goes back out, and proceeds to save some of the Wakadan soldiers before they take off. At the end of the issue, we find out that the main character that we “think” is T’challa cannot remember anything, which is why he is not stunned at all to see dozens of Wakandan soldiers that look like Black Panthers coming to his aid. They ask if he would join their cause and he agrees. They suit him up in a Black Panther-ish suit... not his but one that looks like an armor panther suit... and give him “the name of a man who was born a king and died a hero... T’challa.” To me, this implied that the person we are following in the comic may not be our T’challa after all. Who knows? The issue was a fast read filled with nonstop action. Sure, we are left with questions that I would want answered but they are not questions that are in-depth or confusing to the story. They are easy questions to answer as the story goes along. Who is this man? How did he get there? What happened to our T’challa? Is this our T’challa who lost his memory? I’m sure, the writer will gradually answer these questions along the way. Every comics needs to leave unanswered threads to draw you back. However, I hate when I’m thrown into a story that is convoluted, confusing, and backs itself into a corner that can only be fixed with something made up, dumb, and magical like a wishing machine, 15th Metal, or a warp whistle! That is not this comic. We are guided with the perfect amount of information to guide us from the start without telling us too much so we want to come back for more. It’s called GREAT storytelling. What makes this issue phenomenal is the imagination of the story. And again, the creativity of the story is so dang impressive. Maybe the idea has been done before in a Black Panther comic? But I’m new to the character so it’s new to me. It has “feels” of Planet Hulk, which I loved, but I hope we go in a different direction than that comic. After reading this, I’m pumped and excited to read the next. You should all definitely read the issue and definitely add it to your pull. You will be happy you did. I don’t know where I would put it in my stack yet BUT it’s definitely towards the top. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We all knew that Cap would have to make it back to the present, but how? Well, we get that answer from jump street. Dr Banner fixes up part of the Fantastic Fours time machine into what appears to be a gun and says he’s timed it for approximately a week before Cap gets frozen this time around. If calculated correctly, Cap being frozen and the bomb going off is what triggered this future. So if Cap stops that from happening, we’ll be right as rain. But Cap doesn’t buy it. What if Banner is wrong? What if he can’t stop it from happening if he goes back? What if an alternate timeline happens instead leaving this existence still in tack? So he decides to stay for almost a year fighting to take down the remaining army of Babbington as well as every other new ruler who wants to try to take over America after Babbingtons defeat. Point is: Cap decides now to go back since he feels like he’s in a losing battle he can’t win, which in all honest seemed out of character for him in my opinion. As I’ll point out later, Caps a fighter and that doesn’t seem like a fighter to me. Cap goes back but it turns out it’s 10 minutes before the bomb goes off and he watches himself get frozen. The scene was very Back to the Future looking and I LOVED IT!! He hops on the missile as it takes off, cerca WW2 style, and gets it to blow up in the air over the ocean. This part was the best part of the comic and really shows that the writer gets Cap. In my humble opinion, Cap will do whatever it takes to save people and win. He’s not the smartest guy and he might not be the strongest, but he is a fighter until the end no matter what the odds. Even though Cap knows he’s going to die, just like he thought back in WW2 hoping on the missile, he rips it apart getting it to blow up in the air k

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Mark Waid is killing it with Captain America. His last arc was fantastic, fun, and original. His arc seems to be on track for the very same thing. We open a story in the past with Bucky and Cap chasing down Hydra, which just so happened to steal some of the Super Solder Serum to create their own Super Soldiers (common theme I know). While Cap takes on this Nazi looking brute of a woman, Bucky chases down the serum and gets it before it was too late. We then fast forward to the far future of Earth where we see a young Steve Rogers, which turns out to be Cap’s great-great-great grandson. He’s sick and they are using the Super Soldier serum to try to heal him. But it’s not working. Turns out; Earth and the Kree made an alliance and built a Utopian Society together in this future and used Cap’s dead body to synthesize the Super Soldier serum to extend everyone’s life, eliminate disease, and make everyone a bit stronger. Pretty cool idea if you ask me. But again young Steve’s dad, Jackson Rogers, is upset that it works on everyone else but his son. Jackson goes to talk to the President to see if he will help him out and let him look into more research on his great-great-grandpappy. He’s declined the opportunity by this General so Jackson sneaks into the office of the General after hours to find the formula and notes on it to help his son. He uses this cool lens, which Tony Stark made from the Time Gem, that can see about 10 minutes into the past to help him sneak into the office. So, the lens shows Jackson where people were so he knows where to look for notes and evidence on the formula. This part was also pretty original and awesome! Loved it!

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Jack Rogers in on the run. His face is posted everywhere for New Washington to see. Where can he hide? What can he do? Well, lucky for him, historians have a secret hideout to hang out with other historians that is excluded from time. Picture it like a Speakeasy meets Fight Club... but for time. No one is allowed to share what they talked about outside of this club and past transgressions are ignored. Good thing Jack is a historian! Well, while Jack is there hiding out, he finds this old wackadoo that everyone ignores who overheard his story and decides to share his eye glass with him. In case you forgot, some eyes glasses that the Historians have, which were made from the time gem, can see back in time and have glimpses of the past.... some farther than others I guess. This old wackadoo’s can see WAY BACK! It sees a battle between Cap and Red Skull that somehow trapped them both inside a Cosmic Cube. Turns out, a long time ago, Cap and Red Skull must have battled and blew up a huge portion of Washington at the time. The radiation was so bad that people couldn’t go in there for years. So, no one has really checked out the rubble. After Jack escapes out the back of the Time club, he goes down to check out the rubble and continued to push through all of it until he came across this huge Cosmic Cube and Cap’s Shield. So, Jack uses the shield to break the cube open hoping to release Cap. Turns out, Red Skull is the one who pops out! But, where’s Cap? My thoughts: this is a very creative and imaginative story. I really do find it interesting and like the direction the past two arcs have gone. It’s a great way to incorporate Cap in a story without the usual “Cap fights Hydra” or “yeah America” or “Cap fights Red Skull”. I am however a bit confused on some of the elements. There are some details about things that still have me stumped. I wanted to know more details about the historians and I want to know how the eye glass works properly. I thought it could only see 10 minutes into the past last issue. Now, it looks like it can see farther I guess... I don’t know. I also am confused on the genetic splicing of Caps genes. I thought they used his dead body in order to create these new humans. But if he’s stuck in the Cosmic Cube, that wouldn’t make sense. Again, I’m confused but not enough to draw me away from reading it. Personally, I love the art and it does a great job giving it an older look but updated in a way. And, this is a must read book that I keep pushing higher up on my pull list. It’s definitely in the top 4 books I want to read when it comes out. Waid is doing a fantastic job right now and everyone should be reading this. Add it to your pull. You’ll love it! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. This is some creative Waid writing. I am loving this arc, as well as the last, and I’m pumped to see what happens next. At the end of last issue, Waid threw a curve ball at us unleashing the Red Skull, who was trapped in the Cosmic cube for many years. Everyone thought we’d get Cap back to help bring down the secret Kree sleeper soldier program. Turns out, we got the opposite. So, I just assumed that we’d open this issue with Cap jumping out of the Cosmic Cube right after Skull. But, boy was I wrong. That is not the issue we got at all! This issue was a total shock; from the direction I thought we were going in to how Jack was going to save the day. But even though Waid pulled a fast one on me, I’m happy he did. Why? Because Waid continues to hit the the key components of a comic. Is it creative? Yes. Is it interesting? Yes. Is it easy to follow? Yes. Is it imaginative? Yes. And, does it spark conversation and speculation after reading it? Yes. The story is so creative and fun and I have mixed emotions about it ending. I’m excited for Fresh Start but I’ve been loving Captain America under the leadership of Waid and don’t want to see him go. It’s actually part of the reason why I’m willing to hang in there with Dr. Strange number 1. Seeing what Waid is capable of, you have no choice but to let his stories play out before you can really critique them. Well, let’s “super soldier” through shall we? This was really a quick read. The story opens with Red Skull standing over Jack and he’s basically thinking how totally screwed he is!!! All Jack wants is to save his son. That’s it. He snuck into the White House for that reason. He went into hiding for that reason. He tries to dig up Cap under D.C. for that reason. But every step of the way, Jack continues to find himself in deeper and deeper Pizza! It’s so deep it’s Chicago style right now. So, the only way Jack sees out of this mess is to side with Red Skull and basically unleash him on the General and the Kree. Do you understand what I’m saying? A Rodgers working with Skull.... and not because of timely-whimey mind altering mumbo-jumbo, Cosmic Cube stuff either. Jack legitimately sides with a family enemy to save the day, the planet, and his son. The enemy of my enemy is my friend..... I guess. Well, you know what? It worked! Skull goes HAM and basically uses the Cosmic Cube to share the truth to the entire American people. So, all of the citizens rise up and work with Red Skull to take down the General and the Kree. This is just nuts to me and totally blindsided me. Jack finds the General, who is holding is son captive, and beats the cinnamon rolls out of him only to find out that in 24 hours, the Kree are coming to wipe out the planet and start over. But for some reason, Jack makes the claim that his son will stop him, which is the cliffhanger we end the issue on. How in the name of Abraham Lincoln (vampire hunter) will Jacks son whose been sick in a tube since the issue began be the person to stop the world from ending? Beats me. But I totally want to find out. This issue wasn’t where I thought Waid was taking us but I’m glad he did. I love truly being surprised in a story and Waid has done a great job with that since his run started. I also love the throwbacks to old Cap as well as the old style art choice of the book. I feel like I’m reading something written in the 70’s. Please pick up this issue, as well as this arc. You will be happy you did. Better yet; go back another arc and just grab it all! This is how you write a story. I can tell Waid has thought out this story entirely before writing it and it shows. Put the next issue on your pull list before it’s to late. You’ve been warned. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. This felt like an issue to get the team back on track before giving them a Fresh Start. We got Viv back to her old android self, Cyclops is off the team, and we placed younger versions of all the main heroes into their line up. The book didn’t move us into any new story but set us up for the future. Heck, if they wanted to stop the run now, it would be a good time. Personally, I think they should make this book a bit more kid friendly.... just a bit... like a Teen Titans Go book in a way.... and get some of the little ones into the shops. I feel like Marvel needs to get a younger crowd into the shops and what better way than to get to the adults with little ones and have them bring in there kids. And I’m talking through experience with my boys. They want comics about the main characters but that aren’t too scary and for them. This book could be that for them! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. This is issue appears to kick off another story arc, which is a bit confusing to me since I thought Marvel books were closing down for “Fresh Start”. But anyway, the Champions are still plowing through and I must say, I’m enjoying the team more with RiRi and Nadia on it. Personally, the team feels more legit with them on it. But, that’s just me. The story opens with some weird spirit woman surrounded by spirit animals ( I think ones a weasel) talking to some little girl. They are both attacked by these big robot bee looking things that shoot lasers at them. The robots shoot at the spirit and the girl tries to save it blowing everything up creating a big crater. Right before the robot worker bees attack, we are led to believe the spirit and the girl bonded together. The story flashes ahead roughly a day to the Champions battling the same flying robot battle bees. Nova gets hit bad and falls into the ocean. Viv (Visions daughter) takes off after him. Wasp ( Nadia) with Cho Hulk and Miles Spidey take out a couple of the robots while RiRi (Ironheart) and Ms. Marvel try to land their jet safely when some Magento-ish looking dude calling himself “the Master of the World” shows up demanding the Champions to explain themselves. They’re ready to battle each other until MotW (names too dang long) tells the Champions he’ll help them with their friend and he never intended to harm anyone. They give him the benefit of the doubt and listen to his sales pitch. Who knows, maybe they’ll win a free cruise? (Joke) Turns out, MotW is 40,000 years old and stumbled onto a crashed vessel of the Plodex, which are an advanced alien race. They saved him and genetically upgraded him. Seriously, when am I going to stumble onto an ancient alien race already? When is it my turn? Well, the rest is history. MotW’s main goal is to a two step plan. Step1: save the polar caps from melting. Step 2: take over the world... yup.... sounds more like a Captain Planet villain to me. Obviously something is up and RiRi can certainly figure that out, which honestly helped me point her in the direction of leading this crew for the future. I know Ms. Marvel tried and all. Heck, she even took them on a camp out. But, RiRi just feels like a leader. Maybe it’s the armor talking, but I’m up for her to have a chance. Plus, she’s got a ton of experience as well. Anyway, the Champions go check out the front gate where they hear protesters. One of the protesters tells Hulk that he’s missing his friend, which was the girl from last night the readers saw talking to the weird floating spirit weasel lady. We end the issue with MotW denying ever knowing anything about this girl and Carol Danvers literally drops on the scene with Alpha Flight! And of course, MotW tries to play it off like he’s been besties with the Champions for years. Personally, I want to like this book. It’s fun. It has little quips here and there and could really evolve some of these younger characters. The art is good and nothing is ever too heavy to understand. My problem is still placing where this book should go. Is it for kids, teens, or adults? And this is important to me. It changes how I want to read it and score it drastically. For example, you can’t read Scooby Doo Team up the same way as Detective Comics. Going in to Scooby Doo, my expectations are mainly for fun, continuity is not important, and my kids can read it without worrying about death and destruction. I can be more relaxed about the little nuisance in the title. These books can still be in continuity but I take them with a grain of salt. And yes, I know it says “Rated T+” which means it should be for teenagers on up but when I read this it feels more for a little kid at times. That’s kind of my point. I feel like the writer jumps around on its viewers. If it’s rated for teens , then show some more action and more of the “extras”. But then in other issues we get very little of that at all. If I had to rate this issue based on what its viewership is “supposed” to be (teen), it’s a lower score because I feel they are holding back. If I base it on where I think it should be, for younger kids, I think it’s a fantastic read, entertaining enough, humorous, and a ton of fun. But if you’re expecting more “stuff”, this book ain’t for you. If this book is to continue through “Fresh Start”, which I don’t know if it is since I don’t like to read solicits, it needs to figure out its target audience. I get a different feel than the rating... that’s all I’m saying. If the creative team is listening, I’d make it for the younger crowd myself. Give the little ones a hook and something to grow up with. Better yet, have the comic grow up with them. Wouldn’t that be a great idea for a “Fresh Start”... a comic that grows with its audience from the start. My boys want to read comics with action and adventure but they don’t want to be scared or look at blood and guts. They want to love Champions, as well as I, I think you just need to hit a true target audience. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

So we get more background of the main character. It appears he doesn't know all the ins and outs of his powers; how they work, and even the voices that he hears. What the readers get is: Military related, I think a private He is a beast! His power lasts for an hour Did I say he's a beast?!! Strong enough to take on the Suicide Squad!! And next up is Damage first Wonder Woman. What more can we ask to test out his strength? He can punch through gigantas hand, and stopped Grundy before a Wednesday!!! He seems pretty dang strong to me. I'm love this intro to a character. I even love the military connection to this. I can't wait to see where it goes!!! f you like what you heard, love talking comics, and are interested in joining a DC book club, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Well if you wanted to true “Hulk” in the DCU we got one! Whether I like it or not, this issue showed us some things. The first: Damage is more powerful and Wonder Woman. He took down the SS faster than she herself said she could and later said she hasn’t seen strength like that before. Second: speculation says that he may be a challenge for Superman since he is the one who remarked to Wonder Woman’s comment the most surprised. Third: his power may be strong but it only lasts for an hour. During that time, it appears Ethan can try to talk to the beast but he cannot remember everything Damage does. Fourth: the lasso of truth can now show Wonder Woman the truth as well. She someone knows a man is inside Damage even though he said nothing to her directly. So, I guess Wonder Woman now has a psychic bond with the lasso? Fifth: Waller and this Colonel hate each other and appear to be competing. So now everyone is trying to find Damage from the Justice League, to Waller, and this Colonel that made Damage appears to be sending out Kano from Mortal Kombat to find him ( a joke) Not a bad start for a comic if you’re ok with a DC Hulk. I am so I’m loving it. If you aren’t or don’t like the Hulk, don’t bother. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Damage SMASH! Nope. How about Damage Destroy?! My point: this book feels more and more like the Hulk. So the real question is, are you as the reader ok with that? Let’s find out. We open with Poison Ivy destroying workers in a field with her vines because she appears to again be upset that people kill, eat, and wear plants. Who knows which version of Ivy this is... it could be King’s Ivy or Birds of Prey Ivy, or maybe the Ivy from the first Trinity arc like two years ago? Can we just pull an Uncle Jesse and “Have Mercy” already? Before everyone gets their kilts blown up, does it really matter which Ivy this is? Does it impact the character of Damage at all or is it just another “most of the week” for him? As much as a certain group of people want her to be this huge hero, I feel like she’s been, at most, an anti-hero. But either way she appears different than her most recent version. Let’s face it; we want a world where ever comic writer and editor talks with one another, reads all comics, and continues through with glowing continuity. Well, that will never happen. So she’s bad here. It’s established early on. We move on. My only hope is that the Poison Ivy League didn’t see this issue for their sakes. They may be pretty angry about this one. ANYWAY after my rant on letting go of continuity from one book to another, we jump back into the story with Ethan, or Elvis, or whatever you choose to go by, hiding in a truck to get to New Orleans. Once the truck driver finds him, the truck driver helps Ethan out by giving him a job working in the field for his cousin, which is where we see the two parts of the story connect. That’s right! You guessed it! The same field Ivy is “killing people” ( maybe) is the same field Ethan goes too. We end the issue with Col

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. I hope this book stays the same after Fresh Start. It’s really getting its footing now. I’m digging the art.. not my favorite but it fits with the style of the book. And, we get an amazing extra large issue 600! I hope this creative team is sticking around. We get Daredevil bringing the street level heroes together to take down MAYOR Fisk... which is just crazy too say! But it turns out, they were set up and Fisk called the police on them all. Lucky for Daredevil, he wasn’t inside, but the rest were, including Spider-Man, which were taken by the police. Daredevil leaves to confront Fisk but refuses to fight him in case Fisk uses it against him later. Fisk takes a cheap shot, gets the police to take Daredevil in, and looks to have the upper hand.... speaking of hands.... It looks like the Hand is back and.... they literally shoot the heck out of Fisk. We are lead to believe he’s dead. But who knows? Meanwhile, all our NYC heroes are captured, except for Blindspot, who during all of this was fighting and possibly killed Muse! Again, if you aren’t reading Daredevil, you need to be! If Marvel is reading this, don’t change this team up! It’s a great book including this issue; great writing, story, and art that works with it! Even the small nuances that Soule puts in are not skipped over or forgotten like Spider-Man webbing his mask on so they can’t find out who he is when he gets captured is PERFECT!!! Definitely a top issue this week! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We find out that Fisk is still alive but not doing well with a good 6 arrows in him. By the way, the art on that page was amazing! AND it turns out the Matt Murdock becomes mayor after all. The problem is; Daredevil was taken by the police. So how is Matt going to escape to become Mayor? Well my fellow Daredevil fans, that’s the issue. The Hand’s plan was to take down everyone in power throughout NYC including police officers, political figures, and even heroes. They got Fisk, and many police and military that were in the area, but now they moved on to heroes. So the Hand tracked down the police cruiser that had Daredevil captured and tried to kill him. Well I mean come on.... it’s Daredevil. What are two ninjas going to do? Daredevil basically ends them, escapes, and works his way back to the mayoral office to take over and get things back on track to save the city from The Hand, which included freeing all the heroes that were captured last issue, and firing Fisk’s right hand man. We end the issue with our first REAL look at the Beast, who appears to be a demon that is leading the Hand. And the Beast is now directing the Hand to take down the person who is the current leader of NYC, which is now Matt Murdock. This issue was a blast. It was an exciting ride from start to finish, which honestly has been this entire arc for Soule thus far. The art fits with the story perfectly and you can see how well Soule works with Henderson. The pages marry so well together. If you’re not reading Daredevil right now, you need to be. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. So, if you haven’t been following along, Matt Murdock is Mayor of NYC after the hand fired dozens of arrows in Fisk leaving him for dead.... oh yeah and Wilson Fisk was Mayor before that... ANYWAY... we open with Matt asking Foggy to be his new Chief of Staff so he can help cover for his “sudden” disappearing acts to help the city fight the Hand. Blindspot, Daredevil’s young protege, breaks through the window and explains why he feels the Hand his here. Blindspot made a deal with the Beast that runs the Hand. The deal was Power to beat the Muse (a psychotic serial killer/ experienced fighter...they’re kind of rivals... Muse kind of ripped out Blindspots eyes at one point... it was this whole thing...) in exchange for servitude and basically his soul. However, he never used the power and didn’t need it to beat the Muse. So, he thinks the Hand is here in NYC to take its vengeance out on him. So, Daredevil hears that 2 blocks away the police station is under attack. So, he leaves to help with Blindspot. They take out dozens of Hand Ninjas only to find the police station empty and destroyed inside. There is a huge hole straight through the station leading underground. Something big must have done it. But what? My thoughts: honestly, it wasn’t bad but it was a bit boring. Personally, I don’t like wordy dissertation... I mean comics (this coming from the guy who writes long reviews... I see the irony). And this issue wasn’t wordy at all. I think that’s what helped in my “liking” of the issue. It may have been a bit boring and the story may not have progressed too much, but it was a quick read and not wordy at all. That really helped to even out the issue for me. The only thing worse than boring is wordy and boring. This was far from that. Give me something wordy, boring, and convoluted, and I’m out! This is straightforward and easy to follow. I love that about Soule in general. He explains his issues so well. Now, I make this issue sound bad. It wasn’t bad it just wasn’t as good as the last issues. The past four issues have been filled with excitement and nonstop action. This issue just took the foot off the pedal for an issue. In trade, you probably won’t notice. For a single issue, it stands out. My bigger issue is, was this issue needed? Ultimately, we get Daredevil out of his Mayoral Office and into a hole at the police station. Couldn’t we have done that in a couple pages and given us more in the issue? Soule still gets Daredevil. He is doing so well with the character and I hope this duo sticks around with him for a long time. ( I don’t like to read solicitations so I don’t know) It really is a great partnership. Could you skip this issue and still be right in the thick of the overall story? In my opinion, yes. And that’s the only reason why my score is a bit lower than normal. But that said, it’s still in my pull. No doubt! But, it has slid down my stack a bit. I’d say right above half way. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. If you haven’t been following along at home, here is a quick recap of what’s been happening in Daredevil. The Hand has taken over NYC and the Beast, a demonic leader of the Hand, is also here. No one entirely knows why the Beast wants NYC... but he does. Kingpin was Mayor BUT the Hand gunned him down leaving the Deputy Mayor Matt Murdock in charge. Fisk is still alive but in a coma. So, Matt has been trying his best to piece NYC together as the new Mayor AND as Daredevil... of course with the help of his New Deputy Mayor Foggy. This issue opens with a character we haven’t seen for a long time, Elektra Natchios. She’s driving her motorcycle out of NYC. But as much as she tries to escape, the Hand is there to fight her ever step of the way. As soon as she finds herself cornered; Daredevil pops out to help her. She explains to him that she’s getting out of dodge but Matt basically bribes her to stay and help by telling her he knows who took control of her mind and almost drove her insane..... WAY BACK in Daredevil 6 and 7. She agrees to stick around and help out but you can tell she’s pissed. Next up, Matt as the new Mayor, decides to release Black Cat, Hammerhead, and Owlsey from prison in order to help patrol the streets and protect their corners of the city from the Hand. No strings for these mob bosses. Just protect their part of the city and they’re free. So, of course they agree. Who wouldn’t? Basically, Daredevil is trying to make his own army to fight the Hand.... at least that’s where I see this going because he even makes reference to the heroes like Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Spider-Man, Jessica Jones, Moon Knight, Blindspot, and the rest helping to patrol along with Eleckra, and now some crime bosses too. The Beast literally burps, no lie, and lets out this huge disgusting green fog that emanates around all of NYC causing people to pass out. I don’t think anyone dies from it but it’s implied that it’s probably poisonous. I personally thought this part was lame. A poisonous mouth fart? Really? Matt, on the roof with Foggy and Blindspot, smells this aroma of disgusting Battery Acid and loneliness and passes out before it even gets to them. Foggy takes him down to his office comparing him to a canary in a coal mine, which is why they were all able to escape the poisonous gas before it was too late. But as the issue ends, someone in a gas mask and suit comes approaching the Mayor’s office from outside. He shows them something and Foggy tells them to let the man in. It turns out to be Father Jordan, who works for the Ordo Draconum and also happens to know Daredevils secret identity. I don’t know Jack on this guy.... sorry. This issue isn’t terrible but here is my problem.; the arc is dragging on now. I feel like it’s been longer than 8 issues of this. It’s got to be if it’s not already... and it’s still going. It’s not awful but I feel like it’s stalling out. We get it. The Hand has taken over NYC, Daredevil is the Mayor, and he’s forming and army to fight the Hand. So, let’s get to the fight and wrap this story up already. Soule is trying to do what every writer has been doing at Marvel so far; he’s trying to close down his amazing run by incorporating as many elements of HIS run as possible. Honestly, that’s pretty cool and I truly respect that. But, this is taking a long time now. I want to see this through BUT if the story doesn’t wrap up soon, it’s going to slide farther down my pull list until eventually I’m reading these last couple issues right before Daredevil “Fresh Starts”. This happens from time to time. It’s not necessarily “what have you done for me lately?”, but when a a writer doesn’t check all the boxes each issue, the book begins to get stale. Every writer goes through this at some point. This doesn’t make Soule a bad writer by any stretch. He is an amazing writer. I just think he has a book count before he’s done and has it mapped out to end how he wants... but he doesn’t want to have some rando issue at the end. So, he’s spacing it out. Whether a writer is ending a run or beginning a new arc, this happens at times and can be a downer to those dedicated readers. I didn’t look at solicits to figure out when his run ends but it’s got to be soon. I hope this next issue is back to the great Soule-man I’ve grown to love reading. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

I thought we already got Batman Lost? Cause I'm lost right now!! What is going on in this story? I loved the back story of detective Chimp. It was a nice touch, including his hat. But was it necessary? An how did our heroes gain access to the Thule? Last I remember, the multiversal justice league led by Earth 23 Superman had control of that in the Superman arc last year with multiple Supermen being captured through the multiverse. What happened to them? I guess I'm supposed to remember? Or assume our heroes took it for a test drive? And how did the Evil Batmen get a hold of their own? And the metal men can be used like an organ? Magnus truly is a genius! Let me guess the chords D.C.!!! As in detective comics? As in DC comics? This story is really coming together now ( sarcasm) We see a throw in about the return of Bruce Wayne with a pirate version of him... ok. We find out the Cyborg one million is basically able to connect to the entire multiverse..... and red death becomes straight up Barry to then fade away into nothingness. For every Two steps forward our heroes appear to take in every issue , they take two steps back. The only one understanding this issue is probably Paula Abdul. Again, this issue is so confusing and looks like a bunch of kids are in a room screaming out, "wouldn't it be cool if..." until finally someone comes in and says, " wouldn't it be cool if detective Chimp and the rest of earth 53 that never existed before, with a chimp Batman and Chimp Superman, save the multiverse?!?!?" Yup! That's where we are at right now. I'm sorry but when this started with the forge and casting, and we saw the joker and speculations of where this story could go.... and it got us here.... How can we draw this all together, end this story, fix everything that has happened, end all the evil Batmen, save the day, bring Superman and Batman out of the dark multiverse, and do this all in one, maybe two more issues? How? Help me un

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Well wasn’t this special?!? We left last issue being rescued by a new created earth 53 to find Wonder Woman and Lady Blackhawk fighting hordes of dark villains. Batman and Superman appeared to be lost in the dark forge with a hulked out Hawkman ready to destroy them as the new dragon of the forge. All seemed lost for our heroes like it did at the end of every issue thus far. Good thing we turn it around all in ONE FINAL ISSUE! We come back to this issue to find out that help is on the way because they happened to find extra “good” Batmen from across the other multiverses to help .... thanks to the good old Chimp-earth 53 and Cyborg flying the Thule... I guess.... but that’s not enough. You see; it turns out that the world forge that we thought Batman and Superman were lost in actually gave Batman 10th metal!!!! Not 8th... or 9th... but 10th!!! It felt like kids on the playground trying to one-up each other. “You think that’s cool.. well mine goes up to 10!” Seriously?!?!? This felt to me like a magic wishing machine fixing everything for us... but I guess we used that one already. This “10th metal” can just be thrown on anyone instantly and change them into basically anything they want AND we find out later that it’s basically the most conductive material known to man because it can literally raise an entire universe from the dark using humans as its conduit..... Batman fights the Batman who laughs, but not our Batman since he wasn’t wearing the 10th metal... a different “Good” Batman I guess. But anyway, Batman with help from the Joker take “he who laughs” down pretty easily showing me that this could have all ended if only Batman and Joker teamed up from the start instead of locking him in a double super secret inner bat cave. Personally, it seem

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. DC Nation was made up of 3 stories. I’m going to go over them in order of least favorite to most favorite. Ready? The first one I’ll discuss is Bendis and Superman. Basically, we get a prelude to Man of Steel which seems boring. Honestly, if we get an Action Comics centered around the Daily Planet every issue, I think I’m going to bounce from Action. What Jurgens/ Tomasi/ Gleason have given us is far better than this. That said; I’m still excited to see what Bendis can do and hope this was just a slow build to something amazing. Anyway, in this story, we get a new character introduced to the Planet and we find out that Lois is not working at the Planet anymore. That’s it. I really hope Man of Steel has more action than this did. (6.5/10) My second favorite story was Snyder’s “No Justice” Prelude. It had action, adventure, and an intro to each team, as well as an ending very similar to Avengers 1 by Jason Aaron this very week. We end the prelude with 4 Celestial beings from beyond the source wall hovering over Earth while our 4 league teams are out fighting on Colu, the home Planet of Brianac. I wonder which cane first, “No Justice” or “Avengers 1”? Beats me? And maybe it’s just a weird coincidence? But Avengers 1 extends from Marvel Legacy 1, which was released in September 2017. So..... just sayin’.... The teams are still very curious to me and I’m still excited to see how Snyder’s going to weave the teams together. I just hope this makes more sense and is more straightforward than Metal was, especially the end of Metal. Metal started off amazing and interesting but got confusing, weird, and out of control towards the end. Give me good action with creative and new story telling and I’m in! Oh, and did I mention that the art was great!

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. I was interested in this issue because DC was advertising it as Batman vs Deathstroke and I was intrigued. I have been reading this off and on throughout Rebirth but most recently dropped it from my pull list during the start of Defiance. The reason: it’s honestly Priests style. I felt like his wording, mixed with the panel lay out can be cryptic at times and hard to follow. The best comparison is that when I go out to eat, I just want some mozzarella sticks as an appetizer. Nice and deep fried! Delicious! But if I go to a fancy restaurant, their mozzarella sticks are crackers with a block of local aged mozzarella from cows that listen to Enya. My point is: I feel like his writing can be too much some times and this issue started off the same way. It looked like Alfred and Wintergreen were talking about soccer. That led to them talking about trying to get out of helping their “bosses” as well as Modern Family style interviews with Bruce and Slades kids.... I just didn’t know where the story was going. Even the bank scene seemed confusing. Why did people break in? And what paper work led to Bruce tracking down Slade?.... again I’m not a classy guy... just tell me what’s going on. You can be vague in a story as long as I can still roughly know where we are going. We get to the end and see some awesome art and fight scenes with Batman and Deathstroke. That was great! I think... and correct me if I’m wrong, but Bruce thinks that their is a possibility that Slade is Damian’s father. Turns out that not only does Slade not care but has no interest in finding out. I truly would have given this a much higher score if the beginning didn’t seem so drawn out, confusing, personally hard to follow, and honestly boring. But the end 1/3 of the issue really saved it for me

So here is the thing: We need to move on past this "team" idea and I'm ok with it. We need to cut ties with Batwing, Azrael, even Batwoman and Especially Clay face. It's run the course and I happy to see what looks to be a separation. And everyone saw it coming, I'm sure. But the end is what's killing me. I have no problem with the book going in the direction of Brother Eye... I really don't. But I don't want Ulysses being the one pulling the strings , especially in a Batman shirt. This seemed like we were turning over a new leaf , new chapter for Tynion and starting to go in a new direction that I can get behind... just not Ulysesses as the bat guy. What I would love, is Batwoman becoming a villain, but more an anti hero than anything. She was valid in her reasoning for shooting Clayface and I can get behind that. Two sides of the same coin, Batman and Robin, vs Batwoman, her dad, Batwing, azrael, and brother eye. I hope we head that way. Would of went higher if the end was a bit different If you like what you heard, love talking comics, and are interested in joining a DC book club, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com. Catch you all later! Peace

Maybe I was in the minority? I was getting tired of the team book detective was turning into. It became an extended Bat family and it was really losing my interest. This issue invites the actually Bat family in to talk about the events that happened with Kate. Everyone got to talk..... and then Babs had her turn. Now, I'm not the most knowledgeable when it comes to Bat girl, and maybe this was a good character representation of her, but this part was over the top. Babs got DEEP and tried to come off as the smartest person in the room. I wasn't a huge fan of her long-winded diatribe but her end point was spot on: It's Bat woman's decision to stay or go. I feel Jason was kind of trying to get at the same thing but in a way I could understand a bit more. If we want to debate, I feel Kate was right in doing what she did. The serum was tried on clay face and it didn't work. If we got Night of the Monster Men 2: Clay Face edition, I think I'd drop the book!!! So, she put him down. He was a villain working to change, and was doing ok with it. But people could have died and she stopped it. Kate's got to live with it now, which is what they show Kate doing from her perspective throughout the book. And honestly, I'm glad she has the stones to do what Batman can't! Now, what I don't want: I don't need to see Azrael, Batwing, and a Batwoman book... I also don't want a fight between the two. Let's have Detective go back to Batman and Robin and some Gotham crime again. But it won't. I see 6 issues ( I don't like to read solicites) of Batman's team and Kate's team working together to stop Ulysesses... the worst villain ever! Please don't go down that road Tynion. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We open with Cassandra in a flashback fighting with Clayface to free kids from what appears to be some type of slave trade. She was talking with Leslie Tompkins about the last time she felt happy and that was what came to mind for her. Cassandra ended her session by basically saying she’s nervous that the Gotham Knights may just kill her. It was actually a very good scene and well drawn. Best part of the issue by far. We move on to Bruce talking to Tim about shutting down the Gotham Knights and only calling them in when he really needs them. Tim freaks out and drives off into the arms of Ulysesses ( awesome.... cough....sarcasm) The art here wasn’t very good and we got some poorly drawn faces of Bruce and Tim. Everything else wasn’t that bad. Ulysesses has all the information from future Tim BEFORE it all got erased and offers it to Tim to take a look. He can see what the future was and with Ulysesses help, can try to prevent it. Meanwhile, Batwoman gets Azrael and Batwing to join colony with a trial run on some Talons from the Court of Owls. The team is separated in a very bad way. It appears some hard times are ahead for Batman and his detective squad. Is my interest peaked? Actually it is. I’m not a huge fan of the story arc and where it is heading BUT I am curious about Tim. My favorite arc or Tynions Run was the Bat-drake arc. So, I’m excited for that aspect of it. I think we will be getting some Breaking Tim coming real soon. I foresee brother eye run by Tim. And Ulysesses trying to set up the program for the future of Gotham. While doing this, I think they will test it out on colony and crew, and Batman will be the go between. Honestly, the Cassandra will be leaving the story somehow, I just hope she’s not killed off. Let’s see if I’m right! If

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. So I’ll be the first to admit, I wasn’t a fan of Ulysses. There was something about him that rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe it’s that he’s some punk kid wearing a Batman t-shirt that thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room? Maybe it’s his Tim Drake-stalker look which comes off worse than Robin Williams in “one hour photo”? But honestly, I read the first half of the issue and started to come around to him. I loved Infinite Crisis and everything to do with it, including Brother Eye, OMAC, even Superboy Prime. Now, I know we aren’t getting Prime in this BUT, I loved the future video file of Batman, Tim at Ivy U, and even the B2TF reference ( favorite movie!!!). I love the idea of Tim working with just Batman, using Brother Eye, and trying to stop the future with colony. I hated the detective squad and loved seeing Bruce and Tim out alone, which is where I hope we end up. BUT, I want me some Brother Eye, future timey-whimey, Bat-Drake Action! I love this direction. I want the craziness. And when it’s done, I want Bruce and Tim detective fun. My interested is peaked. Put Batwing, Batwoman, and the rest of the gang out of this book after this story is done and let’s get back to the detective comic roots! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We open with Bruce and Tim taking a look-see at the two Brother Eye infected colony troops, keeping in mind they don’t know that brother eye took them over yet. Bruce goes back to the old Kain Family homestead to confront Kate and her pops. They say that they had nothing to do with it. Meanwhile at the batcave, Tim finally connects the dots to Ulysesses and Brother Eye.....BUT... it’s too late! OMAC is BACK! OMAC shows up through nanotech entering people’s bodies including Tim, which is a great throwback to Infinite Crisis! Ulysesses gets a make over and becomes the new General and we leave Cass to fight off like 20ish OMAC’s in the batcave, which shouldn’t be a problem for her if we hold true to Tynion’s continuity. Remember when she took down the entire league of assassins almost totally alone? I think she’ll be fine. This issue wasn’t as good as the prior to but it was still pretty great. Ending with Tim turning into an OMAC is awesome! I just hope he actually stays that way for a bit and it wasn’t just a cliffhanger that will be nothing at the end of the story. But I’m the king or wishful thinking... or was that Milli Vanilli? I like the new look for Ulysess BUT I still have a hard time taking him seriously since he was a villain wearing Batman sweats, Batman socks, and a Batman shirt. Heck, he dresses like me on a Thursday night getting ready for bed. How could you take me seriously wearing that while I threatened you with evil nanotechnology? Pick it up and enjoy the arc. It really is pretty cool. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We left off last issue with Tim being taken over my Brother Eye and Orphan to fight off all the OMAC colony peeps. Meanwhile Batman, Kate, and her pops had there own OMAC colony peeps to fight too. Well, this issue starts in the mind of Tim. And Ulysess, or the General as he is referred to now, is showing Tim his future that he learned through Brother Eye, which seemed interesting. And I want to see that. Can I please see that Tynion? Tim tries to fight it as much as possible, but it turns out he doesn’t stand a chance against the Brother Eye Nanotech that’s raging throughout his body. Batman, Kate, and the Colonel get some help from Batwing and Azrael, who can somehow stop Brother Eye with some type of nanotech ray gun shriek. It only works temporarily and the OMAC’s all fly back to the belfry to set up shop. Turns out; Tim has been completely taken over by Ulysess and Brother Eye. He morphs into a Batman looking OMAC and we are led to believe Tim is in full control of his body and “wants” this to all happen...magically... since minutes before he didn’t want it. Yeah right! Batman sneaks off with Orphan to find Stephanie to hopefully knock some sense into Tim and it appears as though she expected this to happen all along, because who would expect your over the top, crazed, ex-boyfriend who just saw his future self try to murder his friends, to build SKYNET!!!!! Obviously, Steph would know that. Look; I’ve been digging Detective since the Bat-Drake arc started. Sure, it’s had its ups and downs and I’ve been super excited for OMAC’s and Brother Eye but I think I’m just struggling with the connective tissue between the issues, the desire of the characters, and the plot. Ulysess is smart but he’s a nobody who wears Bat clothing. He’s a smart, stalker

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We open with Brother Eye-Tim-OMAC breaking into GCPD in order to make the cops OMACs. But Batwoman breaks into GCPD and draws Tim away from the cops, and Renee Montoya. Tim pursued Batwoman in an attempt to kill her but when he catches her he decides to show the future he saw from Ulysess in hopes to prove to her why she needs to die. Meanwhile, Spoiler, Orphan, and Batman break into the new Belfry hidden by tech Spoiler created. But it can only get them so far. Ulysess sees them and sends a controlled Azrael and Batwing to fight Batman while Ulysess tries to side track Spoiler from cracking Tim’s code and breaking him from Brother Eye. Ulysess shows Orphan and Spoiler a future where they were both Batgirls but it’s not enough to distract them. Spoiler manages to break the code and we end with Ulysess shocked that Spoiler broke the code. Overall, I was really not that impressed. Here are some questions I left with: how can Spoiler crack this code from Tim and Ulysess that is also from the future? How can Spoiler create drones that can hide them from this future Brother Eye tech but Batwing and Azrael get taken over? Were did these drones magically come from? I thought Batwing was just as smart especially with tech; did that change now? How did Ulysess get a tattoo on his head from one issue to another? I don’t remember that from before. And the most important of all, What’s going to happen after all of this? All of these OMAC’s have Bat symbols all over them. Does Tim or Batman have no repercussions from all of this? Do we just go back to normal and pretend like none of this happened? Because I’m getting kind of tired of that personally.

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Well, that’s a wrap. I don’t read solicits because I don’t like to be spoiled. But if there was a time for Tynion to leave, and I heard he is at some point, it’s now. The issue ends like a movie would end with everyone going their separate ways and splitting off to find themselves. Do you want me to summarize? That’s easy! Stephanie shows Tim what really happened in the future and it helps Tim break free, break from the chaaaaiiiiiinnnnnn. He just had to Hold on for one more day.... In the future, Bruce was dying from radiation and Kate put him down because he asked. Yup. Brother Eye deleted that info and lied to Future Tim setting up Bat-Drake. And somehow, Stephanie was able to decipher all of this in a quick upload unto the future Tech of Brother Eye. Makes sense right? She is better than Batwing, Tim, Babs, and Cyborg combined! Yup... That’s it! 10 pages in we wrap the story and spend the rest getting a happy ending sundae from Friendlys. Tim goes off with Stephanie on a road trip, maybe even a Cannonball Run... Orphan goes to help out Lee at the free clinic with her new teacher Babs, Clayface is alive and with Dr. October (cause everyone stays dead now), Batwoman is working with her Daddy, Azrael is talking with CYBORG?!?!?!?... which was just thrown in there.... oh yeah, and we are Back to The Batman, Alfred, and HOPEFULLY JIMBO!!!! If I was to grade the entire run of Tynion, I would say it had its ups and downs but it wasn’t too bad as a whole. As a wrap up goes, his story was pretty bad. The worst part is the potential this story had and it just..... ends. I was very disappointed. I felt like the ending was quick and easy and something you have been building for months, possibly years, shouldn’t just end in a quick 10 pages. Tynion’s run was unique and took Detective in a different direction then it’s ever really been before. We got a squad of people fighting crime, which was like a Bat Justice League in a way. And, I feel like his entire run had a theme attached to it that seemed thought out, direct, and driven. In my opinion, from issue 1 to now, the main idea of his run was to create a better future for Gotham. I know you could argue it’s always been that way but Detective was always about mystery, and fighting one crime at a time. Tynion’s run became about ending crime in Gotham, creating a legacy of the Batman, and sort of making a Bat Police Force in a way. Even from day one, creating the team, the belfry, the organization, the Bat Squad was trying to stop Colony but the irony is they too were heading in that direction all along as well. As much as the story painted Colonel Kane as a villain in the beginning, Tim ultimately went down the same path with his ideas as well. Heck at the end, Batman makes the joke at the end of the issue (which seemed kind of real) about creating a vigilante school for kids to train. If anyone in DC is listening, that better be a joke because that sounds awful for a direction that Detective Comics could go in. Throughout Tynion’s run, we saw Tim die (not really) and come back only to truly find out that it was pointless. That was SO disappointing. Everyone expected so much more from Mr. Oz and Tim but we got nothing. We saw the First Victim to which we still don’t know who he/she is, fights with Colony, Future Tim from an alternate timeline ( my favorite arc of the run), Orphans Mommy, and then a wrap up with the Brother Eye and OMAC. The highlights make the run sound pretty great. Honestly, they were.... the highlights. But taking a trip down memory lane made me see that his run was really good at great single issues here and there but overall story arcs appeared to fade along the way. He would hit a home run on an issue to draw you in and then it would fade. As for this issue, we got the same. How does Stephanie stop the OMAC’s? Heck, she was around during Infinite Crisis right? She could have ended all of that easy peasy then (sarcasm). What happened to Ulysess? Where is a big end fight scene? Stephanie just shows Tim the truth and he breaks control of Brother Eye with his mind... really? We had OMAC’s everywhere. Did they just disappear off of everyone like that? No one cares? The Justice League should have been involved once an OMAC showed up from the beginning. And the lead OMAC had a huge Bat Symbol on his chest. No repercussions for Batman I guess. Or Tim for that matter. What I’m realizing in ALL Batman comics is that Batman can literally do anything or be apart of anything and he won’t be punished. In Batman with TK, poison Ivy took over the world, but no worries. He can go into other countries and take out people if he wants... but who cares? In Metal with Snyder, he can basically destroy the universe by breaking a hole in the source wall, but no big deal. He can search for a metal that literally opens the gates of Hell (dark multiverse) and everyone just says, “no big deal Bats.” And Tynion can have him running around Gotham with OMAC’s that have Bats attached to their suits, criminals working with him, city destroying explosions with Batmen wearing future versions of himself and everyone says, “it’s cool man. No big deal.” My point: a change in Bat books in general needs to happen. He literally gets a way with murder and everyone gives him a pass. You mean to tell me that Batman during Metal, Ivy, Santa Prisca, Jokes and Riddles, Colony, OMAC’s, and I could go on... during all that... no one died because of Batman? And how does Tim get a free pass on this one? Everyone was so upset because Batwoman killed Clayface and WE DON’T KILL... but every time a huge Batastrophe happens, Bruce is never at fault. We need a change in our thinking here Bat writers. We need to take this down a notch. I think we need to go back to basics in all Bat books. It is really getting out of control around the board. Seriously.. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

So where we stand in Batbooks, this was better than Batman 68 and has a totally different feel than BatWhoLaughs. The story moved quick with what appeared to be a good display of inner dialogue with Bats. It’s nice to see the Commish in a story and working with Bats but not being kidnapped and beaten. My only hope is we didn’t jump the shark on a story by already introducing the knight too soon. It feels kind of like Kane’s squad from the run earlier but medieval. I want detective comics to be more grounded like a detective. Too soon to give it a really bad score but kept me interested enough for the next issue. The play up with this at the end of 1000 to me at least was that this knight would be a big deal since it was page splash after page splash of Batman’s biggest villains. So again, to end 1000 with the Arkham Knight only to see him enter the story already, I hope it has a good payoff.

It is what it is. I know that’s a terrible saying but it fits this issue and probably the series. We will get corny ideas, heroes, and Saturday Morning cartoonish ideas like Monstertruck Man and a boy who works in a food truck that only serves Mayo. Again, it’s fine. If your looking for life altering, DC comic universe shaking events to come from this series, you dialed the wrong number. It’s fun and the art isn’t too bad.

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Let’s see if I can summarize what’s been going on in Doctor Stranger up to this point and into this issue for those who want to hop on board, especially with Fresh Start on the horizon. There was a tournament of wizards and the winner would become Sorcerer Supreme. Even though Strange won, the Vishanti gave the title to Loki and this drove Strange into a depression where he became a veterinarian and befriended a talking basset hound named Bats. Strange gets so pissed at Loki that he awakens the Sentry, goes to Asgard, steals wood from this Asgardian magically tree to get these epic magic powers, and challenges Loki for this title back. The Void gets released, takes control of Strange for a bit, Loki kills Bats, and Sentry helps Loki and Strange lock the Void back up again. We later find out that Loki was just tricking Strange (surprise surprise) and this never happened. So, Strange gets his title back and as a peace offering, Loki brings back Bats as a ghost. After regaining his title of Sorcerer Supreme, Strange goes out to Las Vegas to raise the entire city and people from the dead, since they were destroy back with evil Cap in Secret Empire. Strange does do it but every spell has a cost, even something small. Well, raising a city and all of its inhabitants is HUGE! So, the price was a portal opened to a hell dimension sending Mephisto up from his hell dimension to take control of the city, make ghost riders out of the Avengers including Strange, and then trapping their souls in the same hell dimension with the likes of Dormammu, Nightmare, and Shuma-Gorath. Wong sends Blade, Iron Fist, Ben Reilly, Johnny Blaze, Man Thing, Voodoo, and more to come help Strange escape this predicament. But by this time, Strange is already in hell. So Strange, with the help of Dormammu,

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Donny Cates ends another stellar run with humor, clever-witty banter, and setting up another writer to run with the character however they see fit. This issue opens with Zelma coming to talk to Dr. Strange only to find Spider-Man there “house sitting” as he called it. Really, Spidey was just stopping in to take a pee, but hey, we don’t find that out until the end. Anyway, Spidey takes Zelma to Strange’s Vet Clinic where Stephen is closing it down with his ghost dog “Bats”. Turns out, Strange has been helping animals illegally this entire time. Oh well, it’s for the best anyway since he’s Sorcerer Supreme again and all so..... Anyway, once Spidey and Zelma arrive at the Vet Clinic, Spidey and Bats are both lovestruck with one another and Zelma is just looking for a moment to talk over everything she’s feeling with Dr. Strange. The reader could tell that their was always something between them ever since Cates’ run started but nothing ever came from it. Maybe it was the age difference (since I think she was maybe in her young 20’s)? Or maybe Zelma was more drawn to the magic and allure that comes with being around the Sorcerer Supreme? Either way, the tension between the characters has been building to this conversational confrontation. The two kind of have a heart to heart with one another and we end the issue finding out that they both realize something is there between them but probably shouldn’t be there. Did you ever have the “wrong place wrong time” feeling? Or that idea that you are actually an “old soul” and connect better with people much older than you? Or that idea that “if we just meet a bit sooner” or “if I was only 10 years younger”. Well, I feel like that’s what Zelma and Strange realize they have too. They both realize that they probably shouldn’t be together yet both consciously acknowledge that they want to be together... and go their separate ways. Cates again sets up the new creative team back at square one in which they can take the character in any direction they want... it just better have Bats! Bleeker Street is back! Our Sorcerer Supreme is back! The world is fixed after Cap and Vegas. All is balanced in the world again. It was a nice, funny, and Strange ending. I loved the run as a whole and would recommend the trade to anyone. Cates run was unique, different, witty, and clever. He had big shoes to fill before taking the run over BUT I think he did a great job. It may not have been the best run of Dr. Strange ever, but it was definitely up there. I don’t know which direction this series will go in Marvel’s “Fresh Start” but it better have Wong and Bats! Thank you Donny for another great series and good luck to the next creative team. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We kick off Dr. Strange Number 1 with him fighting some crazy-nasty, gigantic, dead looking thinks with forty mouths. And let me tell you from Jump Street, the art was fantastic. Strange lights a couple of them on fire, escapes through a tear in the fabric of our reality, and literally sows that tear back up like a surgeon. This opening was pretty dang cool. It incapsulated everything that most individuals would remember about Dr. Strange, including his cockiness. Waid then takes us on his next journey by opening up the idea that Strange has literally lost is powers... again. But this time, fully. They basically faded away leaving him unable to use any of his amulets, talismans, spells, and even contributed to him getting lost in his own house on Bleeker Street. But again, Waid plays on his cockiness and decides to have Strange not tell anyone about his dilemma until it’s too late. Finally, Strange visits Stark to see if he has any thoughts on what he could do. For those of you that haven’t been following Strange the past couple years, magic items have abilities in them.... and they run out. Strange has basically used up all the magic on Earth and he’s traveled to other realms to get more magically items to boost ours here on Earth. But now, with his magical abilities gone entirely, he can’t go to another realm to find more because he wouldn’t survive. So, with no other options, he went to Stark for guidance since he’s one of the smartest people he knows. I could get behind this section of the issue as well. Waid put the pieces together in a way that made Dr. Strange seem lost, alone, and so sad. He made Strange’s options bleak. Tony seemed like the next logical option and next step. So, I was buying it until the next part. Stark gives Dr. Strange the idea of going into space. Tony creates a spaceship specifically for Strange that’s so easy to use that its “like using a car” and Dr. Strange reluctantly goes into space... the Shi’ar emperor actually. His ship crash lands on this planet that Tony preprogrammed in for him and, long story short, the aliens on that planet tie him up, and lock him away announcing to him that they don’t know what magic is. This leaves Strange imprisoned on an alien world, without a working spaceship and no magic. So, here is where I was not sold on the issue. Dr. Strange in space... after the directions we were going with the character since 2015 especially, I didn’t see this coming at all. I was definitely shocked but for him to agree to go throughout space on his own, seemed silly and cavalier. He must know very little about navigating the cosmos, engineering, and may I remind you has no magical abilities. I could have bought into this more if someone else went with him. But I just found this direction odd. Notice, I didn’t say that it’s not interesting to me. I am still intrigued BUT I had a hard time connecting the character to space. Also, if you’ve been reading Black Panther Fresh Start issue 1, it appears to also be taking place in space. So, what I’m getting at is, we already put a hero in space that’s normally not there. Technically, I know that we don’t truly know which writer wrote their piece first... it’s just that BP was released first. Point is, if we get most of our titles in space, that’s not going to be a Fresh Start to me. I know I’m jumping the Shark on that idea but I just thought I’d lay it out there in case Marvel is actually reading this. And lastly, this is just me being picky, but where is Bats? I loved Bats. Waid, if you’re reading this, please find a way to put Strange’s ghost dog back into the book. Please! Now, some would think that last part is a deal breaker..... space that is.... the final frontier. With some writers, it is. But I trust Waid to logically give us a way out of this “Lost in Strange Space” storyline. Waid’s writing is always incredible and this story was no different. I wasn’t a huge fan of the direction he went, but if he can figure out an interesting way to connect the story and make it plausible for Strange to navigate space alone, I’ll be more in than I am write now. Should you buy it? Yes. Should you continue to buy it? Yes. In my opinion, Waid has earned the right to see his first arc through. His writing and creativity is always outstanding. Look no further than his wrap up of Captain America happening right now to see that... and I could name a dozen more reasons too. But, there is no doubt that anyone interested in Strange, Waid, creative stories, and out of this world art shouldn’t pick this up. I only hope for a logical way to get Strange through Space AND Bats..... please give me a Bats! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. This is how a story is written. We get a reveal an issue or two ago that basically told us who Rorschach was.... Reggie. Everyone speculates and basically says”who cares?” Or “So its Malcom Longs son... so... how and why?” Well, we found out in this issue! John’s did a great job of progressing the story and showing us that Rorschach escaped from Arkham but also showed us how he became Rorschach and why. It’s not always about the destination but sometimes the journey is more important; especially for comic readers. We want the journey.... we want to know why... we want the connective tissue... we want all the pieces to the puzzle because we invest so much into this amazing medium and escape into this world weekly. We want it to make sense. And this comic gives us that. Sure, we don’t get any closer to our answers for Rebirth BUT we get great answers in THIS story that are meaningful and important while reintroducing a minor Watchmen character and making him important. Even the letters at the end were a fantastic touch to draw you in even more. This was a well written story from start to finish. They made me care about Reggie more than I thought I could. This is a concept that I feel many writers are lacking currently and whether it be for time constraints, pacing, or whatever the case, we need more stories like this. My only issue is that we didn’t get any BIG DC answers.... which is ultimately fine. I think we just need to all be patient, especially if we get great art and fantastic writing like this. Technically, we FINALLY get Saturn Girl, which will hopefully lead to the Legion. Who knows? And we get feelings throughout this issue from Reggie, to Bryon, and even Viedt. Truly magnificent issue.

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Now this is how you tell a story. You progress the story a little at a time moving the characters along, intertwining them along the way, and giving the read glimpses of what’s to come. You gradually unravel the story with fantastic art and situations between the characters that drive the story forward. The only thing that I hate about this story is the wait. I wish they could make it this good and get it back to monthly but we will see. So, let’s dive into the story shall we? The issue opens with Viedt in the hospital recovering from falling out the window after attacking Luthor, who is also recovering. The doctor shares her thoughts on God, kind of like the band Dishwalla, and explains how lucky Viedt was. But more important to the story, I think anyway, is the connection that they make with Viedt and metahumans. The idea that Batman created... people wearing spandex and taking the law into their own hands whether metahuman or just a costumed human. The story is really hitting on the overall idea of the true benefit of super heroes. Do they help or do they hurt more than they help? Great questions actually. Anyway, Viedt breaks out of his cuffs in the hospital, steals the policeman’s uniform, breaks out his Egyptian pet caracal and drives off to his multiversal Nite Owl hover plane. But waiting for him in his craft is Batman whose read the Rorschach journal and now believes what both Rorschach and Viedt are saying. Meanwhile, news in going nuts on the Superman Theory, which is that 97% of all metahumans come from America AND that America has been secretly testing humans with the meta-gene putting them in hero and villain situations “guiding” them to becoming a hero for our country. But again, while this theory is running rampant all over the world, Gotham is going nuts and wants Batman dead. We catch up with Saturn Girl and Rorschach escaping Arkham, getting their stuff, and searching for Manhattan. Dr. Thunder escapes his nursing home and travels to Pittsburgh to find his magical lantern that has a genie in it that gives him his powers. He’s looking for the genie to help him figure out what happened to his friends. But while in Pittsburgh, a group of junkie thugs drops Dr. Thunder and try to kill him. Lucky for him, Saturn Girl and Rorschach find Dr. Thunder just in time to save his life before the junkies kill him and take his lantern. The Comedian is even getting involved. He finds the bar that Mime and Marionette killed a bunch of Joker’s goons in last issue and is intent on tracking them down. However, Mime and Marionette are on a search for Joker and it leads them to the GCPD where Joker’s goons are beating the crap out of Gordon on the roof by the Bat signal. And, this is where parts of our stories connect together. Viedt and Batman are flying above Gotham and Viedt maneuvers the Nite Owl plane in such a way that Batman falls out the back. He tries to save himself by grappling to a near by building but some of Jokers guys get him and throw him on the roof in front of the Joker whose waiting on the roof. Mime and Marionette are also on the roof waiting to talk to the Joker and the Comedian is in route to them as we speak. Maybe by the next issue, Rorschach, Saturn Girl, and Dr. Thunder will also meet up with them too? The story was great and I loved seeing how the characters are connecting throughout the story. We finally get the Joker, hopefully some answers on Dr. Thunder and Saturn Girl, and even the involvement of the Comedian dangles some great threads to pull at and develop some more ideas. I left the issue feeling like I got just enough to make me feel like the story moved forward and gave me enough items to be excited about the future and direction of the book. This issue checks all the important boxes. It’s creative, fun, has amazing art, leaves you asking tons of questions, and leaves you wanting more. This is how to write a great comic. Indirectly, the book is hitting on key ideas of Super humans. I’ve always thought Batman contributes to the villains he fights. Would Gotham be as bad without him? I personally don’t think so. Why does Superman get a pass? Simple because of who he is and what he stands for.... maybe..... But to a degree, Superman is also contributing to the villains we have in Metropolis and the world for that matter. And, what Viedt said earlier had some merit. He said that the villains continue to come out of prison like a revolving door and nothing is changing. There Society is only getting worse. Individuals like a Batman are just making this world worse. Viedt’s plan may have been over the top but he did end war, power struggles, helped with over population, disease, and hunger. How much closer are the DC heroes to doing that? Granted Viedt had to do something sickening in order to make his partial Utopia work.. but he at least tried. What have our heroes done? Lastly, if you remember, Luthor mentioned knowing who he thinks set up all of this Superman Theory idea in the first place. He said it’s someone who used to be in the League. That line was intriguing to me. I was trying to figure out who it may be but I’m stumped. If you can think of anything or have any ideas, let me know. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Oh my gosh, this book is so sad. Don’t get me wrong; it’s REALLY good. But I left after reading this so depressed. So, if you don’t want to know what happens to Huckleberry Hound, and don’t want to be shocked and depressed, don’t read any further. Basically for anyone not following along until now, Snagglepuss, Huckleberry Hound, and QuickDraw McGraw are all homosexual. Huckleberry Hound was at a secret underground club for anyone who was homosexual at the exact time it was raided by cops. Since this is taking place around the time of the Cold War, homosexuality was looked down upon and had to be hidden out of fear. The worst part about last issue was QuickDraw was one of the cops who was forced to do the raid and was dating Huckleberry. In order to hide who QuickDraw was and his life style, he helped raid the club and beat down Huckleberry Hound. It was so sad. This book just hits so many issues and truly is heart breaking. We open this issue with Huckleberry depressed and alone in his apartment with graffiti all over his door. Snagglepuss, who remember is also homosexual but just wasn’t at the club when it got raided, was trying to get Huck out of there and live with him. But Huck was so depressed and stricken that he didn’t know what to do with himself. He just started to feel like his life was back on track. And then, this woman set up this raid in order to smear Snagglepuss’s image but ended up ruining Huck instead. Well, it worked. SP decides to testify in court to help out the government against the Cold War even though it would put him in harms way, his standings in society to the forefront, and his life style choices under a microscope. But he decides to do it in order to save the people he loves from getting drug through the mud. Well, it’s too late.

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. The issue begins 5 years later. Time has pasted and we see that SP is basically ruined, alone, and hasn’t worked since the hearings. We see a man that tried to put his stamp on the world and prove society wrong but feels that he came up short. SP visits his father in the home only to find out that even though his father appeared mean, miserable, hated his sons lifestyle choices, and couldn’t remember anything due to his dementia, he still felt regret for how he treated his son. Being a parent, we sometimes lose track of what’s important for our kids and what they really want for themselves. We often times try our best to live through them when in all reality it’s their turn to be center stage. SP’s dad, even with dementia, regrets how he treated his son even though he didn’t agree with his lifestyle choices. And like most people in life, his dad regrets many of the decision he made. It was a good moment for SP to see that side of his father before he passed. We now get to see SP dealing with the same regrets. He sent his love back to Puerto Rico, hasn’t worked in 5 years, and when his father dies, he doesn’t even have enough money to bury him. He had it all and now has nothing. But after a pit stop in a bar with the bartender who used to run the underground bar Huck and SP used to attend, the bartender shows SP that he actually made a difference. He showed him that times have changed because of the stand that he took. He explained to him that more people began to understand that these lifestyle choices existed and that they aren’t going away. People continued to realize that it’s ok to be yourself and express who you are in your own way. Everything takes time but given humanity, change is inevitable. And with change comes acceptance. Maybe not how you wanted it or when you wanted it, but acceptance will come. It always does. Later, Quick Draw confronts SP and explains how sorry he is for the mistakes he made that basically led to Hucks suicide. He offers SP an opportunity to be on cartoons with him because for some reason, anyone is welcome to work on cartoons. No one is blacklisted. SP reluctantly accepts and brings Huckleberry Hound Jr to join him. In 1959, they create their show and the rest is history. I loved this part so much. It’s far from a happy ending but it shows a society’s advancements and evolution. And we get to see that the Huckleberry Hound from the cartoon was actually his son. I loved that twist too. Loved it! This series was excellent. Russell is a fantastic writer with an amazing vision. Give him any character you want and he’ll write what he wants using your character, their background, and keep their foundation true to who they are. He hits real world topics in such a professional way. Russell realizes that love is the name of the game and you can see it in all he writes. I am just sorry that it’s done. Russell out did himself again leaving me speechless at so many parts throughout his run. I’m excited to see what he has on deck next and I can’t wait to get this trade. Don’t read this issue. Read them all! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Classic FR feel. Doom, Galactus, and the gang together again. Interesting plot to use his power cosmic as well as classic doom death traps. Loved it!

So from and ending in detective that I wasn't a huge fan or to an ending in this issue I loved. Wally West is back as THE Flash. None of this whose who of Wally's or how many Flashes we got. We have a Flash ( red head Wally) and a Kid Flash ( not red head Wally) I really hope we get more than an arc of Wally being the Flash. I like Barry but he has been going through some stuff lately and he needs to go find himself, or at least that's what all my high school girl friends told me!!! Give me at least 12 issues of Wally as the Flash please !!!! As for the story, I loved finding out why Grodd is the puppet master, since he's down with the sickness. But I don't like Meena or Raijin in this. These two as villains are falling flat to me. Grodd on the other hand, is drawn amazingly, looks ruthless, smart, and truly strikes me like an ACTUAL villain with some power to him. Love the issue and love to see where it's going! Keep it up Do you think Barry takes Godspeeds powers somehow? Could Barry try to help out team Flash but maybe takes a page out of the Rogues book using some of their tech? Do the Rogues just help him to stop Grodd? I feel like we've seen that one before...... Anyway If you like what you heard, love talking comics, and are interested in joining a DC book club, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com. Catch you all later! Peace

I wish I could say I did not see the ending coming, but I did. With only speedsters being able to move throughout this new speed force storm the only logical choice was for Godspeed to enter into the story. Now I am OK with that but it did seem a bit predictable to me. We find out that Lord Grodd, which I love by the way, is probably controlling Meena mentally, and possibly the others. And I'm ok with that too since it will give Meena and out for being "bad". But what is going on with Barry? He's upset that his powers are gone. I get that. But he's coming off like a jerk. And appears to be so desperate to get his powers back that he needs to let out Godspeed for help. Basically releasing a killer instead of trusting the three speedsters he has there. I'm just not digging Barry right now. Actually haven't liked the writing of "Barry" too much since he got the negative speed force. I don't think this comic is bad by end stretch. I love the story, the set up, the writing of mostly everything, especially the villains BUT I want happy go lucky optimistic Barry. Where is he? I also want Barry to be the egg head for a bit that runs the show from behind close doors and Red head Wally to be the actual flash for a bit in the comic and the league. Let's fix Barry and work on him while continuing a great Flash comic! I loved the art too! The art with Grodd in the beginning looked fantastic! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. So, why is Barry a turd? When did this happen? Why does he think he is the only one who can stop Grodd? Heck, Grodd even admits that Red-headed Wally seems pretty formidable. We left Barry last time freeing August to now find them both at an old hideout of Blackhole trying to figure out how to use the lightening rod to get Barry’s powers back. Avery and Lil Wally try to confront Meena to see if they can sway her to their side but that doesn’t work. And Red-head Wally takes down Raijin, who we got no real build up for and has done basically nothing in this story other than show up for a cliffhanger. The story ends with Barry getting his powers back by using the lightening rod even though Red-headed Wally tries to tell him repeatedly not to get the rod close to Grodd...... and we find all of Team Flash, including August, all taken over by Grodd, the speed force, and Grodd’s mind control. I’m not going to lie; I’m a bit down on this issue compared to the rest. It’s not terrible by any stretch. I’m just tired of Barry to be honest. I was actual happy that he lost his powers. I thought Red-headed Wally could step in and be Flash for a bit while maybe Barry became the tech guy for Team Flash, like an Oracle in a way. Something different incorporating both characters. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the art. The art wasn’t bad but Grodd looked so much better in the last two issues. Ultimately, I need Barry to be optimistic and uplifting. He is the kind of guy that is always their for his friends, always gives you the benefit of the doubt, and will never let you down. This has not been Barry for a LONG TIME now. He’s been nasty, and awful friend, mean, a mope, and full of himself. At first, I thought it was because of the negative speed force. I’m not so sure.

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We get to see Barry with powers AGAIN and running from Team Flash and Grodd. He gets a moment breakthrough to Wally who comes up with an idea but doesn’t have enough time to share it with Barry. However, it turns out, as we take a trip down J-Dubs run of how depressed and emo Barry has been during his run, Barry has actually been collecting parts to alter the lightening wand to not only save Grodd’s life but to take his connection to the speed force for good. Grodd is back to his old, large, mind control ape-self. Well, Grodd can’t take that so he turns the speed force storm into a negative speed force storm, which no one really understands how the negative speed force works STILL and, which is where the issue ends..... This was an average issue that pushes the story forward but feels rushed to get to an ending, or dare I say Flash War! Somehow, crazy emo Barry managed to keep a mind reading ape out of his head to not see his plan coming together? Seems odd to me. But, again the story was quickly progressed and it feels like J-dub tries to also make amends for Barry’s attitude for the last 30 plus issues all in one issue. Personally, it will take more than one issue to change what J-dub has done to Barry attitude, personality, and character. I want the old Barry back... or even just Wally!!!!! All in all, it was an average arc with average art. It held my attention and moved the story forward. Worth a read if you’ve been following along throughout the past two arcs. If not, just wait for Flash War. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Im sorry but this is what I’m talking about... why do we build up to these huge stories that seem epic and it just ends with the Flashes running really fast? What happened to Raijan? Multiplex? Black hole? We get the reveal that Grodd is the big bad, which was a pretty sweet reveal. Heck, he took Barry’s powers for this and Barry gets them back an issue later. Really? We get Godspeed and Meena back... the negative speed force even.... but this entire run built up to team Flash running fast and we’re done. Again really? Come on!!!! J-Dub has had his chance. We have seen his run and I think it’s time for fresh Blood. It’s had its ups and downs. And as a whole, we got tons of new and interesting characters, trips into the future, new power sets, and even new jobs for Barry. He’s come a long way and it’s been pretty good for the most part. But, I think it’s time for a change. I’m tired of big mind blowing arcs being dismantled by small, easy to fix, non-sensical solutions like running faster the other way, or a magical wishing machine, or a 10th metal that grants magical abilities to its wearer. You start with the end of a story and work to the beginning. I feel like J-dub, as well as many others, are just floating around from arc to arc and giving us these whimsical conclusions which deflate everything they’re working towards. Summary: Barry fights Grodd. Other apes take a Grodd away. Team Flash all run fast telling the readers that they will lose their powers. They don’t since they all run together. And we end by seeing Hunter Zolomon in the future at the Flash museum saying how he’s better than Thawne and is going to stop Barry. This was supposed to be the culmination of J-Dubs entire run and we find out nothing. We get new characters is about all we get a

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. This issue felt very different then most of Josh’s run to this point. Maybe it was just the ton of the issue, or maybe it was a mix of the art by Christian Duce, but it seemed to have a different tone and I loved it. Let’s start with what happened in this issue. Nothing big honestly; just an aftermath issue. We see Central City get patched back together after the storm, Meena voluntarily went to prison for her actions, Godspeed is talking to some figure in the dark who can promise him the name of his brothers murderer, and the touch too much! You guessed it; Iris remembers red head Wally after 45 issues. What I learned from this issue is that something has shifted. Barry seemed different in this issue. He didn’t seem like a sad sack. I feel like for the last 20 plus issues, if not more, we haven’t gotten the character of Barry Allen. Williams has given us a mix between Butters, meets George Bluthe, meets Milhouse... who happens to run kinda fast. But this issue had Barry upbeat, nerdy, hopefully, and a rock to his friends. You know; kind of what Barry was supposed to be this entire run! Has it truly taken 45 issues for Williamson to find the character of Barry Allen? Thank the maker if that’s true! Now, if we can just get Barry back to CCPD and get things back to normal....oh and if you’re reading this Josh , don’t go back to Bloodwork or Papercut. After Flash War, let’s continue down this path and take Barry back to the basics. Does anyone remember Rodimus Prime? Does anyone else remember the song from the Transformers movie? All I kept thinking at the end of the issue with Wally was.... Iris: you got the touch. You got the POWERRRRRR... YEAH! ( breakdown) And now that dang song was stuck in my head all night long.... anyway.... as the issue ends, Iris starts

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We open with an intro to Hunter Zolomon and we reintroduce one of Wally’s greatest foes. Zolomon was to Wally as Eobard was to Barry. Since we’ve started Rebirth, as well as New 52 (to my knowledge) Zolomon has not been in comics. We figure out that Eobard ripped Hunter from the time stream long ago and placed him in the 25th century where Eobard grew up so the two of them could plan and organize a way to make the Flash’s understand pain, which would make them better heroes. Turns out, everything we’ve seen with Eobard this past year (or more) had Zolomon working behind the scenes organizing and pulling the strings to change both Flashes at least until Eobard wen off the reservation. Eobard ran off because he couldn’t wait anymore to get back at Barry so he ran off to do it on his own. That’s the part of the story we know from this past year. Needlessly say, Eobard is now dead and Hunter is going to set up a war to get Wally and Barry to understand their purpose and to make them better heroes. I like the idea of reintroducing Hunter Zolomon, especially with Wally as the focus and not Barry. But I just have a hard time believing that Hunter Zolomon was secretly working with Eobard this entire time. Obviously, it’s a retcon and I understand that, but it just doesn’t seem believable to me. Also, who are these other Rogues? We saw them once about a year ago now (not sure) and I’m supposed to believe that they went through time and “made the Rogues look bad”.... at least that’s how I took it. This just all seems odd to me. Why discredit the Rogues? I loved the last issue. I love that Wally and Iris remember everything. I love that Hunter Zolomon is being reintroduced to continuity... to a degree.... but I think it’s the way this is all happening.

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. The issue opens with Barry and Wally arguing in what “appears” to be the future. The vibe we get, is that Wally wants to go back in time and change something. We later find out at the end of the story, that Hunter Zolomon pulls Wally aside to offer him an opportunity to get his old life back with Linda and his kids. The end actually reminds me of the end of “Back to the Future” when Doc Brown comes back and says, “ it’s your kids Marty! Somethings got to be done about your kids!” We jump to 47 minutes and 18 seconds earlier, which honestly tells me this is more a battle than a war... but anyway... Barry and Wally are trying to stop some wave from crushing some coast somewhere and the idea is to build up hostility between the Flash’s to the reader which I really never noticed much of before. Sure, in some of the Grodd issues I could sense something was up with Wally but nothing that seemed like they were angry at each other. The Renegades from the future, which are the Future Rogues they are “good”, come to take Iris to the 25th century to pay for her crimes of murdering Eobard months ago now. Wally tries to run away with Iris to hide her but she freaks out on him and demands they stay and fight. Barry, Kid Flash, and Wally try to fight the “good” Rogues/ Renegades and we see that their Golden Glider (Golden Guardian) is a yellow lantern, which was pretty cool! The Renegades make a deal to help Wally, who is suffering from temporal time headaches... I guess... but only if they can take Iris with them to at least question her. So, they all agree to go to the future together but when they arrive, Wally isn’t with them. Zolomon somehow pulled him away in mid-teleport to say his “it’s your kids!” line from “Back to the Future”. The issue was ok. Maybe it’s my fault and maybe it’s Williamson’s fault? Maybe it’s both? All the talk was that this war was going to be epic. So, I assumed we would get fire right out of the gate. It wasn’t bad it was just lacking from my expectations, which makes it harder to grade. Did I build it up more than I should have? Did I fall to the hype train? What is a hype train anyway? I loved the yellow lantern ring for their Golden Guardian and I loved the reference to Linda and his kids. For all the Flashers our there... is that what we’re called?!?!?... seeing Wally get his life back would be great. I loved seeing Barry back with the original Flash Rebirth almost a decade ago but then we lost our Wally for so long. Rebirth brought him back... kind of... but DC hasn’t used him right at all.... for example a pace maker. So, the excitement for me is to somehow give us both Flash’s back to normal. We can deal with two Flash’s. It’s fine. So, we are seeing the possibility BUT I don’t want it to come at the cost or detriment to Wally. And he looked crazed on that first page. The fighting between Barry and Wally seems forced to set up some type of a war. I’m really not liking that part of this at all. And I still can’t get behind Zolomon as the bad guy. Time will tell. But for now, I think it was an ok start that will stick in the top quarter of my stack. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Is Zoom good or not? Is he playing Wally or not? Hunter Zolomon (Zoom) creates his own time Rogues for the future to stop time anomalies when he himself is also a time anomaly. I can’t put my finger on it but something seems off with Zoom. For those that don’t know, Zoom was basically Wally’s Reverse Flash in a way. He wanted Wally to go back in time and fix his issues but of course Wally wouldn’t. Hunter took it on himself to try to fix them by using the cosmic treadmill on his own. It blew up giving him speed-like abilities. He’s not “technically” a speedster. He can’t access the speed force. Zoom perceives everything at a matched speed. So if you can move at the speed of light, then so can he in that moment. If you can only move 25mph, then so can he. The issue now is that he doesn’t have his powers and something seems off with him to me. Why would he want Wally to get his kids back? What does he gain? Well, let’s speed read this issue and try to figure it out. We open with Wally remembering his twin kids, Jai and Irey. However, Wally only remembers bits and pieces until he smacks Hunter Zolomon right in his weird looking face. At that moment, Wally’s “touch to much” causes him to remember everything and realize that Hunter was telling the truth. Meanwhile, the future Rogues use their tech to decipher that Iris killed Thawne out of self defense, which cleared her of any wrong doing. However, the future Rogues want to clear everything up with their judge until they piece together that their judge was actually Hunter Zolomon. (The audience gasps) So, now they too are on the look for him. Commander Cold and Barry track Hunter’s signature and find him and Wally. Cold shoots at a powerless Hunter with his cold gun only to have Wally step in front of it and safe Zoom. Barry is totally confused as to why anyone would help a Reverse Flash and Wally explains the situation to Barry. He tells him about his kids and how Zoom told him that they are stuck in the speed force and that he needs to go in after them. Barry tries to tell Wally not to trust Zoom and that they’ll figure this all out on their own. But Wally doesn’t listen and races off. Meanwhile, Kid Flash and Iris show up on the scene. Iris gets one look at the pictures of the twin kids and she begins to remember the them too. But before she can get a chance to compose herself, it looks like the 25th century that they are all in starts to get erased. The reason it’s erasing is because Wally took off into the speed force and began to alter the timeline (I’m guessing). Barry caught up with Wally right before he raced into the speed force to try to plead with him not to trust Zoom one last time. He also doesn’t want Wally to change the future or the past. As Barry knows, messing with time has consequences and he doesn’t want Wally making the same mistakes he did. But an enraged Wally tries to explain to Barry how it feels to lose a child. Personally, I don’t know the feeling but I would be devastated if I lost any of my boys. And even though Wally didn’t know they existed until now doesn’t matter. As soon as he knew they existed, the memories came rushing back as if they were always there. I’m sorry Barry but he’s got to go and get them whether Zoom is lying or not. So, we have one who wants to save his family that’s lost in the speed force and the other who thinks they shouldn’t believe the villain and that they’ll find another way. And now, the war begins. Well, I was a bit down on the past couple issues but this one really got me more excited for this war. Williamson’s trying to give us back Wally. My Wally. A Wally that’s been gone since New 52. Sure, he’s been back since Rebirth but let’s be real, his character has kind of sucked in Titans. But, now we are hopefully getting Wally back for good and I am so pumped. However, I am concerned that Williamson will rush this ending like he’s been prone to doing. It’s ok to take your time, pace it out, and explain what’s going on gradually throughout. Please tell us WHY this is all happening. Please tell us WHY they’ve been missing. Please tell us WHO is behind all of this. We need answers and I feel like he’s leading us down that path. So give us the dang answers! If not... if I’m led down this path and get nothing... I think I’m out. Why? Because we will be at least two years removed from all of these questions and we aren’t any farther along than when we started. I don’t need all the answers just the ones related to Wally. Give them to me Williamson. Move us forward with two Flashes and let’s figure this out! If I were all of you readers, I’d read this issue. I’d read this entire war. And honestly, I’d use it as a turning point moving forward. Better yet, just like the first arc of New 52... moving forward....It’s time to “move forward” Williamson. Let’s do it! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

So what happened to the forces? Why are we focoon Trickster? Let me guess, he’s using one of the forces to make people be happy.... and I’m out!!! This is another book that needs a new writer. Is Williamson also doing 100 issues? Wally is dead. We don’t know what happened to zoom. We have a commander cold from the future, iris hates Barry, there is no Wallace or other kid Flash anymore.... what is going on? We were just on a force quest that went no where and no Trickster.... yuck

I don’t buy Trickster as this big enemy for one minute. How can he use this sage force so well? We don’t even really know how it totally works and how it’s used but Trickster does? Come on! And cold was flipped which means Trickster should know Barry is Flash or at least by using the sage force he should be wise enough to know... if that’s how this works. I want to know about these forces and I get the Trickster arc placed in the middle. This issue felt so 1990’s filled with stupid slap stick commentary and reasoning as to where Trickster has been for years. I’m not impressed and I’m not interested. I haven’t been interested in my favorite character for A LONG TIME NOW!!!!!! such a shame.

It’s moving to slow for me right now but at least we got back Uncle Sam. Give me some Overman as well as some Plasstic Men. I want to see the heroes of this world but we get very little of that in this issue and the rest for the matter. It was cool to see what the Human Bomb can be used for but I’m over it and getting tired of this comic. It took 4 issues to get Uncle Sam back. Give me some Super Powered action next issue or I’m out.and I mean super powered heroes they are now villains, peeps I would know too! And show me Uncle Sam throwing down! I know it’s a maxi but I won’t make it past this issue unless you give me more cause I’m barely holding on now...

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. This issue was a great surprise. I haven’t been reading Green Arrow lately because it really hasn’t been too appealing. That’s not necessarily a knock on the old creative team. I was just getting bored with it and like many books, you just stop reading it. So I went to Comicbookroundup like I do every week and I noticed the issue getting some play. I heard it was under a new creative team, so I gave it a try. And again I say, it was pretty dang good. We open with a tie in to No Justice. It gives us the perspective of Green Arrow throughout the event. We see Ollie fighting some bum named named Brick and appearing to have a difficult time taking him down. When all of a sudden, one of Brainac’s flying skull ships attacked the city. He manages to save the civilians and take down the ship with an arrow right through the eye of the skull. It was odd that he could barely stop Brick but could take down an alien shape ship and blow it right up with one shot. But I’m cool with it. Why? Because the creative team did a good job of making Oliver seem.... kind of dumb... but snarky, quick witted, and just lucky. He came off more like a human than any other Super Hero in DC. And that’s because he is... but I think sometimes it gets overlooked that GA is a guy that shoots arrows and the rest of them are like Gods. People try to play off Batman as a man playing with Gods. But not lately. We have gotten more of the Bat-God, especially with Metal. GA, especially in this issue, seems like the man amongst Gods. And I like that look for him. The man that will keep the Supermen in line. Anyway, back to the issue. It turns out, which makes a ton more sense, that Ollie was working with Babs throughout this event. That’s how he got his intel on who was abducted by Brainac, and who was knocked unconscious by him too. GA tries to track down his “pretty bird” ( Black Canary) and it leads him to JLA HQ. That’s where he finds most of the JLA frozen by Brainac. Babs and Ollie figure out that someone hacked his Queen satellites and that someone wasn’t Brainac... it was Waller. So, GA gets in his arrow plane and flies to the arctic where Babs placed Waller’s signal. And that’s where the stories intertwined with No Justice. Their issue ends with Oliver trying-to figure out what to do with the box Manhunter gave him. He doesn’t want it nor the responsibility. And, he doesn’t want to tell his Pretty Bird about it either. The less people that know about it the better. I just wonder what’s in the box. To be honest, when I saw it in No Justice, I thought it was just something to dumb that will eventually get forgotten. Or, a plot point that someone can come back to anytime but no one really “plans” to do it. Well, after seeing it come up in this issue twice, I think it’s going to be a pretty big deal. Maybe it will be the background of the Benson’s run? If so, I’m looking forward to it. And if not, after this issue, I’m willing to give their run a try. I hope many of you will too. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

The art is ok but the story lately has been lacking in my humble opinion. We are focusing on a dating app that kidnaps D-list superheroes. Really? We spent an issue watching Jessica sign up in hopes to get matched up with Nightwing, but in turn is matched up with Simon. So, are we going o get a relationship between our two heroes.... stop me if you heard that story before. Favorites: Omega men drop... that's about it. Ithese are lanterns and I don't feel like the stories have been big enough lately. Dare I say, take me back to the days of the First Lantern, or even Frank... If you like what you heard, love talking comics, and are interested in joining a DC book club, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com. Catch you all later! Peace

Wow! A dating app called Caper is capturing D List metahumans. So the Lanterns capture someone related and had to go to a place literally called Hellhole, which is just a cheesy name (let's be honest) to find their next contact or lead. Hellhole felt like Seeley was really trying to make a Star Wars connection... and it failed. It also looked like Seeley was trying to push the relationship between the lanterns too much. So much so that it appears that the overall point of the arc will be to get the lanterns to start dating each other. There was even a part where one of the people on Hellhole sprayed what appeared to be snot or mucus, maybe pus, or something from his arm to get away. Unnecessary and unrelated to the story. We find out at the end that some church organization is running a dating app to get heroes!!!! What?!?!? Call me when this arc is done. This is a push to get to characters together and a push to draw parallels to our society and it's connections to technology. Gotcha. Let's move on! If you like what you heard, love talking comics, and are interested in joining a DC book club, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com. Catch you all later! Peace

We went from a dating app somehow trafficking D list super heroes to the app being used by an alien church cult to somehow use their powers for their own gain.... I think.... The church cult is bringing in a ton of people and growing their followers to their "steed". The Green Lanterns are told by Jon that they need more evidence in order to help. However, I can't feel like if it was Hal or Kyle, everyone would have jumped to help. The lanterns sneak in and Jessica was just about to confess that the dating app paired her up with Simon when they were interrupted. I'm sorry but this is just boring. It was much better than the last issue but can we just get the two of them fighting an old school villain on earth? In tired of being introduced to tons of new characters that are going to be thrown away when this story is done. It's too many things happening at once that aren't very good. Again, it's better but the story needs to end. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. So the entire point of the arc was to show that Jess likes Simon, then add tension at the end to see if they will get together, and then show us they won’t. As a whole, this arc was just unnecessary, added way too many new characters and villains, and really was uninteresting. Then, the cliffhanger at the end was just creepy. So, Jess makes constructs to talk to? I guess but why does she make construct hunters or soldiers? It was just weird to put at the end. I can’t wait to find out why!!!! ( sarcasm) Are we to think Jess is now schizophrenic? I think Seeley wants us to see she is really lonely but the end came off creepy and weird to me... and again like the entire arc, unnecessary. If you wanted to show or tell us that Jess is lonely and into Simon, it could have been done in one issue.. everything you just did in this arc... one issue and done! This arc could be skipped and the reader could pick up the book like they never left. Totally pointless to the overall story and it barely moved the lanterns forward. A Positive: the arc is over. Let’s see what we get next! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We open with Jess talking to her friend/ psychiatrist, which if I’m right is just not allowed and weird. But anyway, we find out that she has blocked out memories that have happened to her family and friends. Obviously, she doesn’t want to address her issues and probably makes things awkward with her friend-psychiatrist. An alert happens telling her to meet Simon and track down Singularity Jain who appears to be on some robot planet helping some robot dad hide from the law while keeping his robot son. Jess tracks down Jain while Simon tracks down the robot dad to get his son and have him turn himself in... I think. Meanwhile, “I think” Jain somehow took control of Jess, or at least a deal was made. But again I’m not sure. Personally, the story was ok but just a bit confusing as to what was going on. It felt like worlds and characters were being introduced that I was not familiar with were, even though Jain was pretty recent.... I think... and I’ve been reading this book since Rebirth. I honestly need a recap of her powers and I truly don’t remember off the top of my head her connection with Jess. She made it seem like they mind melted or something. Again, I felt lost in this issue after the first 8 pages and that lead to me being uninterested by the end. Too much... too fast...with characters I know little about... THAT SAID, I liked it better than the last arc and the art was pretty good. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We open with Jessica Cruz on a hunting trip to later figure out that it’s a past memory of hers. It looks like Jess has always had anxiety BUT we may be getting more of a reason as to why she became a shut-in for so long. It looks like she was on a hunting trip and came across some men that actually killed someone and were hiding the body. Jess and her friends must have stumbled onto them and it turns out, her friends were killed but Jess managed to escape. In the last issue, Jain must have noticed this repressed memory and dug it out of her offering Jess a way to see the killers faces that have escaped her for about 4 years in hopes she could finally get revenge. And it appears as though Jess took Jain up on that offer. Constantine and the rest of the league send Simon to another realm to try to find Jess, which we find out does not allow “jewelry”, which seemed odd to me... but whatever. Simon goes in to that realm, minus his ring, to find out that we are actually inside Jess’s Power Ring. And if you remember, this ring was not only Volthooms but also Power Rings from the Crime Syndicate, which was a great tie in Seeley! Finally! I feel like this book is getting a bit better. I wasn’t really enjoying the last two arcs too much. And to be honest, I wasn’t a fan of how this one really started. But getting a better backstory of Jessica, as well as giving me some Volthoom and Power Ring is a huge step for me in the creative, fun, and exciting direction. I’m finally interested in seeing where the lanterns are going and I haven’t felt like this since Humphries left. So Seeley, you got a bite. Now, reel me in! Even though I wasn’t a huge fan of the last issue, I recommend you go back and read it so you know what’s going on in this issue since it started th

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. I honestly left this issue a bit confused. Constantine got Simon inside this place, which happens to be Jessica’s ring.... I think. That ring was from Earth-3 and belonged to Harold Jordan before he was killed and it found Jessica after Forever Evil. So, if I’m reading this issue correctly, and maybe I’m not, does the ring trap the souls of the people who wore it before? I guess what I’m saying is, where is this realm and how was it made? Seeley plays on the idea that some type of black magic was used to create this space and when Volthoom died, Jessica’s soul took over as the main host...... ok. All of this seems like a stretch just to get Power Ring in the story, as well as Volthoom’s name into the story. But that part of the story is just confusing to me. I’m still not sure after a couple reads. But I’m also an idiot so.... If I overlook that part, we get more info on Jessica and where her anxiety, depression, and phobias come from. That part was interesting and made sense. Her hunting party found two people hiding a body in the woods. The murderers found her hunting crew and killed them all but Jessica. She didn’t get there faces either. Meanwhile, Simon fights off his evil Earth-3 counterpart named Solomon who I guess also had the Power Ring at some point and time before Jordan... maybe. Again, I was confused on those parts. Don’t get me wrong; this is an interesting story and we get a ton of info on Jessica. But I feel like we are grasping at straws to connect some of the really cool history of the Green Lantern mythos and I don’t think it’s making a ton of sense. I’m still in. Even with the confusion, it’s the most interesting GL’s been under Seeley so far.

The story made sense. The people are not slaves of Zod and think he is their god. Makes sense They're mining something that can pierce green lantern constructs. Again, a purpose and reason for being there, which I like. Hal's ring is different then the rest so I can see them escaping how they did. So, again it works! And I think they are keeping them alive in fear that the rings will fly off and find a new "host" while they study it. Again, makes sense. I loved the throwback to tomar re and krypton going boom boom! Iit had great art! It was nicely put together and continued the story well. Loved it! If you like what you heard, love talking comics, and are interested in joining a DC book club, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com. Catch you all later! Peace

So, this seemed like a lot of extra fluff to basically say.. Kyle left... got help... came back to fight with about 8 lanterns. That said: I still liked it! We get some background on John trying to set back up the guardians and a chain of command, like the good old days. The "Hal will power" being uber powerful was a bit over done to me. But, what I took from it was he is not only the best green lantern, but he has the strongest will power, and is probably the most powerful green lantern.... which I feel like we already knew anyway. I was confused on the Zod-Kryptonian stuff. What exactly is he looking for? Krypton? Knowledge of survivors? Knowledge of any technology from Krypton? I'm just unsure what the eradicator was doing and the purpose of him looking thru the ring. Next issue, the fight! It should be sweet! Art was amazing again! Loved the issue but it was more background than anything. No big cliffhangers either. That's fine. Overall, I like the idea of Zod basically taking over a planet, creating weapons that can pierce lantern constructs, and I love how it all ties together with Action Comics, which is the future of this planet currently. I'm lovin' every minute of it! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. If you like fighting, action, adventure, and Guy getting beat up by a kid, this issue is for you! This has great art, great fight scenes, great action, fun constructs, but no real story or plot movement. If you skipped this issue, everything could just be summarized in about two or three panels in this next issue. That said; it sounds like I didn’t like. That’s far from the truth. Sometimes you just need some action and fighting in a comic, especially when it’s drawn well. Basically, the corp went back to fight Zod and fam in order to get Hal back. They started off pretty well but realized pretty quick that they didn’t stand a chance against three pure blooded Kryptonians with two yellow suns. But Kyle had a trick up his sleeve and sent Hal’s willpower right back to him in a last ditch effort. So now we end the story with a fully charged, willpower infused Hal Jordan ready to rock this place. And yes, Guy was destroyed by Lor Zod, which in his defense, a Kryptonian boy should still wreck shop on practically anyone; ring or not. So, how does Hal get out of this one? My guess; Superman! I seriously hope the last Action arc ties in, which was the future of this planet. I hope Superman comes to lay some smack down on Gen Zod if you know what I’m sayin’! Tag team match with Superman and Hal vs the Zods. I’m in! My other guess is that Jon is asked to step down as head of the corp and replaced with someone else. But who? Someone the guardians think they can control. Who? Who dang it! .......Beats me.? Feel free to send me your thoughts. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. So, Hal gives some flight lessons to Zod and manages to surprise him with a knock out. And, just as Hal was ready to lock him up, Jon and the guardians come in to tell Hal to let Zod go, leave the planet, and to have Zod release the lanterns. Everyone goes on there way and we find out that Zod took all the info he could off Kyles ring and knows plans, populations on planets, and basically everything the lanterns know. So I have some questions. Clark and Zod are full kryptonians. Basically the same genetics, species, etc. How could Hal stop Zod like that? It seemed too easy and I feel like Hal shouldn’t have stood a chance. Something didn’t smell right there. Secondly, What’s up with Jon and the guardians? They know who Zod is and what he did. Even though he said they view Zod like a god, he took over the planet and enslaved them. Why wouldn’t the guardians come in and stop this? This arc was ok but it seemed really big and important when it started but just landed flat. It even happened at the same time as the Action Comics arc with booster gold in the future. It felt important. It felt like more than Hal would be needed to stop Zod. Maybe a bunch of the corp? But it just fell flat at the end. The issue wasn’t bad and the art was good. I was hoping for more than what I got I guess. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. I think I’m going to love this arc. R-ditti is connecting tons of stuff throughout his long run while throwing back to some old stuff. We get the Controllers and the Darkstars! I think this is going to be great. The Controllers recreate a better version of the Darkstars that is more powerful than ever. A Darkstar appears to be a robotic suit that takes a host giving it abilities... like iron man armor but faster, stronger, and now with what appears to be MIND CONTROL!!! That’s right; Darkstar 1 comes fully ready to fly through space at the speed of light AND teleport into a sciencell to take control of its hosts as long as your version of Justice is DEATH!!!!!! So Darkstar 1 has taken control of Tomar Tu and laid waste to Hal like a yodeling country boy at the local Walmart. So what’s next for Hal and Pals? Honestly, I hope this arc is a long one. Maybe two 6 issue arcs that lead into one another? I feel like we get these arcs lately that should be bigger but they just fizzle out. The Zod arc was fine but it seemed quick to end. I want the Controllers and the Darkstars to stick around for a bit. Great opening arc. Nice art. I’m hooked and excited for the next issue! Great time to hop on board Hal and Pals if you haven’t yet and ride out the end of R-ditti’s run. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We open with Hal and Pals talking to the Guardians basically telling them that we need to act unlike the “Zod dilemma” and they agree. So, Salaak tracks down a bunch of the Darkstars to sector 1 and John rallies the crew to go take them on head first. The Corp arrives to find no one. Well, that’s because the Darkstars can literally teleport almost anywhere they want! Each of the Darkstars teleport all the lanterns back to Mogo except Hal. Tomar-Tu teleports Hal back to the Darkstar base for an offer he can’t refuse.... which was to join the Darkstars. He of course declines but listens to Tomar-Tu’s warning, which isn’t a horse head in his bed but still pretty BA. Tomar-Tu basically says leave us alone and let us do our thing. If you do, we’ll leave you alone. But if you BE triflin’ like a fool, we gonna put you down like a baby! So step off son! Tomar-Tu literally teleports Hal back to the center of Mogo with the rest of the GL Corp only to surround them with THOUSANDS of Darkstars. The art at this part was amazing and so detailed. It was awesome! So, Tomar-tu threatens them AGAIN to leave them alone to basically kill bad people on site. Guy, of course wants to fight and John tells the entire Corp to stand down. The Darkstars literally teleport away with the snap of a finger leaving the Corp to realize they don’t stand a chance without help. So, we end the issue with “urbody in da club” looking for some friends. Because we all “get by with a little help from our friends” don’t we? Personally, Robbie V is ending his run on a great note. I’m hooked on this arc. The art is amazing as well as the page layout an spreads. This comic team is inter-STELLAR. The Darkstars are interesting and seem like a legit threat to the Corp and the universe. Robbie V

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Let me start by saying that Brandon Peterson’s art was amazing! The story was good. I’m totally digging Venditti’s story now. But fantastic art takes an 8 and makes it 9. And Peterson’s art does just that. His art looks incredible and I need more of it. It has a reasonably real look that doesn’t come off like photo art. Now, the story was basically Hal, John, Kyle, and Guy trying to get as much help as possible to take down the Darkstars. We open with Tomar-tu teleporting into Iron Heights and basically incinerating Goldface for killing his father Tomar-Re during the original Crisis. The Flash (Barry) speeds in as Hal is checking out the crime scene to explain how the universe is basically going to Hell in a hand basket. But Barry realizes that these Darkstars mean business and that Hal is more nervous than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. John visits Zod and his fam with a pair of kryptonite knucks asking for help while Guy finds Arkillo in a bar to ask the Yellow Lanterns for help. Kyle finds Space Cabbie to take him to New Genesis in order to ask Orion for help, since he kind of saved his life and all, and back on Earth Hal was actually there to break Hector Hammond out of prison. However, Atomic Skull, whose now “kinda good” is there telling Hal to stand down. So, it looks like next issue will lead off with a Hal-Atomic Skull showdown THROW DOWN! Great issue showing all the cameos of Hal and Pals throughout Venditti’s run. Excellent job reintroducing them. And this is such a good pay off to loyal readers who get to piece all of these stories back together. I loved it! We get to see the power of the Darkstars again, amazing art from Atomic Skull, the rekindling of a bromance with Guy-killo, and hopefully an entire fleet from New Genesis to

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Last issue, we left Hal fighting Atomic Skull, John asking Zod for help, and Guy talking to Arkillo about the yellows joining the greens to stop the Darkstars. Now, we pick up with Hal and Hector “big head” Hammond easily taking down Atomic Skull, John suckering Zod into helping and Guy making a surprising choice. Hal eventually helps Hector Hammond escape and in the process tries to explain to him why he shouldn’t just kill Atomic Skull. Hector eventually listens to Hal’s plea and they take off into space back to Mogo. John is able to play on Zod’s emotions and trick him and his planet Jekuul into helping the lanterns by reminding him that Tomar-ru was the lantern on duty that didn’t save Krypton from exploding and his son Tomar-tu is one of the lead generals of the Darkstars. So, if he’s interested in vengeance, this is his chance. I think his plea worked. And lastly, the big shock of the issue was Guy and Arkillo getting a visit from Tomar-tu and Tamar-tu giving Guy an offer to join the Darkstars. Guy accepts the offer which was kind of surprising to me. Now let me first discuss this. I bet you a bacon double cheeseburger that Guy is just doing this to work his way into the Darkstars and defeat them from the inside out.... kind of like a spy for the lanterns. I’m sure this is all planned. BUT, please hear my plea DC comics and Robbie V, let him continue to be a Darkstar after this is all said and done. Don’t make this a twist. We currently have 6 Earth Lanterns and really should only have 1... 2 max. Now, I am a Guy fan personally and love him as a lantern but an opportunity has come up for his character to develop more so than it has in a LONG time. Run with it. Make him a villain, or at least the type of villain that feels he’s doing the right thing even though it may not be the best way. The idea fits his character well and it shouldn’t be a quick drop in a bucket for him. Somehow, the lanterns will win. That’s fine. But maybe Guy continues to be a Darkstar out of it? Also, I’ve grown to love Arkillo. Can we make him a Green Lantern already? I’ve been won over on the Arkillo front and would love to see more of him, especially with Killawog... or is that just me? Two of the uglies brothers you’d ever meet kicking names and taking ass. Personally, I loved the issue. I’m loving the story. I moved this book to the top 5 each week that it comes out. It’s by far the best lantern book out now and Van Sciver art is always great to look at. I’m exciting to see where this story goes but I’m not excited to see this creative team leave the book. There are many who have had their ups and downs throughout Rebirth but in my opinion Hal and Pals has been very consistent. It’s never dipped so low that I hated the book. It’s floor has always been high. Pick this issue up as well as this current run. I have no doubt you’ll love it! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. When we last left Hal and Pals, Guy and Arkillo were having a drink, Kyle and Space Cabbie went to New Genesis for help, John confronted Zod for help, and Hal broke out Hector “God Brain” Hammond for help. The issue ended with Guy becoming a Darkstar and flying off. Well, this issue picks up by showing us where Guy is going. We see Roland Gardner, Guy’s dad, standing outside the bar fighting the urge to go inside. He’s remembered all the times he beat up on his son and regrets every last one. Later, we find out that he’s been sober for roughly 6 weeks now and comes to the bar once a week to fight his urges and toughen himself up. Next, we jump to Hal and Hector on a deserted planet. Hal brought him there so he could show him what his “God Brain” abilities are and what they can do without hurting anyone or anything. Hector explains that he was never unconscious and actually heard everything Superman and Hal were talking about on their visit months ago. Hector then goes into Hal’s mind and shows him what he wants, all Hal’s enemies dead. Hal explains that those were mere questions and thoughts but not what he actually wanted to happen. Hector tells him that Hal is part of the reason the Darkstars are here. The feelings of guilt, doubt, and failure that he had helped contribute to the reformation of the Darkstars. Hal later wonders if the Element X armor from Metal helped contribute the reformation of the Darkstars as well. Hector then proceeds to take Hal’s ring, powers, and memory. I’m willing to guess that this is all in Hal’s mind, but we shall see. We jump to Zod and John. Zod decides to help the Corp to get back at Tomar Tu and Tomar Re for the destruction of Krypton, since it was under Tomar Re’s watch. John tells Zod that he came to Zod to help him with the teleportation issue and not because of Zod’s strength. John was hoping to harness the abilities of the sunstone, which is the Kryptonian stone used to make their ships and even Superman’s fortress of solitude, to help slow down the Darkstars. John is hoping that those same abilities can neutralize the teleportation of the Darkstars somehow. Eradicator formulates a schematic that will work and John gets working on building them with his constructs. Meanwhile, we see Kyle and Space Cabbie are stuck in New Genesis jail to find out that Highfather will not help them. You could sense that Orion will probably sneak away to go and help since Kyle did save his life a couple months ago but it’s not stated. And finally, we end the issue back where it started with Guy ready to kill his dad for beating him all those years ago while in a drunken stupor. Roland comes to terms with it and sits there ready to take it until Arkillo jumps in and steps in the way challenging Guy to another fight. Arkillo tells him that if Guy wants to kill his daddy he’ll have to go through him first. I’m not going to lie, this issue was a little bit of a downer to me. I feel like we were building up to something big only to have a pit stop for an issue that didn’t progress the story at all. And from someone who wasn’t a fan of Metal because he couldn’t understand it and feel it was poorly explained, I hate the idea of explaining the Darkstars by using METAL!! So, the reason the Darkstars are here is because of Element X and Hal’s thoughts.... really? We didn’t even need a “why”. The story was going smoothly until you tried to tie in Metal. And can we stop making Hal the scapegoat for all that goes wrong in the universe? The next issue looks like it’s going to continue to go off the reservation when we get the “Rematch Heard Round The Galaxy”. If that is what we get, I will be totally disappointed in the direction of this story. A story that began with the Controllers, tied in Zod, brought us New Genesis, Yellow Lanterns, and even a throwback to Hector Hammond takes an issue to accuse Hal as the cause, blame Metal in which no one understood what the heck happened there, and ends with Guy’s daddy issues is very upsetting. AND, we need to wrap this up by issue 50. How? Do we get a rushed ending? Robbie V has been a stud on Hal and Pals. This team in general has been hitting home runs issue after issue. Hal and Pals has been one of the most consistent stories told in all of Rebirth and too this point. I could always count on an average to better than average issue from this team. And now with the series appearing to end, I don’t want it to go down in flames. We need more of what we’ve been given since issue 1. If Robbie V needs more issues to tell his story the right way, he needs to go to editorial and tell them that he’ll end it but maybe it wouldn’t end at 50. Maybe he needs more time? But don’t throw in this bogus stuff that doesn’t explain the story just to quickly wrap everything up. This story that began so great and incorporated elements of his entire run from way back in issue 1, deserves a solid and epic ending. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

This 4 is for art. All art. I am lost. I have no idea who the killer really is. The characters are whacked out and comedic. Batgirl is working with Harley who I guess has never had her own story before according to King. Either has Blue Beetle, or any of them according to King. Superman is on the cover screaming and isn’t in the issue at all. Maybe Gorilla Grodd will be on the next cover? This crisis has turned into a joke, literally. The main characters are joking about their misfit name. People have died and their joking. The series is 7 issues in and we know NOTHING. Two issues left to wrap this puppy up. 40ish pages to explain everything.... well really like 360 since he can over use is 9 panel grid scheme. King, please take a break. Go write a novel, or a screenplay, or produce something. But please take a break from comic writing. Sometimes everyone, in any job, needs to take some time off to self reflect. Howie Roseman took some time off and the Birds won the super bowl acouple years later. That could be you!!!!!!

This is issue as well as the series was so disappointing. What readers will find is an issue that explains the entire story. Sounds great right? Wrong! A comic that felt like a mystery with clues sprinkled in along the way turned into a writer withholding information for 7 issues, giving absolutely no clues, so he can drag readers along to make them THINK it’s a mystery when in all actuality King tried to make this series way to deep giving readers pointless and useless information for no good reason. This issue was so upsetting with a conclusion that appeared to be wrapped up in an issue that leaves fans scratching their head as to why he would do this to Wally West, a character that literally stood for Rebirth, and how he could just explain everything that happened with “the speed force”. Why did Wally need to go to the future to kill himself 5 days from now only to give himself 5 days? For what purpose? How is it that NOW, which never happened before that I can recall, Wally loses control and unleashed a speed force storm that somehow kills everyone around him? We have seen speed force storms before that looks more powerful then this and they gave super powers. An entire city given speed powers but Wally’s is more powerful and thus kills everyone. Also, Wally must be so dang fast that Harley and Booster don’t notice being pushed into positions by him? What crap is that? Wally couldn’t stand being alone, puts together all the camera footage from everyone, an gets so emotionally drained that he kills everyone accidentally.... really? This is why one of my favorite characters killed someone? And this was the best King could come up with after painting himself into a corner? This series was a waste of time. This issues sole purpose was to fix all the errors made before it in the past 7 issues to try to contact the dots. I didn’t feel for Wally at all because their was no build up, no emotion throughout each issue explaining why. And puddles? Really? That’s the explanation? Everyone knew Wally was the killer months ago and the best King could come up with was this. Thank you for ruining one of my favorite characters. Here’s to hoping an actual crisis happens to rewrite what I just read. This was another issue and another series that King tries to build himself up and tries to make his writing seem so deep and emotional by masking it with crazy characters acting nothing like themselves and pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes once again. Can King write any other way? Are we prepared for more Kite man’s, veggie trays, bare naked wrestling, and speed force explanations? I’m not because I’m done with this. Again, thank you King for ruining Wally, killing characters for no reason, and withholding information again. I gave this a 4 for art. That’s it.

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Well Well Well. The Hunt for Red October; I mean Wolverine. Not too bad at all. I was actually pretty shocked how much I liked it. Not because of the writer or art team because Charlie Soule is killing it on Vader and Daredevil right now, but because these quick tie in books are normally there to drum up extra sales and spark interest in big events to come but normally aren’t too good. Well, you got me again Marvel! And this one was great! We open this story with Reavers coming to crack open the adamantium statue of Wolverine, which if you remember has Wolverine burned alive inside without his healing ability.... cause he’s dead.... remember? Geez it’s been so long since that story now. Anyway, the Reavers head out to this shack in the Canadian wilderness to cut that bad boy open and take the dead corpse of Wolverine for some serious bank... ya know what I mean? Things haven’t been going well for the Reavers lately. So, they really need this score. But Colossus, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pride, Firestar ( from the 70’s Spidey Cartoon), and Storm came and put the smack down on those Reavers. One of the Reavers cracks that puppy open to find out that Wolverine isn’t even in there. So, they got beat down for nothing! Turns out; Kitty phased Logan out of the statue and they buried him instead. But when Kitty goes back to Logan’s grave, she has this feeling that he’s not buried there anymore. So, she gets the crew to dig him up and sure enough, she was right! So, where in the world is Carmine Sandiego.... I mean Wolverine? Kitty first talks to Daredevil for help, which I thought was weird but I’m not a huge Daredevil or Wolverine guy so maybe it works...Next up, Kitty gets help from Iron Man and he assemblies his Avengers team of Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Spider-Man

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We open better than last week’s issue of Weapons Lost with Daredevil because Taylor makes an effort to explain to the readers why this crew would hunt for Wolverine in the first place. It turns out a couple years ago, Wolverine saved NYC by being the one to hit the switch on a bomb since someone had to do it.... and his healing factor kinda helps too. He saved millions doing that and literally took one for the team, which at the time was Iron Man, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Spider-Man, and of course Wolverine. We don’t see what happened to him but it’s implied something important to everyone on the team..... other than being blown to pieces that is. We then jump to Tony Stark getting the old team back together to hunt for Wolverine. Intel takes them to a Black Market sale in which the bio makeup and genetic template of an unknown Super Hero is up for bidding. So, Tony’s team pretends to be buyers and goes to see which Super Heroes genetic template it is. They assume its Wolverines. Turns out; it’s Danielle Cage’s DNA and genetic template, which is Luke and Jessica’s daughter. Talk about a cliffhanger. This book had its cheesy moments where it was trying to be too funny. But it had its moments where it was genuinely funny. Taylor made it interesting and gave us a believable blueprint for this “Hunt”. I love Taylor’s take on Wolverine, as well as Spider-Man. There interactions are great and I’m excited to see where this story will lead. I also love how we were given enough carrots to come back for more. Taylor told us enough to give us a pretty good start but left out enough nuggets to make us want to come back for the next issue. Pick this one up. You’ll have fun with the story and the art is pretty dang good too!

elcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. So, this was a wee-bit confusing of a start for an issue BUT I think it is intentional. The story opens in a small town in Arizona of about 343 “where everybody knows your name..” but these folks aren’t glad that you came. And, their troubles aren’t all away. We are led to believe that Wolverine is working for some undercover killteam called Soteira. It looks like Wolverine broke into an electric company, killed the worker, placed something green ( that kind of looked like an Infinity Gem) in some type of reactor, and set it off killing everyone in the town. Meanwhile, Lady Deathstrike, Sabretooth, and Daken (Wolverine’s son) are going to work together to track Wolverine down and kill him.... again.... for good.... So, Lady Deathstrike has a satellite that can track the adamentum in Wolverine and it sends them to this town in Arizona where Wolverine and the killteam were. They split up to search the area for Wolverine and Daken walks into a bar to find a dozen people laying dead on the bar floor and two killteam members staring him down. Suddenly, the dead come back to life as zombies and started taking bites out of Daken. He realizes that his healing factor isn’t working and we end the issue with the dozen zombies devouring Daken on the floor. My thoughts: I wasn’t expecting zombies. That was the farthest thing from my mind. The real question is, am I ok with it? Personally, I am BUT I’m not a Walking Dead, zombie apocalypse fan. So, some may find this idea over saturated. I don’t but only because I’m not too into zombie stuff. Now, I am confused on whether or not Wolverine is working for this killteam or not. I feel like I’m supposed to think he is but then their going to pull the old switcharoo on me at the end. But who knows. Personally, if you read Tales of Suspense, it may be the similar situation to Black Widow. Meaning, I think he may be pretending to work with them to officially take down anyone still related to the Weapon X program. But, that’s just speculation. So far, I’ve enjoying all of the “Hunt for Wolverine” books that have come out, except the one with Daredevil... but only because I can’t see the purpose of him and his team trying to find Wolverine.... at least not yet. That said, this team makes sense. Deathstrike, Sabretooth, and Daken are hunting for him to kill him. Therefore, I can get behind this. I’m digging it right now and plan on continuing through it. I’d add it to your pull list and I currently would put it right smack dab in the middle of the bar between Norm and Cliff (middle of your stack). I’m interested in continuing it but I currently find some other comics that are more interesting. But who knows, that may change. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. So the Hunt for Wolverine continues. And even though it was not as exciting as last week’s issue, I still found parts of this interesting enough to hang in there for a little while longer. We pick up with Daredevil, of all people, trying to track down Wolverine. I’m still not seeing the connection between Daredevil and Wolverine other than the writer of these books, Charlie Soule, is the same writer in the “Hunt for Wolverine” books and “Daredevil”. If anyone else knows a better connection, let me know. Daredevil realizes he needs some help, so he turns to Frank McGee, old NYPD detective turned Inhuman by the Terrigen Mist. His powers are the ability to project really bright light from his eyes that is blinding AND he can use his powers like a camera and save images in his head creating photographic memory. The last power can be pretty cool for solving crimes I guess. But Frank really has no ties to Wolverine at all and it seems that because of boredom, he joins Daredevil. Then, Daredevil goes to get Misty Knight for help. For those that don’t know, she has a mechanical arm and also use to work for the NYPD. Again, I don’t see the tie to Wolverine. Somehow, Frank suckers her into joining up with Daredevil as well. Now let me tell you, if Wolverine is Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Daredevil picked a great crew to help. But if they need to travel the world, speak to other people and in other cultures, I don’t know how well they will do? So, Misty has a connection which leads them to this old X-Men named Cypher who can decode anything. When they find him, he’s basically become a shut in obsessed with solving the answers of the Internet. You know: the usual. Frank, seeing that Cypher is showing signs of addiction, tries to help by shooting up all the technolog

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. This issue opens with Frank, Misty, Daredevil, and Cypher trying to narrow down the list of Wolverine sitings from millions to just a couple. The team doesn’t want to give Cypher access to anymore technology or the internet because he’s basically addicted to it. So, they reluctantly give Cypher a phone and within seconds, he narrows the search down to the top manageable sitings. They track Wolverine down to a Manhattan hospital where he delivered flowers to Jane Foster.... but was obviously long gone. They even find some of his other sitings like in Phoenix at the biker bar and in Chicago too. These parts were kind of neat because if you’ve been reading Marvel for the past 6-8 months, you’d remember the little sections at the end of some random issues where it would show Wolverine interacting with people for some random reason. Well, this is showing Daredevils team interacting with all of those situations. It was nice to seem them tie them together and weave it into their story. Great Easter eggs for the dedicated readers! The team follows another lead to Saskatchewan where they heard a group of people calling in for help in a remote cabin. By the time Daredevil’s team arrives, everyone is dead but one woman who appears to be missing. So, Daredevil takes Misty and Frank with him and uses his abilities to track down Wolverine throughout the forrest. It works and Daredevil, Misty, and Frank are on his tail. However, Daredevil finally puts it together that Wolverine was playing them to take out their weakest link.... Cypher! The team left Cypher back at the cabin alone. While Cypher was trying to swipe a phone from a dead body, Wolverine surprises him and slices his throat. We end the issue wondering what in the world has been going on with Wolverine? Many dead bodies have been turning up on his watch now. But why? I am still personally confused as to why Daredevil, Frank, and Misty are teaming up. That part of this still doesn’t make sense to me. What do they gain by helping to find Wolverine? Sure, the X-men should try to find him. Sure, Iron Man should try to find him. Plus, I can get behind the Avengers connection too. But why Daredevil other than Soule is currently writing both? All that said, the issue started off slow but once they got to Saskatchewan, it really picked up and became kind of exciting. Even before that when they were hunting for Wolverine in a few of the Easter Egg spots, I found that kind of interesting. This issue wasn’t action packed by any stretch but it held my interest enough that I will continue to the next issue mainly because of the end. I will be reading the next issue... but should you? If you have read them both so far, then I think you’ll continue on just like me. If you haven’t read them yet, I wouldn’t bother to be honest. It wouldn’t be good to hop in now unless you plan on reading the last issue first. But for me, I’m in for the next one. It just won’t be high on my priority list for the week. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Immortal Hulk was excellent! It gave me images of some of the really early issues of the series. In a way, it seemed like Ewing is bringing the character back to his roots. And to me, that’s a bit refreshing. Lately, I felt like everything with Hulk has just been so big and so epic. Hulk in space. Hulk taking on the world. Hulk fighting other Hulks. Hulk on his own planet. My point is: those stories were a change of pace from the original lone-traveling hero whose misunderstood. And that change was needed at the time. But we have been on these epic Hulk adventures for years now. It looks like Ewing may be taking us back to a more refreshing time of the character. So, let’s smash into this shall we? The story itself was simple. A guy needs money so he robs a convenient store. He’s surprised by a little girl and shoots her dead to rights. Directly beside her is Bruce Banner who notices, starts to get angry but the robber shoots him in the head before he turns into the Hulk killing him. The robber then gets the money and runs back to his hideout with the couple hundred dollars he got from the robbery. While there, he can’t even believe what he did. He’s beside himself. That wasn’t his plan but he was surprised by the little girl... one thing lead to another... and people were dead. Well, turns out a gun shot to the head doesn’t kill Hulk even if he’s Bruce Banner at the time. Technically, if you’ve been following along, Hulk’s basically been shot in the head already so.... his isn’t anything new. Guess who appears in the robbers hideout? Hulk! He woke up from the coroner and tracked the guy down who tried to kill him and the little girl. Hulk said he could smell him. I don’t remember that element of his character but I’m cool with it. So, Hulk went ape poop crazy on the hideout, the guys he was working to get the money for, and then beat the robber to an inch of his life and left him in a crater outside the police station with the gun he used to kill the little girl. The police detective and the reporter looking into the homicide/ robbery noticed something familiar with the “John Doe” that was killed and now magically gone. Point is: they already are piecing the dots together that Hulk is back. This was truly a great story. I loved the art and the writing. Again, I loved the throwback feel to the story as well as the Hulk. This take was interesting and refreshing, which I think may have won me over to add Immortal Hulk to my pull list for at least the first arc and possible even longer. Pick this up. I think you’ll enjoy it. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

This book is so darn good. Big Al is nailing it. Love the classic characters, love the explanations, love the direction, love the art, love the horror feel. It’s just smashingly good! Pick it up!

This may be the best ongoing in both big companies and probably has been for a while now. The art and feel of the comic are great a Big Al’s take on Banner, Hulk, the cast and crew pays tribute to the past while putting his own haunting spin on the gamma infused Goliath! If you aren’t reading this, your missing out. Al’s done his homework and the ending to this one it pretty sweet. Not for younger audiences though :)

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. So the Totally Awesome Hulk liberated Planet Hulk again, even though I thought it was destroyed, and came back to earth looking to start a war with anyone who has crossed his path. Someone else appears to be in the drivers seat of Hulk right now, maybe a different personality of Amadeus Cho? But this Hulk seems more strategic, smarter, and overly confident. He’s literally picking a fight with everyone who wants one on earth while the Champions look on, Black Panther, and even Wolverine. We shall see who comes out to get him in the next issue. This issue had some great art and was simply entertaining. Nothing “world breaking” or “earth shattering” but just a fun read. Honestly, not knowing any direction this stories will go before Fresh Start, just enjoy the stories as they are until the summer. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. I think the problem with this issue is honestly the name, which is more or less the problem with the arc. People read this and expect something similar to what World War Hulk was but we get nothing close to it at all. If you cover up the name and read it as a Hulk comic, this issue, as well as the arc so far, really isn’t bad at all. It’s pretty interesting and fun. We find the Hulk persona still in charge at the beginning of the issue and Cho trying to escape. Cho finds away to escape and even sends Morse code to his sister to try to take away some of his gamma energy to help release him. It works for a moment and Cho regains control for a bit BUT Hulk fights back and puts Cho in his place again. Alpha Flight makes a guest appearance as well to take away the aliens Hulk challenged and defeated but he refuses to turn them over. Miles and Ms Marvel confront Hulk about his drastic personality change but along with Alpha Flight, is met with defiance from the totally awesome brute. We end the issue with an angry Hulk ready to destroy his would be allies and friends. Again, the title makes it seem like a huge war is going to happen when in reality, the war is mainly between Cho and the Hulk to see who will remain in control. And as interesting as I honestly find this, I think more action and better adversaries would be better suited for this story. More Marvel villains and heroes that are more well known need to be in this to really elevate this story. I am mainly left with these questions; what is the point of the story? And, where do you want the character to progress towards? Is this just a stationary tale to get a battle between Cho Hulk and Banner Hulk, since we now know he’s back? ( I’d be all for that!) If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Again, I say the biggest problem with this Hulk arc is the name. That’s it. Take the name out of it and let’s call it “Rampage” or “Vengeance” or “breaking Hulk” and I think everyone would view it differently. The story really isn’t that bad and it’s a ton of fun with a ton of cameos and pretty cool art. I think Pak just labeled it wrong. Cho Hulk is angry. He’s angry at everyone. He’s angry at Captain Marvel for leading to events that killed Banner, angry at the Avengers for not stepping up to handle these villains who continue to hurt Cho Hulks friends and the world. He’s even angry at his friends in the Champions for trying to put Cho Hulk in a box. He thinks he’s not only the “strongest there is” but the “smartest there is” too. So, he’s basically challenging everyone from Black Panther to Odison. Man, he’s angrier than a crocodile without a tooth brush! So, regular Cho uses morse code and tries to get out messages to his sister through twitches in Cho Hulk’s eye. It kind of works. The heroes shoot Cho Hulk with a gamma gun from space that’s supposed to weaken him and turn him back into regular Cho. But, it doesn’t work and it just makes him more angry. Odison takes an axe to him... but that doesn’t work either. So, we end the issue with Cho Hulk trying to put an end to Cho in his mind. Honestly, it’s called World War Hulk 2 so Marvel can drum up sales. I’m willing to bet it worked with issue 1 of the arc but that’s about it. The art and action were great. Just try your best to forget about the title and have fun with the read. But there is no World War and Cho Hulk is no Banner Hulk either. And with Immortal Hulk coming out with Banner, I think readers are ultimately done with Cho Hulk. He got us by in Banners absence but

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. This may have been one of the fastest reads I’ve ever had. We open with Jimmy Woo shooting adamantium bullets into Cho Hulk in order to pierce his skin long enough so Black Panther could place nanobots into Cho Hulk. The point is to have the nanobots take out the Sternbots that are inside Cho. Well, the next question you may have is, what the poop is a sternbot? You see, Banner was something special. He was a one in a million chance. His cells from birth were able to absorb massive amounts of gamma radiation. That’s why no one can completely recreate the Hulk entirely. Banners genes, mixed with his multiple personality disorder is what made the Hulk what he is. So, Cho figured this out when he was just regular old Cho and friends with Banner. Cho altered his own cells by taking Sternbots and placing them into his body. Those Sternbots altered his cells to match that of Banner and allowed Cho’s cells to also contain that same gamma radiation that creates the Hulk. Cho siphoned off Banner’s gamma energy and the rest is history. So, when Jimmy Woo and Black Panther injected Cho with nanobots, these bots were sent in to counter the Sternbots and make them useless. In turn, Cho would lose the ability to become the Hulk anymore. As a battle raged on outside his body with Odison, Miles, Cindy Moon, Carol Danvers, T’challa, Sasquatch, and the rest of the Champions a battle between Hulk and Cho happened in his mind. You see, the bots helped Cho regain a bit of control inside his mind and he became able to fight back mentally. Cho has an opportunity to get rid of the Hulk for good. The bots were working and he was taking control of his body again. Hulk was almost no more. He was almost totally disintegrated within his body until Cho realized that the personality of Hulk has always been inside him, kind of like Banner. Cho Hulk represents the anger and grief that regular Cho has always had his entire life. It’s how he dealt with bullies, pain, and even lose. Cho Hulk is apart of him. So, he absorbs what little is left of Cho Hulk and they combine together to become one. With Cho Hulk depowered, he has to attest to his crimes. But with the help of Matt Murdock, the city of New York just has Cho pay 10.5 billion dollars in damages and everyone calls it a day. The story ends with Cho Hulk saying sorry and everyone sitting around a table eating just like in the end of the first Avengers movie. The issue wasn’t bad but you can tell it was rushed compared to some of the other titles that are closing down before “Fresh Start”. The way that they decided to stop Cho Hulk could have been done 2 issues ago. And, I know Pak wanted to end his run with a happy ending, but paying 10.5 billion and having no prison time or major repercussions seems totally unrealistic. The amount of destruction that Cho Hulk caused, as well as fear to NYC, made the ending appear even more silly. A much better ending would have been Cho Hulk depowered for good... at least appearing as though that happened. I say that not because I dislike Cho Hulk. I truly like the character. But if he’s going to get put on the shelf for a bit, why not make it meaningful? It would be a better place for a new creative team to pick up and start new. I’ve been sticking up for this book for over 3 months now. I’ve been saying that the names Planet Hulk 2 and World War Hulk 2 were just dumb names for these final arcs but the writing and story really weren’t that bad. In part, I still feel that way to a degree but this last issue brought me down a couple notches. It was way too quick, neat, and clean to wrap up everything you’ve done with a character you cared so deeply about and created. The ending had a feel kind of like a little boy throwing his old favorite toy away for a new one. I love Greg Pak’s Weapon H.... love it! But, I feel like he’s been focusing more on that title these past couple months and less on ending his Cho Hulk run in a better way that does the character justice. If you’ve been following Cho Hulk, you got to get the issue to end it and complete your set. If you haven’t been reading it lately, don’t bother. I explained it well enough that you can get the idea about how it ended. I leave this title as it closes a bit disappointed. The character of Cho Hulk was growing on me. And as silly as this is to say, Cho Hulk was more of a little kids Hulk. A Totally Awesome Hulk. My little boys loved him. He was a Hulk for them that wasn’t too scary or frightening but still strong and ready to smash. And now, where do they go? This last run kind of ruined it for them. I don’t like to look at solicts but if this is the characters last issue in a solo, it kind of seemed like a bad way to go out. My hope is that someone is taking it over during “Fresh Start” but we shall see. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We open by getting this story kicked off right out of the gate. We continue with Groot fighting Scar, the overgrown evil tree creature from last issue, and becoming literally ingested. However, our new super chatty Groot, explodes out of Scar with a fury of poisonous flowers and our heroes head out to help Drax who is helping some of the Nova Corp guard the excessively large Power Stone along with a pregnant Nova Corp member. Needless to say, he needs some help. We make it back to Drax, who is doing a fantastic job protecting the Power Gem from Warbringer when the Guardians of the Galaxy arrive to help. Scott Lang, now a member of the GoG, tries to shrink it down while the rest of the crew battle back the forces as much as possible. It’s not really working so well but he gives it a try while Gamora helps deliver the one Nova Corps baby in the middle of the battle. We leave the GoG and find Adam Warlock traveling to find find the Soul Gem, which he thinks is taken by his evil twin Magus. Turns out, he finds Ultron/Pym instead working on Silver Surfer. This issue was action packed from start to finish with pretty cool art. It was an unexpected rollercoaster ride that I truly hope the rest of the issues continue. The next issue looks great with Adam Warlock and the Silver Surfer!!! And, I totally recommend the read but you should start at number 1. My favorite parts are still with Groot starting from the last issue and working into the beginning of this issue, as well as anything with Adam Warlock, especially the intro with Ultron! I’m definitely excited to see where this series goes. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! P

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We jump right in where we left off. Silver Surfer has been changed into a half Ultron cosmic creature and starts to fight Adam Warlock. However, Warlock does his “Cocoon” impersonation, just minus the elderly, and puts the Surfer in a healing sleep. Warlock fights Ultron a bit longer and suddenly the Surfer wakes up and flies away leaving Warlock by himself without even a Thank you.... just rude. Ultron and Warlock battle a bit more until Ultron releases his missiles into space to take over the universe and spread his A.I. like a plague. Meanwhile; the GoG continue to fight for the power gem with no prevail until Nova’s brother has this vision about the gem being “mind over matter”. I picture the scene from Karate Kid 2... but that’s just me. Turns out; the gem really wasn’t that big and Starlord just grabs it. He beats up Warbringer and puts the gem into Drax’s sax. Yup I said Drax’s sax. Drax’s plays some smooth Jazz, at least that’s what I heard when I read it, and with the power of the gem and Kenny G, he destroys all of the invading forces. We end with Nova taking the GoG off the planet to safety and we find out that the Silver Surfer left Adam Warlock to go get Galactus to destroy Ultron’s planet. Guys, Infinity Countdown has just been a fun time. It has it’s serious moments and it’s humorous moments mixed in. It has great action, pretty decent art, and hilarious scenes sprinkled in throughout. Drax plays a saxophone to defeat an army with the power gem stuck inside. Come on! You get the Silver Surfer, Adam Warlock, the GoG, an infinity gem, Ultron, and Galactus as a cliffhanger. What more do you want? Pick this book up and I hope you all enjoy Free Comic Book Day! Buy some comics and take your kids!

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. I normally don’t like to start off a review negative but this part really stuck out to me. In comics, I’m a story guy through and through. To me, that’s where you get points. Story over art. I’m sorry artists but that’s just me. That said; the art is still vital to the story. It’s the foundation of your building. It’s the drummer in a band, which I can say because I was in many bands growing up. As a set drummer, you keep the rhythm, the balance, the structure, and without the drummer, the song is just ok.... for example acoustic songs!!! Anyway, the art normally comes after that for me. The story sells. The story gets the girls/ boys. The story makes the money. But if your drummer sucks, you suck! And if the art is so bad it takes away from my desire to want to finish the issue, that’s pretty bad and effects the story. I did not like the art in the issue at all. It seemed rushed and thrown together, especially in the beginning. Rocket looked like a rabbit without a soul and people looked like paint blotches in the background. If I’m wrong in that assumption and it’s a style choice, than I apologize but then I’m not a fan of this “style”. Maybe it’s because I was reading Doc Strange right before this and saw such amazing art, as well as Immortal Hulk.... I don’t know, but I was truly not a fan of the art in this one. The Galactus parts were pretty good. But that’s it. And I feel like it brought the issue down for me. As for the story, the GoG heads back to Nowhere with the Power Stone. Nova wants to take the stone and use it to help find and save his brother, who is a Raptor now. Gamora won’t let him take it and says they should collect them all, kind of like Pokémon Cards, and reform the Infinity Watch. For those that don’t know, the Infinity Watch was something Adam Warlock formed after defeating Thanos in the Infinity Gauntlet. The stones were spaced out one amongst each person to wield. So, what Gamora is talking about is doing that same thing again. So, the GoG fight over who is to hold the stone until Drax comes in with his sax and just takes it. Next, Quill is asked by Cosmo the space dog to go talk to the Collector and the Grandmaster. Turns out, they have a reality stone that doesn’t work. Well, we quickly find out that it doesn’t work because it’s from another dimension. And if you learned anything from Hickman’s run about the Infinity Stones, each reality/ multiverse has its own Stones and they only work in that reality/ multiverse. Point is; there stone won’t work in our reality.... and someone named Phyla comes and takes it from them. We then jump to Pym-tron fighting with Adam Warlock. Warlock is trying to stop all the missiles from destroying worlds all over the universe but there is too many of them for him to stop. That’s ok because the Silver Surfer comes back with Galactus and he lays waste to the entire planet. Galactus was the Lifebringer and was reluctant to help. But now, he’s back to being the destroyer of worlds with the Surfer as his herald. Norrin made a deal to help save millions. He would have Galactus destroy Pym-tron and the planet if he would become his herald afterwards. The parts with Galactus were amazing. The art in those parts were also not that bad. But the art from around page 9-21 was awful. The entire second part was a really good and interesting story as a whole but the entire part with the GoG was really boring, uninteresting, not funny, had terrible art that looked rushed, and didn’t progress the story at all. I don’t know anything more about these stones after 4 issues. I know who has the stones and I know Galactus is back. That’s it. You could have opened with that in two pages. We wouldn’t need four issues to tell me that. I think this issue left me more frustrated than anything for this event. I was excited when the last issue ended. It was funny and interesting and left me thinking we would be getting answers. I leave this issue feeling the total opposite way. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

We open with this storyvwithvab intro into the whose who of the marvel universe. Who has which gems? Whose fighting to find them? Who are the big players? It looks like Wolverine has the Space Gem and appears Ultron is after it. But Loki is also there with some interest in the gem. Now, I am far from a marvel expert but I think the second gem is with Turk Barrett which I know nothing about. But I believe he has the mind Gem Captain Marvel located the reality stone in a different reality.. or at least I gather The power Gem is as big as an asteroid and looks like the Nova Corp/ GotG have it. Gamora however wants to continue to find the soul Gem since her soul is trapped inside. I love the Sakaar throw in and I love finding the Super Skrull as the one To find the time Gem. We tie back up Adam Warlock awaking from the last issue 2000 years later, to see Thanos does not possess any stones now but will be a player in this. But Adams twin Magus finds the last gem, the soul gem to find Pym-tron take it away from him and killing Magnus in the process. We end by seeing actual Hank stuck in the Soul gem with an old Gamora. Great start and excited to see where it goes with these players. Nice roster to kick this off. If you like what you heard, love talking comics, and are interested in joining a DC book club, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We open with a recap of the connection between Daredevil and Turk Barrett, who was once Stilt Man. Turns out, as Matt Murdock was on his way to court, he saw Turk there as well. More importantly, he physically saw the mind gem on his staff. He didn’t see it in “radar form”, he could see it glowing. So instantly, he knew something was up. So, he followed him to see that Turk basically used the mind gem in court to morph the judges mind to have his friend be not guilty. Well, this sparked the interest in Daredevil and he went to track Turk down. Daredevil eventually finds Turk going to his penthouse and fights with him. Daredevil gets the upper hand for a bit and Turk explains how he found the gem. There appeared to be an invasion with Skrulls fighting members from Kun-Lun ( not sure on that..... they looked like kung fu fighting, sorcerer monks to me so...). Anyway, Turk snuck away with the gem and has had it ever since. During there fight, Turk made it so Daredevil couldn’t see or know about the gem anymore. He morphed Daredevil’s brain to think he was fighting him about taking Kingpins place. So, Daredevil took off forgetting about the gem and we end with Turk hiring some help from Bullseye. My thoughts: I loved it! 9 times out of 10 we see these epically huge villains get these epically huge powerful items that makes them epically important. Well, what about the little guy? This shows you what a little no named guy like Turk Barrett would do.... just be a Kingpin. That’s it. No need for world domination or killing half the universe (cough cough.. Thanos); just a little small time money and a little small time power. I also loved that Daredevil could physically see the gem, which means he can see them all... I would assume. And the way they wrote the panel to make the gem disappear was pretty cool. I’m really digging how important Daredevil has become lately. Now, it may be because of the show BUT he’s associated with the gems, he’s helping to find Wolverine, and he’s mayor of NYC. Daredevil is BUSY! I’m cool with that but he is gettin’ busy right now. And, I’d be cool with him playing a huge role in hunting down these gems, especially because he can physically see them. Maybe somehow, his abilities can connect to the gems? Also imagine Daredevil with the mind gem? His ability to hear peoples thoughts from who knows how far away... that could be crazy!!! Anyway, I loved it and I really wasn’t expecting to love it. I was genuinely shocked how much I liked it. I’d pick it up if I were you and definitely place it in the top quarter of your stack. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Well, if you’re interested in a rundown of Carol Danvers, or a Ghost of Christmas Past featuring Carol Danvers, or saw the end credits scene of Infinity War and are new to Captain Marvel and would love a rundown before her movie, or like make over stories about finding yourself, this issue is great. It’s perfect for you. If you were were looking to further the Infinity Countdown story... this was awful. So which am I? Probably can figure out by the score..... Here is the issue. Carol as the reality stone. But what we find out that is kind of neat is that it taps into all of its owners in all realities. AND they can communicate with each other through time and space. I loved this part of the issue. I was not familiar with how the reality stone worked. Seeing this ability of the stone, was actually kind of cool and shows the owner of the stone tons of ideas and possible outcomes that could happen in their own reality as well as every other. The owner of the stone can pop in and out of any reality they choose... to at least look into it. I’m curious what else the stone can do? Now, the issue itself opens with Carol fighting Blastaar and continuing to doubt herself like she has done since Civil War 2. She doesn’t know if she’s been making the right decisions lately and it’s no different with Blastaar. Turns out, she’s fighting him in a city downtown... my guess is it’s NYC.... cause everything happens there. But her fight takes place in front of the public and puts civilians in harms way. So, Carol turns to the reality stone for help and asks her fellow reality stone holders across reality how they handled Blastaar and they give her their responses. Some of the advise is good and others not so much. She jumps to a reality that shows a different outcome of Civil War 2 in which she is the one who ends up in a coma not Tony. She travels to another one where she falls to alcoholism like Tony. She then travels to another where Rogue and Carol connect but she doesn’t let go and the two kind of fuse together but in both of their bodies. I think they are somehow both in both bodies (Rogue and Carol) but it wasn’t t totally clear. And then she finds herself in another world where she isn’t Captain Marvel and develops cancer. She knows Captain Marvel and helps him but she never became Captain Marvel herself. Rick Jones is the one who would swap out with Mar-vel. Points is, we get a rundown of her past as well as little differences in each world with her character. For anyone who wanted a history lesson on Carol, they get the highlights here. Each reality starts the same way as hers but ultimately she makes a different choice, which was the main theme of her character since Civil War 2: is she making the right choices? Plus, anyone who knows her character can tell you that she has been through a ton and her character has evolved, devolved, and along the way has always been searching for a home in Marvel. This was just showing us all those avenues she’s been down in a different way. So, Carol freaks out and finally realizes after popping into all those realities that she is so better off than all the other reality Carol’s. One can only hope since two of them had alcoholism and cancer. Anyway, she decides to start trusting herself and her gut again because so far, she’s better off than all the other Carol’s. So, she jumps back into her reality and Blasts Blastaar so much she overpowers him and blows him up in outer space. She is a new confident woman for the future. Carol’s got her make over. She’s All That! This Miss Congeniality isn’t Clueless anymore. This Pretty Woman is a Working Girl again! This Fairy Lady wears Prada! She’s now Maid in Manhattan and ready to Kill Bill.... I’m really stretching here but I hope you get the idea. Carol is ready to rock and roll. Personally, I’ve seen one to many Hallmark trips down memory lane where the main character is made over and finds herself... and not because I wanted too. I was expecting something more about the reality stone but I was wrong. All I got is how the reality stone works. But that is it. So personally, I was disappointed. But again, anyone looking for a Captain Marvel rundown will love this. But that wasn’t me. There is a comic for everyone. And I bet you some people were excited to see Carol get her time to shine. But that’s not what I signed up for personally. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Let me start by saying I have no idea what a Darkhawk is or a Raptor for that matter. But what I do know is that they looked cool and that they are somehow tied to the Infinity Stones in some way. So, I said “what the heck?!?” and I took it for a test spin. And as a first time reader of Darkhawk, it wasn’t too bad. So, let me give you a rundown from the perspective of someone truly going into this hero and fan base totally blind. Ready? We open with Robbie Rider, brother of Rich Rider ( one of the current Nova’s from Earth), trying to open a portal to the Null Space. The way I took it is the Null Space is where the Raptors are from. Other than that... I got nothing on the Null Space other than what it is as a math term. Anyway, Robbie is some wanna be Raptor called a Talon-R.. I think. They basically either worship the Raptors or tried to replicate their tech in some way. They were just in the Infinity Countdown last week fighting for the Power Gem. You can tell these Talon-R’s are replicated because the gem/ jewel/ amulet on the Raptors appeared to be legit but the Talon-R suit appeared to have a red energy emblem on their visor and chest kind of like Kit from Knight Rider. Now, the Real Raptors killed everyone other than Robbie Rider who they promised to make a real Raptor and name him... maybe something like Darkeagle?!?!?! Let me just say that these Raptor’s look pretty sweet kind of like a mix between a pinch of Black Panther armor, a hint of Iron man armor, and a sprinkle of Falcon’s wings. They also appear to have energy blasts and enhanced strength. But, that’s all I could tell you at this point. We then jump to Earth with this man named Chris Powell who is actually Darkhawk. He’s a police man who works for a branch of the police department in NYC called Code: Blue. They mainly work to fight and stop villains with enhanced abilities. They would be regular people who are the first responders. Chris stops a bad guy by turning into Darkhawk, which looks like a legit Raptor. So, my first question is, how did this guy get this Super Suit? Are their good and bad Raptors? Is this basically based of off Guyver? Chris and his girlfriend go to this science facility and get tests done on his suit from this Doctor named Brashear. She tells Chris that every time he changes into Darkhawk, the amulet literally incinerates his body and replaces it with Darkhawk but with his mind inside of it. Kind of like an Android body replacing his in a way. But, the amulet stores Chris’s genetic make up so when he changes back to his human form, it rewrites his body back on itself and replaces how it was before. The idea is kind of cool. I imagined it like a computer saving data and the amulet is the computer. You save a Chris data file and a Darkhawk data file on your computer/ amulet. It’s just the computer/ amulet only stores two files. Every time you switch from one file to another it saves the most recent version of Chris or Darkhawk and writes over it... does that make sense? Again, really amazing idea! While at the science facility, Nova calls in to talk to Chris. Turns out, Chris wants to go into space to stop the Raptors. I’m assuming he’s had a past with them and once... they were “super mean” to him. So, he basically wants to go to space to kick some tires and light some fires. Well, Nova basically tells him “No” and blames it on those dang Infinity Gems. He basically tells him their is a war going on right now and ain’t nobody got time for that! So, Chris sulks away, changes into Darkhawk and goes for some air but gets shot down by Death’s Head. Fun Fact: Death’s Head was actually a Transformer turned Marvel robot/ Android space mercenary bounty hunter for hire. Weird right? Well, Death’s Head was hired by the Raptors to find Darkhawk, capture him, and take him back to them. The two battle it out for a bit, which is where we, the reader, realize that Darkhawk has many forms but we haven’t seen the different versions and formations yet because for some reason Chris can’t change into any other form other than his normal Darkhawk form or his human form. We end the issue with Chris using some basic moves to take down Death’s Head and realizing that he needs a space ship to get off the planet in order to stop the Raptors so why doesn’t he just work out a deal with Death’s Head to use his ship to get to them. Maybe Death’s Head “pretends” to have Chris locked up so he can get his bounty money and Darkhawk comes after the Raptors guns a blazing. Who knows? Here’s what I would say about this issue. For a guy who knows nothing about Raptors and Darkhawk, I can say that the story was pretty informative and gave me a place to start. Sure, I want more info on the character but it gave me enough to piece this review together and to make me super interested in Darkhawk. I truly left this issue very intrigued about the character. I’m even excited to read a few back issues of the character... if any exist. Again, I’m still a bit hazy on what’s totally going on in this story but I am interested in the character at least. As for the story, it may not have been the best ever written by any stretch, but it kept me involved enough to be interested in the next issue. There have been more exciting and interesting issues involved in these Infinity crossover events than this one and it’s hard to see any connection with the actual gems other than the fact that Robbie and the Talon-R’s were just at the fight for the Power Gem. But I’m curious to see how Darkhawk will connect and play a role. The art was also smooth and really good. I really enjoyed the art team on the book. Currently, I would still be hesitant on adding it to my pull. I’m interested in the character of Darkhawk but the story didn’t completely pull me in. I’m definitely reading the next issue and I’ll be able to make a better call after that one if I’m going to stick it out for the entire run or not. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

This book is consistently good. It may not always be amazing week after week but I never feel let down either. I know it sounds like s huge undertaking BUT if you had the time to go back to issue 1, I know we're on 44, and read it the entire way through, you'll be happy you did. It's a fast read! Real fast! And honestly, more comics should take a page out of this style. As for the story, it's what you've been dying for in a Justice League book for maybe 3 years now.... maybe since Darkseid War!!! You get all your favorite heroes and villains in this story. As for this issue, We start with Diane and Black Adam training Kara to find that Ra's as unleashed Amazo. Damian warns them of the attack so The 2 take off. Meanwhile, Batman and BROTHER EYE, warn Batmans team of the same issue as he tries to rally his troops. Kon El who just escaped the Phantom Zone after YEARS of being trapped with the Titans, gets one of Supermans first suits from Pa Kent and takes off to join the fight after receiving a heart transplant from a dead Gen Zod! And yes Supermanvis locked up still. If you like what you heard, love talking comics, and are interested in joining a DC book club , hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com. Catch you all later! Peace

So, I started diving back into Marvel around legacy. I figured it would be like DC Rebirth in a way. I stayed away mainly because it seemed like Marvel was changing just to change. The example is RiRi in Iron Man. However, after reading the last 10 issues including this one, I really am starting to enjoy the take of RiRi, my curiosity of Doom as Iron Man, Tony has a brother and a biological mother, MJ is running Stark like Pepper was, and it appears like a team is being created. This book appears to be attempting to pay tribute to the old as well as the new. In the end, we see RiRi getting her armor back, which was a weird part of the story to me. I would think The legal team at Stark would be better than the legal team at MIT but who knows... also the idea seemed pointless in the end if she gets her armor back that quick. The fight with Doom seemed a bit off to me. He's taken down Mad Celestials but this group of B list villains just surprises him to take him down? Seems off to me. And we are still hunting for Tony without getting any farther on that. Overall, not a bad story but I feel like we didn't move forward at all. As if you didn't need to read this one. You could of skipped it. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. So, Invincible Iron Man is kind of nuts and all over the place. It’s not bad nuts, like plain unsalted walnuts, but a good kind of nuts like the honey glazed almonds you get at a fair. To give a summary a try of the last two issues, everyone is searching for Tony Stark. Blade, yes the vampire who wants vampires, came to RiRi and told her to join up at MIT to work with Toni Ho and Arno Stark, Howard Starks actual bio-kid. This way, the 3 of them could search for Tony while also helping to rebuild SHIELD in the disguise of MIT. Tony finally shows up to talk to his Bio-Mom, which was a SHIELD agent turned rock star who has been running his company while he’s been dead with MJ Watson (yup). Side note: Tony Stark was adopted by Howard Stark and his real mom got Prego with a Hydra agent. Tony’s Hydra Agent Bio-dad wanted to take Tony so Tony’s SHIELD Agent Bio-Mom tried to kill his Hydra Agent Bio-dad and, out of the blue, Howard Stark promised to help and hide Tony as his son so people from outer space who helped Howard Stark have kids ( Arno Stark) wouldn’t know he messed with the DNA of his actual adopted son so that he would never destroy earth.....Wow! I know! While everyone is searching for Tony, we need to remember that Doom has been going around as the infamous Ironman.....yup.... and he too has a baby on the way.... yup... again nuts! Freakin’ mixed nuts! Well, that’s still not the craziest thing. So, Tony shows himself to his Bio-Mom to calm everyone down to stop looking for him and she tells him that people are trying to take over his company so he needs to show up to the board soon or it will all be taken away. We end the issue with Parker Robinson’s, the Hood, showing up to Stark Ind. to get paid by the CCO. Tony’s Hydra Bio-dad shows up and is actual

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Well, that’s a wrap for Bendis at Marvel.. at least I think?!?! I think this was his last issue of his ongoings at Marvel before he starts up at DC. The issue had its quirks but as whole, did a pretty good job closing everything up and giving everyone some great cliffhangers if anyone wanted to follow in his footsteps after this. The story kind of jumps all over the place so it may be better to pick a topic and explain that first before moving on to the next topic. So, I’ll start with Tony Stark bringing Rhodey back to life the same way he brought himself back to life: with bio tech, genius, and no hair. Somehow, which isn’t totally explained, the use of the armor, the tech, and the upgrades to both the tech and their biochemistry made it possible to somehow reboot both of their organic material as well. BUT, to my understanding, this is a one time thing. So, Rhodey and Tony are back for reals yo! At the end of the last issue, RiRi and Toni Ho flew up to the great helicarrier in the sky to find that Leonardo Divinci was still alive and created SHIELD way back in the day. SHIELD has been around since the late 1400’s as an organization of spies to basically make the world a better place. As technology grew, so did SHIELD. When heroes came on the scene, as well as more evolved tech, SHIELD evolved with it. But with the destruction of SHIELD, Leonardo Divinci stepped back in to reconstitute the organization all over again. RiRi and Toni Ho were recruited along with Arno Stark, Miles Morales and family, Blade, and possibly the Champions to a degree, and maybe Rhodey and Tony... but I’m not sure on that one. Either way, SHIELD is kind of back! And next we jump to The Hood, Parker Robins, whose possessed by a mystical demon named Nisanti. His goal was to take over the world by taking over Stark International and spreading through the globe along with all of Tony’s enemies. He compared his take over to Fisk and how he took over the underworld of NYC except his would be on a more worldwide scale. But, as the Hood was forcing the acting Chair of Stark International to sign over the company, Doctor Doom appears to put the kibosh on his plans along with a dozen or so Doombots. Tony and Rhodey also show up on the scene with some extra Iron Man Suits also putting the kibosh to the Hood’s plans. Tony seems confused that Doom was acting as him and Doom is confused that Tony is still alive. Either way, they both stop the Hood and Doom ends up going back to Latveria to rebuild. We still aren’t told why Victor was acting like Iron Man but we are left remembering he has an unborn son on the way. I personally love Doom and I‘m totally interested in that dangling carrot for the future. And we almost end with Tony and Rhodey flying back to Stark Tower where they find Tony’s real mother, who was a secret agent for SHIELD and a real Rockstar, trying to fight off Tony’s actual biological father, who happened to be a Hydra secret agent. Howard Stark adopted Tony to help hide him from SHIELD and Howard needed help hiding his own son Arno from space aliens ( old story for another time) so it was a win-win. Anyway, Tony’s bio-dad brought Hydra agents to the party so the Champions, Tony, Rhodey, RiRi, Toni Ho, Arno, Blade, Miles-Spidey, Leonardo Divinci in a flying suit of armor ( yup that one), and even MJ, who was running Stark International, help fend off Hydra. Tony shows everyone he’s back and alive. We kind of wrap everything up and put a nice bow on Bendis’ run but he decided to leave an awesome cliffhanger for the next creative team to run with if they wanted. We jump to the future to see some girl contact Nightcrawler in need of help from the Sorcerer Supreme. She asks for Dr. Strange. But when he appears, he says “ now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time. My name is Doctor Anthony Stark... and I am the Sorcerer Supreme.” I WANT TO SEE THAT STORY! Well, as you can see that was a packed 40 page issue 600 that wrapped up Bendis on Iron Man as well as many of his other titles. The issue was meaty to say the least but did a pretty good job of concluding as many loose ends as it could. I also feel like it left great starting points for the next creative team if they wanted to run with it. However, like most people to start a new job, they will probably want to take the book in their own direction. I don’t blame them for that. Personally, I want to learn more about Doom and his kid. I want to learn more about SHIELD and Leonardo Divinci. I really want to see this future scenario with Tony as the Sorcerer Supreme. There are so many good loose threads that I hope the next creative team pulls on but we shall see. This issue was mainly there to put closure to all that Bendis did in a variety of titles mixed together including Miles, RiRi, Doom, Tony, some of the SHIELD stuff, and so much more. It was a pretty good culmination to anyone that was a diehard Bendis fan that really didn’t want to see him go. I can also only imagine how hard this issue must have been for Bendis to write. I know he’s excited to move on to new ideas and adventures in DC but Bendis did so much at Marvel for so long. The memories and family he made their shined through in this issue. Sure, it had its dumb little jokes that made no sense like “Mazinger Z infinity killed Sue Dibny” which I have no idea how that is a code phrase or how some Japanese mech tv show killed Elongated Man’s wife... but overall, I could read an underlining tone of sadness throughout the writing. To be honest, there should be if he truly cared about the characters he created... and I think he did. Thank you for a good run Bendis. Thank you for these characters you created. I wish you good luck at DC and I really am excited for what’s to come there. If you are a Bendis fan, you got to pick this up. If you are a collector, it’s issue 600 and it’s oversized so go grab it. If your an Iron Man fan, you should grab this too. And of course if you’ve been following along, it would be silly not to grab this too. It was a fun issue with great action, great art, great closure, and left us with a great direction for the next creative team. The baton is passed. Let’s see what happens next! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

So, I know timey whimey stuff has happened and now Cyborg is an original member of the JL but Cyborg said he "founded the team" When did that happen? And I want things to be real, or as real as they can be in comics but the Flash parts were too much!!! Too many words to describe fake science to make it sound like real science. And who did Flash save? Next thing that bothered me is how Jessica, who was once afraid to leave her house, has jumped from Barry as a possible boyfriend to now being able to just give Bruce a kiss before he leaves... What?!?! And the art was awful there. I thought that was the guy Flash saved... oh wait, it's Bruce... And all of this because of a crazy fan? And the interim chairman is Cyborg? Ok.. I was hoping JL would get better but it really has just been more of the same. If you like what you heard, love talking comics, and are interested in joining a DC book club, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com. Catch you all later! Peace

Again, I wasn't a huge Hitch fan but at least his stories felt bigger than what we are getting. So, Batman is too tired and stretched too thin with all of his teams. He can't sleep. Has little time. And, he makes a mistake. So he leaves and turns leadership over to Cyborg. Turns out a super fan, who built the watch tower is smart enough to take on the entire league. Why is aquaman in the desert again? I don't honestly remember. And the fan, dressed like the movie aquaman tracks him down? Really? I don't know how aquaman even survived that long out there. And the fan just teleports away. Martian Manhunter who has been gone since Rebirth, so for like 2-ish years just reappears out of no where to say I'm back and I need your help. Thank you metal for bringing Martian Manhunter back out of the blue without any real explanation ( sarcasm) So I guess we can just throw him in stories again. Awesome!!!! ( sarcasm again) JLA is really not that great right now. So let's throw them in the main title too. ( sarcasm again) And I guess Cruz is upset that she kissed Batman. Seriously, what is happening in justice league. This is supposed to be the main title where we get some killer stories with all of our heroes together fighting some crazy stuff. Hopefully snyder can fix this. If you like what you heard, love talking comics, and are interested in joining a DC book club, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com. Catch you all later! Peace

Again, this is all happening because of a "fan". A fan: one single human that we never heard of before who can cause this much damage to now two of the worlds greatest teams... Is this fan the smartest person in the world? Does the fan have super human intelligence? This issue was confusing and dealt with our heroes arguing about who should survive for half the book. Ok already, I get it: who gives heroes the right to save us all? How do they decide who to save and when? Are they held responsible when things go bad? Gotcha! Let's move on already! This isn't a super hero team up book anymore. This is someone's thesis on vigilantism and the way people are treated based on their class system. I read comics for fun to escape this crap... I don't want to read this heavy handed stuff right now. I was excited to see a change from Hitch and I heard some great things about Priest. I don't doubt he is a good writer. I have read Deathstroke and think he has done a great job with that title. I don't think Justice League is for him. I leave this issue tired of the bickering, tired of the fighting, and exhausted by the over explained and analyzed use of tech speak and the worlds current view on society. I leave this issue feeling depressed and like someone punched me in my throat. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. The best word to describe the Justice League book since Snyder took over has been... “interesting”. The second word would be “confusing” hands down. This issue hits both of those right out of the gate. My worry with any Snyder story is that he has a knack for making these large, elaborate, epic stories to trap himself in a corner only later to have him literally wish the problem away with magic or creation of something that never existed before.... until when he needs it in the dang story! Point is: this story comes right out of the gate more confusing than Taylor Polynomials... and I teach Calc 2! The story opens with this light of fire spiraling through space and time, which we later find out is called the Totality. It’s coming from the source wall and traveling through space to Earth. Somehow, these Neanderthal’s are fighting the League in caves, in the air, and in the oceans at the same time splitting the League into groups to fight them. We later find out that it was Vandal Savage who was responsible for all of this. Perfect example: just tell us who is fighting who out of the gate. You throw us into a huge battle without guidance. I felt lost from the start of the issue. Anyway, J’onn has linked up the entire League telepathically to one another and hangs out in space so he can get a better frequency and tune in to everyone a bit better. J’onn realizes that Savages plan was to move the Earth out of orbit by using the magnetism of the Earth and Moon to pull it out of the way the Totality.... I think anyway. So, J’onn turns into a dragon and destroys the Moon, which I’m sure would have no consequence for a Earth at all. The Neanderthal’s retreat and the Earth doesn’t move out of orbit but J’onn calls an emergency telepathic meeting with the core League members. J’onn explains the situation to them and tells them that the source wall is leaking and the Totality of the universe is coming for Earth. It could be good or it could be bad. The League needs to make a call on the nature of this Totality speeding towards the planet immediately because they only have 3 minutes before it will hit. Savage thought it was bad and was trying to move the planet out of the way of it.... again that’s how I took it. The League votes to let it come because maybe it has answers to fix their current situation. As of right now, we only have about a year until their universe is destroyed unless they can figure out a way to close the hole in the wall. Meanwhile, Luthor also figures out what’s going on and tracked down Savage. He took over his base, killed him, and brought his own Legion with him. So, I guess Luthor is back to his old self again... somehow. Bye Bye good Luthor. You will be missed. I really did like you. Here is the thing; this is what I think happened in No Justice and this issue. But the thing is, I could be totally wrong. As I said from the start, Snyder’s writing is interesting AND confusing. I can definitely tell he tried to explain more of what is going on than normal. So, maybe he’s reading my reviews. I hope he is! Why? Because I truly don’t think he’s a bad writer. I think he just tries too hard to make things too over the top and he ain’t Stallone and he doesn’t drive trucks across the country nor does he arm wrestle. Don’t make things so nuts that you can’t explain it. This story feels right on that borderline right now. I “think” I get it. But most people don’t have time to read the same comic 13 times so make it easy to understand the first time. So, here is my advise. Take a page from Marvel.. literally. Give me a summary page at the beginning of each issue. PLEASE!!!!! For the love of Chipotle, just summarize the last issue with the first page of the next one. It will clear up any of the missteps readers may have had. Please hear me on his Snyder! Next, give us some background on the Totality while sprinkling in what we have all wanted from a JL book for years... a fight between the Legion and the League. And lastly, give all members something to do. Make them all important. A good writer for a team book will find something for all characters to do. See Taylormade! He’s excellent at this. And if you can’t find something for them all to do, don’t put them all in it. Dropping extra characters left and right for shock doesn’t help the story. It only makes the story more confusing and creates more opportunities for error in your book as well as others. I said this with No Justice and I’ll say it again, it’s the best JL book we’ve had in a long time. It’s still not entirely what I want but I will take it over what we had before. It’s in my pull but it’s not the first thing I want to read yet. It should be. It’s the frackin’ Justice League for Jimmy’s sake. But my hope is that Snyder is paying attention to my review, takes my advise, and thoroughly explains what’s happening in an easy way as he moves through the story without making it convoluted BUT continues to make it interesting in the process. I know he can do it. If you get this Snyder, just message me. I truly want to help you save this book from what it was. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

And here we have HEROES IN CRISIS, accept if King was writing it the book would end with everyone in sanctuary since they literally deal with universe altering crisis level fecal matter! Your heroes make a tough choice that is biblical in nature while the art work helps to makes Justice League feel epiic and like he most important book DC fans should be reading. It was getting a bit to confusing and convoluted their for a while but this issue pulls some things together.... right now... over me. (Drum part) However, I hate when covers spoil stuff so I was able to piece together at least the players involved AND the ending was pretty cool until the person revealed seemed like a let down at the end of the issue.

Well, we get the background of the universe. Totally remade the creation of the DCU. Ha! You thought monitors were the top of the food chain... WRONG! Perpetua made them first 20 billion years ago( which is nonsense). But better yet, there is something bigger than her now... some weird falcon, eagle, griffin creature. So this story just went from confusing to WTF. Tynion and Snyder just rewrote the landscape of DCU, and in my eyes minimized every crisis story EVER, made barbatos look like a little pet minimizing Snyder’s metal story, while elevating their story to the crisis beyond crisis!!!!! Wow... Does everyone truly comprehend that the story we are reading is the most important story or crisis or event ever in DCU history. More important than Doomsday clock and Manhattan or why everyone has been missing or why time is missing. Move over Geoff Johns, Snyder just took your job and is rewriting the entire universe with Tynion. And if you don’t like it, I guess you may have to leave DC for the other companies because he’s not going anywhere and DC appears to be down with it. Me? Well it’s over the top, it’s too complicated, it’s confusing, and I personally don’t know if Snyder is ready for something this big. Love many parts o his Batman run. Many parts but this is big time and I guess everyone loved Dark Metal.... I did not and don’t know if he’s ready for something this big. We shall see. Only time will tell. I wish Tynion, Snyder, and DC good luck.

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Now, this is a Justice League book. It has been FAR TO LONG! This is big. This is meaningful. This has consequences. This has heroes. This has pretty good art of characters that look like the actual characters and not all the same looking Stallone faces like in the Hitch run. This doesn’t involve some deep feelings and social justice like the Priest run. This is action and adventure. It’s what we have been waiting for now for YEARS! We open with the Green Lanterns at the “crack” in the source wall, which is more like a canyon! To me, this part was just to show the importance of the source wall and where all the lanterns are during this. Next, we move on to Earth where Brainac has come to collect all of our heroes for help. Granted, it doesn’t look like that from the start but that’s what it ends up being by the end of the issue. Brainac is taking the Teen Titans, the Titans, the Suicide Squad, the current JLA, Luthor, Starro, Sinestro, Deathstroke, and of course the Justice League to his home world of Colu to stop one of the 4 huge beings that look just like the “Celestials” from the Marvel universe. The one on Colu is the “Celestial” called Wisdom and it’s searching the Universe for... wisdom. Brainac has the teams all split up in different groups because he feels they will be able to fight these “Celestials” better that way. However, he doesn’t get the chance to because Waller blows up his head using a room full of psychics from Earth. She was trying to get his plan but oopsy-daisy. So, now all of Earths main heroes are stuck on Colu without the attack plan from Brainac on how to stop these 4 big baddies. And, Brainac left one little key tidbit out there before his head exploded: he put a beacon on Earth to draw the “Celestials” there just in case

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We open with our teams stuck on Colu, Brainac’s dead, and the Omega Titans A.K.A. DCU Celestials, are coming to destroy the planet of Colu and next Earth. The Colu people, and their robots, start attacking the four teams at their four trees across the planet. Meanwhile on Earth, the remaining heroes were somehow put into status, other than Green Arrow, and GA tracked Amanda Waller down to the artic. On Colu, the teams pull it together and realize that Brainac put them on these teams for a reason. Even though they don’t know it, they should probably give it the old Graduate School try... and basically they realize the suits Brainac put them in are drawing them all to specific trees so...When in Rome... is a great band. Anyway, Waller and Green Arrow go to track down the seed that is on Earth that lays dormant in hopes to stop it from opening while the rest of the heroes go to destroy each of the four trees. Team Mystery knocks open their tree to find 10’s of thousands of planets that Brainac hid within the tree and powered it... to my understanding. Team Wonder and Team Wisdom have no luck at breaking their trees down but Team Entropy does! Beast Boy, with a little pep talk from the main man, goes nuts and changes into this huge mythical lion creature and goes HAM on the things guarding the tree and tears it open to find Brainac 2.0 waiting for them. Meanwhile on Earth, we see it’s too late. The Earth seed is awake and the Omega Titans will be on their way after Colu. My thoughts: it’s fun. It’s action packed. And it’s confusing. Why do things have to been so confusing with Snyder lately? So, here is my take. Batman broke the source wall indirectly by messing around with stuff he shouldn’t have. So, he gets a “whoops!” and we move on. Now, these Omega Titans are loose trying to destroy planets. Brainac figures it out and enlisted the help from our heroes. Brainac died and now they are figuring it out on the fly. But what are the trees? Why the four teams? I thought the Colu people didn’t like Brainac? So, why would he hide over 10,000 planets and his 2.0 on the planet of the people that hate him? And what is the purpose of the Omega Titans? And why have we never heard of this seed before now? It’s fun and action packet like I said but now I’m just nervous. Does Snyder make things to complex? Is he Grant Morrison 2.0? And are we going to build up to something big that just needs a wishing Metal that cuts through even 10th metal called.... wait for it.... 11th Metal? To be honest, I’m just nervous with Snyder writing now in general. He starts off great and then his stuff has just been falling apart. I want to like it but I’m confused as to the “why” and reasoning. For the time, I’m in and I’m hanging on. But this idiot (meaning me) needs some of the puzzle pieces laid out in the next issue or I may bounce. Pretty good issue for now. Pick it up and let me know what you think. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Answers. Is it that hard to explain the premise of a story as you go? Does everyone need to make a story super deep and super out there? Well, finally Snyder gives us some answers as to what is going on and how some of the pieces work, which is why I liked this issue a bit more than the rest. Snyder still was vague on some of the ideas but we get so much more to the story in this issue than the rest and I loved that some of our questions get answered. What was the plan all along? Well, Brainiac realized that our heroes ( By heroes we mean Batman but everyone continues to say WE) screwed the pooch and cracked open some crazy stuff through the source wall. And he knew the only way to beat these Omega Titans was with the type of power his home planet of Colu had at it’s disposal. Once he saw that the seeds on his planet opened and the Omega Titans were coming to his planet, he used it as an opportunity to kill 18 birds with one stone. Our heroes (cough ... Batman) were responsible for this misery, so he would take them to fight off the Omega Titans on his planet while he got the power from the planet he needed to official beat the Titans. He knew the heroes couldn’t beat the Omega Titans anyway but they could keep them busy just long enough for him to get the info he needed. Then the heroes would die, his planet would also die after he got his info (which Brainac would think would be great since his planet outcasted him), and eventually the Omega Titans would make their way to Earth and destroy that planet once and for all. Brainac wins! Well, that didn’t work out so well. Brainac‘s head blew up and here we are now. We also get the answer (Kinda) of what’s up with the seeds. I think it’s implied that every inhabited planet that has sentient life has four seeds on it and always has. They were dominant until the source wall was cracked open. Once it was cracked open, the seeds started to gain energy and soon will blossom into trees. Once these four seeds turn into trees, the Omega Titans will come and take “stuff” from the trees and kill the planet. What “stuff” do they want? I don’t know. Snyder needs to better explain that too. All of our heroes find a way to somehow tap into the trees but I don’t understand the purpose of trying to connect to the trees since it looks like the planet blows up anyway. And I thought Snyder made Cyborg into CYBORG 10000000!!! Why can’t he access the dang tree? And , what’s the point of accessing the trees? I missed that one Snyder. However, the heroes all escape with most of the Colu’s inhabitants and we see that our seeds on Earth sprout into trees sending out some type of signal to the Omega Titans. They arrive just like that... and only Green Arrow is there to stop them. Again, this issue is much better than the past two issues however, I don’t see how we can stop the Omega Titans in one issue especially when Superman and the rest of our crew looked like gnats fighting against these titans. We got answers that were needed but I also feel like we have more to answer. Somehow, I hope we get those answers in his last issue because if we were told the details from the start, this arc would be so much better than what it is. If you are reading this Snyder, Please be direct on how things work and make it easy to follow in the future for dummies like me. I want to read a comic 4 times because I like it not because I can’t understand it. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. This issue brings our beginning to an end... if that makes sense. No Justice ends but from this seed grows our new Justice League titles starting next week and into the summer (see what I did there). This last issue opens with the Lanterns trying to hold off the source wall, kind of like putting scotch tape over a water pipe. It’s gonna need to be fixed at some point but the Lanterns are taking turns holding the hole closed. I think we can already see where that part of the story is going. People are going to escape from the other side of the Source Wall at some point. And honestly, I like that part of the story and I’m excited to see what new threats emerge. Hal gets a call while at the Source Wall from Oliver basically saying poop has hit the air conditioner. So, the Earth lanterns head out to help. Vril Dox, pissed that his planet is destroyed and blames the League which he should, takes off to earth without the League and speeds up the growth of their trees. The way I took it is that’s why our trees on Earth grew so fast at the end of last issue. He teleports away to do that leaving the League stranded in space. Just as Vril is ready to end Waller and Oliver the Earth Lanterns show up to put a stop to him. Cyborg hooks up to Brainac’s ship and teleports the entire ship with our heroes through a boom tube and lands on Earth. The heroes split up to their trees and begin to tackle the problem. They need to break off Vril Dox’s devices on the trees and find on the tree a seed that is somehow growing on these trees that wasn’t growing on Colu... funny how that huge plot point is revealed in this last issue magically at the end. Then, the Flash runs the seed to each tree to get supercharged by the powers of wisdom, mystery, entropy, and wonder. Who charges them? Well again magical of course, since Snyder likes to wait until the last 5 pages of everything he writes to wrap up a story. And, we find out that the heroes can somehow touch the seed and put those energies from each tree into the seed creating a super seed. A super seed... a seed better than the rest... A 5th seed if you will. Sound familiar? You’ll never guess what they do next. Hal creates a large literal green arrow construct and Oliver Shoots it into the Entropy Omega Titan. The other Omega Titans eat him instead and somehow get full so they don’t need the other seeds on Earth or anywhere else for that matter. So in the end, we get magic seeds and cannibalism. That’s all it takes to stop 4 huge celestial beings that brushed off Superman and the League like gnats. So, they just go away... and the story ends with the League creating what I think is the Hall of Justice ( hopefully not out of Brainac’s ship), Lex leaves the teams and appears to be leaning towards the bad side again, Martian Manhunter is nominated as the Chair of the league, Green Arrow is given a box that can stop the League if need be, and Batman is forming the Outsiders. And again, we do all of this is about the last 5 pages. I’ll start with this: it’s better than Hitch’s run. It’s better than Priest’s run. And as much as I want to praise and blame Snyder, he worked with Tynion and Williamson. So to all of you I say, why can’t you lay out a story gradually? Why can’t you give us bits and pieces along the way? Leave hints as to how to solve the problem at hand. Why do you always back your heroes in such a corner that the only way to get out is with some sort of magic that never existed or some new plot point created at the last minute? To be honest, it’s not just Snyder. It happened in Detective and it’s happening in Flash. Hopefully Flash War doesn’t end with a magical last minute nonexistent plot point that gets thrown in during the last couple pages. But, I have a sinking feeling it will since these three have worked together on multiple titles and appear to have all gone to the same school of storytelling. Now, I’m not a comic writer, nor do I think I ever could be, but I have read many comics a long time as well as watched tons of movies and television shows related to space Operas, Sci-fi, action, adventure, ...you name it! And what are Comics if not written and visual weekly tv shows. Needless to say, I know what I like from any type of story and many other readers out there probably have the same tastes as I do. So, can you three start with the end and work backwards please?!?! See where you want to go and figure out a smooth way their by leaving us nuggets of info in each issue along the way. Stop blasting our heroes into a new win situation against epic proportions! Lately, I feel like all three of these writers are from the same school of thought... just write epic craziness until the last 5 pages of your final issue in the arc and figure out some crazy way to put it all together in one panel. For example, magic seeds, magic metal, spoiler outsmarting future tech, or just run fast around people and steal their speed. If you couldn’t tell, I’m disappointed right now and I feel like the keys to the kingdom have been given over to all three of these guys whose stories are lacking in my opinion right now. I truly hope things get better as JL continues. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. I don’t know how you are supposed to read this? As an adult who likes comics or as a kid interested in them? If you are reading this as an adult interested in some type of continuity and story, you honestly may not like it too much. But if you are reading this to your kids, it’s funny, interesting, and shows you characters you remember but in a way to make it interesting and exciting for kids. My little boys have read every Pet Avengers Comic, and are in love with Lockjaw!!! This is a fun comic for them to read that gives them some insight into the Savage Land, as well as some background of some forgotten Marvel characters along the way. Next, we get Spider Pig! Reviewing this as a comic for kids; I loved it! From the perspective of an adult or teen interested in comics, they may not like it. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. So, what’s next on this Lockjaw magical mystery tour? Well, let me start by telling you that you his book as had it’s ups and downs but this issue was pretty dang good. For those who haven’t been following along, here is the rundown. Lockjaw has been following signals to find his long lost siblings. He already found two of them, especially one who is a scientist named Doc Jaw. She’s actually the one who sent out the signals for Lockjaw to follow. Well, the last sibling of his is trapped with Annilihus and it’s time to go get him! We open in Lockjaws dream looking at a puppy being taken away. We then skip to another part of Lockjaws dream with his mother strapped to a table and being exposed to the terrigan mist while being pregnant. While in his mother, Lockjaw developed not only the ability to teleport wherever but to also understand humans, other beings, and even emotions.... you name it. Point is: he understood that his siblings were endanger so he teleported them to other worlds and realities to keep them safe. Afterwards, he teleported back to see his mother. And yes, this was all while in his mother’s belly. I know... nuts! Now, once Lockjaw wakes up from his dream in which is sister Doc Jaw put them in, D-man and Lockjaw teleport to the Negative Zone to go get his sibling from Annilihus. Annilihus found Lockjaws brother and tried to activate his teleportation that was dormant in his genes. However, it wasn’t working. So, Lockjaw charges at Annilihus fighting him and teleporting simultaneously from one place to another. First, Annilihus and Lockjaw land in Asgard fighting in front of Odin . While they are gone, D-man uses his inhaler he receives from Lockjaw’s sister (Doc Jaw), who’s a super smart science dog that originally sent them on this journey in the first place. It turns out, the inhaler changed D-man into a large Dragon Man. When Lockjaw teleported back to the Negative Zone with Annilihus, D-man was waiting to drop the hammer and help out his buddy. Next, Lockjaw teleports Annilihus, Dragon-man, and himself to the place between worlds which is the current home of Franklin and Valeria Richards. This part I LOVED!!! This was an amazing throw in that upped my score all by itself being a Hickman FF fan. From there, Lockjaw takes them to the Ultimate universe where they bump into Giant Man, then to Duck World, next to “redacted” AKA the DCU, and then back in time to Marvel Legacy, which is from the original Avengers of millions of years ago. This pit stop doesn’t last long because Lockjaw knocks Annilihus into the mouth of a Killer Shark after he threatens to destroy the future through the past. I doubt it with the OG Avengers waiting there for him anyway. Lockjaw then teleports himself, his brother, and D-man back to their present in Brooklyn where the story all began. D-man was lost, lonely, and didn’t know where to go and what to do as the story opened. And often times, from experience, all it takes is a friend to fix all of that. Lockjaw not only helped out his siblings to find homes and make sure they were all ok but he also set up D-man as the new owner of his brother he just saved from Annilihus and showed him that sometimes friends can come in all shapes, sizes, and even breeds. But what D-man didn’t realize was that he was never alone. His sister was worried sick and now they are the proud owners of a new pup. Lockjaw smiles and teleports away back to Black Bolt and the Inhumans to take a nap. All in s days work for that pooch. Lockjaw is by far the best cartoon Super Hero Animal ever. He’s better than Krypto, Ace, Jumpa, Wonder Dog, Underdog, Streaky, Lockheed, frog Thor, or even Snarf and Battle Cat. Hands down! I could go on but my point is that Lockjaw is an animal that basically feels human with the best power ever. He has the ability to teleport through time and to go to any reality. Lockjaw is sweet, kind, and was the only one able to be around Black Bolt as a baby. He would physically teleport into his chamber to be with a lonely little boy with special abilities. That shows great character for any hero, human or animal alike. He’s a hero, a service dog, and has helped to save the world numerous times. He’s tangled with Thanos and lived to tell the “tail” and saved his own family from the womb! Find me a better dog. Find me a better Super animal especially one whose heart and compassion is stronger than most humans. My boys have read every single comic they can get their hands on with Lockjaw in it and desperately want a bulldog named Lockjaw, even after I told them they can’t all teleport. Still, they want one.... technically 3. Anyway, the series was great especially this last issue. Again, it had its ups and downs mainly because I didn’t know where it was going. This is an example as to why you sometimes need to stick through a series to the end. If I didn’t, I never would have gotten to this amazing issue. Pick up the entire series and feel free to read it with your kids. They will love it too. How many books can you and your littlest both read and enjoy? Trust me and go for it! I have no doubt you will love it! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. This book should be on everyone’s pull. It’s still early in its run so you could easily catch up if you’re reading this on the fly. It gives me hints of Hickman’s FF run, which is probably my favorite run of comics.... honestly... and FF aren’t even my favorite comic characters! To summarize all issues to this point, Reed and Sue are still out making universes with Molecule man ( I’m guessing) and Johnny and Ben are basically lost without them. But we find out that they are not only depressed, their powers are fading without being around Reed and Sue. They’re all cosmically connected. Reed sent a saved recorded message to Ben sending him to find the multisect, which is a tool used to jump to other multiverses. Ben believes Reed and Sue are dead and lies to Johnny to give him hope that they are still out in a multiverse somewhere and that they need to find them. A lie that I foresee will destroy Johnny at some point. With the help of a super smart science-wiz who makes money off bringing back super powers named Rachna, she decides to help them if she can come with them. We assume she has another motive. They land on a multiverse with a Wolverine that’s dating a She-Hulk, a Reed That’s only about his work to save the planet from a Doom that’s actually Galactus now, and who knows the rest! This comic is fun, exciting, creative, inventive, appears to have guest cameos, and fantastic art. Who knows if this will lead to Reed and Sue right away but I think you’ll enjoy the ride along the way. Pick it up and put it on your pull. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Marvel 2-1 is an amazing book that every comic fan should read. It is currently one of my favorite titles and, as much as I want FF back with Fresh Start, I don’t want this run to stop. Heck, imagine an FF that includes our Ben and Johnny with this other earths Sue and Reed? Sign me up! We get “some” info on this universes Johnny Storm, Sue, even The Surfer...... just a taste and enough to hook us in for even more. But we again find out that Reed failed and couldn’t save his world so Doom did and became Galactus. Now, Doom-lactus has literally destroyed the entire universe and only has earth left. That’s Nuts!!! Ben and Johnny decide to stick it out for the fight and just them being their is enough to rally all the earths heroes seeing the FF together again, even if it’s not that worlds FF. And we find out the our Doom snuck along to this universe and is going to help them basically take down himself. Again, it’s Nuts! This comic shows the importance of the FF and why they are needed in comics. Hickman did a fantastic job with that and Chip is continuing that with this book now. This issue felt new and refreshing but mixed with tradition. Zdarsky gets to play with an else world story in current continuity. It’s genius! It’s the best of both worlds. I can’t stress enough that you need to read this but if you haven’t read issues 1-4... do that first! Then read this! You have my demands! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. So, it feels like it’s been awhile but in case you forget, Ben and Johnny went across the multiverse looking for Reed, Susan, and the kids. Now, Ben “thinks” they’re dead but didn’t have the heart to tell Johnny that. So, with the help of Rachna, there new “brain”, they traveled to a universe where Doom took over as Galactus and devoured the universe (except for Earth) in order to find their Reed and Suzie. In this universe, Reed is a depressed mess, Ben Grimm was dead, Johnny was in a hospital bed for some reason, and Susan doesn’t even talk to Reed anymore. When last issue ended, Doom-Galactus was waiting over Earth to feed on it. This issue picks up with our Earth Doom (who hitched a ride with Ben, Johnny, and Rachna) working with this universes Reed on a plan to stop Doom-Galactus. It’s a pretty creative plan. Susan gets the entire fleet of Earth Space crafts to attack Doom-Galactus while our Ben, Johnny, and Doom sneak up behind Doom-Galactus (DG). There Reed shoots our Ben with Pym particles making him the size of DG and there Susan puts her force shield around him. Ben clobbers him good for a bit to keep him busy while our Doom and Johnny take out the mechanical Doom Surfers. There Johnny Storm wakes up and flies up to space to fight Doom-Galactus but what we later find out is that this Johnny Storm took some of the power from Silver Surfer, which was the Power Cosmic. So, his flame is just as powerful as the sun and he helps the crew by firing on DG after Ben shrinks down from the pym particles. This is also why their Johnny was in a hospital. I “think” they put him in a comma so his powers wouldn’t go off and hurt anyone. Needless to say, he lets loose on DG while our Doom and Johnny go into the space ship that Emma Frost is on. The plan was to keep Doom-Galactus busy long enough and to have Cosmic Johnny feed him so his hunger would be stopped for a bit. This would buy them enough time for Emma to shoot Doom-Galactus with an energy blast and swap minds with DG putting her mind in his and vice versa. But our Doom kind of had other plans. I “think” he was going to swap his brain with Doom-Galactus and take that power for himself. But our Johnny talks some sense into him and Emma is the one to swap minds. But before she swapped minds with DG, Reed planted a “Trojan Horse” into her mind to do the opposite of killing worlds. She will take the power Doom-Galactus creates and literally explode it out all across the universe creating planets and life. Our Doom holds Emma’s body after she swapped minds to see their Doom talking to him. There Doom was saying that he’s seen it all. He’s seen that the Fantastic Four always win and always find away and that Doom is always a villain. I loved that part! Then later, we see the people on Earth standing by a grave labeled Galen. Turns out, when their Doom did this very thing back in 2005, Galen (Galactus) swapped minds and went into their Dooms body. He was so overcome with grieve after destroying so much life, that he basically died in pain and sorrow. They buried him there on Earth. Johnny gave Norrin, the Silver Surfer, back his Power Cosmic so he could go be with Emma Frost ( his love) in space helping to repopulate the universe and their Reed talks to Ben saying that he knows that his Reed and Sue aren’t alive. Their Reed tried to look for their signatures and couldn’t find them anywhere in the universe. So, he doesn’t know what our Ben is doing and he thinks Rachna has another motive that he can’t figure out. Zdarsky has been killing it with Marvel 2 in 1. This story checks all the boxes. It has fantastic art. It has creative storytelling. It has a cohesive story from start to finish. It’s complex but easy to follow. You can tell it was planned out before it was written with a beginning, middle, and end. And, its giving us a Fantastic Four book without giving us our Fantastic Four. This is so well done and will no doubt be a trade on my shelf when this is all said and done right beside Hickman’s run. Now, I know we are getting FF back but I would love to still keep this book. I don’t know how but I would love to have my cake and eat it too. Zdarsky has been giving us an amazing story that I don’t want to see go. I don’t think we get FF until August so hopefully we can squeeze in some amazing issues before time runs out. Pick this issue up but make sure to read the arc first. With Thanos done, I think this may be top dog in my pull list. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. The issue opens with Ben and Doom sneaking into Doom’s Castle but in a different universe. They tracked the signature of one of the Reeds to here so they followed his signature and found a dead Reed Richards all strung out and a Doom that literally just killed that universes Thing. Ben tries to go toe-to-toe with that Doom but fails miserably. Our Doom puts up a good fight for a while until they resort to hand to hand combat to see which Doom is the better Doom. The alternate universe Doom has our Doom dead to rights until he falls on the corpse of the alternate universes Reed Richards and finds a small device attached to his waste. He pressed the button to find himself standing in front of the Council of Reeds. If there is any Hickman fans reading this review or that simply read this issue, they literally just screamed out “Holy #%$&!”. The council is back in full effect. Now even though the Council of Reeds are back, they have learned from their mistakes and now keep family close and try to better each world with more compassion than before. Also, it’s really awesome how the Council meets. Doom didn’t leave to meet with them when he pressed the button on the device. His body was duplicated and sent to the Council creating two Dooms; one battling the alternate universe Doom in combat and the other with the Council of Reeds. This was created by them so the Reeds would still be able to be with their families while their duplicates were creating advancements for societies. Then later, the two will merge back together with memories of both experiences. I’m not going to lie; that’s just pure craziness to even create this idea. Way to go Chip! That was extremely creative. So, our Doom with the Council asks for help from the Reeds to figure out what’s been going on with him. Our Doom realizes that something is wrong with him but he doesn’t know why. Part of the reason our Doom came along for the ride with Ben and Johnny was to find other Reeds to help him figure out what’s wrong with himself. So, one of the Reeds helped Doom by going into his mind and finding repressed memories that showed Reed talking to Doom immediately after Secret Wars. And again, Hickman fans, like myself, were probably going nuts to see the connections to Secret War. We find out that our Reed told our Doom his plans about recreating the multiverse, fixing Dooms mistakes, as well as exploring each one to see what’s out there with his family. Doom basically told Reed that Doom would never stop looking for him and would always try to destroy him. So, our Reed used his powers given to him by the Molecule Man to recreate the multiverse to then repress Dooms memories. He then altered Dooms mind, as well as everyone else’s memories to think that he and Sue were dead. Reeds thinking was that if Doom thought he was dead, maybe Doom would move on and actually try to help humanity for the better. And it turned out, he was right. That’s exactly what Doom has been doing since Secret Wars. After gaining this information, our Doom went back to the fight with the other alternate Doom and killed him. Doom freed Ben and they met up with Johnny and Rachna to go to another universe. But now, our Doom knows that Reed and Sue are alive. It’s only a matter of finding them. I can only predict that Dooms obsession will lead them all to Reed and Sue. This issue was so great. We got references to Secret Wars finally making the event seem actually important to comics. And, we got references to Hickman’s amazing run on Fantastic Four with the Council of Reeds. How could you beat that? We also get answers as to why Doom basically tries to be a good guy, because Reed repressed memories from the end of Secret Wars and made Doom feel like he had no other options anymore. He tried being God and it didn’t take. He’s always tried to defeat Reed but he’s gone too. Doom was looking for something new out of life. It honestly makes sense. Now where do we think it’s going from here? Personally, I think Doom will find Reed and Sue if only just to show Reed that Doom is smarter and more capable than Reed could ever imagine. Basically, because of Dooms pride alone he’ll find Reed and Sue. But I still can’t pin point what Rachna wants. She’s doing this for some reason and continues to find Reed after Reed knowing they aren’t the ones they are looking for. But why? I hope we find out in two weeks. Zdarsky has been doing a phenomenal job on Marvel 2 in 1 and this issue continued that trend. This book still remains at the top of my pull list and it should be at the top of all of yours too. Pick this up, I have no doubt you’ll love it. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. They’re having a baby! The Fury’s are there to welcome the new little one. The name Jacob is picked out for the baby because of the ladder Scott used to escape repeatedly called Jacob’s Ladder. And both parents are just as shocked, surprised, and lost as I was the first time around. The baby is born but the cord is wrapped around little Jacob to find that he’s not breathing. Scott uses the knife, created from the flesh of Darkseid, to cut the cord and the baby “escapes” death for the first time! To anyone who has ever had a child, King hit a home run on the feeling you get before, during, and after childbirth.....The perspective of both the mom and dad.....The stress in the room but the calmness of the nurses and doctors. He did it in such a way that he was able to put a humorous/ loving spin on something dear to everyone’s heart. This was such a great read for me, especially being 2 weeks away from the birth of number 3. I’ve said this twice before, I’ll say it again in about two weeks and I’ll say it to all of you now: having a child is the closest you will ever get to being a literal god. That moment of creating life and watching it enter the world... there is nothing that can come close. Think about that and take a reread to the series and see if that changes your mind on the entire comic. Lastly, to any of the haters out there feeling lost when reading this series, you have an opinion and that’s fine. But on a recent interview with TK on the Word Balloon podcast, his intent is to let everyone interrupt the comic how they want to for now. But, he will tell us the accurate interruption by the end. Sometimes it’s ok to get the true answer at the end. Is this a dream? Is this the anti life equation? Is he dead? Is this all in his head?

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Normally, I like to give a rundown of what happened but in all honesty, we can probably explain that REAL quick. We simply look at Scott and Barda juggling the war on Apokolips with being parents. The end. On one page you have Scott fighting HARD in the front lines leading his troops to war and the other he’s on earth. Sometimes he’s barely succeeding in battle and others he’s taking his son to the park. Scott’s on one page getting broken limbs and the crap kicked out of him and then the next page, you see him at home with baby Jack and their nanny Funky Flashman ( Stan lee) landing food in the “hangar bay ”. As much as I describe this story hopping around, you would think I don’t like it. But I honestly love it. I love the mystery of trying to figure out what’s going on. And we all know something is not right. I also love the discussion this comic draws. The theories and ideas that people have are amazing. Everyone assumes Scott’s trapped but is he trapped by Granny Goodness? Is he battling the anti-life equation? Is he trying to escape his life of marriage and family? Does the lump have him? Is he trapped with depression? After my latest discussion with my friend Bat Brad in the Oblivion Bar, which if you love talking comics and respect people’s opinions we’d love to have ya, he mentioned a very unique and interesting idea. He said that we aren’t given the timeline for this story. The story began with Scott battling depression and attempting suicide. But what if those first issues were actually the end of the story? What if we are seeing the beginning of the story right now with the birth of Jack and the beginning of the war? What if something happens to there baby and Scott can’t handle it? Maybe he attempts suicide to escape his feelings, his de

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. So what happened during this issue of Mister Miracle? That’s a really great question that hopefully we can answer by the time we’re done discussing it. I’ll be the first to admit that I want a straightforward story that’s not confusing, complex, or complicated. And without a doubt, this story is confusing and overly complex. No one can doubt that. No one can argue that they totally understand what’s happening in this story either. With all that being said, why do I like it? If you hate complex and confusing stories, why is this one ok? That question is fair and easy to answer. When I know what I’m getting into before the story starts, I’m ok with it. I don’t walk into Burger King demanding a Big Mac. I’m not watching the movie “White Chicks” and expecting it to win an Oscar. This story was never designed to be straightforward. This story was designed to be thought provoking and complex, which it has in spades. It’s the style that King is going for throughout Mister Miracle. However, an answer must happen by the end or then I too will be just as angry as many others. You can throw curveball after curveball at me as long as you throw me one right down the middle at the end so it all makes sense and I can at least get on base. So, let’s jump into the story shall we.... This issue is actually simple on the outside. Scott is their trying to negotiate with Kalibak on behalf of Darkseid. They are trying to end the war and come to some type of peace agreement. The talks go back and forth and it appears as though everyone has agreed until Darkseid gets his sticky little fingers on the deal. Darkseid tells Kalibak the new deal, which was very shocking. Darkseid is willing to stop the war, create peace, and give back the anti-life equation. Again ... GIVE BACK THE ANTI LIFE EQUATION!!! However, Scott and Barda have to give Darkseid their child Jack Free for him to raise as his heir. That was an interesting twist. So, will they do it? And why would Darkseid be willing to give up the one thing he has been searching for his entire life for Jack Free? Now, there was a huge part of the story that I feel many are overlooking and not talking about. It actually happened when Scott went to pee in between negotiations, which was hilarious to me. He was told a story about a master painter and his apprentice, which by the way was the story of Zeuxis and Parrhasios that he manipulated to being about Da Vinci. Side note: how often do we get two comics in the same week that reference Da Vinci (see SHIELD by Hickman)? Anyway, the painters had a contest to see who was the better painter. The painters put their paintings behind two curtains. The apprentice opened his curtain first to reveal fruit. But the fruit was painted so realistic that birds flew into it and tried to eat them. When it was the masters turn, he was asked to reveal his painting. The master says “I already did.” Turns out, the masters painting was so realistic that his painting was the actual curtain itself that was out the entire time. It was so good, that he didn’t just fool the birds, he fooled the entire crowd as well as the apprentice. So why do I feel like this story is so important? Because this is King giving us a clue as to what’s going on throughout the story. King is telling us that the real truth has not been revealed. In a way, he’s being a Magician of sorts. “A good artist can fool our natural selfs but a great artist can fool our culture.” Everyone is focused on something to do with depression, suicide, death and even rebirth. Others have speculated that this is all in Scott’s mind and that’s what the blurry video lines are each time we see them. The speculation is that Scott is in some type of “matrix”. I think the point is that the story about Da Vinci was to clue us all in to say, “you’re all wrong!” The artist/ magician (King) is doing something bigger that no one has thought of yet. So, the last question is, then what is it then? I say this: think about what a curtain does. It both hides and reveals. Something big is still hidden in this story but the reveal to me is Jack Free. He is important to this story. We have had issues dedicated to him that seemed pointless.... but they weren’t. Everyone is concerned about Scott and his suicide as well as the blurry lines when we should focus on what’s right in front of our face; Jack Free. It’s basic slight of hand. But remember, a curtain hides and reveals. King revealed the importance of Jack in this issue. But that same curtain is still hiding something big. If I was to speculate, the meaning of “Jack” is to supplant, which also means to overthrow. I wonder if the new ruler of Apokolips when this is all said and done will be Jack Free since we know Darkseid will be traveling in space with the League? Or maybe Jack Free is Lump, which some have mentioned already. All that I feel confident about right now is that Jack is important to this story and should not be overlooked AND something bigger is yet to come. The art was fantastic. The story had its moments of humor and King has done a tremendous job with this series so far. The only thing I feel like knocking King for is that I feel like he tried to sell us on the painting story as his own and that is a story I heard in school a long time ago. That kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Otherwise, I’m really digging this story and loved this issue. How do I know? Whether it be good or bad, all anyone can do is talk about this book, especially about what’s going on within this book, make theories up about this book, and try to draw their own conclusions. If that’s not a good book, I don’t know what is. When your done reading a book and you can’t stop thinking about it or wanting to talk about it, in my humble opinion, it’s a great book and a great issue. I’m all in and I hope you are too. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Well written and fun. Pieces connected together nicely with good set up and connective tissue to the other issues. We get to see why and how Svoboda was effected by the Judge. And the scene with Guppy was sad and devastating. You expected Nightwing to save the day just in time, but he didn't. And Nightwings monologue there, "if I think about him too much my vision blurs and a lump grows in my throat." Great and timely writing. Dick sneaking in as a dancer even fit. It was tied together nicely with his cross fit gym. And Dick not keeping the money was a nice touch. I was shocked with the Jidge having no eyes as well. Curious about his abilities still. It had a Dare Devil type of Vibe to it. And the wrap around to the limousine gang was nicely done. Great art! And I'm excited for the next issue. Nicely done If you like what you heard, love talking comics, and are interested in joining a DC book club, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We left off last issue with Clint taking down Atlas which led him to Mach X. For those that don’t know, Mach X ( or Beetle as you may know him as), basically has a winged jet pack and shoots missiles. Well on this stop of Clint’s magical mystery tour, he heads to Kree Haven where we see Mach X (Beetle) working on an assembly line making Doombots 7 days a week. We can see that he has some remorse for some of the things he’s done in the past but as we learned throughout the issue, Beetle only ever did it out of love for someone he cared for named Melissa. The how’s and why’s are left out. Clint drops in and challenges him to a battle to the death, like he did with Atlas before. He makes Beetle get his suit on a waits for him to come back. Meanwhile, we see that Bullseye, whose been chasing Clint down to kill him, has Clint lined up dead to rights until Kraven the Hunter’s 3 grandkids stop him. This of course pisses Bullseye off and he slices up Kraven’s grandkids only to take a gut wound of his own sending Bullseye packing for another day. Clint and Beetle fight and Hawkeye eventually ties up his wings and jams an arrow in his jugular killing Beetle for good in mid air. Meanwhile, Multiple Man, which as bonded with the Venom symbiote, has also been looking for Clint. Multi-Venom tracked Clint down to Arcade’s territory from last issue and finds Blindfold the fortune teller threatening her for information on Clint’s whereabouts. Being a fortune teller, she saw this coming and poisons herself so the symbiote won’t take control of her too. But right before she dies, Multi-Venom takes control of her and gets a quick read on where Clint went. The issue ends with Clint being depressed and drinking at a bar with Multi-Venom on the way. I think the problem with the i

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. The issue opens with Clint in Josie’s bar talking to Turk ( maybe Barrett) the bartender and this little boy Dwight, who happens to have Ant Man’s helmet, about how to find some more members of the Thunderbolts. Meanwhile, Bullseye is getting fixed up from his encounter last issue with Kraven the Hunters Grandkids at Claire Temple’s Clinic in Electroville. Turns out, both Clint and Bullseye have pissed people off. The Multiple Man Venom Symbiotes, which look awesome, are after Clint and track him down to Josie’s bar while the Red Skull sends the Taskmaster and some of his troops to catch up to Bullseye. Clint manages to fight off some of the Symbiotes in Josie’s bar with a fire cocktail but Turk ends up dying in the process. Dwight manages to escape with some help from the ants using his helmet. However, Dwight comes to Clint’s rescue by driving a car through the bar pinning some Symbiotes up against the wall just long enough for them to escape. At Claire Temple’s Clinic, Bullseye takes out all of Red Skulls troops with ease and tells Taskmaster to inform Red Skull that he quits! And, if Red Skull sends anyone else after him, he’ll kill them too. Meanwhile, Clint and Dwight work their way deep into the Wastelands to a hidden territory run by Kate Bishop, which was a Hawkeye for the Young Avengers. We will have to see if she’s willing to help Clint on his crusade for vengeance AND if Bullseye is going to continue his quest to put an end to Clint. The issue was nonstop excitement and action. I was shocked to see Red Skull sending people after Bullseye simply because he didn’t catch Clint once. It was implied that Red Skull may have thought Bullseye was the one taking out some of the old Thunderbolts (Atlas and Beetle) but I was still a bit confused as to why that would be enough to want to kill Bullseye... maybe he just wanted to bring him in and it escalated too quick? I don’t know but something just seemed off to me about how quickly Bullseye became wanted and appears to be on the verge of switching sides by the end of this. But, I’m actually excited for the next issue because I foresee a team up with Bullseye and Clint. There was some implication that Bullseye is using some Deathlok tech and wants it out. That tech may be helpful for Clint to regain his sight. So, I wonder if they will go back to Claire and have her put the Deathlok tech in Clint? Also, Clint’s bringing his Symbiote baggage with him into the secret wasteland town run by Kate Bishop. And that’s not going to go over well when they arrive. This story has had some good twists and turns along the way and has been very creative so far. I feel like Sacks has done a great job incorporating B and fringe C list villains throughout to make them more significant players in this universal timeline wasteland. Sure, it has some heavy hitters but it’s based mainly around two old men who base their well being an livelihood on accuracy. Who would have thought a comic about that battling washed up hacks as villains would be so good? The art is fantastic and this issue especially was nonstop action. To me, the best part is that this book can go in any direction at any time. Sure, I think Clint and Bullseye will end up working together. But, will they both take down Red Skull together? Who will Clint find next? Pick this issue up and put it in your pull. It’s fun, exciting, and will keep you wondering what’s going to happen next. This book has given me a new appreciation for Clint. Maybe it will do the same for you? If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. If you haven’t been following along lately, let me get you caught up quick. The Tinkerer set up aliens to come to the planet and the only way to stop them was with time travel. If they go back to one of the Tinkerer’s first bank robberies, they would be able to get the plans to stop the alien invasion..... somehow.... So, the individuals tasked to help stop the invasion were Teresa (a spy), J Jonah Jameson, and Spidey. When they travel back in time, they enlist the help of a young Nick Fury and rookie teenage Spidey to help them get the intel to stop the invasion in the future. But old JJJ talks to young JJJ who outs Spidey’s identity to the Green Goblin by accident. So, the Green Goblin captures Aunt May and young Spidey in order to kill them and ruin their lives. They stop Goblin, Aunt May finds out Peter’s Spider-Man, and we also find out that Theresa ( the spy) is actually Peters long lost bio-sis. Just pure craziness! So in THIS issue JJJ, Theresa, and Spidey go back to the future to find out that’s it’s totally different. Turns out, Peter stopped being Spider-Man. His encounter with his older self and Goblin set him over the edge to retire, which led to Norman controlling everything, Harry Osborn as President, and the disbandment of Super Heroes, villains captured, and many Villains and Super Heroes alike working for Osborn with Octobots acting like police robots. JJJ, Theresa, and Spidey see a Parker Industries building in the distance and go to ask for help and to see what’s going on! They find Peter Parker there married to Gwen Stacey! Now, brace yourself before you freak out about how this is possible, I think Chip ( the writer) is playing off the time travel idea that the travelers are jumping from alternate timeline to timeline.

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Let’s recap. Peter, his sister Teresa ( yup he has a sister if you’re just tuning in now), and J. Jonah Jameson go back in time to stop the Vedomi from invading New York City. Why did they go back in time? Well, the Tinkerer was the one who kind of brought the Vedomi here from something he did long ago. Anyway, they go back in time and have a blast. “Future” Pete works with “new Kid Spider-Man” Pete and they put a stop to tons of his bad guys stopping the Tinkerer, Otto, and even Norman Osborn. “Future” Pete thought things went great but “new Kid Spider-Man” Pete didn’t. He retired from being Spider-Man and altered history. Sure, the Vedomi never came but Spider-Man never really happened, Osborn took over the world for the most part, they only had a few Superheroes left, and now they were stuck in an altered timeline. So in this issue, they get help from the resistances, which is made up of Cap, Doc Strange, and Ironheart. Spider-Man sells them on the idea that this wasn’t supposed to be the future and explains to them that he basically ruined it. They believe him and decide to help him get back to his unaltered timeline and fix their time in the process. The problem is with no more Tony Stark they have to break Doom out of prison. He’s the only one alive who knows how to use the time travel technology. The resistance and the future (our) Spidey crew break Doom out of prison and Doom agrees to fix the tech and send this altered Spidey crew back to their timeline by following their chronological signature to where they originally made the jump to put everything back to normal. Confused yet? However, I think it was implied with “this version” of time travel that once you travel back in time you create an alternate timeline. And every time you jump backwards in time you continue to make new timelines from the new timelines. It’s like making a clone of yourself. It will be you but different. But then making a clone of your clone of yourself after that. So, altered timeline Osborn brings his altered goons consisting of Kraven, Otto, the Vulture, and some more of Spidey’s Rogues to fight our Spidey and the resistance. Norman wants the time travel technology for himself. Well, the young Spidey (the one who stopped being Spider-Man) basically has his “coming to Jesus” moment and puts on this sweet new Spider-Man outfit with brand new red webbing and joins the fight with his wife Gwen Stacey. During the fight, Cap dies ( I think.. Doc Strange talked about a small piece of his spark still being there.. I don’t know) and our Spider-Man wants to stay to help the resistance fight Osborn. He feels like it’s his fault all of this happened. The rest of the resistance, as well as the altered Spider-Man disagrees. They tell our Spider-Man that it’s not his fault. This happened because their Spidey sat on the sidelines and let Norman take over. Teresa grabs Spidey and Jonah to get them to go back to their time leaving us to believe they left and the altered Spider-Man is back and leading the resistance. I have really been enjoy this story arc as well as the one before it. These past two or so story arcs gave us a tribute to the original Spidey with all the throwback art while giving us a cool twist to the overall story. I also love how the story messes with time but not our time. Our Spidey will remain unchanged when this is done BUT a new altered timeline Spidey was created that we could technically visit whenever we want. I also loved this new Spidey. His webbing and outfit were great. He’s a mix between the rich CEO Parker Industries Otto Spidey but without being Otto. I’m excited to see where the end of this story goes. Did they truly get what they needed to stop the Vedomi? Was this trip even worth it? I think this could go in so many different directions and I really don’t know which way this could go. Heck, maybe that Norman finds a way into our timeline and follows their chronological signatures? Who knows? If I was to guess, that’s what I think. We spent so much time building up these characters that I feel both the altered Osborn and altered Spidey will be making an appearance in our timeline at some point. And honestly, the resistance can say what they want but this is totally our Spider-Man’s fault. If he never went back in time this would have never happened. Everyone knows, never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is this: Never go in against a Sicilian when DEATH is on the line. AND MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, don’t EVER mess with time travel! I would say you should pick this issue up but you’d probably be jumping in at a spot that makes no sense. To be honest, you’d have to jump in about 6 to 8 issues ago to really make sense of the entire thing. If you have the time, I would because it’s a great story. If not, I would wait and buy the trades. The storytelling is great as well as the art. Truly a spectacular job by this creative team. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. I may be in the minority on this one but I LOVE smart bizarro. I really do. Now, he appears smarter than the average super villain with some of the stuff he’s done... but smart bizarro is pretty cool. I also love him basically freaking out because he can solve SO many issues with Gotham, build SO much tech including quantum doorways, but he can’t stop himself from becoming old bizarro again. He’s preventing it pretty well but can’t stop it. I just feel for the guy. And I can’t go back to that bizarro speak... I hate reading it! We see Bizarro setting up a bunch of henchmen in a large gathering room through an app to then basically gas and kill them all to take down the underbelly of all criminal and organized crime at once, which is ruthless and again smart. However, he grows a conscious, or realizes Jason is there, and basically blows all the gas away saving them all. We end with Artimes finding Bizarro’s synthetic kryptonite bath and we get a great last page of Bizarro finding her holding her axe. Amazing art on that page! We know he probably won’t kill her BUT a nice cliffhanger nonetheless. I just hope the cliffhanger actually has some repercussion... but they hardly do in any book anymore. I liked it but I’ve liked this book for the most part since Rebirth started. But that’s just me. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Nothing happened. I can’t really even write a summary because.... nothing happened. Honestly, we find out that Artemis worked for Luthor a long time ago, Ma Gun has an envelope that her granddaughter has... yet they still haven’t opened it, and Bizzaro is eating hotdogs while losing more of his smarts. That’s it. This idea of Bizarro losing his intelligence feels like it’s been drug on now for months. MONTHS! We get it already. He’s going to revert. I’m also willing to guess the envelope contains a document showing Bizarro Killing Ma Gun. Who wants to bet? This idea for a story isn’t bad but I feel like we’ve been stuck in neutral for way too long. The idea of this book was great when it started. A trinity unlike the original yet similar and raw. We are still waiting for them to show us what they are capable of. This is just a Bizarro book. That’s it! First we find Bizarro. Then, we decide what to do with Bizarro. Then, Bizarro is going to die. Then, Bizarro becomes Super Smart. And now Bizarro is losing his smartness. The title of this book is RED HOOD and the Outlaws. The stuff dealing with Bizarro is interesting but it doesn’t need to take us... what feels like a year... to get through this. It’s become unnecessary and stale. I hate to say this because I’ve recently given the book good scores, but if we don’t pick this bad boy up soon, I’m out! And I’m getting the feeling that even the writer just doesn’t care about the characters and the book anymore or he wouldn’t give us an issue that didn’t progress the story any further in about 3 months. This book truly has promise and has so many great opportunities especially with these characters. If anyone at DC is reading this, can we just move this along already?

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. So, there has been a huge time gap between when the prior issues were released and now. And yes, I hate that. Doomsday Clock is hard enough let alone YEARS for a delay. So, let me spend some time getting you all caught up before the issue starts. The idea of SHIELD has been around since Imhotep stopped the Brood invasion in 2620 BC. Someone or some group needed to be formed in order to protect our planet and societies for generations to come. Throughout the years, individuals have been incorporated into the Brotherhood of SHIELD which include the following: Michelangelo ( the forever man who can access every element of time and space and be everywhere all at once), Sir Isaac Newton ( the villain of the story trying to bring an end to the world with a baby Celestial he found in the sun), Leonardo da Vinci ( super smart engineer and first creator of the life model decoys), Tesla ( a half human super smart android-Cyborg), a trio of brothers none as the Last Caliphate ( warriors through time), Leonid ( son of Tesla and some alien named Morda, as well as mothered by a Mystical song bird), Nostradamus ( yup the same one and he’s a bad guy), and of course Howard Stark and Nathaniel Richards!!! Now, Isaac Newton is trying to put an end to the world with the Star Child (baby Celestial) and Nostradamus. Leonid was tasked with deciding for the Brotherhood between Newton’s plan or Da Vinci’s plan.. this was prior to them knowing Newton wanted to end the world. Leonid chose Da Vinci’s plan and sentenced Newton to death but of course he escaped. Next, while Nostradamus was looking for the elixir of life, the Star Child found Sir Isaac’s journal and works on Quiet Math which set him off and the mad Celestial Star child went into a fit of rage destroying the Immortal City of the SHIELD Brotherhood created underneath the city of Rome. I know... freaking craziness! With the help of Howard Stark, Nathaniel Richards, Tesla, Da Vinci, and Leonid, they were able to hold off the Star Child long enough for Michelangelo to calm the Star Child down. This only paused his rage and he teleported to the future to meet up with Nostradamus and Isaac Newton. Our heroes realize Isaac Newton’s plan and form together in a time machine to head to the future... 2060 to be exact. However, the battle ensues between Leonid, Howard Stark, Nathaniel Richards, Tesla, and Michelangelo vs Nostradamus, Sir Isaac Newton, and the baby Celestial Star Child through 3 parallel futures simultaneously. And that is where this issue starts. Nuts so far right? To think SHIELD has been around since ancient Egypt.... Longer than Christ... pretty awesome. Before I even begin on this issue, stop and read the first 4 issues. It will take you a half hour max to read all 4 and you will love it! I have no doubt. Now, for this issue. The battle begins in the year 2060 in 3 parallel timelines: modern, the rebirth of mankind, and the end of mankind. Let me walk you through this as best and as easy as possible... because it’s confusing and each page has 3 timelines of the story happening at the same time. And if I’m wrong, blame Hickman! Let me start with the Modern Timeline. Modern: Tesla dives in first to take out the Celestial but gets knocked away. Howard Stark gets surprised by the Celestial and it squeezes him to death. Newton uses that moment to then surprise and kill Nathaniel Richards. While the fighting is happening Michelangelo continues to build this large looking battle suit/ shuttle of some kind. Being the villain Isaac Newton is, he kills his helper Nostradamus and then gets his eye ripped out by Leonid’s adopted mystical song bird mother. Tesla jumps back into the fold and directly attacks the Celestial again while Newton kills the song bird. The 3 Last Caliphate throw themselves in harms way to protect Leonid while Michelangelo continues to build the machine. Tesla is pissed because Newton killed his wife (the song bird) and suicide dives into the chest of the Celestial blowing it up giving Michelangelo the opening he needs to put Leonid in the machine. Rebirth of Man: Tesla jumps at Newton and Howard Stark and Nathaniel Richards attack the Celestial from afar. The 3 Last Caliphate attack the Celestial directly along with the song bird. This time, the Celestial squeezes the song bird and Tesla loses it! Newton blindsides Tesla knocking him out while Stark builds this machine for Nathaniel which I think connects to Hickman’s run on FF. I think this is how Nathaniel initially travels through time to meet up with Reed. Just like before, Michelangelo is building that machine for Leonid and again Newton kills Nostradamus. Immediately after, Tesla dives at Newton again while one of the Caliphate tries to use mind control on the Celestial but fails miserably. Newton kills Tesla and the Celestial steps on all the Caliphate killing them. Michelangelo grabs Leonid and leads him to the machine while Stark finishes his machine for Nathaniel. Stark fires at the Celestial and Nathaniel flies right into the heart of it blowing it up. Newton is pissed and kills Stark. This all bought Michelangelo enough time to get Leonid in the machine..... and I think Nathaniel jumped multiverses and timelines into FF... I think.. The End of the World: Stark attacks the Celestial from a distance and Leonid uses his energy force field to protect the 3 Last Caliphate from the Celestial. Meanwhile, Tesla tries to take on Newton and right as Newton is about to end him, his wife the song bird comes in a knocks Newton off Tesla. Stark lands on the Celestial and literally blows off half it’s face. Seeing Newton in trouble, the Celestial shoots down the song bird killing it and drawing Leonid’s attention towards his mother. This is when the Celestial blindsides him. Again, Michelangelo, being able to see all space and time in multiple timelines, is using this time to build his machine. But in this timeline, Newton doesn’t kill Nostradamus. The Celestial swats at Stark knocking him down but Tesla flies in to save him before he crashes and dies. Meanwhile, Nathaniel Richards is laying on the ground dead ( somehow) and Nostradamus sneaks up behind the remaining Caliphate and kills them with a rock. Stark flies back in to fight the Celestial with Tesla only to get nailed by Newton. The Celestial finds Howard and Tesla laying on the ground and obliterates them. Michelangelo continues to build the machine but in this future, no one killed the Celestial. Meaning, Leonid has no way to get to the machine Michelangelo built. So, Michelangelo creates millions of himself and climbs all over the Celestial to literally take him apart piece by piece. It ultimately works and the Celestial collapses to the ground at the demise of Michelangelo. Luckily, he bought Leonid enough time to get to the machine. Ok so, I tried my best giving you exactly what happened to the best of my ability in each parallel future. It was in-depth, crazy, and action packed. It was also so confusing I had to read it 4 times to get it, which I recommend doing by the way. But, even though this story had to be read multiple times in order to understand it, I was mainly upset with the lay out of the book. That’s why I was confused. It wasn’t the writing that confused me. But, I can see the creativity in having the story laid out this way. I get it and I appreciate it after the fact. Hickman is amazing. He is one of, if not THEE, most creative comic writer I’ve ever read. I don’t think I’ve read anything of his that I could say I didn’t like. His “super-science” imagination is so dang impressive and the thought he takes to every aspect of his writing is genuinely amazing. And to see him tie in parts from FF, which may be my favorite run of any comic ever, were a nice touch. Sure, I’m upset it took 6 years to finish this.... technically we have one issue yet but still.... 6 years to get more issues was very upsetting. And sure, I’m nervous we won’t get the last issue of this but I certainly am delighted to get this issue and can’t wait for the finale. Basically, you should read this entire series again, or at least 4 times, and also buy the FF trades while your at it, oh and Secret War, oh and again just read anything Hickman writes and you’ll be pleased. I totally recommend this book, this issue, and until he lets me down, you should read all Hickman you can get your hands on. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Trying to decipher this issue with one read is like trying to understand how Balki Bartokomous and Larry Appleton from “Perfect Strangers” were related, how it lasted for 8 seasons and (no lie) 150 episodes!!! So, I read it four times.... maybe more... and I’ll try my best to tell you what I learned. Hickman went big, and epic, and he didn’t disappoint.... like usual. It was deep and confusing but totally interesting and far out at the same time. The main point behind this entire run, in my humble opinion, was not only to show how long SHIELD has been around but to also give us the battle between fate and free will. This issue’s foundation was that discussion. On one side you have Sir Isaac Newton believing in fate and that he will be the one to see the end of the world as we know it. And on the other side we have Michelangelo who believes in choice and free will. Leonid becomes Judge Judy in the middle and by the end of the issue, shows them what this tilt-a-whirl of desire we call the universe is all about. The issue opens with Leonid piloting the Human Machine... all 3 realities of him. He is able to see past, present, and future and it appears to all run through him at the same time. However, Michelangelo is no longer able to see the future and all of its possibilities like he once could. Personally, I feel it was because their was no future anymore and Leonid folded space and time on top of itself. This, the Human Machine stopped time itself and restarted it with Leonid inside it. Leonid asks Newton if we can just talk and put his infatuation with annihilation behind him. Well, Newton freaks out and literally shoots Nostradamus’ Quiet Math at Leonid trying to destroy him but he just brushes it off and demands he listen or he’ll just make him. And with powers that resemble Eternity, Leonid tears Newton apart by his skin, bone, muscle, and organs. This gets Newtons attention and he decides to listen, as would anyone who tore my body apart and had it float in the air directly in from of me. Both Michelangelo and Sir Isaac Newton wonder what the Human Machine did to Leonid and he tries to explain it in terms of evolution. The Human Machine evolves you to your full potential and again in Leonid’s case, he appears to have the abilities of Eternity which is immortality, time manipulation, multiverse manipulation, unaffected by the passage of time, and can create avatars as well as body possessions to communicate with lesser beings. Basically, he can do whatever the heck he wants. And to be honest, I partially wonder if he is Eternity. The question Leonid is discussing with two opposite sides, fate and free will, Newton and Michelangelo, is “what now?” or “what’s next?”. If you believe in free will, anything is possible and you can continue on with something new. If you believe in fate and you accomplish what you feel you were supposed to, then are you done? Is that it? The point Leonid is trying to make to both sides is that question of “what now” happens not just to individuals but entire species as well. So, Leonid explains why everyone is here. Technically once Leonid stepped foot in the Human Machine, that was it. That was the end of everything, except him. With his abilities, Leonid was reborn like a universe inside an exploding star. And after his recreation, he decided to answer this question with two polar opposites of the same coin; Newton (fate) and Michelangelo (free will). And he resurrected them at their most perfect state, which was right before the end of everything. Being ( in my opinion) Eternity, or at least representing the full potential of a human being, he feels he has a solution that will help both sides by giving them both exactly what they want. He shows both of them the universe from a God’s perspective, which is time as a single moment lasting forever. Looking at it from this perspective, choice and destiny become the same thing. He explains that time is a loop but that loop can be changed. Your destiny is written and is true but it can be altered at any moment so it’s not fixed due to free will and choice. Your fate and destiny is ever changing. Heck we could take the Doc Brown theory and say, “It means your future hasn't been written yet, no one's has. Your future is whatever you make it, so make it a good one.” Michelangelo excepts this idea and is this rewarded. On the next page, we pick up right as the group left to track down Newton in issue 4 except instead of landing in three realities simultaneously, they land in the present with everything fixed and Da Vinci waiting for them. Newton was given what he wanted; a world of ash in his on reality. Alone and filled with his fate he forced on the world all along. The epilogue continues with Howard Stark leaving a message for Tony explaining to him the journeys he’s been apart of, his time in SHIELD, it’s purpose, it’s importance, and indirectly setting up the future of SHIELD to come. And I personally hope we see this information continue on to Tony because this would be amazing to see what Tony and Reed Richards could do with this information. This is what I think happened. The problem is we won’t get a summary page as to what happened in the last issue because this was the last issue. So, did I decipher it right? Who knows! I feel like I did but you never know. I personally loved the series in general. It was confusing but I could name for you dozens of things MORE confusing like Teletubies, why the Kardashians were so dang popular, Burger King foot lettuce, and Furbies. And sometimes confusing can be good if it’s done well. Hickman’s intent was to ultimately use real life characters, as well as Marvel characters, to show us what this “thing” we call life is all about. He wants us to all to live up to our full potentials and create our own destiny using the gift given to our species that know one else has; free will. I hope Hickman branches off with a new series about SHIELD. I would love to see more stories related to SHIELD throughout time as well as the direction Marvel goes currently with Da Vinci running the show, which he was in Invincible Ironman on Bendis’ last issue of you didn’t read that. The potential for great things involving SHIELD is currently out there now and I hope Hickman, or anyone for that matter runs with it. If you’re a Hickman fan, get the issue. If you can wait, the hardcover come out next month with 6 issues in it. I totally recommend a reread of the entire thing and have no doubt this hardcover will be on my bookshelf at home. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Fun, fast paced, and the story ends with a great cliffhanger. Issue 2 and 3 were a bit sluggish but this one will get you back in and excited for the series again. It’s all over the place but in a good way. We get Tawny and some interesting new realms. It may have taken Johns some time to build up his story but I think it’s going to pay off. Art was pretty great too!

I work with kids his age. Therefore, I can say from experience. 1: kids are always on their dang phoneS 2: kids are about posting videos of everything 3: kids are dressing in weird pajama outfits and are all about video games, including girls too! 4: The bullying was not accurate. It happens of course but not like that. Bullying is more or less done online too. So the kids picking on him about his "mommy" driving him to school... that wouldn't happen. If anything, they would be talking to him because he was at ground zero of some epic event!!! So my take on the kid is that the writers are pretty spot on for a 10th grader. As for his powers, we weren't given a ton to go on yet. How do they work? And who is this large ogre creature? I'm interested in finding out. If you like what you heard, love talking comics, and are interested in joining a DC book club, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. When I read this, I can’t help but get a little bit of a Spider-man beginning “vibe”. Maybe it’s because of the outfit? Maybe it’s because he’s a kid? Maybe it’s the subtly humor here and there? But it’s great to see a new hero find it’s way but in a modern way; in current society, social living, as well as mannerisms of current teenagers, etc. It really is spot on in that sense. We see Sideways escape the “monitor like entity” by falling to his doom... only to be saved by going through his portals on the way down and bruising himself along the way. He makes it to the hospital where he tries to help stop a new , at least to me, villain named Killspeed in a mask and hospital gown. I left the issue wanting to see more of that large monitor thing, wanting to know what happened to that duck in the pond who had some type of symbiote crap on a it,and wondering if that came from the dark multiverse? I guess we’ll have to wait to find out. My only concern is that with this being monthly, it’s going to have to cram a ton into each issue to keep people interested. Currently, I’m still interested and excited to see where it’s going to go. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We open with the Awesome scene where anakin gets destroyed by Obi Wan at the end of Ep. 3 however, it’s Vader there with Obi Wan and Vader just crushes him! It was pretty sweet. Then, we find it’s been three years now since the Empire began and Vader’s mission is to go to the planet with all sea creatures ( in so sorry I don’t remember the names but Jar Jar is from there). It appears they want to put them under more strict rule. And we end with a figure in a cloak on the planet that says Skywalker... Now the wrap around would be that Obi Wan is in fact there since the story started that way and Vader would want some revenge. It better not be Jar Jar as a Jedi... me-sa no want-sa Jar Jar Binksa. The middle was slow for set up but the beginning and end were great as well as the art through. If you are a die hard Star Wars fan, you need to pick up this book. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. If you love Star Wars, you’ll LOVE this book. It’s been a great ride since it started and this issue doesn’t stop that trend. We find Vader on the planet of Mon Cala ( planet of Jar Jar) trying to find as many Jedi that still remain and slaughter them on Order 66. After they have found the Jedi, they will likely take over Mon Cala and bring it into the Empire. Everything is going well for Vader and his Inquisitors, which are basically sith that were once Jedis and converted, until the King basically releases these two huge whale tentacle creatures and destroy all their land outposts. This sinks Vader and his team into the ocean but does little damage to the king since they are an underwater civilization anyway. Meanwhile, we find out that the Jedi on the planet training other padawans is Jedi Master Barr, which is the Jedi that kind of looks like Satan with one horn cut off. The hardest part of this book is the cliffhangers. It’s got to be. We know Vader will survive since it takes place in the past BUT Soule still delivers epic cliffhangers leaving you wonder; who is still around? Or, how does Vader get out of this one? He fills in gaps with the stories and gives you a monthly dose of some really good Vader tales. If you haven’t read it, pick up the trades to catch up. If you don’t have the money, just start from issue 13 and then read this one. You’ll love it. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. When we last left Vader, he was sunk by a large squid-whale-thing never to be seen again. Well in this issue, we open with him sliding deeper under the water with his suit losing oxygen and breaking apart fast. Now being the most power Sith Lord to date, he basically strangles the beast with the force and uses it to get a ride closer to the surface. Once he sees his homeboys coming to save the day, he slices the squid-billy and hops on board with his troopers and inquisitors. Meanwhile, we see that the Mon Calamari King, the one who basically released the Kraken on Vader in the first place, actually survived as well. His people take him back to their ship and try to fix him up only to realize right before he set Nessie on Vader, he was tortured and sold out the Jedi order hiding on his planet. The King tries to make contact with the Jedi Order to tell them to get moving cause Vader’s gonna get’cha! Next, we get this amazing scene where “commander” Ackbar ( at the time of his story) takes about 6 small underwater speeders with these crazy super protected missiles and takes down this floating star destroyer platform on the surface of their planet. Seriously, don’t mess with the Mon Calamari people! These dudes single handedly took down fleets of the Empire with their crazy-awesome tech while holding off Vader and his inquisitors with a giant sea monster. They mean business! Again, I say the same thing I do each issue, if you like Vader and love Star Wars, these are great stories to fill in the gaps between movies and give us a deeper mythos of the characters we love. Charlie Soule is killing it each month and continues to make me want to come back for my monthly Star Wars fix. He does a great job of balancing the old school Star Wars fan mythos while also sprinkling in some

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. To be honest, a ton didn’t happen this issue. We left last issue with Vader finding out that their was an underground reserve of Jedi hiding out with the Mon Calamari people. Vader tortures the King of the Mon Calamari people and he gave up their location. We pick up in the story with Jedi Master Barr trying to get his people out of there fast. But it’s too late. Vader found them escaping under the water and literally made one of his “padawans” heads explode. The rest get back to another hidden location only to have two more drop like flies to the Inquistors. Vader would have done it by himself but Tarkin requested his help with the Mon Calamari people. Turns out; these fishies are tough! They almost took down Vader two issues ago and now are more than holding their own against an Empire fleet. So, Vader left to help Tarkin destroy the Mon Calamari. Meanwhile, we end the issue with a stand off between Jedi Master Barr and the other Inquistors who basically laugh off the situation. Why you ask? It turns out the Inquistors and Master Barr know each other. Master Barr was a Padawan when the purge of the Jedi happened and he actually never became a Master since they were all gone and since he went into hiding. But Master Barr learned many things while hiding, including the Senator being a Sith Lord and Order 66, which is the death of all Jedi. And it turns out, the Inquistors were also Jedi. So, Master Barr screams out the order at the end of the issue to instill Order 66. I wonder if the clones are required too listen to all Jedi orders still. I guess we will find out. The issue wasn’t as good as the others but it was still a great read. Parts were a bit confusing. For example, does Master Barr actually have Padawans? I don’t think the people working with him were Jedi

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Just when you think you know what’s going on, Soule goes ahead and does the old switch-a-roo and turns this last couple of issues upside down. We were led to believe that Barr was a Jedi Master and that he was a good guy. Turns out, neither of those are true at all. The issue opens with Barr asking for Order 66 and explains to the clones that the Inquisitors were once defected Jedi’s. Since the inquisitors admitted to the clones in front of Barr AND since we find out that the clones are basically secretly programmed to kill all Jedi on sight, they turn on the Inquisitors and kill all but two of them as Barr escapes with his “padawan”. But this is when we find out that Barr is not a Jedi and that is why the clones won’t attack him on the kill Order 66. Barr sends his “padawan” to go find Master Yoda or Kenobi since records did not show their demise while he stays behind to fight Vader. Meanwhile, Vader finally captures the Mon Calamari King and forces him to watch as Tarkin destroys his planet one city at a time from space. The King says he will never give in until Barr comes in and challenges Vader. This is where the story got good. Turns out, Barr set this all up. Barr was behind the assassination that brought the Empire to Mon Cala. Barr knew the Empire would come and destroy the planet. He knew he could take out the Inquisitors with the kill order. He knew the future which showed him that the Mon Calamari people would help lead both of the rebellions in the future. Barr stop being a Jedi and spent his time researching what went wrong and what to do to fix it. This was the future Barr saw so he decided to plan, organize, and scheme to bring it to light. Barr set up the destruction of a people killing billions but as he says “ it will save trillions..”. This part was insane! The issue ends with Barr dead and three Mon Calamari ships heading out into space and Tarkin letting them leave saying “ what could those three ships do anyway?” Now, let me just say, if you read this and are a Star Wars fan, you probably thought this issue was genius! And honestly, Soule out did himself with this. The time, planning, and research that must of went into this issue to make it flow with the movies was amazing. This was so well done, I hope it becomes cannon. So, my question to all of you readers is, was Barr’s actions necessary? And, who is more insane? Who is the bigger villain? Barr literally killed billions, some in which were women and children alike. I think you could go as far as to say Barr is just as much a monster as the Emperor and even Vader.... if not more. I am always under the belief that one life is not worth millions so killing billions to save trillions... that’s a no go for me. I understand the idea and logic behind it. But I would never be able to live with myself. And maybe that’s why Barr went to Vader knowing that he would die? This arc didn’t seem as good as the others Soule has put together but then this issue comes along and totally puts this arc back on the map with all the rest. All I can say is; if you’re a Star Wars fan and a comic book reader, you need to be reading this series. If you have the time, me-sa thinksa you should go back-sa to the beginning of his-sa run-sa. The art is perfect. The storytelling is amazing and only a nerf herder would think otherwise. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Let's start with the name of the school.... West-Reeve. Come on!!! That's awesome!!! Nice way to pay tribute to Adam West and Christopher Reeve. Nicely done! Loved it! Now, I know you can pick on this issue since Talia is here and is supposed to be in that prison city that people can't get in or out unless they are Batman and cat woman..... BUT.... come on. Haters are gonna hate. Continuity can't be perfect. AND it's not a huge continuity issue. So Talia must have escaped somehow... check! The issue was fun. And, if you change a few words like "kill" to "hurt" you could probably read this to some young ones!!! My boys love it!!! I'll be honest, I didn't see the ending coming and it's so obvious... I feel like a shhhhhmuck! But it makes sense and I like it. Talia vs Lois. Round 2 next issue!!! Fight!!! Maybe the issue will end with jon going home with Talia and Damian with Lois. Now we're talking parent trap!!! If you like what you heard, love talking comics, and are interested in joining a DC book club, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. So, is it in continuity or not? If you can overlook continuity for story and realize that Talia, who looks 26, isn’t trapped in that city jail still in Batman comics, then this was just another fun story arc this week. If you can’t overlook continuity and think all books should be intertwined, then not only will you hate this book BUT you probably hate everything in comics because very view stick to all continuity issues within all stories. It’s was... Period. Damian will never get out of the leagues shadow. He’ll never live down what he was trained to do. This just shows him trying to change and I love how he is written in this comic more than Teen Titans. They save Lois, who also looks 26, and Talia goes away. My problem with the book as a whole is: who is the audience? Is it kids? Adults? I ask because I feel that jumps around from issue to issues. And that’s important to me. Having little ones, I would love a book like this to read with them BUT then the next issue may be graphic with Kid Amazo. So which one is it? If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

A ton didn't happen in the story. It set up a lot. But it wasn't terrible. So,it's the anniversary of Kryptons demise and they go to save a planet of sea horses that don't want to be saved. Personally, I think this part is great. Superman and Jon should of left right there and then. I understand that others may want to leave and their head sea horse guy is speaking for everyone but that's not Supermans call. Honestly, they brought it on themselves. I'm interested to see how they are dampening their powers. Favorite part: The masks in space! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! It was even explained how they could communicate, help with atmospheric issues.. nice touch. Not so favorite part: Shut up Clark!!! Way to tell the alien sea horses you know nothing about that you have a weakness to kryptonite, a red sun, and magic!!! IDIOT!!!

If you like deep and thought provoking comics, this one is for you. Can you believe in science and god at the same time? Does Superman have the right to force a race off a planet? We basically witness Sea Horse "Jor el" trying to save his family since no one else will listen to him. However, sea horse Jor el dies in a blaze of glory while Jon flies his babies away to save them. Superman tries to talk some sense into the sea horse peeps but ultimately it's too late. The planet blows up leaving only Jon, Supes, and the babies in tact. I appreciate Supermans hope, but for an alien to come to our planet and tell us we need to leave and come with him, who would listen? I can understand where the sea horse people on the planet are coming from. However, what type of magic/ tech did those sea horses have that could basically knock out supermans powers? Cause some super villains need to their hands on that!!! If you like what you heard, love talking comics, and are interested in joining a DC book club, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com. Catch you all later! Peace

We don't get a ton to start this off but that doesn't mean it's a bad issue. We get some background of a bizarro world that seems to exist, whether in continuity with the current smart Bizarro in Red hood or not. Some throw continuity into the wind to write the story needed and others create a parallel story that can be adopted by both. As long as the story is ok, im cool with whatever. Im guess this is a parallel universe/ timeline right now. I could be wrong ( probably am). But, there is a possibility that another world "htrae" does exist somewhere out there. Ether way; it's nice to catch up with Kathy in the story. The downfall of the issue to me is: Bizarro talk!!! By the beard of Sophocles, Bizarro speak give me a headache! That is awful to read. However, to write that and make it somehow make sense is amazing! For example, "put him up later!" Means "put him down now!" As much as I hate it, I can acknowledge the time and effort it takes to create that... and do it well. Bravo! Long story short: There is a Bizarro world that Kathy found while Jon was visiting. Somehow, Boy-zaro worked his way out. Great art as usual! Ok start to the story I just don't know the purpose other than to show us a bizarro family. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. I’m really trying here... I understand the planning to articulate Bizarro tongue must be incredibly taxing and difficult. But it is awful to read and totally confusing. But before I knock it I think we need to separate ourselves from what we WANT and realize this is probably meant to be a fun read. We aren’t getting continuity or a build up to some big reveal. We are just getting a stand alone story that is more like a “what if”. If I look at it like that, it’s humorous, unique, and interesting. The art is fine but again, it’s hard for me to personally follow the backwards language. Surprisingly, I am excited for the Legion of Fun because it looks just that FUN! and the Robzaro.. come on.. that’s funny. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We start off with Superman fighting Bizarro on the “noom” and trying to get him to “not” see his world is going to implode. Superman needs Bizarro to “not” help him and I think, not sure since all the backwards talk is honestly confusing to me, but I think “htrae” imploding is tied to Bizarro being somehow disconnected to “htrae” like Superman was to earth before... I don’t know for sure. Again, it was confusing with the Bizarro-speak. So, this looked to me like Bizarro Reborn! The fight with the Legion of Fun was cool to see, especially the Fish singing “fish heads” to Aqua manzarro. Shout out to anyone who listened to Dr. Deeeeeeeeemento. I still got all my old tapes, including “fish heads”! The art was fantastic and the time it must have taken to write each of these Bizarro characters, as well as remember to say the correct Bizarro-speak at the right time, is very impressive. My head hurt at times reading this. I can’t imagine the difficulty writing this. But the end.... oh man... very touching ending with Boyzarro Awesome job to Gleason, Tomasi, and the rest! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. If you came to this book looking for action, adventure, and fighting, then you came to the wrong book this week. However, if you came here to see closure for a writer who was able to do some really cool things with Superman during his run, tell some amazing stories, and pass the torch on to someone else, this comic is for you. Let me start by saying thank you to both Tomasi and Gleason for the fun and amazing stories you’ve given us and that I wish you both well in whatever your future ventures happen to be. You helped make Hamilton County the Kent’s home, created brand new and amazing characters, and helped raise a young Superboy into a character that many readers love. So again, thank you. I think this issue was not only just a passing of the torch but also to reiterate who Superman is and what he stands for. It is a reminder that regardless of who is writing this character, or what book he is in, the basic foundation of Superman will always be the same. Superman stands for second chances but understanding that even with all his power it is not his job to judge. Superman will always stand for hope but more importantly love. He realizes that love is the name of the game. Everything this foreign alien has ever done for us has always been because of his love for our society and his adopted friends and family. Tomasi and Gleason contributed to the character of Superman by helping him grow into the family man he has always deserved to be. They showed us all that family is always a strength and never a weakness. They showed us that family gives us all something to fight for and gives everyone a stake into our future, even the man of steel. One last time; Thank you Tomasi and Gleason for showing what a true man of steel grows up into.... even if it took 80 years. If you like

It’s different for everyone and everyone likes what they like. I loved the fact that we get an exact explanation of how and when Jon went through time, space, and dimensions. The questions were answered which is so dang refreshing to see in comics. I love that someone finally answered something in a way that wasn’t vague! And it was kind of important too! I love time travel, I love alternate earths and tales, and my only wish is we got more of the fight and more of a story with the crime syndicate. We have great art, great action, big ass guns, cool tech, and tons of villains, including Rogul Zar again! What’s not to like? Give me more!

This character is perfect for Tom King. Don't get me wrong; I love his take on Batman but Swamp Thing is perfect for King! Favorites: The football connection... King keeps bringing this football guy back into his books repeatedly. This QB is in his Batman series here and there too! Nice touch... and GO BIRDS SUPER BOWL 52 CHAMPS!!!! Took down the GOAT.... Anyway, The ending was great. I didn't see it coming. Heck even the frost bite part was out of no where. And the way Swamp Thing basically told the bear he'd come back for him to welcome him to the green and guide him... amazing! Again, great ending and great twist, don't want to spoil it if you haven't read it. But you should. The back up by Wein was also a nice touch. I honestly haven't read much Swamp Thing to compare it to but you should definitely pick it up If you like what you heard, love talking comics, and are interested in joining a DC book club, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. This arc has been fun and filled with twists, turns, laughs, and action. It really does fit the “suspense” category. Hawkeye and the Winter Soldier go searching for Black Widow, or who they thought may be killing in her name. Turns out; this is actually a clone of Black Widow and all the widows are cloned in case they are killed. There memories are continuously backed up and kept up to date by someone who appears to be a telepath or mutant. Black Widow looks to be trying to set up the red room, who are the people that trained her and cloned her, to take them down for good. Or is she trying to take over the Red room for herself? It’s a spy, double agent, maybe triple agent, suspense drama that brings Black Widow back after Hydra Cap killed her right before our new Fresh Start! I know many are choosing not to read certain Marvel books since maybe are switching writers or getting canceled BUT this is a good arc with a great story that stands by itself. Pick it up! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We open with Bucky and Clint trapped by Natasha and Bucky without an arm. Natasha uses the arm to show the Red Room that she killed them and reaffirm their trust in her. After they escape, Clint and Bucky find out that Natasha really isn’t bad and actually has a safe house with Boom-Boom and Ursa Major. Can I just say that I totally need to know more about Ursa Major? The way the character is written by Rosenberg is interesting and hilarious. If your reading this Rosenberg, I would love an ongoing with at least Clint and Ursa Major. I think that would be amazing! As men do, and I know being one, we ruin everything. Natasha had her plan all lined up but of course Clint and Bucky ruin it by storming the Red Room and blowing Natasha’s cover. And Natasha literally goes HAM on everyone killing them all! Guys, his issue had everything from talking bears, ballerinas kicking Hawkeye in the nards, David lynch references, to Natasha literally killing copies of herself, Bucky taking a machine gun to every last clone, and the talking bear mauling the bad guys with ballerinas as it’s sidekicks. This issue was NUTS! We end with Natasha basically explaining to the boys that she did all of this to shut the cloning down and end this once and for all. However, we find out that she is totally different. She has her memories from before but she explains that death changes a person, especially your own. Who could blame her? The Red Room blows up and the the last two pages are still amazing until the end. Police are questioning Clint and Bucky by basically trying to figure out what happened realizing how insane this situation is from talking bears and ballerinas, to seeing two people that were dead but now alive, to dozens of roasted Russians, and we see that Natasha snuck off leaving letters

I'm not going to lie; I'm more a DC guy. Lately, I've been trying my best to get caught up with Marvel since Legacy has happened. My point: this BOOK, not just this issue, this BOOK, is freakin' amazing! This story is imaginative, so dang creative, and leaves you wanting more. This writing, especially since issue 13, has been great. Don't get me wrong, I've now read all issues of this series and they are all pretty dang good! But, let's recap: Thanos is pulled to the future by the Cosmic Ghost Rider who is commanded by future Thanos himself. Thanos has literally laid waste to almost everything. The "boy", as young Thanos is called, was drug there by the COSMIC FREAKIN' GHOST RIDER! Which we find out is Frank freakin' Castle... who has a dog... which is actually the freakin' Hulk!!! Did you read what I said? How could you not want to read this after that sentence? Old Thanos needs the help of Young Thanos to find lady death. Well, this issue gives us the back story of how Frank Castle became the Cosmic Ghost Rider, the deals he made, and it actually makes sense. It is done SOOOO well. Frank makes a deal with Mephisto, to later make a deal with Galactus, to later make a deal with Old Thanos... it's just nuts!!!! And the art is fantastic throughout all of this. We find out that the Fallen One, who young and old Thanos are trying to take down, is The Silver Surfer. And he's been waiting all this time to stop Thanos by collecting everything he can, including the annihilation wave and Thor's hammer! This is by far, the best ongoing in Marvel or DC. If you're not reading this, you have too stop everything and start right now! Read the entire thing from issue 1.... but if you can't, start at 13 for this story arc. Keep up the great work! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Im a DC guy. I’ve been following DC so close for the last 2.5 years reading so much. But throughout the past couple months, I’ve been catching up on my Marvel and one thing I’ve come to enjoy; it’s Thanos! I’ve read every issue and it’s just been getting better and better. This issue is not the best issue of the run BUT it’s still great! We get a battle with the Silver Surfer that has mjolnier! Amazing! Hulk even jumps in to try to take down the Surfer, but he can’t. The Surfer holds his own pretty well but honestly, who could stop two Thanos’? I mean come on! A sneak attack impale worse than Vlad; it’s name sake! King Thanos impales both Banner and The Surfer at the same time with the flame sword. Rips off his arm with the hammer attached and uses the hammer with arm attached to beat his head in! I haven’t felt a fight this gruesome since Daredevil season 1 when Kingpin smashes that guys head in with a car door.... REPEATEDLY Point is: the issue was intense, insane, and a quick read.. like 5 minutes max! I only wish we had more Cosmic Ghost Rider. Oh well, he’s getting his own book anyway. Regardless of company loyalties, everyone should be reading this book. Go back to issue 1 and binge it like Netflix. NOW! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Well, Thanos won! The end. See you next week! But in all honesty, you could say I’m an idiot... many do... but I didn’t see the twist coming. Everyone is dead and it’s still not good enough for Mistress Death. Why you ask? Because everyone isn’t dead.... Thanos is still alive! That’s right people; old Thanos brought back his younger self to kill him... the only one that could do it! This was old Thanos’ plan the entire time. So they fight and the younger Thanos lays the smack down on old Thanos’ candy ass until he realizes something... his future self... he’s a weak little turd. So he beats the poop out of him and steals the part of the infinity gem so he can go back to his time and change his future. You see; young Thanos doesn’t want to be a whiny baby to Deaths every whim. He’s a new man now! But the ending is the best part. Old Thanos doesn’t understand why Death still won’t talk to him even after killing everyone in the universe. He tried to kill himself but it didn’t take. So, he wonders why she still won’t give him the time of day? Well once Young Thanos leaves, he changes the timeline making this whipped Thanos fade away. Honestly, Thanos needs to quit Death! For real! I know many will say this story was pointless if it all goes away. To that I say, we see a progression in his character. He was lost and now, he’s a new man. He is someone you shouldn’t mess with again. Thanos got his groove back! Watch out world! Thanos is coming and according to Cates, he’s coming this summer! This was a great series overall even before Cates. During his run, it was even better! The story telling and art together really are amazing. There is nothing like a good alternate reality story that has meaning to the regular continuity that really gets me hooke

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Guess whose late to the party? You!... unless you’ve been reading Thanos for the past year because it’s been the best book out for months now. I’m sorry your just figuring this out now with the last issue... the annual... but you know what; get the trades. You won’t be disappointed. Now, this annual is a bit different than most.. yet also kind of the same. You see; most annuals have stories that don’t tie into the main story. They’re just a side story, or stories, about the character but they don’t need to be read to continue through the book. Well, Thanos is done! So, this was it! However, this story is told by the Cosmic Ghost Rider..... kind of as a prelude to his own title! We find out that throughout the many stories of Thanos, that the Cosmic Ghost Rider is in fact dead and standing around talking to us. But by the end of the story, we find out that he was actually talking to Odin the entire time at the gates of Valhalla and Odin is welcoming him in as the story ends. It’s going to be continued in Cosmic Ghost Rider number 1, which is going to be like a spin off. Let’s see if I can prepare you for your SAT: Cosmic Ghost Rider is to the TV Show Angel as Thanos is to..... if you said Buffy, you are totally right! Throughout the annual, the stories of Thanos were just funny stories for the most part with some dark twists. They were all honestly pretty good. None of them tie together other than the fact that Thanos is basically an evil bag of goat testicles, but we all knew that anyway. But, we had some killer art, even some amazing little kid cartoon art, as well as hilarious morbid stories about wishing people happy birthdays every year of their life and helping old women cross streets to ruin the future of the world... all for his love of death. Pick i

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Im going to start by saying I know nothing about the Immortal Man OR Men. So this is new to me. But maybe that will give me an honest take on it? There is this Teenage kid who appears to have the ability to touch someone and see stuff from them.... maybe their visions of the future or even the past, but he can “see things”.... just not dead people... We get introduced to a variety of individuals that appear to be “Immortal Men” that are in search of this teenage boy. I get the vibe that this hipster teen is supposed to save them somehow. But they bump into the Batman Who Laughs! And, that was pretty sweet. As much as I wasn’t a fan of the last three confusing issues of Metal, I love the concept and story of the Batman Who Laughs as well as the other evil Batmen. My point is: seeing him make an appearance as the person who “I think” was killing the Immortal men, was a great surprise twist to draw me in for another issue, if not the first arc at least. We also see that it appears as though the Immortal Men are like a race of people... gives me an Inhuman vibe to be honest, which I’m fine with. Technically, how many types of people with powers exist in the DCU? We have metahumans but that’s basically it. Maybe this can be a different branch of bloodline for super heroes? Like mutants and inhumans in Marvel. Guys: read it and dive in now. The first issue was a ton of background but once we get an arc or two in, I could see this being a great book. It definitely has the potential to be something special. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Instantly, I know what everyone wants to say: it’s Adult Harry Potter. Well, other than the fact that we see magic, wizards, and wands, I don’t see that connection at all. But I suppose every movie, tv show, pop culture reference, or comic will always be connected to Harry Potter as long as it has magic in it. Before I dive in, let me start by telling all readers that this is graphic, shows blood and gore, and “copulation” as it was referenced in the issue. If your cool with a more graphic comic, then let’s Mecca lecca hi, mecca hiney ho our way through this issue shall we? The issue opens with two “magicians” standing outside an apartment of one would be magician and his family. There goal is to kill them. So, they possess their child from floating outside the families building and have the child slice his fathers throat killing him instantly. The mother awakens to find her son with the knife in her bed covered in blood. We then jump to a character named Cordelia Moonstone who’s in the back of a cop car being taken away for disruption at a child’s birthday party. She came as the birthday magician intoxicated, had sex with the birthday boys dad, and fought with his wife. We find out in this scene that she’s an exceptional escape artist as she sneaks out of a moving cop car without them knowing until it’s too late. Next, we see Leonard Moonstone. who appears to be a regular stage magician doing the “catching a bullet in your mouth” act. We see an old woman fire the gun and Leonard catching it in his teeth later to find out that she actually shot him in the chest but he was wearing a Kevlar vest underneath his clothes just to be safe. On there way backstage, they get wind that Edward Lisowski was the one who was killed earlier in the story. Turns out, they have what is called a Ceremony of the Broken Wand. This is basically just a funeral for the magician with the mystic community. As his friends are paying their respects, Madame Albany and her gang of misfit toys (magicians) appear to pay their respects too. The reader gets the vibe that she is the leader of a dark clan of magicians while some think she may have even been the one to kill Edward. Honestly, I don’t think that’s the case. It would be too easy. But who knows? She actually came to pay her respects because she worked with Ed in the order of magicians. There job was to protect the human race from things they didn’t even know existed. We later see that Madame Albany has a shape shifter in her clan, which I think will play a big role as the story moves on. Otherwise, showing us this scene was pointless. As everyone leaves the funeral, Cordelia finally shows up late and her brother and father are pissed. It seems like this is something she always does. She comes off as the black sheep of the family. The story then shifts to Gabriel Moonstone who lives a normal life without magic out of choice. His brother is talking to him “magically” in secret at the grocery store. Why? Because he gave up that life. Not only does it look like something drastic happened magically against some crazy looking monster, something also happened to his daughter and my guess is that she died. His brother asks Gabriel if he ever misses being in the order, being a magician, using his powers and all the wonder that goes with it. Gabriel, still looking devastated about his daughters death, says no. But while he’s talking to his brother, he keeps having flashbacks of this giant squid like monster that his dad brought him to see with the order followed by flashbacks of his daughter pretending to be a magician and then her casket. This part was to show us how deeply connected the magician underground is, its roots, it’s foundation in society, and the price that goes along with being in the order. The story ends with another magician trying to mend an elderly woman with some type of green stew. This part confused me because I didn’t know who this magician was. Should we know him? Suddenly, he realizes that the room he’s in is in a changing spell. And in less than a minute the entire room he’s in will change killing those in it, including the magician, and replace them with new people who were unaware of the change ever happening. The magician and the family he was helping get sucked into the changing spell and are lost while a new couple replaces them none the wiser. Behind the couple, we see the person in the beginning of the story that killed Ed who looks like a mix between Jigsaw, V for Vendetta, and someone from the revolutionary war. So, it looks like someone is murdering magicians. But who? I bet you it ain’t Voldemort! This was a really great start to a story that has no supporting characters I know anything about. The hardest part of any comic that doesn’t involve any established heroes or well known heroes is to hook you from jump street. It needs to be creative, intriguing, and draw you in with some time of mystery or conspiracy. This issue does it all AND has pretty good art. I’m in for the magic carpet ride. As it stands today, sign me up for the 6 issue arc and some Steppenwolf too. Hop in now while you still can. You don’t need any prior knowledge to enjoy this series and I have a feeling you’ll enjoy it. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Bendis kicks us off really well with Man of Steel number 1. Why don’t we fly on in shall we? The story opens with Krypton but in the past. A new character, at least to me, is shown named Rogol Zaar. He appears to be asking a council of elders from individuals that look like guardians, High father, to who knows who else, and wants to put an end to the Kryptonians. And it appears he wants to be the one to do it. And this guy looks mean! Amazing art by Ivan... truly amazing. Rogol looks fierce. Next, we jump to Metropolis now with Firefly trying to steal money from this other dude. But of course, Superman flies in and takes them away. What I loved about this part was the detail to the character of Superman. Bendis was showing us the importance of his hearing and how, even miles away, Superman can pick up on key words like “where’s the money?!” I loved the little nuisance on one of Superman’s abilities that gets overlooked a ton. And later, Bendis plays on it again with him hovering over the city listening to people singing and trying to decipher whose in trouble verses who is not. AND, the inner monologue of Superman’s wholesomeness to not eases-drop was a really great throwback to a classic Superman I think everyone remembers even if they weren’t alive at the time. Superman rushes to a fire and puts it out using another ability that I feel has been overlooked recently, his super breathe. He sucks up the fire and the smoke and it looks like he lets it all burn off on him, which of course doesn’t effect him at all. So, Bendis gets to show us his strength without showing us his strength and reminds us of even more of his abilities that we have overlooked these past couple years. AND, back to wholesome Superman again. When he saves the little girl from the fire, she curses and he basically tells her to “watch her language.” I love it! Bendis takes the time to show off, once again, another ability of Superman by showing Superman using his x-ray vision to see through objects. But using it just enough to see through walls clearly and not like an x-ray scanning devise. I loved that too. Bendis is doing a great job reminding the readers that their is more to Superman than shear strength and flight. Then, while in the building, we are introduced to Melody Moore. She is the new fire chief in Metropolis who gets to meet Superman for the first time, embarrasses herself a bit, and I feel will be a reoccurring character otherwise he wouldn’t have dedicated a pages or two to her. Next, we jump back in time to Rogol who appears to be on a deserted planet fighting this beast alone. Maybe he’s on Krypton or maybe he’s not? I personally am confused as to where Rogol is at myself. But he impales the beast and gets a call from one of the members of the council, the guardian of the universe. He basically tells Rogol that they heard his claims against Krypton but says they will not take action against them nor should he. Krypton needs to be given the opportunity, like many new cultures, to make their own choices first. The guardian teleports away leaving Rogol on this planet alone and broken. Again, my only confusion is where Rogol is. Was he on Krypton in the beginning of the story because the planet looked dead? Or, was he just screaming out “Krypton” out of anger but was never actually on the planet? We jump back to the present where we end the issue by showing Clark working on the fire article for the Daily Planet and later heading home to Jon and Lois. While there, we see a flash of light and the issue ends. Who has come to find Superman? Could it be Rogol already? Who knows? But what I do know is that this issue was fantastic. The art was amazing. The story mixed Daily Planet items into universal items in such an amazing way while giving us deeper glimpses into the character of Superman. Glimpses that defined the character for so long and have been forgotten in my opinion. Touches to the character that are important and make the character so amazing, unique, and truly the closest character we have in modern day comics to.... Jesus. I’m excited for what’s to come and Bendis’ writing is a type of writing I feel DC has forgotten lately. A writing that guides you through the story unveiling important elements as you go. I’ll bet you a chicken and green pepper stuffed crust pizza from Pizza Hut that he doesn’t wrap this all up in 5 pages at the end of the issue. He’s going to gradually walk us through the issues, hold are hands along the way, and not back himself into a corner. Way to Bendis! I loved it. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Bendis followed up with another interesting issue. So far, I can really get behind his style of writing. It seems like he’s jumping around a bit. So, at times I am a bit confused as to where and when some of the items are happening but I just get this feeling that it will get cleared up. I get this feeling like he has a plan laid out and everything will get weaved together. I know he has done little at DC to give me faith in this, but from what I’ve read at Marvel, I get the impression that the story is going to be creatively placed together well. I also get the feeling that he knows the direction he wants this to go, has a plan, and won’t back himself into a corner with a convoluted answer or explanation to solve his story. That’s just my feeling and my opinion but that’s the vibe I’m getting. So, let’s leap into issue 2! Krypton blows up leaving two members of the circle arguing in it’s waste. They argue back-and-forth about who was the destructor of the planet. Was it actually Rogol? So the guardian goes to what was left of Krypton and finds a dead carcass on the ground and thinks it’s Rogol. The guardian feels partially responsible for the destruction of Krypton. You could tell he feels like he could have stopped it but didn’t. Meanwhile back in present day, we see Superman fighting Toy Man. The fight was taking place in Coast city so Green Lantern appears to help out. Hal talks with Clark and is hoping everything is OK with him and Lois but Superman flies off making up a fake emergency to get to in order to avoid the situation. We jump to another point in time that appears to also be in the past, just sometime after the explosion of Krypton. Some bright alien looking thing appears in front of Lois, John and Clark. Then, the reader sees Superman being teleported away to a different solar system. We don’t know if these events happen at the same time but we do think they are connected in someway. In the new solar system, there appears to be a bar and an individual that has a Superman symbol necklace. When reading this, I got a “Lobo feel” to the story. Maybe I’m right? We shall see if he makes an appearance. We then time jump to a fire in an apartment building and Superman saving the day again. We are led to believe this is currently happening right now and not in the past. Afterwords, Clark goes to talk to Perry White about the arsons that are happening throughout the city but Perry proceeds to tell him that the paper has been bought by someone else because they’re going under. The gossip columnist overhears and says that there might be a way to keep the lights on for another week or so at the Planet if Clark would tell the paper his story about where Lois Lane is. The issue ends with what looks like Rogol riding a motorcycle through space and the front of the motorcycle looks like what appeared in Clark’s apartment earlier in the story. But it looks like we’ll have to wait until next week for more answers. Also, I got that “Lobo feel” again! I think we are getting a before, middle, and after story. The before is Krypton blowing up and the guardian dealing with Rogol. The middle is the part where the alien takes Clark to the Vegas System, and the after if the Daily Planet/ arson section. I also think Bendis is using this type of storytelling because it hasn’t been done by anyone at DC for a while now.... at least not in anything I’m reading. It’s definitely an interesting way to tell the story and gives us bits and pieces of each part to keep you involved in all levels of the story. I still can’t make any speculations as to what happened to Lois other than maybe she was kidnapped... maybe?? But it really is pretty great and I’ve been looking forward to it each week so far. It’s a definite read at DC right now. No doubt! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Man of Steel was very straightforward this week, which can be a great thing. Why? Because we get answers..... maybe not to everything but some things... definitely. I still want to know who visited Clark, Lois, and Jon. I still want to know where Lois and Jon are in all of this. But, we get action and a well done, interesting story moving forward. Now why don’t we fly on in? The first thing that I liked about this issue was the cover. I normally don’t talk about them because they don’t say much about the story. Sure, the cover normally has the most fantastic art BUT this cover reveals, in words, that Rogol is responsible for killing Krypton. We wondered before if there was a connection and it turns out that answer is yes. We assumed as much but now I feel Bendis is telling us directly. Next, we move on to what appears to be present day. Rogol looks bruised, burned, and worn like a cheap work flannel. He lands like a meteor from space and proceeds to the Fortress of Solitude. He breaks in, destroys Kelex, and “I think” takes Kandor. I say “I think” because I’m not sure if he destroyed it or not. Meanwhile, Superman’s checking out more of the fires in a Metropolis and invites Batman to help investigate. Side note: I loved Bendis’ short take on Batman. He seemed like an actual Detective. He seemed smart. I know it was just an appetizer of sorts but it wasn’t too bad. Lately, I’ve realized how much I miss the Detective version of Batman. I don’t miss the “I’m Batman!” or “can take down 80 super villains at once Batman”. Just solving crimes Batman. Simple Batman. Anyway, Superman takes off because he can hear alarms going off at the Fortress. However, he arrives too late. Kara also arrives because she hears the noises too. They realize Kandor is gone/ destroyed (not sure) and they go to get their own lives in order. They don’t know who did this but they want to make sure the people they love are safe before they go off fighting and tracking this person down. We flashback in time “I think” to see someone getting out of a ship in the Kent’s apartment. The person could be anyone. They are bald from the looks of it but their head is in the shadows so we can’t tell. It could be a Luthor, or a Brainac, or maybe someone from the Council we saw in the beginning of the series. But it doesn’t look like Rogol to me. We jump back to the present and Clark follows the individual to Metropolis and scans his apartment to check if everything is ok. This is important to me and helps me place the time situation a bit better. Clark scanned the Daily Planet and saw Perry and Jimmy BUT in his apartment he saw no one. Jon and Lois are gone. So, I’m taking this as the present. I’m also assuming that the alien/ person who arrives in their apartment takes them away. That’s just my guess right now. But out from nowhere, a blast of fire or energy comes at Superman encompassing him and giving us a taste of Rogol’s abilities. Superman says the fire fights against him and won’t dissipate. I took this as the fire is unique and possibly an ability of Rogols. On the last page, we see Rogol wielding and axe that is glowing like the fire that attacked Superman. My guess is that the fire comes from the axe. We end the issue with Supergirl arriving Zinkand Metropolis to help out and both Clark and Kara are there to fight. This issue gave us great action, put the characters in jeopardy, showed us some of the abilities of this villain, and dropped us into the heart of what’s to come. I have been enjoying the progression of the story so far. Maybe it’s because it’s weekly and not monthly BUT I feel like he’s giving us just enough each issue. I may need more per issue if it’s a monthly release. The art is fantastic and the story is again moving along nicely. I love the cameos because they are just enough that still makes this a Superman story and not a team up event. I want to know more about Lois and Jon but I think Bendis is trying to write them out for a reason.... just for a bit to get Superman back to his classic feel. I love both those characters but I’ve been enjoying is take so far and I’m excited to see where it goes. Great start Bendis. Superman fans need to be reading this and non-Superman fans can hop on board at the beginning and feel like their apart of the group. Excellent job so far and I’m excited to read more. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. I got into DC comics around the time when Marvel started changing its characters around. I’ve read comics since I was little but took a break from them; life happens. Point is: I went to DC because I saw Marvel making changes to some of the characters and going in different directions... like Thor but DC was keeping things as is... for the most part... just new with a twist. A couple months back, I decided to give it a chance. I was hearing some good things. TBH, I was shocked. So I read them and let me say; I’m sorry that it appears like Jan Foster Thor is leaving. This issue, nay this arc, by the gods... this RUN, was amazing! And the way it ends is spectacular. Jan Foster Thor comes in and starts kicking Mangog’s butt.... however it’s not enough. Odison sees her and knows she basically killed herself turning into Thor this one last time. But they still can’t stop Mangog. Odin, Freyjay, and all of Asgard fly off. Odison refuses but is made to go by his parents and Jane. Jane fights as Asgard gets closer to the sun and the people escape.... nothing is working. So one last ditch effort, she ties up Mangog in the unbreakable chains forged by the dwarves, ties it to the end of mjoliner, and throws the hammer into the sun. By doing so, she no longer has the hammer leaving Mangog trapped in the sun since only the worthy can lift it. Without the hammer Jan changes back to her cancer-ridden form, shares one last kiss with Odison, and dies. This is a loss to a great character; a great heroine, and she will be missed. I’m mainly disappointed in myself for taking too long to get on this train. And now, the train appears to be stopping. I’m totally getting the trades to add to my collection BUT I should have been reading it all along. If you like what you heard, love tal

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. The question of this entire 4 year run has been, is Thor the actual person holding the hammer or is it something else entirely? Can someone else become Thor? I mean; we’ve seen others hold the Hammer in the past but they were not called “Thor”. Well throughout this run, which started rocky for people who can’t at least be open to change, many readers had a hard time accepting Jane Foster as Thor. To many, Odison was Thor... it was like his Superhero name. Some even argued Jane’s worthiness of Mjolnier as well. After reading this run, I can certainly tell you she was worthy. I never read any Thor until Jane took up the mantle. Bits and Piece here and there but never a consistent run. Jane got me to read multiple collections of Thor and open my eyes to some of the amazing creations of Asgard, Asgardia, while helping me to become more accepting of change. Because like many, I was skeptical at first. But I was TOTALLY wrong. The issue begins with Jane dead, Mangog thrown into the sun attached to Mjolnier to die, and many Asgardians awestruck by Jane and her sacrifice. Turns out, she’s standing at the gates of Valhalla with a pissed Odin. Now as angry as Odin is, he realizes what Jane did for his people and welcomes her with open arms through the gates of heaven. But for some reason, she can’t go. She feels she has more to do. Meanwhile, the mother Storm that was trapped inside the uru metal of the hammer, which is what gave the hammer and the wielder the power, is released and hovering over Odison and Jane. After cursing the storm, Odison uses it to bring Jane back to life with the help of his father Odin, who can of course go between the realms of the living and the dead.

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. When last we discussed Thor, she died stopping Magog. However, through the storm that was captured inside Mjolnier (always been that way... nothing new), she was brought back from the dead, however still with cancer. So, Jane Foster left the mantle of Thor behind to go fight the battle she’s put off for so long, her battle against cancer. We open this story with the Goddesses of Thunder, Odison’s Granddaughters from the future. They used some time diamonds to travel back in time to find Thor at his/her greatest. They jumped from time to time, fighting trolls, checking out a young, whiny, Odison incapable of picking up the hammer, making reference to the “God bomb” story (which was fabulous btw). Then, they even travel millions of years back to the first Team up with Odin and the original Phoenix and crew from the Avengers run and Marvel Legacy happening right now. They continued and found Frog Thor and even Jane Foster on their pit stop until eventually the future for their Grandfather Thor, which looks like a battle with a Dark Loki. It’s like Bill and Ted but with Thunder Goddesses. I think the point of this story was to show you what’s been going on with Thor over the past couple years, while giving you a taste of what’s to come. The Goddesses of Thunder take a pit stop with Jane Foster and talk about how much she idolized her and again give us a taste of what is to come with her in the future. But next, we jump to Malekith to see that he created a Black Bifrost, which is basically like his own Rainbow bridge to get to all the realms just like Asgard had. It seems like Loki helped him create it. Heck, Malekith even has his own guard. We watch Malekith jump from realm to realm rallying troops for a war. He visited the dwarves, the Giants, the realm of fire and death, and even the realm of the old Gods. Now, let me stop right there. I’ve been reviewing Weapon H and trying to figure out Roxxon as well as who Professor Agger was, what is abilities are, and his connection to the Weapon X project. Turns out, I’m last to the party like usual. So, I apologize for my Weapon H review since I wasn’t totally informed BUT it looks like Agger is some type of Minotaur and that the old Gods are basically Roxxon or working with Roxxon. That makes Weapon H so much more interesting to me. Old Gods mixed with Weapon X, mixed with Hulk seems like an amazing combination. Anyway, Malekith continues his journey and visits the light elves, the angels, and even our realm to gather up troops for a war. Malekith was even present during the fight with Magog. The point of this part of the story, as well as this entire issue was to show us that Jason Aaron’s is planning something big. A war that crosses time, space, and realms is going to happen. And, I think he’s playing the role of T.O. telling us to get our popcorn ready. This issue was a fun prelude for what’s to come and gave us some of the highlights of the past couple years while dropping some juicy carrots along the way to keep the readers excited and interested in hanging on into Marvel’s “Fresh Start”. Side note: if the carrot is juicy it better be glazed. Anyway, the issue wasn’t needed but it was great for anyone whose been a Thor fan under Aaron’s run. If you’ve been reading, you’ll love it. If you haven’t, it’s still a good jumping on point for what’s to come. This just personally made me more pumped for Thor and help me move Thor up to the top 3 in my pull list. Jason Aaron’s and Thor go together like Peanut Butter and Jelly. Like peanut butter and chocolate. Like Peanut butter and fluff. Like peanut butter and peanut butter. Guys and gals, don’t just pick this issue up, grab Aaron’s trades of Thor I general. Heck go WAY BACK to Thor: God of Thunder! Start there and get caught up ASAP! Loved the issue. Give it a read and let me know what you think. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Ok so I'm going to start by saying I just finished reading Jonathan Hickman's Fantastic Four Run... the entire thing. GO READ IT IF YOU HAVEN'T!!! Anyway, If you are missing FF, this books is totally for you. It has the humor from Plastic Man and Metamorpho arguing back and forth, as well as Plastic Mans funny comments. It has the Dark Multiverse, which they may start to use as their Negative Zone in a way ( speculating) They have a giant dead "thing" floating in the dark multiverse that basically looks like a dead Galactus, which is pretty cool! Stagg may even turn into some type of Doom character!!! An invisible woman, which appears to be a new character to me ( I could be totally wrong on that) as well as Tom Strong, which looks like a throw back to the 60's and reminds me of a pirate Space Ghost!!! ( which would be sweet) Again, maybe we know who he is too but I currently don't. This has action, humor, science, what appears to be other worldly stuff, and we get to see a forming of a brand new team. The only parts I don't like are the explanations of the Dark Multiverse. Why? Because Snyder, in my opinion, has done a bad job so far explaining anything that's going on in the metal books, including rules, how it works, etc. that's not Lemire's fault though, or this books fault. Lemire tried to explain what he could here but I'm still confused on why Plastic Man was a ball, why metamorpho is uneffected if he puts his body to certain elements, and how Mr. Fair Play is A O K with a shield around him? But when this first arc is all done, maybe Lemire will pull his best Macgyver and fix this nonsense Snyder has given us so far! Maybe these questions get answered in the next metal issue? Maybe not? Either way, this book is on fire! Quick read. Fun. Exciting! And yes, it's a take on FF. I don't think DC is hiding that at all. I think you're supposed to accept that and go with it! And I am! Put it on your pull list! I think you'll love it!

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We join back up with the, soon to be Terrifics, still in the Dark Multiverse listening to the Tom Strong video from last issue. We get a play by play of how Linnya got there and realize that they finally woke up this huge dead “Galactus-looking” thing that they were sitting inside the entire time. They jump back through the portal to earth with Tom Strong’s antenna, Linnya, and close the portal just in time. However, Mr Terrific, acting like a jerk, takes off by himself in a hurry to test the antenna but something from the Dark Multiverse has drawn them all together. They appear to be stuck together worse like PB and J. This issue, as well as the last, appears to be set up to put the group together. Honestly, that’s fine. This is a brand new team with B-list , if not C-listers that we need to make the readers care about. If it takes two or three arcs to get our feet wet, that’s fine. While we wait, we are getting background on these characters, possible introductions to new villains, and truly fantastic art. So far, I’m loving Metamorpho the most followed by Plastic Man. I was digging Mr FairPlay until his jerky boys outburst at the end of this issue. And who knows what’s going on with Linnya and her new explosive touch , or even her invisible touch. Phil Collins would be pleased. Loving it right now. This team is starting us off great. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We open the issue with the Terrific’s heading to Phantom Girls home planet. We find out that Mr. T, as some call him, has created suits to help with their powers as well as monitor their status with one another. Suddenly, their ship, which is a giant T-Sphere, gets sucked up by some cargo trash ship. This ship not only collects ship junk but also some space monsters along the way. The Terrific’s fight off this large Starro wanna be looking starfish-squid monster and run into what appears to be space pirates running this cargo ship. The Terrific’s get separated but eventually fight off the cargo space pirates only to find that starfish-squid monster has a mommy and she’s angry! Eventually the Terrific’s escape and make their way to Phantom Girls home planet where we find out that her mother greets her... but as an old woman. Turns out, time works differently in the dark multiverse where she was trapped. 10 years for her was 32 years for everyone else not in that universe. So, Phantom Girl’s mother is really old AND her father died 7 years ago. The issue ends with Mr. Terrific informing the reader that he knew the entire time about the time displacement but didn’t want to tell her. He thought it was something that she needed to see on her own and didn’t want to ruin PG’s excitement, which shows some great character development for Mr. T from the jerk face he’s been in prior issues. This was a great issue. Tons of fun with tons of reminders of what an old school classic team should be like. It had hints of comedy, quips, and sarcasm with touches of sentiment and emotion all while giving us bits and pieces of character development along the way. It’s a one shot that’s also a part of the overall story. Genius! We got one liners about T-balls, nicknames like Rexamorpho and PG, and we watch a bond start to quickly form with our heroes that the first issues didn’t have. We even get a quick glance at Metamorpho wanting to become human again like the Thing, Plastic Man as the practical joking comic relief, and what appears to be a caring side to Mr. Terrific. I understand that this book is playing off Marvel’s founding family but I don’t think Lemire is trying to hide that fact at all. And frankly, I don’t care. This is the first issue of the book that simply felt right. This issue reminded me of what Marvel is missing by not having a Fantastic Four book... well at least for now. Pick this issue up and put it on top of your stack this week. For weeks to come, it should definitely be in the top 5 of your stack. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Jason Aaron and Thor go together like peanut butter and fluff, like hands and grenades, like integrals and area under the curve, like balloons and animals, or Walt Disney World and FUN!!! Point is: we don’t skip a beat with Fresh Start. Aaron’s starts right where we left off. It’s fun, exciting, and humorous too. So let’s have at thee, and figure out what went down in this issue of Thor. The story kicks off with Thor (Odinson) running through Thailand with the Warlock Eye. Turns out after the Mangog came through and destroyed Asgard, the explosion sent all of Odin’s artifacts throughout the realms. Thor tracked down the eye but he also found a race of cannibals fun by the Unstoppable Juggernaut. Thor tries his best to stop him but Juggernaut happens to be standing in the heart of the Cyttorak’s temple, which makes him the strongest he’s ever been. Thor gets Screwbeard to send his take on a new hammer to Thor, since Mjoliner is lost in the sun. The hammers rain from the sky and keep breaking on Juggernaut so Thor asks Screwbeard to send them all. Eventually, it works after basically crushing them all in the process and Thor makes it back to tell the dwarves that they need to make more hammers. The problem is that they need uru metal and they happen to be all out. After a pit stop to talk to a blind Heimdall whose piecing together the Rainbow Bridge, Thor takes off to Midgard where the Asgardians have relocated after the Magog..... which is the Bronx. Thor visits with Jane Foster, whose still fighting cancer but moving about, Volstagg whose still recovering from the Mangog, and his mother whose desperately seeking her other son Loki. Thor doesn’t understand why she cares so much for him even after he literally stabbed her in the back. He explains that if he sees his brother again that he will probably kill him. She basically pleads with him and Thor leaves in frustration for the Southern Ocean to get the Sun Stone back from Namor. Turns out Namor didn’t have it. However, it was in the belly of a shark. So, Toothgnasher( Thor’s goat), Thori (Thor’s Hel Hound), and Thor take down Namor, find the shark and rip the stone out of his belly. The three of them take the stone back to Thor’s Tugboat in the Newark Harbor only to find Loki waiting for him. Loki makes a deal with Thor telling him that he can use him to get to the other realms because Loki has the ability to teleport to any realm he wishes, especially since the Rainbow Bridge is still not working. However, Loki wants something in return but the trickster won’t tell him what it is he wants. Thor wants access to the other realms because Malekith the King of the Dark Elves is going from realm to realm trying to conquer them and wage war on Asgard. Thor agrees as Loki tries to teleport him away but Thor quickly grabs Loki and drags him, his Tugboat, Toothgnasher, and Thori with him to Niffleheim where Balder and the King of Hel is waiting. We then fast forward to the future with Grandfather Thor and his three Thunder Goddesses. They are trying to redirect the last space shark before it flies to Midgard and kills people. In the future, Midgard was destroyed and barren. But then Thor came back and created man and woman from the Earth to repopulate it and named them Steve and Jane. We see that Jane is 275 years old and about to die. Thor is willing to give her more of his power so that she may live longer but she declines for death since she feels lonely and frail. Jane asks Thor if their is an after life and he honestly tells her no. There is nothing after this life... yet she still decides to end hers. Thor leaves her to die in peace and looks upon Midgard repopulated in his image. Suddenly, Mjoliner arrives back after a journey through the cosmos to tell Thor that the universe is dying. And now Thor has to figure out how to not only save his New Midgard but also the entire universe before everything becomes extinct. This is so well done. We get a battle with Juggernaut, a battle with Namor, Loki, dwarves, Odin, Jane Foster, future Thor literally playing God, space sharks, and the universe ending. Aaron laid out all the stops. Right out of the gate, we get craziness and nonstop action. We get Toothgnasher and Thori as well as the sly comic humor of Thor that even resembles the movies. Get excited people! Better yet; get out your mead, find the tallest dwarf, and wrestle the strongest troll you can because this is gonna be one Hel of a series. Aaron’s has hitched a ride on a flying goat straight to the top of my pull list. And to those who so ever distaste this issue shall bathe in the fires of Surtur’s flatulent after Taco Tuesday. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

This is how a dream is written. Fantastic! One issue, explaining the background of the story, still giving you mesmerizing effects, adding to the story, wrapping up loose ends, and still leaving cliffhangers. It doesn’t need to be 6 ISSUES!!!!!! Excellent job Aaron. I’m also digging War of the Realms so far! Check it out.

Tony’s virtual reality world finally comes to an end in this confusingly, drawn-out issue bombarded with panels that were hard to follow that included vibrant art that at times made me want to eSCAPE. I'm more frustrated with the arc than the actual issue. This arc began with a great concept that ended up turning into a ”trillion dollar therapy session.” Tony drinks again (virtually), which felt wrong, Arno seemed like a villain now, and the cliffhanger appears to be that Tony’s dead again in space. The only constant theme throughout this comic is that all life matters, including cybernetic and Android, which really is a great theme, especially in the world today. That said, there was simply too much going on from one issue to the next and with this series coming out monthly, you'll need to reread past issues to have this make more sense. Diehard Iron Man fans will flock to the issue for sure but this series doesn't appear to be for the average fan. Even the ”God Armor” wasn't enough to save this issue but I'm still in on the series as a whole. I just wish this arc would end because this creative team has so much potential.

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Well, if you want a fresh start with Venom, this is the time. Feel free to come in blind and you will be just fine. Here is all you really need to know prior, which Cates tells you indirectly anyway: Eddie Brock is bonded with the symbiote and Flash Thompson was before him. Technically, Eddie was bonded first a long time ago but I digress. That’s it. You’re good to go! Dive in! Anyway, we open with Eddie taking pills to quiet the symbiote. The symbiote has been going alittle bonkers lately. It’s been saying so many crazy things in Eddie’s mind that he can’t concentrate anymore. So, he got fired from work and his life looks awful. He’s even been having dreams of a monster attacking Beowulf that literally scare the symbiote right off of him. Next, we see Eddie chasing down a Jack O’Lantern wannabe villain selling tech only to see Venom go ape-sheet crazy on that low life wannabe and start to gauge out his eyes. Good thing Eddie is stopped by some stranger in an alley with a tranquilizer dart named Rex Strickland. Turns out; Spidey and Brock weren’t the first people to wear symbiotes on Earth at all. After the Super Soldier program with Cap, the military turned to the alien symbiotes to continue their program. Rex tells Brock that he needs his help. His buddies were bonded with the symbiotes for too long and they couldn’t be separated from it, unlike Rex. So, SHIELD put his buddies on ice. With SHIELD disbanded, Rex’s buddies are going to get put down. So, Brock decides to help Rex in order to get more answers about how symbiotes work. Rex offers to help Brock truly bond with his symbiote in a way he never has before. Turns out, they have feelings and names and are more than just a Spider symbol and strength.

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Did you ever want to know a history of the symbiotes? Sure, we know they are alien and from outer space... but haven’t you always wanted to know more? An origin story if you will. Well, Cates is leading us down that path and this issue gives us the origin story of Rex, as well as now the symbiote which was used by SHIELD. Let’s ooze right in shall we.... We basically open with a graphic view of how the symbiote repairs it’s host, which was freakin’ awesome! You watch it literally piece bones and organs back together from the perspective of the hole in Brock’s chest. Awesome artwork on the entire issue in general, especially this part! Well, Brock is pissed and comes storming back to Rex. Side note: every time I read this issue, as well as the last, I want to say Rex Tillerson!!!! That is a horrible switch-a-roo to make. But maybe he has an alien symbiote inside of him too and that why I keep making the mistake? Who knows? Anyway, we get the play by play as to how Rex got wrapped up into this magical mystery tour. He was a 19 year old soldier in the war and is platoon came under attack. In order to save them, he ran at the snipers to but them cover and time to get to safety. When he woke up, SHIELD was bonding him with the symbiote. Now, this story sounds better than it actually was. Rex elaborates to say that he was no Boy Scout and killed many people. He took many lives and deserved to die. The way he tells the story was that he was not a good person. When he woke up in the hospital with SHIELD, he was burned from the napalm drop of a plane and filled with bullet holes. While he was under, he saw images of a flying oil symbiote monster. The very same one that is currently flying through the sky in New York. Rex mentioned that he thought it was dead but it turns out, he was wrong. Brock informs Rex that the monster basically took the symbiotes/ ate the symbiotes as well as Rex’s teammates. Both Eddie and Rex hear on TV that the monster is flying around NYC and the only one currently their to stop it is Spider-Man. So, Brock takes off to help and finds Miles there instead. Personally, I was shocked to see Miles there and not Peter. This was a great issue to continue with the series. The story didn’t move forward in the extent of figuring out a ton about the monster BUT we did find out a ton about Rex and at least also figured out that it appeared as though Rex and his teammates were made from this Flying Oil Symbiote Monster of death. I can’t wait to see how long the symbiote has been around. From last issue, I bet it’s been around at least since the Vikings if not longer. I’m totally in on this ride and I can’t wait to see what’s next. I love when comics incorporate history and myth and mix them together to create an amazingly creative cocktail of imagination and exploration of characters. Cates is taking Venom down that road now. This is only the second bus stop. I highly recommend you get on the dang bus before your late to work, everyone makes fun of you, then you lose your job and you live in a box down by the river eating a steady diet of government issued cheese. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

If this is Jason Aaron’s last ride with Thor, it’s off to a great start. He laid the foundation, introduced the characters, and left it at an epic spot with a dueling banjo of hammers, blood, and destruction that truly rival any “crisis” as of late. Aaron’s has been building to this event for years while also giving us tremendous stories along the way instead of one say 100 issue story arc all about one long drawn out event.... anyway, this is how it’s done and I think you’ll be pleased with this new age yet classic tale!

It’s exciting. It’s action packed. It has art that looks like a painting, just magnificent. The story flows well, makes sense, and Aaron’s has the characters voices. Awesome job as usual Mr Aaron’s! Pick this up but start at 1!

Not too bad. It’s a quick read. It’s an easy read. Plus, it’s a reasonably interesting story about what Punisher would be doing during a war with mythical creatures. It made sense, logical, and something I could get behind. I’d like it better knowing if Frank stays true to himself at the end and wastes everyone who helped him. Then, this score may go up. It’s worth the read. Art wasn’t spectacular but it wasn’t bad either. It felt cartoonish, which is fine but I want my Punisher art to be more real, rugged, and intense.

Daredevil is the new Heimdall. That is freakin amazing! The blind devil of Hell’s Kitchen is the all realm seeing guardian of the rainbow bridge. This is creative genius at its best. The score is for the first story with Daredevil. The other stories were not too bad but nothing compared to that one. The first story was by far the most interesting. Art was good throughout but my interest was peaked with the first story.

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. So, have you ever got your fanboy on and wondered what would happen if Hulk also had the adamantium claws and bones like wolverine? I can hear it now; “DUDE!!!! Wouldn’t that be.. you know.. like so Shhhhway!?!?” Well, if so, this looks like the book for you then. And, it’s written by someone who knows Hulk pretty well in Greg Pak. We don’t find out much other than the guy, Clay, was in the military, has a wife and two kids, was declared dead about 9 months ago, but was operated on by the weapon x people splicing his DNA with Hulk and wolverine. They gave him claws and he escaped. He’s been hiding out trying to stay calm but like the other Hulks, he seems to find trouble somehow and happens in on people creating Wendigos..... you know like most people. He starts to fight them and that is that. If you enjoy “What If’s” this is no doubt for you. It’s wasn’t bad by any means it just currently seems like fan fiction. I’ll stay tunes and read it through the first arc. Art was pretty good too. Let’s give it time to see where it goes. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Do you like action? Do you like fighting and monsters? How about Wendigo jerky? Well, that’s the entire issue for the most part. And by the mystic moons of munnopor, it was fabulous! We open with a showdown between Weapon H and the Ur-Wendigo, which is basically a freakin’ huge Wendigo! Weapon H saves the women from the science crew by basically slicing and dicing the dang thing with his oversized, industrial, adamantium claws. Dr. Strange gets wind of this fight and tries to take the Wendigo down with a magic arrow but it doesn’t work. Turns out; when you eat Wendigo, you turn into a steroid infused Wendigo! Weapon H is actually the one to figure this all out by using his sense of smell. He smells that the flesh the crewmen was eating was actually Wendigo and not human after all. Not only do we notice Weapon H’s sense of smell, his barbaric adamantium claws, but he also has the mixed healing factor of Wolverine and the strengthen of a Hulk with out the mindless rage. Sure, it looks like he can get angry but it doesn’t appear to drive Weapon H. So, we end the issue by having Weapon H grab a mystical axe from Dr Strange and dive into the mouth of the overgrown Wendigo later to see him explode out of its stomach and to find out that the people at work at The Roxxon Corp, the ones creating Wendigos, also have alien squid people and machines working for them. Again, freakin’ awesome! Now by the hoary host of hoggoth, you honestly need to read this comic. I totally understand the hesitation. “It’s just a Hulk mixed with a Wolverine.... what’s the big deal? Stupid idea.” All I can say to the haters is: Read it! Then tell me what you think. Don’t knock it until you try it. We got background of the character and pieces about his abilities along with personality t

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Weapon H is... We kick of with these weird, giant, alien-looking , tentacle, wolf creatures trying to track Clay ( Weapon H). But Roxxon isn’t the only one tracking down Clay. Turns out, his wife is looking for him now too. She started asking questions about his death only to find out that his death may have been a bit far fetched. This part was actually interesting because we finally got some background on what “may” have went down. In this issue, we find out that Clay was ex-military (assumed) but that his squad was going to kill civilians and turned out Clay killed his own team instead. Now, why would he do that unless he was being tested on prior to becoming Weapon H?!? .... that’s my opinion personally. Anyway, they told his family he was killed in action. But Clay’s wife tracked down an old war buddy to find out that he feels their is no way Clay was killed. The people that lived where he was stationed were basically Gandhi loving granola hippies. So, his wife becomes even more interested in finding out what happened and leaves her kids with her mother for a couple days to go searching for more answers. Meanwhile, Clay first “Wolverines out” and takes down some of the Wolf creatures, which was cool to see that he can half change and not totally “Hulk out” as well. He kills a couple of the creatures to save some hikers but when more come at him, he goes full Hulkverine! He takes out at least 3 more and literally one-punches the Sky Whale blimp ship ..thingy... that was following him and destroys it. Then, about 6 flying tentacle sharks come at him and start biting him. Clay physically cuts part of his own leg to get free of one of the creatures, which was nuts, and continues on like nothing happened. Meanwhile, this continues to be a set up from this scientist guy who appears to be the one who may have made him AND is testing him for something big. We find out that Clay was not only combat trained but also in the art of many fighting styles. Basically, he’s literally a Hulk and a Wolverine combined. The strength, speed, durability, quickness, fighting prowess, and mental intellect of them both combined. Heck, he can even change his scent to stop from being tracked. Honestly, he should be feared. But Roxxon and this scientist guy need to find him soon because something back at their lab is glowing red behind some locked door ready to explode and it appears the Hulkverine is the only one strong enough to stop it. My thoughts: this book is getting good. It’s not too convoluted but you are left each issue wondering something new, as well as more questions about what’s going on. For example, Hulkverine has red glowing eyes just like the scientist. And the locked door also has glowing red stuff coming from it. I feel like we are meant too see all of this because they are all going to be connected deeper than just “ the scientist made him”. But how? Did the scientist also perform the same experiment on himself and his using Clay to test his own abilities? Will the scientist become Hulkverine’s Sabretoothed-Abomination? Also, who is Roxxon and what the heck are they doing? We have alien creatures mixed with animals all over the place. Are they just mad scientists or do they have an actual plan? Maybe they’re using these creatures for war? And why would Clay, who was obviously a trained killer for the military, like Jason Bourne, just magically turn on his squad? This book is great. This issue is great. It’s a fun read.... just don’t show up expecting some deep and thoughtful masterpiece. This is straight up action, fighting, blood, alien creatures, destruction, and excitement. If you want a book to have fun with, this is it. And, next issue looks like Hulkverine vs Man-Thing! Weapon H is just fun. Pak does a great job gradually sprinkling in knowledge and background info each issue on Clay, the Roxxon Corp, and other juicy tidbits that are helpful along the way but still gives the reader something fun to read. Pick this book up and move it towards the top of your pull. You‘ll be happy you did! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

It's a classic story: Girl meets girl. Girl ignores girl. Girl turns into a cybernetic killer swan. Girl has an annoying brother who gets in the way. Girl kills tons of people but is left in a coma even though she killed all those people. You know... the usual! Overall, the story was fine. Nothing too fancy. I don't know if this villain was ever a thing before or if she is new but I could see her continuing to comeback again... hopefully as something more. I enjoyed Jason leaving. I haven't really enjoyed the creation of the character so far. He seems... off... somehow. Maybe some space from him and a reintroduction is needed. But I thought they were going to go with the idea that Jason writes a note and Diana thinks he left when really he was taken away. So she'll never know that he was kidnapped. However, the last page shows steam or heat or smoke coming off the porch. So, I hope Diana noticed that things should seem fishy. But maybe not. Question: Why does silver swans cybernetic crap all come off in the water? I assume she partially drowned-ish but how does that explain a lose of metal and cybernetics? Anyway If you like what you heard, love talking comics, and are interested in joining a DC book club, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com. Catch you all later! Peace

We begin with Darkseid... so I'm thinking SWEET!!! Then we get a Diana and Steve talk showing the readers that someone is probably hiring people to collect these artifacts. We know who that someone is. Technically, I feel like Diana should too!!!!! But, they don't appear to see a connection yet. Then we see Jason again, which he does look pretty cool. Now, I was hoping to get a break Jason. Why? I haven't liked how he was written. So, if he left for a bit, maybe we could get a mini little reboot of the character? We just forget about Jason and then 6 months from now he reappears totally different and we all magically forget what we saw. Well, that plan ain't happening.... Jason's back already. So one issue later, the cliffhanger of wondering if he's ok, or kidnapped, or working with Darkseid, or who knows what... we get to find out right away. And personally, he looks ok to me. If he's working for Darkseid or Grail AGAIN, Diana has got to cut the cord and walk away. Overall, we didn't get a ton and the story didn't move much from where we left off. The art was pretty good but overall this seemed like a set up or filler issue. But set up to what? If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Here is what you get: Steve doesn’t trust Jason. Wonder Woman tries to get the furies to tell her what’s going on; and Darkseid wants relics from ARGUS so he uses his Stargate ( no lie it looks just like SG1) to teleport part of ARGUS to the Amazon Jungle. But the real question is: do I like it? Well, kind of... From an outside perspective, we get Wonder Woman and freakin’ Darkseid!!! We get Jason, Wonder Woman’s long lost twin Brother, Grail, Furies, and some killer fights. But it does just feel like something is missing. Maybe it’s how Jason is written or his background? Maybe it’s Steve Trevor always calling Diana “angel”? But I just feel like a book that has Darkseid in it should feel bigger and better than this is... but it’s not. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an ok book and issue. The art is also ok but it’s just..... ok. Should we trust Jason or not? Did the gods give him is armor or not? What exactly are Jason’s Powers? Is he an elemental? What does Darkseid REALLY want? Before it was to be a big boy Darkseid again. But what now? Why don’t you just go back to apocalypse? I think we just aren’t getting any answers and just tacking on more questions. I hope we get some of these questions answered in the next issue because I can see the potential in this comic right now but it just needs to come out! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Parts of this arc just seem confusing to me. Like, why did Darkseid need to transport part of Argus to the jungle in order to start is “ Stargate”? I assumed they had the relics... And what exactly do the relics do? Do they just grant access to Themyscra? And why is Darkseid trying to get there? Does he want to change them all into Amazon-Lizard-Gargoyle creatures for his army? Why doesn’t he just go back to Apokolips? Again, I feel like we just have a ton of unanswered questions just to get Darkseid in the story. Basically, the story opens with Darkseid fighting Wonder Woman and him taunting her about how she can’t defeat him on her own and how she never could. Steve Trevor helps with the parademons and Fury’s while Jason helps out with Grail , but I keep coming back to this question: where is the league? This seems like an Omega Level event and still no League to help. Really? This happens AFTER metal and before No Justice Since Justice League Odyssey has Darkseid in it full grown. So they should be available AND with Jason coming out of the blue, why would the league not look into this? We end with Grail opening the Stargate to Themyscra and walking through to change the Amazons into flying lizard-demon creatures but Diana can’t enter since she left. Thanks to a technicality, Grail can enter since she never set “foot” on Themyscra and left... I wish I knew how important this story is and where it’s going. I feel like Darkseid, Grail, and Jason are only in it for flash, flare, and excitement. But it just sputters. When Darkseid is in a comic, I feel like it should be universal and Worldbreaking but that doesn’t seem to be the case here. Regardless of what I’ve said and the questions I have, It’s not a bad comic. I’m just having a hard time seeing the

Time for me to SPOIL you rotten! This issue is a background and intro into Trinary, which is a "technopath". I can only assume can use her brain to control technology. Maybe this character has been around before, but I'm new to all X-men titles, so she's new to me. Trinary was kidnapped and Jean, as well as Nightcrawler, Wolverine ( daughter of Wolverine) and Honey Badger go to break her out of prison. Trinary was their for giving woman a 25% pay raise from all the wealth men in her country. Meanwhile, if you remember, Jean was framed for exploding an ambassadors head during a summit on mutants that she called last issue. So basically, Jean and her team are on the run so they should go after this girl... but they do. Long story short, Jean uses her mind control to get access to the facility and things go sideways fast. We also find out that certain people are somehow immune to Jeans psychic link. Lastly, we end with Nightcrawler and crew escaping with Trinary to find Jean in trouble with none other than a sentinel! The feel of Taylormades issues so far are : funny and old school 90's Xmen cartoon to me. From the sentinel at the end, which looks identical, to the Vibe of Jean becoming the new Charles Xavier in a way, it all feels old school with a new spin. Pick it up and read the poop out of it! You'll love the writing and the art. Plus, there is no better time to hop on board.. we're only two issues in! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. I know X-Men can be hard to follow, catch up on, and decide which title to even read. Well, this is the title to read and I recommend jumping back to number 1 since we aren’t too far into it and catching up. Red gives you the feeling of the old X-men with a hint of some new ones sprinkled in. Some classic feels with some new upgrades. The Red crew escapes with Trinary, who can kind of listen and rewrite technology, and finds themselves heading back to Wakanda on the back of a reprogrammed Sentinel. However, Storm is waiting in Wakanda for them and she ain’t going to let a Sentinel just fly on into her home, especially since she doesn’t know the Red team is on its way back. We get some other guest appearances too. Gambit pops in to stop a mob in Louisiana trying to scare off a group of mutants but watches some red neck hillbilly accidentally kill a young mutant girl with wings while Cassandra Nova sneaks into the mansion right past kitty and Colossus unseen except by one young mutant that she apparently kills or does something funny to him with a medicine/ cocktail of some kind. I was confused on that part since I didn’t know the young mutant or who Cassandra Nova really was. It seems like Jean is ACTUALLY taking the Professor X role, his believes, his attitude on humans and mutants together; everything. Now, I haven’t be reading a ton X-Men recently but from what theories I heard, it seemed like Marvel was trying to get rid of the X-Men and mutants because they didn’t have the movie rights. I don’t know if that’s true but I draw that connection here because it appears like X-Men Red is trying to get back to its roots in a new refreshing way. Pick it up as well as each issue so far. You won’t be disappointed. If you like what you heard, love talking all types

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. I am loving this X-men title. In a franchise that can be confusing as religion, X-men Red does a good job taking you in slowly and has been showing us all how the team is going to be formed and who the big bad appears to be. I feel the X-men franchise is one that turns new readers away with its complexity. But Taylor has done a great job explaining where this crew is at to this rookie (maybe 4th year sophomore at this point) and keeps me wanting to come back for more each month. This issue basically shows us the possible big bad, which is now sentinels, but nano ones that implant themselves in your brain causing you to act like a He-man Mutant Hater! And, if it effects a mutant brain, it sends them off the reservation entirely, I’m talking large Casinos, which is why Storm was going Baboon poop crazy at the end of the last issue and the beginning of this one. The X-men crew are forced to leave Wakanda due to the impact it will have on their society because these nano-sentinels already found Storm here in Wakanda so who knows where else they could find the X-men. So, they pack up and head to Namor in this underwater city that’s not Atlantis but some place else I guess... Jean brings Gentle ( Wakandan Mutant), who we don’t completely know his power set yet other than it effects him painfully and it looks like he can grow really large..... and Storm tags along as well. Trinary creates suits for the rest of the team that will stop access to any control of any nano-sentinels on, in, or around their body. This helps them, but they need to wear them at all times. Namor joins the team and of course we can’t forget about Nightcrawler, Honey Badger, and Wolverine (girl daughter-ish version). So, we know the bad guy-ish and we know the team as the story kicks off. we even know their hide out. So what’s next? If you want to read an X-men book, pick this one up. They got “their band” together and I think we will be getting the show on the road for next issue. I’d slide this one in the upper half of my stack right now but not too high.... yet. Why? Simply because nothing has really happened yet. Once the story picks up, which I’m sure Tom Taylor’s creativity will get this book buzzing, I can see this sliding up higher and higher as the weeks go on. It’s not a great issue to jump on but I’d go back and read 1-3 first and then this one to get up to speed. I again think this series may be the best X-men series we have ongoing so if you want your X-men free ranged, gluten free, and without lactose, this comic won’t give you any of that BUT it’s still really good. Technically, it’s gluten free and lactose free if you enjoy that... If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. Ok, so this always comes off sounding bad.... and sometimes it can be... but this was a REALLY quick read. I’m going with 6 minutes max. That said, it was fantastic. The basic layout of the issue was set up with huge splash pages of art filled with old school X-men vibes. Taylor is hitting home run after home run with this book and anyone interested in an X-book really needs to add this to their pull list. Let’s start with a quick overview of Red. So, Jean is forming her team together and their new base of operations is with Namor underwater. Casandra Nova has created nanotechnology that places nanite sentinels in the brains of humans and mutants alike to cause fear and hate towards all mutants. As awful as this is to say, it’s genius. She’s artificially spreading hate around the globe. Well, X-Red as figured this out and created suits that will keep them safe from the nanotech while they go out and attempt to put a stop to this once and for all. This issue opens with Cassandra Nova getting the Polish President to sign a law basically making mutants public enemy number 1. He then sends the government to track down all mutants on his soil and round them up. We then jump to the man who shot and killed that little girl who was a mutant in issue 4 who was with Gambit. He’s in the hospital being treated. Gambit breaks into the hospital to not only figure things out, but maybe to get some vengeance too. It’s not stated since he is unable to go through with any course of action because Jean and X-Red appear there waiting in the room. Jean linked her mind with Trinary and went into that man’s mind and found one of Casandra Nova’s nanobots. Together, Jean and Trinary were able to use both their abilities to basically turn off the nanobots in his brain. After doing so, the man crumbles realizing what he did. He never wanted to hurt anyone but the nano-sentinel forced feelings and actions into him that he would never have done normally. Nightcrawler teleports them all out of there with Gambit, who I guess will also be joining the team, to a freshly painted new Sentinel-X with rainbows and pots of gold. This is basically a hollowed out Sentinel that X-Red is using to fly around as a team. The team loads up in Sentinel-X and heads to the borders of Poland to protect a large group of mutants trying to leave the country. Taylor does a great job of showing a team of heroes working together. He’s been great at this for a long time now. If you don’t believe me, just take a look at Injustice. Some writers have a difficult time incorporating multiple heroes in a story... but not Taylormade! He shows Trinary using Sentinel-X as s shield, Jean stopping bullets with her mind, Nightcrawler teleporting Wolverine and Honey Badger in for combat, Gentle “Hulking” out to protect mutants, and Namor throwing around his diplomacy in order to save these mutant civilians. This shouldn’t be overlooked. It is hard to give everyone in a team book a job to do during a fight. It’s hard to give value to all characters throughout the story. Taylor does a fantastic job with that, which ultimately leads us to another reason why this is by far the best X-book out right now. Since the battle was taking place on the ocean border, Namor basically tells the Polish government to back off while he gives these mutant civilians free passage through his oceans. He threatens them by saying if they don’t allow them to leave with him now, he will not let Poland fly over or use his waters ever again. Needless to say, the Polish government backs off allowing the people to leave. As the mutant civilians leave, Jean basically Vulcan mind melts the Polish humans and mutants together so the humans can feel and understand what their actions are truly doing. Jeans logic is to use truth to fight hate. It was an interesting strategy to implement and I’m interested to see where that strategy will lead as we go through the series. If you knew how hurtful your jokes were that you said to your friends sometimes, would you continue to poke at them? If you could truly feel how much you hurt them, would you continue to hurt them? It’s an interesting theory that I hope Taylor continues to play with. Jean is a leader. She may be THEE leader the X-books have been searching for all along. To me, this book is a “Fresh” look at the X-men that’s not confusing, straightforward, and easy to follow. Pick it up and add this to your pull. If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. This annual was mainly about summarizing what has happened to Jean Grey. For those that don’t remember, adult Jean Grey was dead. The X-men went to visit her grave when they noticed a large bird flying around the sun and moon because they thought Jean was back. When they arrived to her grave, it was empty. Long story short, after hatching from the Phoenix egg with no memories, Jean’s team tried to remind her of who she was. Eventually, she was able to convince the Phoenix Force to leave her and give her back her memories. That’s where this issue kicks off. Right after she gives up the Phoenix Force BUT right before she creates X-men Red. The issue opens with a trip down memory lane. This was probably a way to show readers how Jean was getting her memories back after being dead for so long. She remembers being the Phoenix and then dying to save everyone. She remembers sending the Phoenix Force away and rejoicing with everyone to finally get their Jean Grey back; one that wasn’t possessed by some cosmic entity. Later, we find out that the Phoenix Force was actually holding back her psychic powers. She was always afraid if she used her abilities too much she would let out the Phoenix Force and kill someone. But not anymore! We will be seeing a new Jean that we’ve never seen before.... an omega Level telepath that could rival Xavier. I’m pumped for that! Next, her friends catch her up on events while she was gone. They talk about how Kitty phased a giant bullet through the planet, and how a different older Wolverine from an alternate future timeline was here now. Basically, showing her how crazy things have been since she’s been dead. Then, Kurt teleports her to the Xavier Institute and tells her that it was even named after her for a time, which she finds truly amazing. They end up in Central Park where Jean sees that people still hate mutants for some reason and it drives her to want to make a change and follow in Xaviers footsteps. Up next on the Jean Grey Returns Tour, she stops by to see Rachel Summers, which is her daughter with Cyclops who was sent to a future timeline that she never really knew. Because of their psychic abilities, they don’t even need to talk to one another. They can catch up on each others feelings and past faster by using psychic links. They both fly off to go find the daughter of the other man Jean loved, which was Wolverine’s daughter Laura. She explains that the two people she loved so much are gone and these two are the only connections she has to them left in this world. After a few parlor tricks for Gabby, Laura’s roommate, Rachel, Laura, and Jean go to find Black Bolt. Why? Well, because indirectly he’s the reason Cyclops is dead. When Black Bolt released the Terrigen Mist, that’s when Cyclops died. But Jean didn’t come to fight. She wanted and explanation and she wanted an apology. Maybe at first she wanted revenge but after reading Black Bolts mind, she realized that his intent wasn’t to kill anyone, it was to save his people. And thus, all Jean wanted was for him to say “sorry”. So, she links with Black Bolt mentally so he can talk to her and tell her just that, “I’m sorry”. Jean makes amends with the Inhumans, for the most part, and opens a new chapter where they hope to work together in the future. The issue ends with Jean standing over Scott’s grave explaining to him that she can’t stand the world now and that she is going to change it. Ultimately, she wishes he was here to see it through with her. But in my opinion, you can’t have Jean without Scott. It’s only a matter of time before he comes back. The issue had pretty good art with realistic faces and mannerisms. It was unique and interesting art and I kind of liked it.... even though Jean’s “core” was unnecessarily “robust” throughout the entire issue. Does rebirth do that to a person? And when did Jean Grey become Power Girl? I mean, come on man. We didn’t progress the story a ton either but we got to see a prelude to the team being put together and fill in some gaps to those who hopped on the book a couple months ago, which was nice. You don’t need to read this issue. It’s not required but that’s normally the case with most annuals. It wasn’t bad by any stretch but I think I would have only gotten it if I was a diehard Jean fan or X-men fan. It’s definitely worth a pick up in that situation. But the average reader isn’t missing much.... again I don’t mean that in a negative way. I loved the Black Bolt parts. This shows the work Taylor puts in. Why you ask? Well, notice that when Jean goes to visit Black Bolt that Blinky is there. Black Bolt recently met her in his series that ended a couple months ago when he was trapped on a slave world by some ancient Vampire Succubus that feed on fear. To me, it’s important for a writer to be current AND to be reading along with us while they are writing to keep up. I feel like that’s part of the job if you want to be a great writer. This way, you are less likely to mess up by adding in something you shouldn’t. So, when I see elements like that in a book, my score automatically goes up for continuity, thoroughness, and sheer respect that the writer shows to other comics. Taylor did that in spades here showing he is truly Taylormade. Excellent job. I’m not surprised Taylor does this. He’s an amazing writer, which is half the reason I’m so interested in this X-book in the first place. And all of you should be too. Nothing has changed. If you want an X-book, this is the one. Pick it up! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

So, I get it. We know littl about Gemworld and little has been explained about it. So those not familiar with Gemworld will have questions and Bendis is doing a slow build from that stand point. However, we get Conner Kent, Bart Allen, Cassie Sandsmark, and The Drake back together again, which is what I’ve been waiting for. The art is bright and colorful and I see potential from this comic, I just wish it moved a bit faster. I need more questions answered and I feel the flashbacks are filling in gaps that would have been easier if the story was told straight through.. I’m still in mainly for the direction I hope this takes. As for my hopes, I hope we find out that Conner is the baby dad of Wrynn who eventually grows up to be Mordru, who then becomes the villain for the Legion of Super heroes!!! I know it’s a stretch now but he’s already got one kid so.....