This Special has some good stories like the one from Wolfman& Chuck Dixon. My favorite was the one about Jason by Judd Winick, because it showed us the relationship between Jason& Bruce. However this Special once again proves, what a joke Stephanie Brown is, but Jason or Damien should have got a second story instead. This is just a waste of space. The Tim Drake story by Beechen wasnt too bad either, we at least saw some Villains in the background. However it’s sad, that we don’t get any story, that shows Robins relationship to The Villains. So it’s pretty onesided. We also don’t get many extras except some basic informations about Robin. Some creativity would have been nice here. The art is great, because we get to see some older artists like Dustin Nguyen, so at least the art felt nostalgic. Overall this Special lacks some love& I hope Joker‘s will be better.

This was an ok issue for me. One of the best writings for Barbara since years.She finally acts more like Batgirl again, but overall I wish she was Oracle again. However nothing that much happened in this issue. Batgirl tries to protect a politician& Jason Bard returns. As for me I wish he would have stayed away. Never liked his character at all.

Good issue, but I couldn’t stand Barbara at all in this. She comes out as a big hypocrite. She’s supposed to be smart, so she should know, that people, who were just released from prison need support, so they can live their new life. If she can’t forgive her brother, she at least shouldn’t attack him& make things worse for him. She’s putting people way more in danger by this. This is taking place before Batman Who Laughs. However since Barbara just worked with Harley in HIC she comes out as a big hypocrite. Harley has killed more people than her brother& enjoyed it& still Barbara is treating her as a victim, while she fully blames James Jr. Overall it makes the Gordons look quite weak, that they would abandon their son/ brother just like that. Both work with criminals& I didn’t see James Jr. forcing Barbara to beat up people& threatening family fathers like she did this issue. So Barbara came out pretty weak here. I hope DC keeps her brother as a reformed criminal for a while, but I guess DC won’t.

This issue was ok, but nothing outstanding either. The villains are pretty weird& not that interesting, but at least the issue ends with a threat for Batgirl. Barbara is doing detective works, but not that much happens. What really annoys me is Jason Bard& there might be a love story between him& Barbara in the future. This happened before, but Jason is acting totally different than he did in Batman Eternal& overall he’s just an annoying character. Wish he was killed off at some point. Didn’t like him the first time he appeared.

Overall this arc is a little boring, but at least DC is finally recognizing, that Ivy is indeed a mass murderer. The escape scenes with Barbara were also ok, but nothing special either. Just ok.

After Female Furies Castellucci thankfully does a better job with Batgirl ( at least in the first issue). We are seeing the trio from the last issues, Batgirl fighting Killer Moth& Jason Bard hanging out with Bea. I’m wondering, if that’s Bea from Nightwing run, since her boyfriend is called Ric as well. The ending was quite promising too, but I’m not sure what to think of the Oracle idea yet. However what is really sad, that this issue confirms, that another cool Pre52 story never happened: Underworld Unleashed. Year of The Villains basically copied the entire idea from that event & mixed it with a crisis story, but Underworld Unleashed sure is the better& more entertaining event so far. Castellucci gets Killer Moth‘s character by portraying him as a villain, who is trying to prove that he is worthy of getting an offer from Lex, but turning him into Charaxes during Underworld Unleashed gave his character a certain tragedy, that is lost in New52/ Rebirth timeline. That is really sad. The art is good as well. Overall good issue, but DC isn’t very creative for just repeating old storylines.

On the one hand I find the new Oracle interesting, but on the other hand I wish we would get the Pre52 Oracle back. DC really ruined a great character by turning Barbara into Batgirl again. I‘m kind of tired of Year of the Villains too, it just gets boring& is a mere copy of Underworld Unleashed from the 90ies without the good stories. So nothing that special happens in this issue. Jason Bard is annoying as always& Batgirl is still fighting Killer Moth.

Yes Batman does brutally beat up his enemies, but he also always saves his villains, no matter what. Therefore it felt totally out of character for Bruce to leave KGBeast helpless in the cold. Batman isn't a murderer and this "I won't kill you, but I don't have to save you" mentality he seems to have borrowed from Batman Begins just doesn't fit him. He also missed an opportunity to get this case solved just because of ego/ emotions. That also was out of character for him. His line "I am the Worlds greatest detective" didn't impress me, it rather felt like what a Batman fanboy would say, but not what Bruce would say. The story with the animals was nice, but overall pointless. I expected more with this issue. This issue feels more like fanfiction to me.

I expected more with this issue, because of Penguin, but the plot seems weird and comes out of nowhere. Out of nowhere we learn, that Penguin is married, even so there was no character development shown for him. Last time Penguin had a love story it was in Pain& Prejudice& he wasn’t capable there to have a normal relationship. So we suddenly should believe he can, because King decides? Another thing that didn’t fit was, that Penguin could aim at Alfred, since Wayne Manor has excellent security& Bruce is prepared for everything, but suddenly he isn’t.

Didn’t like it much, but don’t want to totally hate it yet, because the plot might evolve in a more logic way. However Bruce beating Gordon up was very out of character for me ( think of the well written scene in Hush, when Gordon stopped Bruce from killing Joker, then you’ll see how awful this was written in comparison))& I also don’t think Bruce would go mad like that. Batman is about controlling his own emotions, doing what needs to be done& yet King is writing Bruce as an emotional unstable guy, who is still whining about his girlfriend leaving him& doesn’t get any Detective work done. Guess Batman rather should have listened to KGBeast a few issues ago. As for Penguin he isn’t exactly badly written, but his marriage comes out of nowhere& King still doesn’t address it at all. If you know Penguin, you’ll know, that he isn’t capable of a real relationship& that it always ends up with his „love“ getting killed/ betrayed because of him. So I really think this needs explanation. Also Penguin dying for love? WTH is wrong with King? I am also no fan of this - Bane destroying Batman by ruining his marriage/ private life- idea. It seems unworthy for Bane& I can’t see Bruce being that devastated by it, because his real obsession isn’t a woman or love, it’s protecting Gotham& Batman.

With this issue I don’t know. There were good things, but also real bad things happening in this issue. The good one is, we finally get an explanation for who Penny was& it’s hilarious. As odd as it sounds, but Penguin marrying a real penguin makes a lot more sense for his character than a real woman would. At least if we are talking functional relationships. However didn’t know Oswald is that into animals, if you know what I mean ;) ( poor Penny btw.) As for the bad things, I don’t buy it for one second, that Gordon would give up on Batman so fast as he did here. We are talking about the guy, who stood by Batmans side,even when he was under murder suspicion, the guy, who comforted him, even so he just saw Batman brutally beating up one of his villains. It appears cheap. And speaking of it, we also finally get to know what happened to KGBeast& it doesn’t make Bruce look any better. Considering the fact, that all he was doing this issue was beating up people to get his information, but ignored the one man (KGBeast), who could tell him everything due to ego/ emotions, just seems very out of character for Batman. I don’t buy it, that Bruce would get so emotional to make all these mistakes, even if something bad happened to him. In many stories we could see, that he never betrays his crusade for emotions, he trained years to be able to put his feelings aside. But that’s nothing compared to the end: it really makes zero sense for Thomas Wayne to show up. It’s impossible& therefore looks like cheap drama again. I realize we all have different taste& I respect different opinions, but with all these flaws& contuinity errors, I really keep wondering, how people can love Kings writing. I personally think his entire Batman run would work better as an Elseworld& it would also make me enjoy his writing more.

I surprisingly don’t think this issue was that bad. However it’s annoying that King just ignores everything, that happened last issue ( Thomas Wayne breaking in the batcave) and starts a totally new story ( unless Thomas Wayne is or has anything to do with that boy, could be a fake Thomas Wayne after all). However we once again get to see Bruce’s trauma as a child& for new readers the story of the boy, who thinks he is Bruce Wayne is kind of retold here. The dialogue here is way better than what King usually writes. The kid reminds me a little bit of Jason& don’t know, if it’s good, that he was send to Arkham, what of course supports my theory that he has something to do with Thomas Wayne and Bane. I however already can’t stand that child ( honestly don’t remember him from Batman 38). Travis Moore‘s art is great though& I hope he does more art for Batman.

This issue was ok. I liked how King portrayed Pyg, he definitely was in character. As for the story it feels kind of weird, since we are coming from probably Thomas Wayne invading the batcave, to the annoying Master Bruce psycho to this issue, where we don’t know, why Bruce is hanging there. It’s not real in the end, what also feels kind of weird, but King stated on Twitter, that it will all make sense in the end, so I’m giving it a chance. This issue unfortunately doesn’t have a real plot, it’s just Bruce hanging there& confronting his inner demons a little, but also not really. What I like about King‘s run, that he also gives the villains an amount of „screentime“, he doesn’t replace them with new characters you never see again. So that’s a plus for me. As for the art, I wasn’t a fan of it in Mr Miracle, because Barda sometimes looked like a guy, but it fitted this issue.

I don’t think this issue was that bad, but not that great either. The problem here is, that this issue& the last 2 aren’t really connected, we get a hint in this one, that it’s all due to Batman being affected by Scarecrow’s fear gas ( having Scarecrow in the story would be great though, but I somehow doubt it)& due to a machine he is strapped on, but this still isn’t enough. Constantine is really pointless in this issue, because he doesn’t do much& he could be replaced by nearly everyone. However since it’s just a dream, that turns to a nightmare it makes sense, that his appearance doesn’t make sense. The worst part for me are the Batcat scenes. This is a what if Bruce really did marry Selina story. I really hate how King is turning Selina into Bruce’s love of his life& tries to turn him into Clark. Batcat was already terrible in Hush& sucked even more together in Heart of Hush. But here the dialogue between them is really badly written, so I was glad when the Nightmare finally started. However a Nightmare scene could have been more scarier, more grotesque, but unfortunately it was kept quite simple here. So overall you get a filler disguised as a big storyline.

Overall I liked this issue. It had way better dialogue than Kings run, so I think HIC actually would work, if it was better written.. Not that much new happened here, just Gotham Girl returns. I guess we’ll find out next issue, since it ends when it just became interesting. I have the feeling this story was done due to Detective Comics run getting 1000 issues. This way DC doesn’t have to leave Batman our for a half month.

I don’t think this issue was that bad, but not great either. Maybe people, who are a fan of the Batcat ship will enjoy it more, but I actually can’t stand these two together. I usually like Catwoman, but when she’s with Bruce she is always lame. Since Bruce is still trapped in his nightmare, the story shows us what he thinks Catwoman‘s motivation was. Overall I think this whining about a woman doesn’t fit his character at all. And if this is really a fear gas illusion as it was said issues ago I think it’s pretty lame. Read so many better comics with fear gas illusions or other nightmares. If this turned all into a real nightmare, it would have been cooler. As far as Solicitations are going, we apparently are getting weirder stories the next time. Overall however there is such a big difference in quality between this & Tomasis Detective Comics run, which gets Bruce’s character way better. Positive however is, that the dialogue was much better this issue. Catwoman didn’t just babble like in other stories of King. I didn’t like the art for this comic that much, but the Variant cover is great.

I hope everybody, who read this issue also borrowed it from a friend like I did, because you should rather give 4$ to a homeless person than buying this issue. There’s no dialogue before page 16, what makes this issue boring as hell. There’s also no story at all than Batman chasing a guy over the rooftops. So if you have sleeping troubles maybe it’s the right comic for you. SPOILER I think just like Joker is mocking Batman at the end ( I assume it is Joker, correct me if Im wrong), he’s also mocking the reader for buying this issue SPOILER ENDING Stories like these work as backup stories like for example the story with the plant, who eat Gotham in Detective Comics in 2004, but never as the real story. And no there‘s not some hidden genius behind it as some people claim, it’s just bad& in this case lazy writing. Just like it is cashing in on the customers. I guess I spend more time writing this review than King writing this issue. I wouldn’t buy this issue.

With a comedy issue like this you can’t call it nightmares anymore unless Batman‘s nightmare suddenly is Catwoman& Lois Lane acting both out of character. (Still hope it’s not Scarecrow‘s fear gas as it was stated issues ago, since I don’t want him to get dragged into this mess of a story.) Since when are Lois& Selina besties? Apart from the one story of King I’ve never seen Selina& Lois Lane being friends. The two taking a bath together also rather seems more like a teenage boys wet dream ( or apparently Bruce’s dream) than what two friends actually would do on their bachelorette party. There’s some bad dialogue & some lame jokes& the point of this issue apparently was, that Bruce hates being Batman ( what is out of character for him, since Batman is his real identity, what was stated countless times in comics), but loves, that he has to be Batman. Kind of contradicting Yeah& makes no sense. King reached the point, where he doesn’t care about what fits Bruce’s character. Overall up until now I don’t buy anything of Kings story how Bane is trying to break Batman. This entire Catwoman drama would never hurt him that much, but that’s what King is mainly focusing on. Batman feels like a CW show these days. As for the art, I personally don’t like it.

Awful issue. Does King ever research the characters he is writing or does he just force his story on them? I’d say the latter. The nightmares Bruce is having, turn out to be a fear gas illusion indeed as it was mentioned some issues ago. However two things are really wrong here: Normally Batman can only overcome the fear gas by either facing his fears or enduring them until the fear gas wears off. Sometimes he realizes it’s just an illusion& he can overcome his fears. In King‘s story it is stated, that Batman can overcome them, if he is just afraid enough, what actually contradicts every Scarecrow story ever written. The worst fear usually destroys people& that’s why Batman is so special, because he can deal with his fears. A fear gas illusion also doesn’t let its victim enjoy some beauty moments as it was shown in nightmares ( dreams would fit better), it induces Fear or forces its victim to revisit traumas. King must have never read one single Scarecrow story. Secondly his worst fear is Catwoman or rather because she left him& I can only face palm. King continues to portray Bruce as an average guy, who is obsessed with his girlfriend. But that’s not what Bruce or Batman is about. Selina is one of his major love interests, but breaking up with her would never effect him so much. Apparently King doesn’t know, that they have an on off relationship. So this feels like bad fanfiction. What really made me laugh was the way Bane is portrayed here. Training with Thomas sounded more like they did some sex games, since Bane was completely nude. Only makes his character look bad, but doesn’t have any purpose. Unless Bane& Thomas suddenly have a gay relationship. King also gives zero explanation about why Thomas is even in this timeline. It makes zero sense& his team up with Bane makes even lesser sense. It’s like bad fanfiction again. With the fear gas mentioned, I hope Scarecrow is spared from King’s terrible writing in the upcoming issue. Batman 69 is a disaster in so many ways. A shame, that the art gets wasted for this train wreck of a story. Sad, I had hopes here...

Basically this is another filler, because all Batman is doing is beating up his villains& boasting about how great& badass he is, while walking out of Arkham Asylum. That’s really it. It is the same, what Bane did in issue 19. While I’m happy to see the villains, especially Scarecrow I’m also disappointed how much they are wasted here. They all get beaten with one punch, what makes them look weak& it’s quite boring. Villains should challenge the hero, but if the hero can knock them out so easily it’s just boring. They all deserve better! Speaking of hero, Batman also looks bad here, because he is beating most of the villains with no reason. Some of them are just standing there, not even attacking him& still he is punching& mocking them. With some of them like Manbat he is allied in other runs or I don’t know why Kings Batman has such a big problem with Mr. Freeze, since he normally is one of the villains Bruce sympathizes with. Boasting about how great he is also seems out of character for him. I can’t see Batman being so foolish. And at this point I’m asking myself, why Gordon hasn’t arrested him. And I can only roll my eyes about Bruce shouting „I’m living in a nightmare“ 🙄 Since it was Scarecrow‘s fear gas, that lead to Batman’s nightmares I would expect a worthy confrontation with Scarecrow, but all we get is Batman mocking Scarecrow& also beating him with one punch. Batman of course is also immune to Scarecrow‘s fear gas he is using here, what makes it look all too easy for him. The story also leaves it open, if Scarecrow even was the one affecting him or whether Bane just stole a version of his fear gas ( I still say it’s a version gone wrong), what ends up in even more plot holes. If Scarecrow wasn’t the one, then I’m asking myself, why Batman is even punching him, since it’s not Scarecrow’s fault, if someone stole it& used it on Batman. Point is Scarecrow deserves better. He should have stayed in Bludhaven a little longer. The only good thing about this issue is the art, which is really great, just like the cover& even so the villains are portrayed badly here I’m happy to see them. If that’s how King is going to use them in City of Bane I don’t want to see it& I hope he leaves my favorites out of it. King is also quoting the Divine Comedy at some point, while I’m a fan of quoting more demanding literature in comics, I say Dante deserves better than being quoted in such a simple story just to make it look intellectual.

Meh, guess Kings Batman run is a good example for what happens, if you make fanfiction canon. King doesn’t know how to write these characters at all& at this point I can only hope, that it won’t be that bad after all, when he said, that his run will change Batman‘s character for generations. Hope this is just his ego speaking. Anyway we should believe, that Batman was imprisoned in Arkham for weeks without the batfamily noticing or looking for him? Doesn’t make any sense. The Batman King is writing is an unlikable, infantile crybaby, who is nothing but agressive. However being Batman means to be able to control emotions. And yeah some people are saying, this is a broken Batman, who is brought to his limits, but how? Because he broke up with Catwoman? King is overrating their relationship& still doesn’t get, that Gotham& Batman are Bruce’s main priority not having a normal relationship. He doesn’t get his character at all. What is a shame. Or was is because Bruce was affected by one of the weakest version of Scarecrow’s fear gas ever? If it at least was a strong version, but no it wasn’t. Or was it, because Dick was shot? Bruce doesn’t care about Dick since issues. Same goes for the dialogue: For example Batgirl is saying „I reached out to them...Jason is Jason& Dick...is Ric“ That’s how, fans of Dick would talk, but not the characters. Or lines from Batman like „I’m going to break your damn back“ doesn’t fit his character at all. Are the editors all sleeping or why is King allowed to write such bad& unfitting dialogue? Batman also acts like an overly agressive asshole for no reason: Why does he slap Tim in the face? Doesn’t make any sense, He slapped Dick in Bruce Wayne Fugitive, but it made sense back then. We should also believe, that Batman is loosing his mind just because Bane tricked him by apparently working together with the staff in Arkham? You think Batman wouldn’t figure that out? Or at least consider it? Instead he gets all agressive& beats Tim? We still don’t get any explanations for Thomas Wayne being in the story at all& I have my doubts we ever will. King also seems to make a Knightfall 2.0., but just in lame. Nothing, that happened in this run so far is believable in any way. We had some ok stories at the beginning, but everything we got since Jokes& Riddles is just bat& it’s getting worse in every issue. I can only hope no character I care about gets a big role in this story, but thanks to King I can’t take Bane serious anymore& it’s terrible to see Batman‘s character butchered like that. It’s also a shame how much the great art gets wasted in every issue.

Every 2 weeks I’m trying to give King's Batman run another chance & to find some good things in it, but I think it’s just not worth it. This issue only sums up, what Bane‘s plan was the entire time& it’s a good issue for those, who just started reading Kings Batman run& for those, who forgot about some parts. However Bane‘s entire plan is just utterly nonsense. This entire run feels like pure fanfiction. Bruce had many loves& apart from, that he didn’t even open up to Catwoman, he already did towards other women. Even in New52/ Rebirth timeline. He opened way more up to Natalya than he ever did to Selina. That never made him question Batman though. And Catwoman being his savior is just big nonsense. A criminal like her would need saving herself. It just feels like King read some tweets from some Batcat shippers& declared her to Bruce’s ultimate love& didn’t care at all about, whether it makes sense or not. Bruce isn’t the kind of character, who can be saved by a woman. Thinking another person can save you, might not be the best start for a relationship anyway. I think his character is by far more complex than that& that’s why Batman is an interesting character, but King is turning him to the average guy next door. While I also think Bruce is seeing& treating the Robins like soldiers, I don’t think you can reduce his relationship to them on just this. King is acting like only romantic love between a man& a woman is the only love, that matters& the only love, that can make people better. Maybe that’s the reason, why Bruce wasn’t really devastated by Dick getting shot, because King doesn’t think, that can hurt a man. I think this is really disrespectful towards the batfamily& I am saying that as someone, who isn’t a fan of them We also still get zero explanation, why Thomas is here or why he suddenly teams up with a criminal to hurt his own son. Even so I hate his character, but it just doesn’t make any sense for him. Why is it so hard for Tom King to read at least the bios of the characters? However it’s too late for that anyway by now.

This story is sick on so many levels& I would enjoy it more, if I turned my brain completely off I guess, but thinking about it there are too many things, that just don’t make any sense. First of all I can’t see, why Bruce is even thinking Flashpoint Batman is his real father. Flashpoint Batman is a mass murderer, a Batman, who went psycho. Thomas is against everything Bruce stands for, so I can’t see how Bruce would ever be fine with him or see him as his father. Already made zero sense in Rebirth. Thomas is from an erased timeline, not the father Bruce has lost in the canon timeline. Secondly we still don’t get any explanation how Thomas can be in the canon timeline. At least we got some informations about his motivations, but it’s just twisted and sick. Reviving Martha ok.... It’s just giving Bruce a painful story for nothing. And as far as I remember: the Lazarus Pit in the comics doesn’t bring dead people back only heals people at the edge of death. Bringing people back from the dead causes madness, so Martha would be quite insane I guess. So what’s the point? I really hope these big changes King mentioned aren’t bringing Bruce’s parents back, but marrying Catwoman wouldn’t be much better. Then Thomas mentioned Bruce had been broken by Bane, but that’s the biggest problem of this entire run, that the way the story goes I don’t buy it for a second, that Bruce would be that devastated about a break up. Especially because the only traumatic thing - Dick getting shot- is ignored. I’m asking myself, why was it done then? Banes entire plan& the plot is just stupid. With Thomas& Martha it’s at least something dramatic, but I’m still asking myself, why the team up with Bane. Bruce‘s portrayal also is that of a little whiney boy not of the Batman we know. I see no reason for Bruce hugging Thomas, since he isn’t his father. Many would say, that’s because of Bane, but like I mentioned above the way the story is presented I just don’t buy it. It’s too forced& over the top to be believable. Not to mention, that it’s not an enjoyable story. So overall at least we get some story progression, but don’t know how much I like the ideas presented here. All I know is, that after this story I don’t want to see Bane for the next 4 years, since King at least succeeded with Bane getting on my nerves.

This is the final issue of the „Fall& the Fallen“arc& compared to the Knightmare arc we at least get some story progression: Bruce& Flashpoint Batman are fighting in the desert. In the end someone climbs out of the hole, but we don’t know yet, who it will be. However there are many plotholes, unanswered questions& missed opportunities, that make it impossible for me to enjoy it. Minor SPOILER WARNING: The entire plot here is a retelling of the fairy tale from issue 57& it’s a missed opportunity, that King rather retells an already known story instead of concentrating of one of his more interesting ideas: the reviving of Martha. This is kept way too short& just shortly mentioned. Out of nowhere it’s stated, that Bruce sneaked away while Thomas was sleeping& burried Martha somewhere in the desert. It would have been by far more interesting& more exiting, if Thomas actually went through with it& we would get a Pet Cemetery like story. Or if Bruce at least had to fight for stopping him. It sure would have been more dramatic. It’s also without any emotion. You could think, that it’s a terrible experience for Bruce being forced to take the rotten corpse ( or more likely a handful of dust) of his mother& bury her somewhere at a place, where he can’t visit her grave anymore. Nothing of this inner conflict of the characters is adressed by King. His characters are pale& bland. It’s also not only a missed opportunity, it’s also unbelievable. King wants the reader to believe, that Bruce, whose back was just broken would be able to lift a corpse& coffin& bring it to a place somewhere in the desert. His writing is just without any logic. Instead of that King is trying to focus on the relationship between Bruce& Flashpoint Batman. SPOILER Ending This never goes deep& a reason for that is, that King never cared to show us any scenes about what Bruce actually thinks about his father from a different timeline. We still don’t get any explanations for why& howThomas is even here & his motivations still are illogical. At the end Bruce seems to realize, that this isn’t his father, but since Bruce isn’t a fool this realization feels way too late. Since the portrayal of Banes plan was a big mess in earlier issues, it’s also unbelievable, when Thomas tells Bruce, that he was broken. Overall nothing of Kings story is fitting together& I fear this won’t change in the last 11 ( I think) issues. As for the art, it feels rushed for me& drawing Thomas with Ben Afflecks Nightmare Batman outfit is an odd choice in my opinion. It also makes no sense drawing Bruce half naked, since in the desert he either gets a sunburn during the day or is in danger to freeze at night.

I don’t think this issue is that bad. Tony S Daniel‘s art is awesome& I wish he drew the entire issue. I was never a fan of Mitch Gerard‘s art. It feels too rushed. As for the plot we are getting a glimpse of how Bane‘s city looks like ( which is basically Arkham War 2.0., but with less fun)& at least many villains made an appearance. There are some funny ideas like Hugo Strange as the Commissioner or Joker& Riddler as cops. Those are quite random though& Scarecrow’s& Joker’s team up during Knightfall was way more fun. King also writes a weird& unfun Joker. Speaking of Scarecrow. Of course there's as good as every villain in this issue except Scarecrow ( can’t blame him though). But what annoys me, that King gives a loser like Psycho Pirate such a big role in this. King overpowers him and makes him control every other villain. If it was that easy Psycho Pirate ( a shame I even have to mention a D villain like him) would have controlled Gotham years ago. I however find it positive, that Thomas didn’t kill villains like Two Face, who didnt want to play along considering his Flashpoint days. I hope that stays this way. It better does! As for Bruce he’s somewhere in the mountains& meets Catwoman ( if she was just an illusion, it would make sense, but since this is King I wouldn’t be surprised if it was her for real). That’s one thing, what ruins this issue for me, because I’m quite annoyed by this Batcat crap King is forcing on us. This issue also still faces many problems& plotholes. There are still questions King refuses to answer: -Why& how is Flashpoint Batman even in the canon timeline? -Bane‘s plan is still dumb& unbelievable especially because Bruce went through worse than a breakup. -If Thomas brings Ventriloquist into the batcave wouldnt he know Bruce’s real identity? - As if the JL or the batfamily wouldn’t do anything against Bane. - Wasn’t it stated, that Gotham Girl is going to die, if she used her powers once more? This issue also suffers from Kings typical problem the bad dialogue. Especially the way Gotham Girl talked was bad. Why is it so hard for King to write a decent dialogue? This issue also ties in Years of the Villains& that’s where it makes zero sense. In JL Bruce is Batman& there is no problem with Gotham mentioned. I also doubt he would hang out with the others, if Gotham just fell into anarchy. Kings story doesn’t fit with the big event at all& I also have the feeling, that many villains will be wasted once again here. Another reason, why King‘s story is nowhere near as great as Knightfall, since the villains had great stories during Knightfall& werent wasted.

I didn’t like this issue& I can’t understand how people can rate it 7 or better. Even the biggest Tom King fan can’t ignore the big plotholes: Two issues ago Bruce was fighting with a broken back in the desert. Last issue he was walking around in the Himalayas ( or wherever)& met Catwoman ( even so last time we saw her, she was in a city in the US. This issue he’s in Paris with Catwoman—- how does this make any sense? Things are getting even more ridiculous in Gotham. King lets Gotham Girl beat Captain Atom with one punch. This only shows, that King doesn’t have a clue about who the characters are he is writing. Did he ever read a comic with Captain Atom? I don’t think so. It doesn’t become any better with how King treats the villains. Scarecrow was on Bane’s side during the Knightmare arc, he showed up in a pic, that showed the villains, who are against Batman some issues ago& now he is suddenly against Bane? I mean I sure can’t blame him. Who would want to be part of an inconsistent story like that? I also can’t see, why Scarecrow would hang out with D villains like Kiteman or the Tweedldedum cousins or why he would need their help? King doesnt seem to know anything about Scarecrow except, that his signature weapon is the fear gas. Scarecrow talks very weird in this issue, if he talks at all. The only good thing here is the art& Scarecrow‘s outfit. It’s also more than boring, that Scarecrow ( don’t expect much of the other two) is only canon fodder for Flashpoint Batman. King sure wants to show what big threat Bane& Thomas are, but that’s just lazy& bad writing. A good writer never wastes the villains and make them look weak. It’s not only ruining their characters, it’s also boring as hell for the reader. The dialogue also is awfully badly written. Is King not capable of writing at least one decent english sentence? I’m really sick of characters talking as if they were braindead idiots. So overall the only good thing is the art, but everything else just awful.

Short review: TRASH, TRASH, TRASH. A SHAME for the great art being wasted. Long review: This story gets worse& worse. King really wants to make us believe, that Bruce would go shopping with Catwoman in Paris, while his city& family are in great danger? Wounded or not, I can’t see Bruce not trying to make contact with the batfamily or with the JL& waste precious time like this. I would like the scene with Damien telling Thomas, that he isn’t his real grandfather, if it was logical. While it was stated, that some New52/Rebirth characters remember Pre52 I‘m asking myself from where do they know, that Martha became Joker in Flashpoint? That was stated nowhere. I also would like Damien more, if he wasn’t responsible for Scarecrow getting wounded. So this is another example for King wasting the villains& having no clue about their characters. So I really hope, that Scarecrow is alright. Since he’s one of my favorite characters it hurts seeing him in an awful story like this. The Catwoman/ Batman story is so forced it’s basically mere fanfiction. The dialogue is just awful& embarrassing considering the fact, that an adult wrote it. SPOILER: As for the ending & Alfred getting killed I don’t buy it yet, but if it’s true, it’s one of the dumbest stories ever written by DC. And I wouldn’t be surprised, if Bruce was more upset about Catwoman breaking up with him than Alfred getting killed. That’s how badly King is writing these characters after all. SPOILER ENDING So overall, if you hate every DC character, love characters being killed& hurt for nothing & characters being wasted& reduced to canon fodder, then you will love King‘s Batman run.

This isnt as bad as the last few issues, but still bad. We are finally getting an explanation for why & how Thomas can even be in this timeline. I don’t read Flash, but I don’t think Reverse Flash is powerful enough to bring people from already erased timelines back to the canon ( if so, he should bring Pre52 Darkseid& Desaad back to me), so this feels like a deus ex machina. It also pisses me off, that Thomas is still thinking he& Bruce are the same kind of Batman. Thomas is nothing more than a psychotic mass murderer asshole, so why doesnt Bruce point this out? This isnt his father, his father died. All of this should be emphasized more. Dialogue is missing, but thats because all of this is way too late. Thomas motivations shouid have been made clear, when he fought Bruce in the desert, not 1 issue before the final one. Kings concept is a mess. I don’t think the idea of Bruce having to fight an alternative & corrupted version of his father is a bad idea, but King just can’t write this story due to bad dialogue & concept. Also this Catwoman love story is just annoying and lame. At least Bane isn’t dead, I just wish the same would go for Alfred. Also will a writer ever address the trauma Bruce just suffered? He lost Alfred& had to face a twisted version of his father. That’s a real sick story, I would probably like, if it was written way better. I wish Bruce would kill Thomas in the final issue, that’s the only time, where I would forgive him breaking his no killing rule. Hope Thomas is put there where he belongs: into oblivion.

Overall this final issue was underwhelming as most of Kings recent issues. Thomas Wayne was beaten way too easily- with a kick in his back by Catwoman, that’s it. And it also made no sense, that The Ventriloquist cant be controlled by Psycho Pirate, well just because. There is no reason for that. I also think it sucks how badly Alfred was treated in this run/ final issue. Instead of mourning him, Bruce has sex with Catwoman & is babbling with her. King just doesn’t know how important Alfred is for Bruce Wayne. Batman would never come to the conclusion, that he can be happy, if Alfred was just killed! What also annoys me is this stupid Catbat fanfiction story King is writing. I don’t buy it, that Bruce or Selina would ever trust someone so much, that they would start a real relationship. This is just serving some Catbat shippers, but doesn’t have anything to do with the characters! I also find it hard to believe, that Thomas Wayne can be send to Arkham without people asking questions. He looks like Thomas Wayne after all. However there are also some things I enjoyed in this issue: 1. The art is really great. 2. I am glad Bruce finally told Thomas right in the face, that he isn’t his real father. This just needed to be said& I am glad King included it. 3. I hate Thomas since Flashpoint, so it was nice to see Bane taking care of him at the end, even so that’s perhaps not how you treat your main villain, but I really can’t feel sorry for Thomas here. I just wish he was erased. 4. The preview to Tynions Batman run looked quite promising. So overall the final issue wasn’t as bad as I expected, but also wasnt great either. Looking back at Kings run, I think there was great potential ( City of Bane could have been great, if the villains were written better, the idea of Flashpoint Batman confronting the real Batman is an interesting idea indeed, Alfred’s death could have been interesting, if it was written better) if he just kept that Batcat love story out& if the dialogue was better. Can’t say I am sad, that King is leaving Batman, but at least he didn’t kill one of my favorite characters/ didn’t ruin them like other writers did.

It was ok, but not great. At least Tynion is writing dialogue, that actually is readable. However I hate, that Catwoman is still a part of the story. She is just pointless. Deathstroke was beaten pretty fast by Batman & while I don’t really think Deathstroke to be an interesting villain, he shouldn’t be beaten so easily. The D Villains in this issue also were pretty boring& I am wondering, why they were even in it. I liked the Bruce missing Alfred part, but I still hate, that DC actually goes through with his death. So overall it’s an ok issue, but nothing outstanding.

This issue was better than last issue& I am definitely looking forward to the next. However the plot is moving slow, what doesn’t have to be bad. I am willing to give Tynion the time he needs to give us a good story. What I really liked in this issue are Riddler& Penguin. Penguin was in character & it’s nice to see him more in action. Him being part of this story is what keeps me interested so far. I liked the connection between this& Riddler‘s Year of the Villains. It’s not the first time he looses „his way“, so it’s interesting to see a different Riddler. Deathstroke & the other D villains were rather boring to me, so I hope Tynion focuses more on Riddler& Penguin. Batman was portrayed in character, but Catwoman was pretty annoying. I wish some writer would finally write a break- up story. The art is pretty awesome in this issue, especially Penguin was drawn well. So up until now Tynion‘s run isn’t anything special, but a good read nonetheless.

Good issue. It feels like a classic villain team up story. I especially liked the scene between Riddler& Catwoman. It was fun to see Riddler casting some doubt in Catwoman‘s relationship. Would be great, if Tynion finally ended this terrible Catbat relationship King built. But I doubt it. DC is constantly ruining characters, so why would Catwoman be the exception? Penguin‘s scene was also nice to read. However I am annoyed, that Harley is once again in this story. DC is forcing her into everything. Would have prefered if Scarecrow or Mister Freeze was involved in this instead of her for the thousand time. So the story might turn pretty bad in future issue. The art is really cool, so this issue might be worth it for The art along. DC definitely should keep the artist. So overall good issue, that isnt boring.

I start to dislike the story. Overall it reminds me of Dead Reckoning just with other villains & nowhere as good as this story. So Gotham‘s biggest bads made a deal with the designer & villains like Scarecrow aren’t even mentioned? Oh the disrespect. Instead Catwoman made this deal, who never even was one of Gotham‘s biggest bads? Same goes for Harley, who was just Joker‘s sidekick. I also hate the idea of Joker knowing the identity of the entire batfamily. Snyder did this or hinted it, but in majority of stories Joker doesn’t know& also couldn’t find out with good reasons. I find it very hard to believe, that Joker wouldn’t use this information about Batman and play fair instead of murdering the batfamilys family or friends out of fun. This is just a stupid idea, that doesn’t fit his character. Overall I am bored with the idea of having another Joker war. Why the hell has everything to be always about Joker? It’s not like Batman doesn’t has a great rogue gallery. DC really makes me hate characters I used to like due to their writing& the need to shove them in the readers face. So „,meh“ sums this issue up the best.

Better than last issue, but Catwoman feels so forced into this story. The Designer is calling Gothams biggest Villains together& he rather thinks of Catwoman than of Scarecrow, Mr. Freeze, Killer Croc or Black Mask? Doesnt make any sense. Joker is also annoying in this. Why does it always have to be Joker? Wish there was no Joker war coming up. Im already bored. What is funny, that Catwoman wanted to steal Bruce‘s Fortune, so almost marrying him worked out for her after all I guess. Still hope these 2 finally break up. It’s so annoying & lame. The art is great though.

This issue wasn’t bad, but I am not really hyped for this story either. It’s nice to see the plot being built up& the villains actually playing a part in this& not just being reduced to canon fodder. However Harley was pointless in this issue, so she is apparently just there, because she gets forced into anything these days. Batman fighting Deathstroke was the best part here. So you don’t miss much, if you skip this, but it’s ok to read.

This story is written from Alfred’s perspective& it does a good job showing the reader, why Alfred stays with Bruce& also how important Alfred is for Batman. I’m usually not an Alfred fan, but even I enjoyed this story. Tom Taylor does a good job here& it felt more like the Batman we know than King is currently giving us in his Batman run.

This is quite fun. This time Batman& TMNT characters are mixed together like the TMNT are like Batmans Robins. Joker& Harley or rather a mixed version of them are making an attack& Krang also showed up. I loved the Batman TMNT animated crossover by Manning, but this seems to be quite promising so far. Feels like a classic Elseworld.

Good issue. Batman& the Turtles are teaming up to prevent a multiverse crisis. I liked the part with the origin of the Turtles& how the history of these two worlds merged.

Good issue. It was interesting to see the TNMT origin merge with Batmans origin. The only thing, that is a little annoying, that Joker is the other Batman villain again. Wish DC would use the others for once, not always just him. ( or Bane).

Good first issue. This mini series is a sequel to Hills Detective Comics #982- 986& you should read that story before reading this mini series, which was supposed to be released in December last year. We get a short introduction for every major character in this team, which is done well. I’m only wondering how Duke can still be angry about Karma after what terrible fate he met in the last arc. I hope Karma will be back in this mini series or at least mentioned again. Would like to know if his condition became better. It looks like Bruce is going to investigate Karmas boss, while the rest of the team will try to protect a girl with meta human powers, which Ras is trying to recrute. I’m not a fan of Duke or Katana, but they were alright in Detective Comics, so I think they will be welll portrayed here too. I’m annoyed about Cassandra still getting called Orphan, but that’s not Hills fault, but Tynions, who started the terrible Orphan arc in Batman& Robin Eternal. Anyway good first issue& I’m looking forward to the next.

Good issue. The plot is slowly progressing& the end is promising.

Good issue. Ras is trying to get him Sofia on his side, while Batman is trying to keep the team together. I like the way Ras was portrayed in this& the interaction between the team is also interesting to read. Sofia makes an interesting new character. So overall I‘m looking to the next issue.

Good issue, that feels like a classic Batman story. Terrorists attacked Gotham& Batman is trying to bring them down. Ras is offering his help. While NML gets referenced, I don’t think the story takes place during that time due to the Robins. We see 2 of them, which most likely are Tim& Damien. Damien didn’t exist during NML arc. Nightwing also is there. What I liked about this issue is the the portrayal of Batman, who we see fighting big& small crimes like he’s saving a dog for a homeless man& the terrorists. He‘s also makes it clear, that he has a strict no killing rule- modern writers often seem to forget about this. I also liked Deadman being a part of the story. He doesn’t often get much attention. I also loved Adams art, since it’s quite nostalgic.

I didn’t like White Knight much. Harley was annoying& unbelievable in it& it did a bad job with the other villains. The first issue of the sequel was good though. Joker is finally acting more like Joker, Harley thankfully wasn’t in it ( wouldn’t be surprised if she shows up later though), but I’m not sure what to think of Joker‘s Napier personality. This makes him look like a Two Face 2.0. Azrael ( Jean Paul Valley) was well portrayed in this issue, so this teases an interesting story coming up. Overall I hope this will be better than White Knight.

This Comic is just pretty meh. White Knight is already overrated in my opinion, but this Harley/ Joker Baby story is just dumb. Don’t know why Harley always gets portrayed as someone she isnt these days. She fell in love with Joker, the way he was, not with the person he used to be ( nobody knows that person). There are even stories where she was bored by a nice version of Joker. So this take on her character is just out of character. Same goes for Jokers double personality. And Murphy already wasted the other Villains in his first story, this time he proves, that he has no idea what to do with them by just killing them off without any reason. What a waste of great characters! Elseworld or not, reducing them to canon fodder is always bad story telling. If you have no clue about how to write them, just keep them out. Easy as that.

The art of this comic is pretty amazing, so it’s worth getting it for the art alone, However I am still angry about DC censoring the first issue of Batman Damned making it impossible to get a physical copy for a prize, that isn’t ridiculously high. There is no point in Black Label, if you are going to censor it after 1 issue just because some infantile people can’t deal with seeing a penis. As for this story Batman is still trying to find out, who killed Joker. Constantine is trying to help him, but his one liners aren’t really helpful. What makes this story interesting is the dark take on the characters. We are getting an alternative origin story for Bruce Wayne, where his father seems to have left the family& a demon ( probably Enchantress) is watching him. I also thought it’s interesting to see a more aggressive young Bruce Wayne. This comic reminds me a lot of The Joker by Azarello, because DC characters are getting a more realistic interpretation like Etrigan being a rapper. It’s also the first time in years, that we get a real good interpretation of Harley Quinn. She acts more as herself in this comic than in any other comic, which is currently released. Since there is only one issue left& the plot hasn’t really started yet, I don’t know, if Azarello can give us a story, that feels complete. With Bruce’s darker past I am curious to read more of it. I like Elseworld stories& this seems to be one of the good ones so far. For every Elseworld you need to be open for different character takes though. If you are a fan of The Joker you should check it out.

It’s sad, that this story isnt appreciated more just because of the penis outrage last year. We finally get the conclusion of the story& it stays interesting. I think the way Martha’s & Thomas relationship is portrayed in this series is quite interesting& fresh. It would be interesting to see how an unhappy marriage affected Bruce. It’s also hinted, that Enchantress is responsible for their deaths, but nothing is 100% sure in this Comic. I think there are many possible interpretations, which makes it more interesting. I also liked the horror elements. The outcome of Jokers murder was also kind of cool& surprising, even so I want to slap Bruce for what he did in the end. Since fear is a big theme in this issue I find it sad, that Azarello didn’t include Scarecrow in it, but well.... The end teases another comic, but the way it went, I’m not sure, if Azarello will write for DC anytime soon. I hope he will, since Batman Damned was a cool story. It’s only sad, that Black Label pretty much gets censored now. I think Harley might would have gone farer in issue 2 than what we saw. Or I’m wondering, if issue 3 also would have been more brutal. Therefore Black Label is quite pointless, since all we get now are cursing words& those I really don’t need, but deeper stories, more violence, no censorship of bodies could make some interesting comics. It however seems adults can’t deal with adult comics, what is quite disappointing. The art is also amazing& hope we get to see more of it in other comics. Edit: What makes this story even cooler, that it seems to be a secret sequel to Azzarellos Joker. The last page in Damned is very similar to the end of Joker.

I thought this issue was great. Scarecrow acting as Batman‘s psychologist is funny& interesting to watch& it actually makes sense for both. Batman normally is always in control, but in this story he doesn’t know what is real& is forced to do what Scarecrow demands. Some scenes between the two are just priceless. It is also a fresh idea for a Scarecrow/ Batman story, one we haven’t really seen yet, what makes the story even more fun, so I definitely can’t wait until next issue.

Loved this issue. Scarecrow is continuing to give therapy to Batman& it’s fun to watch. This series manages to mix sad scenes like Batman‘s past& his unachievable goal with funny scenes like how Batman sees himself. The art intensifies both. I like how the story isn’t solely told with words, but also with art. Compared to the main Batman run Kings of Fear shows more understanding for Batman as a character. I also like the way Scarecrow is portrayed here. He isn’t just reduced on his fear gas, instead his genius as a professor of psychology is shown here as well. This story gives Scarecrow the spotlight he deserves& I wish the story would be longer than 6 issues. The ending teases an interesting plot& I am definitely excited for the next issue. Can’t wait!

With Nightwing #55& also with Kings of Fear# 5 it’s a great week for Scarecrow fans. Issue 5 is just as great as the last one& Scarecrow is continuing to give therapy to Bruce. This issue mostly concentrates on showing what would have happened, if Bruce had never become Batman& what he could have done with his life to really help people. The way it is written is funny& serious at the same time. Scarecrow‘s criticism of the Dark Knight is justified, but he also exaggerates from time to time like with Joker for example. But that’s the part where Kelley Jones& Scott Peterson manage to mix humor with a serious criticism of the Dark Knight. As a longtime reader I of course would think, that the Joker just would have never existed without Batman, because it’s hinted, that Bruce created him by throwing him into acid. Scarecrow however can’t know that& that’s why it makes sense, that he imagines a different future for Joker. He also has very logical points like with Bane for example. It’s also interesting, that Scarecrow doesn’t blame Batman for his own turn to crime nor for all his foes becoming villains, which makes his points more resonable. Also showing Batman how he could have saved Gotham without choosing violence is a worthwhile idea to be adressed, which was asked before in other stories, but never so fully discussed like it is in this story. With the ending Batman of course will find a way to overcome whatever version of his Fear Gas Scarecrow is using here, but the criticism still stands I’d say. Overall Kings of Fear is feeling like a Pre52 story& right out of the 90ies& it’s one of the best Scarecrow stories in years. I wish it was longer& hope the final issue doesn’t mess the story up.

This issue wasn’t as exciting& fun like issue 3,4&5, but that’s mainly because it’s the conclusion to this story. Batman finally snapped out of Scarecrow‘s fear gas& we learn, that everything, that happened since issue 4 was just an illusion in Batman‘s head. What makes this more boring for Scarecrow, but more interesting, when it comes to Batman, since nothing in this story could have happened, if there wasn’t any doubt in Batman. The final issue tries to prove Scarecrow ( or rather the illusion of him) wrong. A couple of people ( of course two of Batmans biggest fans) are thanking him for all he did& encouraging him in his crusade. While it’s true, that Batman also helped many people I don’t think it’s fully convincing.Despite the people Batman is helping he still beat brutally up his villains, denies them any help& he really is responsible for the creation of some villains like Joker. Not to mention, that he put children into great danger by turning them into his soldiers. What I also think is highly questionable, that he uses fear to „change“ criminals, not compassion or love. Therefore I think it’s really sad, that all the development Bruce went through is thrown away like that. It’s not surprising, but its kind of sad too. As for Scarecrow it’s sad, that most of it happened again in Batman’s head, but compared to Knight Terrors in Nightwing he at least was allowed to do some harm to Bruce. Even so I would appreciate a story, that is more about him than just Batmanor another hero. So overall Kings of Fear is a great Scarecrow story& also addressed something new about both, but it still can’t keep up with stories like Absolute Terror, Fear of Faith or Doug Moench‘s Scarecrow stories. I’m still sad to see this mini series end& wish it was longer. I also hope I don’t have to wait another 3 years for another good Scarecrow story, that doesn’t reduce him on standing in the background.

Good issue, but some ideas / characterizations seem weird like why such a bad hairstyle for WW or I don’t really buy Ivy helping them. Or what’s the point of big baby GL? And what I also didn’t like is the treatment of Darkseid once again, whom we see beheaded just to make the newest villain Omega ( who might be one of the batfamily- hopefully Jason not Damien) look cool. At least Snyder gave some credit to the anti life equation, but still it’s another chapter of many, that mishandle Darkseid. Don’t know, why DC butchers his character like that. Was Didio such a big fan of Dan Turpin so that he hates Darkseid so much or what’s the point? What’s also sad, that the part in the Asylum, where Bruce thinks he’s crazy is declared to be not real quite fast. I would have preferred if the line between reality& illusion wasn’t clear a little longer. However there are some cool easter eggs like the mini dinosaur & the coin in the Asylum. Joker’s & Batman‘s dynamic is also funny to read, even so I find it odd, that Bruce is treating Joker& talking to him like to a friend. Snyder often writtes these two like that. The Last Knight on Earth is an Elseworld& it’s nice to read one. However reading this issue I don’t know, why it’s Black Label. There’s nothing in this issue, that would justify mature rating. Batman Damned did a better job here. Don’t talk about nude or sex scenes, but if this is a title for adults there could be more violence. It feels like a story, that could be published outside of Black Label. Anyway I’m intrigued& it’s definitely worth checking out up until now.

Great issue. The story is still a little weird& I wouldn’t be surprised, if Omega was another former Robin going total psycho, but the scenes with Joker, especially where he made jokes about Robin were fun to read. Scarecrow was also cool in this issue, hope he also appears in the final one. Wish whatever was done to him& Bane would be explored more. I think the story was less entertaining when Wonder Woman& Batman were in the Underworld ( or wherever that was), since WWs dialogue was pretty pointless. Overall I don’t know why she’s there at all, because she doesn’t do much anyway. However nothing, that happens here is mature content, so I’m still asking myself, what is the point of Black Label? Anyway overall Last Knight on Earth is an interesting rather classic Elseworld story & I’m looking forward to the final issue.

It wasnt bad, but not great either. However I am quite annoyed by these evil versions of Bruce& him gaining the Anti life equation& enslaving/ abusing everyone is quite over the top. If Bruce gets corrupted, whenever he has some sorts of power then this doesn’t make him look like a hero, because he breaks & betrays his morals way too easily. I honestly also expected more, when it comes to Omega‘s identity. So this is another Batman fanboy story, where he is too overpowered. The other characters, be it villains or heroes arent used well in this issue. They are just there, but don’t really have a purpose in this story. As for Joker he is fun in some scenes, but I don’t know, why Batman 2.0. suddenly decides he is a friend. So overall I think Last Knight on Earth is overhyped. I‘ve read better Elseworld stories.

With this you can’t do anything wrong. You are getting two great stories& a few good stories& only 1 bad story. The one with Scarecrow ( even so he himself unfortunately is only mentioned) was my favorite. The idea of how his fear gas works on normal humans isn’t anything new, but the way Batman was portrayed& the dark ending was interesting& also kind of funny, if you have a thing for black humor. The Detective Chimp story was great too& you are going to see Batman& Detective Chimp doing detective work together. I especially liked the ending. The cabin& drone stories aren’t anything special, but still entertaining. The only real bad story is the one written by Tom King. The way he portrayed Superman seems just wrong to me, because Superman respects Bruce& also humans, so I can’t see him mocking Batman by suggesting him to gain more powers. In my opinion this story should have been left out& instead character bios of the heroes/ villains should have been put in this issue like it was in the old Secret Files. Or interviews with the villains in Arkham would have been a nice idea too.

This isn’t as entertaining as the Secret Files, which was released a few months ago, but it had still some fun stories to read. It contains short stories for Joker, Psycho Pirate, Riddler, Hugo Strange and Bane. I think the one with Joker was the best, since it was a classic Joker vs. Batman story. Joker trying to take Batmans suit off was just funny to watch. Hugo Strange finding out Batman‘ s real identity was done better in Prey& Terror, but nonetheless it was entertaining how he tried to find out this time. The one with Psycho Pirate was ok, but honestly I don’t know why he gets so much attention lately. He’s boring& nowhere as powerful as King thinks he is. Another villain like Scarecrow ( he was responsible for the Knightmare part after all) should have got a story instead. Riddlers story was ok, but he looked weird. As for Bane it was a short character study, but nothing outstanding. What I find really sad, that we don’t get any bios in Secret Files as it was done years ago. Or patient interviews with the Arkham inmates would have been cool or an insight to Arkham. It’s just a collection of short stories these days. The art wasn’t always good.

Never liked the idea of 3 Jokers, but the art is really great. It’s the best thing about this comic. However as for the story I can’t see Barbara ever acting like that& I doubt Batman would leave Jason alone with Joker. It all depends on how the story will go, if the Jokers are the real Joker from 3 different earths or just all from 1 earth, then Joker as a character is ruined. If it turns out that Joker just used some innocent people to pose as Joker, then it can be a fun story. So it’s too early to really judge, but I don’t find the story that intriguing.

This is a new level of bad. Geoff Johns should never touch anything DC related ever again. The Art is great, but it’s totally wasted for this trainwreck of a story. 4 years this storyline was teased by DC & the actual plot is just underwhelming. Joker created these Jokers to create a new better one, what doesn’t even make sense for his character. Then he kills his victims. The alternative to this is, that the real Joker is dead now& that one of his clones took over as Joker. But that’s not the worst. In the end Johns makes The Killing Joke the definite origin story for Joker, what makes the entire story pointless, because the point of TKJ always was, that there are multiple origin stories for Joker. Joker also is suddenly abusive to his wife before he becomes Joker, what also makes the One-bad- day theme of TKJ just as pointless. Joker also now has a secret son, he doesn’t know of, so bad sequels are on the way I guess. As for Jason he‘s just terribly portrayed & the Jokers are treated as villains, while they’re just victims of the real Joker. The writing is just shallow. So overall this story proves, what I always thought of Geoff Johns as a writer- he neither understand DC‘s characters nor its stories, but he wants to play in the big league like Alan Moore, but fails miserably with that. He’s the worst writer in DC, yes even worse than King, who at least gets some characters right.

Good story. Batman is chasing after the Riddler, because of a riddle he sent Batman. This isn’t anything new, but the way it’s written we get some fun interaction between Alfred& Batman. It’s also nice to see Batman doing some detective work. It’s also good to see Riddler getting a story.

This is a great issue, since we get to see more of the relationship between Catwoman& her sister, when they were children& when they met years later. It’s nice to see, that DC made the story from Catwoman Vol 3 & her conflict with Black Mask canon again, but without the bad parts, meaning killing off Sionis for good& turning her sister into a crazy nun. I hope DC portrays her sister better this time& so far this run is quite promising. Definitely worth reading.

I expected more of this issue& hoped to find out more about what happens to Selina’s sister, so unfortunately I was disappointed there. However it’s still a good run. The plot is just slow, what doesn’t have to be a bad thing.

This issue was ok, but also very slow. Selina’s confrontation with Mrs. Creel& also what follows feels a little rushed& anticlimactic. Since that’s the finale of the story I am asking myself about Mrs. Creel, if that was already it. The way the plot was built up I expected more of this „villain“. But maybe this story proves yet again, that villains like Penguin ( who we will see in future Catwoman comics) are the better choice for comics, since they can live up to the expectations. I liked the one short scene with Selina’s sister, but we also don’t know, if Selina is really serious here. The art however is good as always, but this issue feels more like a filler to me. I hope we are seeing more of Batman’s villains in future issues.

My only complain with this issue is, that it felt quite short& ended at the point, where it got really interesting. Other than that I really liked it. Catwoman acts like herself, Penguin was well portrayed ( glad he’s in Catwoman‘s run)& it was nice to see, that Selina really is taking care of her sister. I hope for more interaction between these two in future issues. And great to see Mrs. Creel isn’t done yet. I however think this run is more enjoyable, if you read it as a collected version.

It was ok, but also a very short issue with not much plot. I think as a trade this story works better& I expected more of Penguin. I also thought it was odd, that Selina first didn’t want to steal the item for him, because that’s basically her job& it’s not like she never worked together with the other Batman villains. But the Variant Cover was pretty cool.

Not bad, but also not really good. It’s just a story about Catwoman robbing stuff. I liked the Detective, so hope he appears in future issues.

After the filler we get back to the actual plot or rather kind of, because we see most of the characters, who were introduced in this run, but the story is basically about Selina teaming up with a guy to steal something. Maybe he’s becoming her future love interest, what would be nice, because I need a break from the Batcat ship. Every other character doesn’t do much. I liked the scene with Penguin& the short one with Mrs. Creel, which was quite cool. Same goes for Selina taking care of her sister, even so Selina doesn’t really seem to know what she’s doing here. Problem is, that these characters are just there& don’t do much. They don’t really get explored or have a real story. That’s what’s making this story kind of lame. It’s issue 10& we still don’t really have a plot. I hope this gets fixed soon. The art is ok, but I preferred Jones own art.

This issue was kind of Meh. No real story progression at all. Selina is rescuing a guy from a car& Mrs. Creel is talking to her son. That’s really it. I liked the scene with Ms. Creel, because it was pretty cool& made her look crazy. But I would have liked to see some plot progression.

This issue was ok, but nothing special. Mrs. Creel is still an interesting villain& I’m glad Selina has a new love interest. Kings Batcat drama is just awful to read, so I’m glad we are seeing something else at least in Catwoman. The problem is, that the plot is just so slow to ever be really interesting. Wish we would get some story progression between Selina& her sister.

I begin to think, that this run is just a filler to keep Catwoman away from Gotham until King puts her in his Batman run again. The story is just moving way too slow. And I’m at the point where I’m asking myself, what Catwoman even wants in that town. Mrs. Creel is still interesting and at least she did something, that gives us more plot, but not much else happens. I also think it’s rushed, that Catwoman suddenly breaks up with her new lover out of nowhere. Lex suddenly showing up also seemed kind of forced& not connected to the main plot. Quite boring issue.

Wasn’t bad, but nothing special either. Catwoman is trying to solve a case in which she’s involved herself. That’s pretty much it.

If this was written 1990- 2007 I would have said, what a crappy portrayal of Darkseid, but since this is written 2019 & Darkseid is portrayed as a joke since New52 started in 2011 I have to say it’s nice to see a better portrayal of Darkseid again. I hate that he fights Superboy or however you call Supermans son these days, because Darkseid has an army to fight for him. His Omega Beams are way more powerful than this story is showing us, but they are more powerful here than in the majority of Darkseid stories we are getting these days. So as a Darkseid fan I can like the story a bit, because Darkseid isn’t treated like total trash in this story ( for this look up: New52 JL, the abomination that is Darkseid War& of course Female Furies). However the dialogue isn’t as bad as King‘s, but also could be way better. Many lines don’t sound like Darkseid at all.

I am a big fan of these holiday specials, be it Halloween or Christmas. However this is one of the weirdest. It’s an odd choice to make a Christmas special about a world, that was hit by a nuclear bomb. You are getting 10 short stories& none of them are bad. They all take place in the nuclear winter, where most of people died. But heroes like Firestorm, Batman ( Damien), Aquaman, Supergirl etc. are trying to do their best to make things better, My favorite was the one with Catwoman trying to protect her friends daugther. The ending was just so sweet. Flash‘s story also was kind of sad, but heartwarming too. The only one I didn’t like that much was Supermans story, but maybe because it took place 1000 of years in the future. It was a little weird. Since this one is mainly about the heroes, I wish DC would do one with the villains too. And on a side note, Harley is on the cover, but thankfully in no story. I am really sick of her these days, so glad she didn’t ruin this.. Anyway you can’t do much wrong with this, it’s sure entertaining.

Great first issue. The ending was fun& all characters were in character. MAJOR SPOILER WARNING!!! Even so Darkseid was killed in the first issue& that was, what made me skeptical from the beginning I could enjoy this issue. It’s an Elseworld after all. Tom Taylor does a great job portraying Darkseid and Desaad. Their scenes together felt like good old Pre52 times, when their characters still were done justice. What of course leads to the question, why doesn’t DC always do that. I think the explanation of the virus as one of Darkseid‘s and Desaads „inventions“ gone wrong make a lot of sense& Taylor got the Anti Life Equation& what it means right so far. The virus spreading through social media is also an interesting idea. The ending with Batman and the Robins was just cool& I’m hyped for next issue, which probably will be painful as well. Since Desaad was the only one immune to the disease I’m wondering or rather hoping, that he still is alive by escaping Apokolips, since an immunity is a chance to develop an antidote ( If that is even possible). SPOILER ENDING Definitely a must read this week.

SPOILER WARNING This issue felt quite short& some things like Black Canary becoming a Green Lantern is kind of dumb in my opinion. Since GLs are about great will power I also would have expected GL to withstand a little longer. I also hate the fact, that Harley is in this& plays victim of Joker once again. If there is ever an earth or alternative timeline where Harley takes responsibility for her crimes, instead of blaming Joker for everything she has done, I would be really surprised. I’m so sick of that hypocrite. Makes her worst than Joker or any villain for me. Most of them are at least honest. I also wouldn’t be surprised, if she turned out to be the only survivor in the end. I’m also asking myself, when will Ivy ever not been reduced to Harley‘s sidekick? Guess her times as a great character are just over. The ending safes this issue for me, because it was something surprising, but on the other hand I’m not really happy about it either. I doubt my favorite characters ( what’s left of them) will survive this& unlike Harley they probably will be reduced to canon fodder at some point. Therefore not even having Batman could make this story really boring. Unless Alfred used a tranquilizer gun. Anyway I’m still intrigued& I’m looking forward to the next issue.

While the first issue& maybe the second were still fresh, we don’t have much of a plot yet. It’s already issue 3 from 6& it’s getting repetitive. All we are seeing are multiple DC characters getting killed or infected, while others are just shocked. Superman is doing some work, but not much that actually is helpful. Nobody is trying to find a cure& I think they gave up way too fast on the infected by making the conclusion, that the infected must be killed. That’s not how you deal with a disease. Especially because it’s a disease mixed with the Antilife Equation. Since Desaad was immune to it in issue 1 I find it sad, that Taylor just killed him off instead of making a more interesting plot out of it. Up until now it’s just a slasher without much plot. We'll see whether this changes or not in future issues. Minor Spoilers: Then what is really annoying here is Harley Quinn. Of course ( despite being the kind of character, who would be one of the first infected given the fact that the virus is spread through social media) she’s of course one of the characters, who isn’t infected. Taylor already portrayed her as the ultimate hypocrite& one of the most unlikable characters in his Injustice run& it’s not getting any better here. When she said: ,,I have to face my monster“ then shooting Joker, she couldn’t be a bigger hypocrite. If she wanted to face her monster, she should have shot herself. I’m really tired of how much DC is portraying Harley as the poor little victim in like every story, while in truth she’s not. With all this ridiculous & undeserved Harley hype I wouldn’t be surprised, if she was indeed one of the characters, who don’t get infected, even so it makes zero sense. So if you are a fan of hypocritical characters getting their moment to shine, this is the story for you. As for me I’m getting a little tired of this mini series& I’m waiting for the plot to start.

This story just is getting repetitive. In every issue we are seeing some heroes or villains die& that’s really it. I expected this story to be a little deeper, when it started, but it’s not& I somehow doubt this will change in the next 3 issues. I also bet, that Harley for sure has survived the explosion Captain Atom just caused, just because it’s her. And speaking of Harley, this story lacks any emotion. Harley just murdered her friend Selina& all she is doing is making some dumb comments about how hot Ivy is. That’s just stupid.

Pretty Meh. The problem with Dceased is, that it doesnt have any depths. In every issue we saw some heroes getting effected& dying. Thats pretty much it. The Anti-life Equation, a possible cure ( that was wasted with Desaad getting killed off in the first issue) never get explored & we don’t see real character interaction. Why Harley& Ivy out of all survive without a scratch never gets explored, they just do. So overall this is just a slasher Comic& I am not hyped for a sequel. Guess the horror Covers were the only cool thing we got thanks to Dceased.

This tie-in is just a filler, what wouldnt be that bad, if it was well-written at least. Noticing the dialogue of Mister Miracle& Barda I‘m asking myself, whether Taylor tried to copy Kings awful dialogue from his Mister Mitacle run, since Barda& Scott are talking trash in this issue just like they did, when King was writing them. Both are also severly out of character& I‘m wondering, if any current DC writer actually has ever read a New Gods Comic. None of them seem to care about these characters. Scott would never be happy about New Genesis being destroyed, that goes so heavily against his character, just no... The characters are also acting like dumb idiots: there was no reason at all for Barda& Scott getting infected, if they had some kind of plan. The characters also lack any emotion. They are joking about their friends, they just have killed ( what psycho does that?) in the most brutal way, it just feels cheap& dumb. Since there are only 2 issues left I have my doubts, that we will get a well written story in the end. Especially apart from killing nothing of a plot has happened up until now. Overall bad issue you can skip.

Absolute Terror is still one of the best Scarecrow stories ever written. It perfectly portrays Scarecrow without repeating old stories. If writers nowadays don’t know how to write him, they should read this story. Just a shame I don’t get these kind of Scarecrow stories anymore.

It’s a good issue, but also kind of weird due to some dialogue. However Two Face is well portrayed here, especially his two personalities. I also liked the scenes between him and Gordon.

I think it was ok, but nothing outstanding. The dialogue between Batman and Two Face was interesting, but in my opinion Kobra isn’t really interesting as an enemy. So I don’t think much has happened in this issue.

I think it was ok. Kobra was a really boring enemy, but I don’t call that entirely bad, because the main focus is on Two Face& Batman anyway. It’s a good Two Face story, but nothing outstanding. Two Face had me worried at the beginning, so I am glad for the ending.

Tomasi‘s Arkham Knight run was underwhelming& a waste of great potential. Arkham War also was mediocre, so I wasn’t really excited for his take on Detective Comics. However his new Detective Comics story started quite good. Bruce is finally acting like Batman& does some detective work. Tomasi also manages to portray Bruce’s relationship to Gordon& Leslie right. It was great to see these two work together like in the old days. The only thing I didn’t really like was the ending, since it seems to be a Joker story again. Joker seems to be everywhere lately.

This issue is well written, but overall I didn’t like it much. Leslie’s death seems pointless& I’m sick of DC killing characters off like that. She deserves better& I really hope she isn’t really dead. Leslie was quite out of character in this issue. She never approved of Bruce being Batman& always criticized him for choosing to be Batman. She questioned his violence against criminals, but didn’t call the police, because she loved him like a son, since he was a little boy. Therefore it really feels wrong for her character telling Bruce how proud she is on him being Batman. New52& also Rebirth unfortunately never did her character justice. So I really hope this isn’t the last time we see her. After Leslies death Batman goes to Arkham to find whoever is responsible. Beating up criminals, while in prison ( guess that’s what Batman is going to do next issue) isn’t out of character for him, but it makes him look rather cocky. How can Gordon justify tolerating Batman any longer? This issue is never boring, but I can’t praise it either.

Overall I liked this issue, but I’m still sad about Leslie’s death. One of the good things in this issue is, that Batman actually is doing some detective work here& is even dressing up as other people than Batman like in the good old days. The monster he fought is kind of pretty weird, but also quite disturbing on the other side. However I didn’t like how he beat up the villains at the beginning of the story. While this totally fits Batman ( so no complain to Tomasi) I cant believe Gotham police is just dealing with this. Beating up helpless people, even so they are criminals& actually mentally ill shouldn’t be tolerated by police. Not even Gordon can excuse that. So while it’s good to see a more psychopatic Batman again, I think this should have more consequences for him. Until then Batman is still on the hunt for Leslie’s murder. Still hope there will be a plot twist where she isn’t dead. As for the art I like it, but thank you DC for putting the logo right on Scarecrow‘s face on the cover 😑

Great issue. Batman is fully in character& the first part reminded me of Knightfall, when he almost drowned with the mayor, but never gave up. The dialogue was well written& the monster wasn’t as grotesque as last issue, but still kind of interesting. SPOILER Batman facing Hugo Strange in the end promises a great next issue. SPOILER ending. Overall it feels like a classic Batman story again.

This issue wasn’t that great. Batmans confrontation with Strange was very underwhelming& Batman currently doesn’t have a clue what’s going on.The ending also was pretty weird. Hope Tomasis run doesn’t turn mediocre so fast like his AK run was.

Great ending to a great story arc. This time the ending really was a surprise& this story shows us how crazy Batman can be. I like that. Feels a lot like a Pre52 Batman story. SPOILER: Im also happy Leslie is alive. So I especially liked the ending. SPOILER ENDING Tomasi did a great job here.

With all the hype I think Detective Comics 1000 was rather disappointing. It is great to see some older artists& writers like Denny O‘ Neil, Kelley Jones or Dustin Nguyen back, but it would have been better if DC hired artists like Paul Gulacy or writers like Doug Moench, Chuck Dixon or Alan Grant. Instead we are getting mostly stories of regular modern writers like Tom King, Geoff Johns, Snyder, Tomasi or Bendis, which all feel quite rushed. Detective Comics #1000 also feels more like a 80 Page Giant ( even so it has 96 pages) than a Celebration of 80 years of Batman. Most of the stories are either mediocre or good, but none of them stood out for me& I can’t think of any of these stories being remembered years later. Geoff Johns story about a future Batman was rather disappointing. Kelley Jones art was quite wasted here. Paul Dinis story about a thug, who messed up everything was funny, but I enjoyed the art of Dustin Nguyen more than the actual plot. Snyders story was also ok& more funny, but nothing outstanding either. Kings story was mediocre, but also pointless. You just see the batfamily talking about what Batman is doing& that’s visiting his parents grave. All have some random oneliners. Tynions story was also a quite onesided look on Dick& Bruces Robins, since it didn’t question Robin at all. I also don’t know, since when a guy with a black& white view of the world& who beats up people regularly is „a hero forged in the light“, but that’s Batman‘s opinion... Bendis story about a future Penguin telling Batman he knew his identity was good, but the ending felt a little forced to me. My favorite story is the one by Denny O‘Neil, because Leslie was well portrayed there& she actually acted like herself. The story is basically about Leslie criticizing Batman, but it gives Batmans character more depths. It felt like a story from the 90ies again, which is great.I also enjoyed the stories from Kevin Smith & Warren Ellis. Jim Lee’s art was great as well. Both stories concentrate more on Bruce‘s character& that’s when this issue works. As for Tomasis story it’s a tease about his upcoming Arkham Knight story, which I still don’t know what to think about. The Arkham Knight is supposed to be Jason, but I doubt he will be him this time. The Arkham Knight himself also was a weak villain in the actual game& rather a broken character. Scarecrow was the main villain in the game, so I don’t know how this is going to work. Scarecrow also was mainly the one, who criticized Batman‘s methods& his character in the game, now in Detective Comics that’s the Arkham Knight. So he already feels like a different character. Maybe it’s DCs chance to cash in on the name instead of creating a new character, I don’t know. I’m not very thrilled about it up until now. If I compare this with other anniversaries, I think Detective Comics 526 or Batman 200& 400 did a better job, mainly because it delivered a full& actual great story instead of small ones, that mainly feel rushed& without loving attention to detail. Since it’s a celebration of 80 years of Batman it’s of course mainly about Batman‘s character& that’s good. These are the stories, that work for me. However stories, that also includes the villains& the batfamily don’t give enough credit to these characters. For example, even so he’s one of my favorite characters Penguin is in quite many stories, same goes for Ivy, but villains like Scarecrow or Two Face both are only shortly in the background. Both as two of Batman‘s A villains deserve better in a special like that. Same goes for batfamily members like Tim, Jason, Barbara or Cassandra, even Alfred. I think it would have been better, if we got not so many short stories, rather longer stories, that really give these characters their moment to shine than putting them in the background. So overall this issue is nothing people shouldn’t buy, because of its milestone, but it also feels quite underwhelming for me. I mostly enjoy the art. Jason Fabok also did a great job with his pin up of all major Batman characters.

Having the game in mind this issue was kind of Meh for me. Making the Arkham Knight a canon character still seems quite pointless to me. Just like in the game he has an issue with Batman& he has his army. That’s it up until now. However in the game the Arkham Knight’s character was quite pale in comparison to Scarecrow. The Arkham Knight being Jason was what made him a little interesting in the end. His character sucked in the game& I could only like him a little bit, because he turned out to be Jason. In Detective Comics the new Arkham Knight most likely won’t be Jason, because Jason already is Red Hood& Arkham Knight was the Under the Red Hood version of the Arkham games. Tomasi already tried to make AK his own character in the official AK comics& that’s one reason, why they were so bad& why they contradicted the game so much. A lot of potential was wasted there unfortunately. So as a big fan of the game I can‘t read this story without thinking: Where’s Scarecrow? Where’s Jason? And I know that I will be disappointed at both ends in the end. However whether this story will be good or not depends on how much Tomasi manages to make Arkham Knight his own character & also an interesting villain, if he’s not Jason. What also leads to the question, why not simply creating a new character? Guess the name is already selling. As for the story nothing that much happened yet. Bats are getting killed, Batman is investigating the case with Manbat‘s wife Francine. We also see the Arkham Knight. That’s it, but it’s just the start of the story, so I don’t criticize it much for it yet. There’s no connection to Detective Comics 1000 AK story though. I also already doubt that it can keep up with the story of the game. As for the art, it’s great. Nothing to criticize here. So overall I’m not that convinced of the idea yet, guess future issues will tell.

I have the same problems with the second part of this story as I had with the first. Up until now it feels like the game Arkham Knight just in lame, since everything& everyone interesting from the game is missing in this story. Tomasi still fails to make comic Arkham Knight an interesting character& more importantly his own character. Some motivations are just copied from AK Jason & put in his mouth. But it won’t be Jason, so it’s kind of lazy. SPOILER: It also doesn’t happen that much: AK beats Batman up& Robin is doing some investigations& gets captured by the AK. That’s really it. The parts with Robin ( Damien) were the most interesting ones of this story, but also quite short& honestly ruined by the AK, because he easily captures Robin& just isn’t an interesting character up until now. He is just using a popular name to appear more interesting. SPOILER Ending. The art however is great, but deserves a way better story. The dog was cute though. Overall this arc is pretty „meh“ up until now, but I don’t want to give up on it yet, since I love the game so much. This issue teased AK interacting with the other villains, so maybe it gets more interesting next issue. Involving the other villains also feels like a copy& paste from the game without the interesting parts again, but we‘ll see. At least this story makes me want to replay the actual Arkham Knight.

This story arc continues to be disappointing& I’m happy, when it’s finally over. On the positive side Bruce& Damien are both well written, in character& their interaction is good. I also love the art. On the negative side we get some plot progression, since the identity of the new Arkham Knight is finally revealed& it’s a big disappointment. SPOILER WARNING We learn, that the comic Arkham Knight is Jeremiah Arkham‘s daugther Astrid Arkham. Other than Jason in the game she feels pretty weak& not like a threat. At least up until now. This can still change. I guess we are finding out about her motivations next issue, so I don’t criticize that yet. However this daugther/ son of a popular character turning psycho idea is quite a stereotype& DC is using this stereotype quite often: Penguin’s son, Riddler‘s daugther ( she wasn’t that psycho though), Hugo Strange’s son and of course Jeremiah Arkham also has a daugther out of nowhere now, who turns psycho, because you have to explain the Arkham in Arkham Knight of course. It just isn’t creative at all. The same goes for the gender swap. Because turning Arkham Knight into a woman makes the character more interesting. How about some character exploration instead? The story also still gives the feeling, that the popular name of the Arkham Knight is just used to get more attention for the story. Why not create a new character? Money of course. Thank god Rocksteady didn’t do something lame like that in the game. I also take it back, that I want Jason or Scarecrow in the story. The new Arkham Knight is just too lame. SPOILER ENDING Overall this issue was a let down& maybe it gets more interesting, when we learn more about new AKs backstory next issue. I’m not hyped though.

This story continues to be a big disappointment. Talking about timeline errors, what are the biggest problem in this issue. If Astrid currently is like 15-20 years old& villains like Harley& Joker were all already in Arkham before she was even born, it would consequently mean, that Harley is like 40-45 years& Joker 55-60 years old. Same would go for Batman. This might have worked at the end of Pre52, but not in New52/ Rebirth, especially because it was stated back then, that Batman is in action for 5 years, when New52 started& nothing was changed ever since. So do writers& editors even care about logic& timeline? What also made zero sense was the portrayal of the villains. I really can’t see Joker as someone, who is honestly happy about a newborn in Arkham, he’s rather the kind of guy, who shoots the mother in the womb before the baby is born. Or who shoots the baby in front of the mother’s eyes. Same goes for Harley. I can imagine her not killing or hurting a mother, when she’s not with Joker, but back then she would kill everyone Joker wants to see dead. So Joker was totally out of character. Same goes for the inmates overall. It’s implied here, that they would all be friendly& nice, if people were just friendly towards them, while this might go for some, it definitely doesn’t for all. Especially Joker& not even Grundy. It also is quite lame, that it wasn’t even Batman, who accidentally killed her mother, if Tomasi at least went through with that, but not even that. However the art was great& I love the cover. Some of Damien’s lines were funny too. And at least comic Arkham Knight is someone, who wants to protect the inmates it seems, what is something fresh& new, but I’m asking myself where was she the entire time, when Batman beat his way through Arkham? Tomasi created a real messed up AK& yet one, who still has a point, so maybe the story works if more explored. However timeline errors& the portrayal of the villains ruins it for me. It sounds like something that is great on paper, but wasn’t thought through well.

Well, I’m glad this arc is finally over& I hope we won’t see comic Arkham Knight in the near future. This entire story feels pointless. First of all the plan of Astrid doesn’t make any sense. The reason, why she wanted to blind the city just feels far- fetched. There is no logic here. Even so she’s insane, but she could have come up with a better plan or rather with a plan at all. Astrid freed every villain in Arkham in earlier issues& that’s quite meaningless, since we only see 2 of them in the finale. Batman also didn’t fight them in earlier issues, so I guess Tomasi just forgot about them. Astrid also looks quite pale compared to the real AK in the game. Her origin story already had many flaws, but she’s also no equal to Batman as the AK should be.. He beat her with 2 punches& that’s really it. I would have expected more of the AK. Like I said in earlier reviews DC is just using the popular name to sell more books. But Astrid is a disappointing& underwhelming character. The dynamic between Batman& Robin was the only good thing in this issue, but since the plot overall is so bad it doesn’t make this storyline better for me. It’s also sad, that the great art is wasted here. So overall I stick with the game& try to forget about this arc. Too many plotholes to be enjoyable.

Great issue. The way it’s written& especially the art reminds me a lot of the 90ies, so I like it. While Tomasis‘ Arkham Knight story didn’t make much sense& was kind of lame I’m glad, that the new arc is much better. I‘m usually not that interested in the Spectre, but his interaction with Batman was quite fun& unlike in King‘s Batman run Tomasis Batman is a Batman you can root for. It’s also nice to see Batman doing some detective works, what should be taken-for- granted, but it’s not these days. So overall this issue provides good portrayals of the characters, an interesting story& cool art.

Good issue. Batman& Spectre continue to search for Corrigan. The interaction between Batman& the Spectre is fun to read. I like how Batman forces his no killing rule on the Spectre. All characters are in character & it’s also great to see Bruce doing some detective work. The art is also awesome. Hotz‘s art reminds me a lot of the art from the 90ies.

Good issue. It’s nothing special just Joker hanging out with Batman in an Amusement Park, but it had some funny scenes& Tomasi writes a classic in character Joker, what is really nice these days. However DC doesn’t care about contuinity, logic or the timeline. How can Batman hang out with Joker in Gotham Amusement Park& be in the Himalaya ( or wherever he is in Kings Batman run), while Bane is mind controlling the villains in City of Bane at the same time? Makes no sense. You could think DC could plan Year of the Villains better without having these inconsistencies. As for the art, it’s great. Feels like a good old classic Batman story. I’m also happy, that Tomasi brings one shot storylines& smaller storylines back. It is also nice, that he focuses on the villains. I would prefer a new Scarecrow story, but I’m curious about the Mr. Freeze story coming up.

Kind of boring issue. The only interesting part was Mr. Freeze& his wife, but that was only a few pages long. So it was pretty underwhelming. Hope the Freeze story finally starts.

I liked it. „Curing“ Nora& turning her into a villain is at least fresh& I think it makes sense for her. All the time we always saw Freeze making the decisions for her, so it’s nice seeing her perspective. She was trapped in ice for at least a decade, therefore it makes sense for her going crazy. I also liked the scene, where Batman protects Batcow& refuses to use animals as test subjects. Overall I think Freeze‘s story is the only interesting Year of The Villains storyline so far, since it brought change to the character at least& something new for the reader as well. However the reminder of Alfred getting shot in Kings crappy Batman run was a downer. Can‘t believe DC is going through with it.

Good issue. Taylor gets Bruce‘s character& it was nice to see a softer side of Batman again. I also liked Bruces interaction with Damien, but overall I hope a writer will adress what the death of Alfred means to Damien too. I can see why people are mad about Lucius replacing Alfred, but that isnt Taylors fault, but Kings, so I don’t see it as a negative point in this comic.

This issue was good, but nothing special. It also was kind of rushed. I liked the Christmas theme& you could see how much Alfreds loss means to Bruce, even so that wasnt the main topic of this comic. It was also great, that Catwoman wasnt in this issue& that Tomasi ignores her. Hope Tomasi& Tynion will spare us with that Batcat nonsense in future issues as well. I am still so sick of this ship thanks to Kings run. However the villain in this issue is boring so far& nothing much happens. The art is nice though.

This issue is nothing special, but it’s not bad either. It’s the conclusion to the last one. It’s always nice to see Batman doing some detective work, since many writers ignore this these days& thankfully the villain or rather Batman‘s opponents became a little more interesting than last issue. I also liked, that Batman didn’t beat the monster by beating the hell out of it as he would sure do in other stories, but that it’s beaten more by coincidence. The snow in the background also gave the issue a nice winter feeling. So overall an ok issue, but you won’t miss anything if you skip it.

Good issue. Feels like a classic Batman story. Batman& everyone else are in character& the art is great as well. However killing people& sending them into a wheelchair isn’t that different from each other, so it’s always interesting to see Batman not realizing how violent he is himself.

Loved this special. In this issue there are 8 short stories with animal sidekicks, animal heroes or characters, which have animal powers. None of these stories were bad. They are all entertaining. The one with Superman& Krypto shows the bond between a person& his dog& as a dog owner myself it’s beautiful& sad to read. Croc‘s story was also good& we got a more human side of Killer Croc with a typical ending for Croc. The story with Ferdinand& Wonder Woman was fun, but guess someone should buy them a vegan cooking book. My favorite stories are the one with Dex- Starr, who is helping a tribe to not get eaten by some crazy tourists& the one with Batcow, which is kind of a parody of the Joker vs. Batman fight with quotes from the Dark Knight movie. It’s written by Dan Didio& he should do more Batcow stories, So if you love animals & are looking for some fun& yet deep stories you should definitely check this out.

Due to Darkseid War& how badly the New Gods were portrayed there I am usually not a big fan of Geoff Johns writing, but I have to admit, that he is doing a great job with Doomsday Clock so far. This is one of the best portrayals of Superman in years, he is fully in character. Always trying to help people& to do the right thing. You can see the parallels to the original Watchmen Story& it actually works. I however hope we are going to see more of Dr. Manhatten soon, he unfortunately wasn’t in this issue. Since he isnt a villain, I am wondering how his possible fight with Superman is solved in the end. The art is also beautiful& this has to be mentioned: Bubastis is so damn cute, I am glad Johns brought her back.

Loved this issue. Dr. Manhattan finally is more in the center of the story& him fighting the league was satisfying to watch. He’s just really cool. I hope DC doesn’t kill him at the end. Can’t find anything negative here. Story& art are great& have to say Johns is doing a pretty great job writing Watchmen characters. It’s definitely been worth the wait, So guess we will get the next one in two months or something like that, but with this story I can be patient. The variant cover is pretty cool.

Definitely worth the long wait. In this issue Dr. Manhatten‘s motivations& how he changed the DC universe finally gets fully explained& it makes a lot of sense for his character. Johns does a great job writing his character (I don’t understand why he doesn’t always with other characters. If Johns respected all characters like he did with Watchmen characters he would be a top writer) & there is nothing I could complain about. I only hope Dr. Manhattan doesn’t get killed in the end or becomes human again. I also honestly don’t want another timeline reboot, since writers won’t be suddenly become better. . Anyway a must read for every DC fan.

This issue felt a little anticlimatic& basically just explained Ozymandias‘ plan, which is still not fully revealed. Even so Snyder commented on Doomsday Clock a few days ago, it still has no real connection to the canon DC comics. Lex is normal in Doomsday Clock, but changed in Year of The Villains, so even so DDC originally was supposed to take place 1 year later, it has to happen a lot to get to DDC. It still feels like an Elseworld, what would be ok, if DC finally made a statement. Since there‘s only 1 issue left& The Superman Dr. Manhatten confrontation is saved up for the final issue, I‘m worried, that the ending will be rushed& hopefully Jon won‘t be wasted. The art is great as always. Overall DDC is still a must- read, but this issue felt quite slow to me. I guess the final issue won’t be released until November or December, but I‘m looking forward to see the outcome.

I don’t like the final issue as much as others do, because it doesn’t give the Watchmen characters enough respect. They also don’t really have a purpose in this story. Plus Doomsday Clock remains to be irrelevant for the DC universe. Overall Johns disappointed at the end. MAJOR SPOILER!! I find it hard to believe, that Dr. Manhatten is convinced so fast by Superman. I mean why? Just because he refused to fight him& remembered him of his first wife? There should have been more dialogue. Jon is also undoing what he did to the DC universe, so by logic Pre52 timeline should be restored, but it obviously isn’t, so what’s the point? Johns is doing a great job portraying Superman here, but this is also one of the problems I have with this issue. It’s nice to know, that there will always be a Superman, but what about the many other characters, that DC messed up& disrespected in New52& Rebirth? Aren’t they important enough? I guess they aren’t. I also don’t like the end: Dr. Manhattan either turned himself into a kid or used the other child, which was on Mars with him& is now living a Clark Kent kind of life. Whatever it is ( some say merge of the worlds too), I find it disrespectful to the Watchmen characters. They are their own characters, so they really don’t have to turn into a copy of Superman. Especially not Dr. Manhattan. He is his own character& is great the way he is. So what’s the point? Darkseid War was a Batman fanboy story, Doomsday Clock a Superman fanboy story. Don’t think Johns gave the Watchmen characters the respect they deserve. The other Watchmen characters also don’t do anything in this issue, they are basically placeholders. Ozymandias is terribly underused. Doomsday Clock also still feels like an Elseworld. Even 1 year later ahead of the current timeline it just doesn’t fit. So what’s the point of it? Just showing how important Superman is? That could have been told in 1 issue. The art is awesome though. Overall not worth the long wait& disappointing.

I liked the first issue. Not that much happened yet, but I hope Ras& Talia will play a bigger part in it as well. Would be nice to see Ras getting some storylines. Not always Bane or Joker. ß The only thing I found odd how Lois treated Bruce. While King exaggerated with their friendship, here it just doesn’t feel right how Lois treats Batman. But I’m still intrigued.

What I really liked about this comic was the art. It reminds me a lot of Jack Kirby& it’s just great to see the New Gods as their Pre52 version again. Especially Desaad. I always hated their New52 redesign. However storywise the comic is unfortunately pretty weak. While it’s true, that Darkseid and Desaad both are in some way misogynistic- for example: Desaad created concubines without vocal cords for Darkseid or Desaad turned Mortalla into a New God& she basically is forced to have sex with Darkseid- they both can’t be reduced to just that. They are way more complex characters. Darkseid& Desaad both showed admiration for the skills of women, like Pythia or when Ysmalla was Desaads protégée during Warlord. Nor does Desaad despise his sister, he always was very fond of her& also called her lovely. So it feels more like, that these characters were forced into a ridiculous MeToo agenda. What I also don’t like is, that the timeline was changed again. Granny wasn’t even born when Darkseid ordered Desaad to kill his mother Heggra. The change also shows, that the writer has no understanding for the characters she’s writing, since Desaad killing Heggra is one of the reasons, why Darkseid always favors him. Their special relationship unfortunately totally get ruined in this story& also in New52/ Rebirth. I also think the writer doesn’t do the Female Furies Justice. Granny always was fine with Darkseid& she actually also was always respected for being responsible for the orphanage. The Furies never had to fight to get respect, because once you made it to the Furies you were respected. Therefore unfortunately Darkseids character gets ruined even more with this. He also doesn’t sleep with every woman, he only sleeps with really hot women. He doesn’t need sex to make women respect him. For that he has his Omega Beams. This story ignores, that gender never played a role on Apokolips, only skills. It’s only the first issue, but the contuinity change just really ruins it for me. So honestly I can’t recommend it to anyone. Maybe if you have never read a single New Gods comic, but you’ll get totally the wrong idea of who these characters really are.I rather recommend Walter Simonsons Orion run or John Byrnes Fourth World.

This issue is better than the last one, because not solely men are reduced to being sexists in this issue. We find out, that also women have a bad character. However it still feels like a MeToo agenda was forced on the Fourth World characters. It feels more than wrong, that a person there would ever complain about being mistreated on Apokolips, because everyone just serves one purpose& that’s to serve Darkseid. All this bitching about being respected feels wrong for Apokolips. And even when Barda was on Apokolips it feels wrong for her character to show no compassion at all to a friend. That’s why she fleed from there after all. There were parts, that felt right like aborting& using the child of Aurelie as a monster, but it was still weird. I can’t see any character on Apokolips being sad about this, because they are used to living in hell. The story would work better with other characters, but definitely not with the New Gods. Honestly all this rape, sexual abuse& reducing all men on being rapists is pretty annoying. So if you are a fan of rape stories& of reducing men to rapists, then this is the story for you. The art was great though, but it would deserve a better plot.

This mini series continues to disappoint a lot. Granny wants to bring Aurelie back to the team by forcing Beautiful Dreamer to manipulate her mind, but Granny wouldn’t need to kidnap Beautiful Dreamer for that, because she could torture her herself. Or this is usually Desaads task, but since all men on Apokolips are portrayed in this mini series as sexist assholes, we of course won’t see any interaction between Granny& Desaad. This series also messes up Scot Free‘s escape from Apokolips, which is quite short. But that’s not the only one. This series wants to follow Jack Kirby’s New Gods, but it contradicts everything, that was written ever since& Jack Kirby’s own version. For example: While in 40 years of comic book history there was never any sign of hate between Desaad& his sister Bernadeth, she of course hates him in this mini series, mainly because all male characters on Apokolips are sexists. The comic ignores, that Desaad& Bernadeth always talked proudly about each other. Both characters deserve better. Same goes for Darkseid, who suddenly out of nowhere trusts Granny the most, not Desaad, who ussually is the only one, who has his trust. But that’s just another attempt of the writer to make female characters more meaningful in the worst way possible fully ignoring, that female characters already were important on Apokolips. Why not explore the Female Furies more by actually portraying them as strong female characters, who can kick asses? Why are they constantly portrayed as weak petty little girls, who are just victims of men? This portrayal contradicts everything about their characters& apparently in the eyes of the writer women can only be victims, but never psychopaths themselves. Instead of giving us a badass mini series& character exploration of Darkseid‘s elite fighters, we are getting another Me too agenda forced on the characters of the Fourth World. The writer ignores, that women on Apokolips aren’t more victims than male characters& also continues to portray them as weak. What’s really sad, that the amazing art is wasted for this bad story. After the New52 disaster it’s great to see Jack Kirby’s character versions again. It’s great to see Desaad in his normal version again, but unfortunately this run doesn’t do him or any character justice. Still better than Darkseid War, but nonetheless as a big fan of the New Gods it’s painful to read, what the writer is doing to these characters. It’s a mess& it gives new readers a total wrong idea about how great the New Gods actually can be.

This is getting repetitive. It’s the fourth issue& we don’t have any plot progression. All we get is constantly being reminded, that all male characters are sexist assholes on Apokolips& that women are all weak there. While gender never mattered on Apokolips ( I don’t know how many times I wrote that here now), Me Too Agenda is ridiculously forced on this story& its characters. This time with Barda trying to complain about some male soldiers, but she can’t, because she is a woman& that’s why another male character has to sign the paper. ( Yes it’s as stupid as it sounds. Borrowing middle age law doesn’t make it more interesting& doesn’t fit Apokolips). One of the things, that work in this issue are the flashbacks to Barda& Scott helping each other survive Granny’s orphanage, but honestly I can’t enjoy that much, if my favorite characters are all butchered.. Castellucci has also no idea about who Desaad is& he basically has the same lines throughout this entire series - either claiming, that Granny is using her gender to be Darkseid‘s favorite or making dumb sexist jokes, which are unworthy for his character. The writer totally ignores, that Desaad was impressed by women’s fighting skills in other stories& even gave women more recognition than men. She should have read Warlord& Torment. Same goes for the relationship between Darkseid& Desaad. Its not Granny Darkseid trusted most, it’s Desaad& with good reasons. I enjoyed the short scene between Darkseid & Desaad in this week‘s Dceased way more than everything in this mini series. The only good thing, that remains is the art& the Jack Kirby design of the characters, but everything else is just awful. After Female Furies I really don’t want to read Castellucci‘s Batgirl.

Utterly garbage describes this mini series the best. It’s issue 5& MeToo& pseudo feminist views ( stories like these are an insult to real feminists. Feminism is about equality, not about men bashing.) are still forced on the New Gods. All men are still sexist assholes, who only want to rape women& women are too weak to do anything about it. Casellucci forces this idea on every New Gods character, no matter whether it fits or not. Only this time The Furies convince Barda to help them torture the guy, who sexually abused Aurelie. Williks character is reduced to a stereotype, since he turns into a crying coward as soon as women are attacking him. Female characters are also portrayed as naturally being better than male characters, but not allowed to show their strength due to sexism. Granny also seems to plan her revenge on Darkseid & the other men, but Castellucci doesn’t realize, that on Apokolips nobody except Desaad is able to do any harm to Darkseid. The writer doesn’t understand their great dynamic. She also ignores, that life on Apokolips is hell for both genders ( unless you are Darkseid or Desaad). The great art is wasted so much here. It’s a shame. It’s a shame to see Jack Kirby characters in an awful story like this. So when people are saying King is the worst, that happened to DC in the last few years, they haven’t read Castellucci‘s Female Furies. It’s one of the most sexist, agenda pushed, out of character story I have ever read. It’s 100% clear, that Castellucci didn’t do any research& also doesn’t respect these characters. I want John Byrne or Walter Simonson back for the New Gods.

It’s sad I have to give at least one point, since this issue& run deserves none. That’s how bad it is. We have a 6 issue mini series with no plot other than that all men are sexist assholes constantly being horny& all females are helpless victims. This idea is forced on the Fourth World characters. The writer showed with this run, that she can’t handle DC characters& that she has never read one single comic with the New Gods. I also hate the message here, which is, that women can only be free& happy, if all men are gone. Pretty damn stupid& sexist. This story is one of the most sexist stories I have ever read. I can’t believe DC allowed this. I guess sexism against men is ok these days. As for the plot it’s just downright ridiculous& stupid. The Female Furies are uniting all women ( because of course there is no other man than Scott, who isn’t a sexist & rapist on Apokolips) from Apokolips& scare all men off ( Darkseid included), so they would leave Apokolips. Yeah Darkseid, who is one of the most powerful characters in DC can’t just kill them all with his Omega Beams or Desaad, who is one of the most ingenious characters in DC also can’t use any of his devices to throw down a small rebellion. Because that never happened on Apokolips. Then it’s also stated, that Darkseid is a coward, yeah he only has fought the Source, the Anti Life Equation, multiple other enemies& rather would have chosen death than to bow down to anyone, but of course he’s a coward. He’s a man, so of course he’s a coward. That’s the message in this comic run. Looking at some reviews, which gave this story a 10, they either must be sexists themselves, must have never read any New Gods comics or maybe DC bought their reviews. Can’t think of any other reasons. If you love the New Gods or are curious about their characters stay away from this run as far as you can. Unless you hate men, then you’ll enjoy this crappy story. People should rather read Byrnes Fourth World run, Walter Simonson‘s Orion run or Starlins New Gods stories. That’s when writers did the New Gods justice, but this story is an insult to Kirby, the characters& also to the intelligence of the reader.

The 1 point is solely for the great art, which is a great reminiscence of Jack Kirby’s art from the 70ies, but unfortunately the awesome art is wasted for this train wreck of a story. Back when I was reading the monthly issues I always had hope, that the story might improve, but my hope was crushed every month. Female Furies tries to give us a story about Darkseid‘s female elite figthers, but it already fails by not acknowledging the fact, that all Furies always were respected warriors on Apokolips. Castellucci proves in every issue, that she doesn’t know anything about the Fourth World& that she also was too lazy to do at least a tiny little bit of research about these characters. So instead of actually reading some former New God comics she is forcing her pseudo feminist agenda, (which is a big insult to feminism) on the New Gods& is unable to write at least 1 character in character. I can only give examples, because it would take forever to write about all mistakes. Darkseid is terribly portrayed. He is portrayed as a petty, weak sexist, who can’t get anything done. Castellucci doesn’t get his character by portraying him as a sexist, but point is for Darkseid it’s all about power. He is using everyone to gain more no matter what gender as long as it serves his purpose, but here he doesn’t, because that would mean giving women some recognition. This is just absurd. Darkseid isn’t so petty & dumb. This story is also one of the most sexist stories I have ever read, because every male character& when I say every I mean every is portrayed as a sexist& rapist, who always wants to rape women. Darkseid himself is raping Granny in this story, which is an insult to both characters. And while Desaad is always one of my favorite New Gods, he also acts like a total different character in this story. He of course is also a sexist in this story& while Desaad like most New Gods characters is a complicated one, he isn’t a misogynist. He himself had a woman as his protégé in former stories& just like Darkseid he is using people as long as they serve his purpose. I also hated the final message, which is also just sexist: (Spoiler: women can only be happy without men, because at the end the Furies banish all men from Apokolips& can be happy now. Spoiler ending) The Furies are also portrayed badly, because instead of writing a badass story with them, they are constantly portrayed as helpless little girls, who have to listen to body shaming. They also need a man to even accuse another one of rape. This is just so absurd& stupid, if you actually know at least a little bit about Apokolips. So overall I can recommend this story only to people, who 1.) hate & despise all men & 2.) who hate every New God character & only wish the worst upon these characters. Female Furies definitely is the worst comic of 2019, maybe even of the decade. It’s a waste of paper& material indeed.

Scarecrow is one of my favorite characters, so it’s sad, that I can’t give the comic a higher rating & while I wouldn’t say the comic entirely sucked there are many things just wrong here. Worst is, that it portrays Harley as the more intelligent psychologist & Scarecrow as the incompetent foolish one, but if you have ever read some comics with Scarecrow you know, that he isn’t a fool & that he would never need the help of a wannabe psychologist like Harley. Other than Harley he didn’t have to sleep his way up to get his doctor degree, Scarecrow worked for it. So the idea of making Harley the smart one here is just so utterly stupid & disrespectful to Scarecrow‘s character, just wow. So I guess another Mary Sue moment for Harley Quinn. I also didn’t like the art, it doesnt really fit DC.

Harleen is finally a good Harley Quinn story& a story, that doesnt portray her as a total joke. However on the one hand Harley is portrayed as a smart young psychiatrist, but on the other hand it’s odd, that she fell for such a lame attempt of Joker. I mean I expected him to be more manipulative, but he didnt say anything impressing. There is also no reason at all, why Harley would evén be impressed by Joker given the fact, that her life is portrayed succesful with no severe trauma, so why would a succesfull psychiatrist from a happy family fall for him? Harleen also cant give the answers so far. I also hope we don’t get to see hypocritical Harley& her being portrayed too much as a victim. We will see.

One of the best Harley stories since years. Sadly it ends, where it gets interesting. I wish we would see more of Harley& Joker being together. This were the good times after all. The scenes with Joker also were funny. The writer should do a Joker story. The only thing I didn’t like was, that Harley fell in love with Joker to change him, while in truth Harley never really wanted to change Joker. She was angry in other stories,whenever he changed for the better, so this didnt fit her character, but DC‘s plans to excuse Harleys crimes& portray her as a victim. Luckily the writer manages to make the reader feel sorry for Harley without portraying her as the poor little victim she is in her main run. So no matter, if you are a fan of the original Harley or the New52/ Rebirth version of her you should definitely check Harleen out.

The first issue is better than the Harley Quinn run, but still far away from great. I didn’t need another story, that reminded me of the utterly stupid written part of HIC, where Harley beat the Trinity. We also still get zero explanation how Ivy even survived, HIC never made that really clear other than Ivy growing back from a Flower ( King apparently rather listens to some toxic twitter Ivy fans, who only read 3 Ivy comics than doing research about Ivy himself, but then again that would be the first time for him). Luckily this isn’t written by King, so we at least get some decent dialogue. However nothing of importance happens in this issue except Harley trying to find some cloths for Ivy& Lex making an offer to Ivy. I‘m still quite disappointed& already sick of Year of the Villains& this issue didn’t change anything about that. Ivy also did nothing of significance in the last years, so I’m asking myself, why she even gets an offer. Even Killer Moth in Batgirl would have deserved one more than her. Taking showers with Harley& just standing in the background doesn’t qualify Ivy to be called great villain. This run is also a good example of how poorly DC treats his female characters: Ivy is running around fully naked since HIC& is consequently reduced to a sex object. How some fans can claim she or Harley are feminist characters doesn’t make any sense to me& rather makes me laugh. They don’t act like that& their entire relationship ( be it friends or a lesbian couple) is always written poorly& without any substance. I would have preferred, if this was just an Ivy story, but then again her character has been a great disappointment& joke for many years, so I can’t take Ivy serious anymore. I have my doubts with Harley involved, that this run will change anything about that& overall other characters would have deserved their own run way more than Ivy& Harley.

This comic is still so boring& pointless.

Harley the best mankind has to offer Lmao Whatever drugs Ivy is taking she should definitely stop 😂 Well this issue has some interesting ideas like Ivy struggling with her original goal& with her friendship with Harley ( no love story mentioned here), but the power level of Poison Ivy is just ridiculous here. Ever since Kings HIC, rather DC in Crisis she shows powers she never had before. She is way too overpowered, which only was done to appeal more to some shipper girls on Twitter, who hate 80% of Ivy’s character anyway. The result is this mess of a story. Instead of turning Ivy finally in the great villain she was, we get an open ending, where Harley just drives away without Ivy. The entire fight Ivy& Harley have is pointless though, since Harley isn’t a hero. She is not redeemed in any way. Just saying I a hero/ I am good now doesn’t redeem her. So just bad writing once again. Overall what a waste of paper this story was. I am even more of Harley thanks to this story & Ivy is getting on my nerves too .

This whole issue is a mess: I am wondering what the point is to give Harleys mom cancer. Will we get some bad cancer jokes in future issues? However my real problem with this issue is how her family treats Harley. They treat her as if Harley was a girl, who sometimes drank too much, but they totally ignore, that she is a mass murderer. If Harleys life was great like that, why would she turn all psycho? It just makes her character look even worse.

Harley Quinn was a real mess lately, but I really enjoyed this issue. Maybe it’s the cute cats. The plot is simple: Harley tries to find a new home for her neighbors cats, because she has an allergy against them. They are special cats, cat burglars actually. Doesn’t take a genius to think of the one, who would love these cats. It’s a typical Harley Quinn comic, but with these cute cats, you just have to like it.

Have to say I liked this issue. Finally someone slapped Harley in the face& she wasn’t overpowered. This one of course is Batman, but I liked how he told her, that she isn’t redeemable with what he has a point. Batman probably will change his mind about that next issue, when they team up, but nonetheless it was nice to finally see someone confront her with her crimes. Wish DC would continue that& make her hero turn more believable. Apart from that the story with her mom is ok so far. Even so Harley is pretty annoying these days, I felt kind of sorry for her. So this Batman team up either turns out to be a mess next issue or keeps being fine like this one.

I didn’t enjoy this issue has much as the last two, but it was ok. There were some funny scenes with Harley, but as expected Batman takes everything back, what he said last time about her. Wish DC finally wouldn’t ignore, that she’s a psycho mass murderer& that denying it/ blaming Joker for it won’t bring her victims back.

This issue was ok. I think these are the 3 witches, which were already in the Catwoman Tweety crossover, so it was cool to see them again. They are fun characters in my opinion. The story is: Harley gets transformed into a bug& sure this could have been written better & more fun, but on the other hand I liked, that this time it was a little more serious& Harley learned something ( even so there needs to be more than just that).

This issue is ok, but also quite confusing& doesn’t really have a plot. Harley is breaking in Star labs to find a cure for her mother. I don’t like the relationship with her mother, since she also ignores, that Harley is a psychotic mass murderer, not a teen, who drank too much. The scenes with Joker& Batman were the best, but that’s really it. They had no real purpose. The plot of Harley having to pass some tests als seem kind of dumb, but then again this series never really had much logic. The art is great though.

This was surprisingly fun. This issue starts kind of lame with Harley& Catwoman hanging out, when suddenly reality changes due to Enchantress attacking Harley. Harley has to fight her way through a version of Gotham, which is altered to a middle age version of it. She meets characters like Nightwing or Bullock, changed to guardians& even Ace the wervenwolf. But also villains from Arkham changed to some magical middle age versions of themselves. There were some Batman jokes& about the wedding. Overall it’s a good issue, who h will be continued.

Last issue there were some promising ideas, but this issue was just over the top. Plot was just stupid& I really didn’t need a retelling of the awful Apokolips arc or of Kings awful Batcat story. DC also doesn’t seem to understand, that Jonni DC isn’t funny, the joke is just lame. Don’t know what this is about. Maybe a lame attempt to imitate Deadpool? Also can Harley become more cheaper? Which grown up woman is posing fully nude in front of her mom to cheer her up? That’s so utterly stupid. The way characters are portrayed here it doesn’t make me care for Harley’s mother. Looking at Harley‘s character these days, she doesn’t deserve the attention she’s getting.

This issue sure isn’t 10/10, but it had some funny scenes ( not that I wanted to know how disappointing small Bane’s dick is, but at least this issue is a parody of Bane walking around naked in some of Kings issues). However if this series would be more serious, it could be a cool villain turn for Harley. Sad DC will miss this opportunity to fix the character.

Just terrible. The dialogue is bad& the story is nonsense. I haven‘t watched BoP yet, but I really hope the movie is better than this. I am also asking myself, why this is Black Label- because we see the half naked ass of a guy? Another reason, why BL is a joke.

Awful issue. There is no way Harley could outsmart& beat the Trinity like that. I am sick of this ridiculous writing& forcing Harley on every story. Her classic outfit doesn’t make anything better, because it’s the same awfully written Harley, since New52 started. As for the plot there was no real plot.

Maybe it’s too early to really judge it, but this issue was a little weird. Harley Quinn is ridiculously overpowered once again, it’s just annoying, nothing more. ( If any character should die, it’s her. I am so sick of her) Apart from showing how these deaths happened there is nothing really new in this issue. So it feels more like a filler. Maybe these deaths aren’t real& it’s just an AI in the end, but up until now it’s pretty pointless. Some dialogue is also bad like Booster Gold. And I am still asking myself, why someone like Harley& Ivy are in Sanctuary at all. Both are murderers& it makes no sense for the heroes to trust them so much.

Heroes in Crisis 4 once again fails to explain anything& I’m willing to wait, since there are still some issues left. This issue still felt underwhelming to me, I have the feeling King tries something similar like Watchmen or Identity Crisis, but fails to do so due to lack of quality writing. There are fun scenes with Black Canary for example ( she probably was the smartest in this story)& also with Bruce, Clark& WW. However some characters are out of character. Despite Lois being a reporter, I really doubt she would do, what she just did in HiC4& betray her friends like that. Nor do I think Superman would. Harley also is awfully portrayed here yet again& gets the victim card once again. Does Batgirl really forget, that Harley killed children out of fun? I don’t think Barbara would forgive anyone for this, but DC just continues to portray Harley as the poor little Joker victim, instead of making her take responsibility for her crimes. It just ruins the character& every story she’s in. If Harley was left out, I could enjoy the story more. HiC continues to show a depressive side of the heroes, but with rather bad dialogue. Wish King wouldn’t write every character pretty much the same. The cover is also misleading, since this issue won’t give you any new informations about Wally.

I don’t think it’s that bad like some others do. The story definitely has potential to give an interesting story about the heroes inner conflicts& their conflicts with each other. However what ruins it for me is how bad the dialogue really is. I mean Batgirl is repeating „my place“ three times in one panel. Or Batgirls line to Bruce and I quote: „Fine? Really? Cool. That’s cool. Thank you, Batman. You rock!“ WTH?! 😂 What also doesn’t make sense is how the characters act. There is no explanation why Barbara would team up with Harley& let her run around. So Harley gets the victim card once more, especially with the last page, but at least Jokers joke was really funny. Overall we don’t get anything new apart from that Wally might be still alive. Maybe this story is good, when the final issue is out. I‘ve read worse, but also better stories. I would rather recommend people to wait for the trade, maybe the story adds up more.

Filler describes this issue the best. Nothing happens, what we not already know. Instead of seeing Batman& the other two solve the crime we again see some flashbacks. Even so Im not a Wally fan, but his flashbacks were the best part of this issue. The scenes with Ivy& Harley were just awful! How long will this victimization of Harley Quinn last? It’s just terrible to read. So of course she still blames Joker& she& Ivy are using Sanctuary just to show Harley how innocent she is. Yeah tell that to the children she killed out of fun, even so Joker wasn’t even around. This could actually fit her, if DC didn’t try so hard to portray her as a hero/ good girl, who just fell for the wrong guy. Makes me hate Harley Quinn, even so she was once one of my favorite characters. As for Ivy it wouldn’t matter, if she just stayed dead I didn’t like the idea because I thought of Pre52 Ivy& what a great villain she was, but these days she gets reduced to Harleys girlfriend/ friend& that’s really it. What a waste of a good character! Ivy betrayed her cause& honestly she doesn’t even need her powers anymore, since all she does is playing Harleys love interest. Don’t know what DCs point is with trying to turn villains to heroes. And the dialogue is bad as always.

This comic is a mess& it’s only 2 issues left& still the plot hasn‘t moved forward. The dialogue is awful just like always. Are editors sleeping in DC or why is such a bad dialogue getting approved? So Wally suddenly can bring people back from the dead? I don’t buy it. It’s good to see Ivy back, but what’s the point in killing her, if she gets revived in the very same story? Harley also is terribly portrayed as the crazy, but yet empathetic character. It once again gets ignored that she enjoyed killing people. And there’s no reason at all, why Batgirl should treat her as a friend. Again Harley has killed so many innocent people. No matter what timeline, she’s to blame for her crimes not Joker, so it makes zero sense for Batgirl to act like that. Lois making the heroes traumas public& the consequences of that also get ignored since a while now, it’s like King forgot about his own story. Wally is teased as the killer, but it’s still not 100% made clear. I still doubt it. However the art is great, but deserves a way better plot.

SPOILER in this review: I surprisingly overall liked this issue, because it makes a lot of sense. My problem with Rebirth, when it first started was, that it concentrated way too much on the heroes, because only they seemed to remember their Pre52 life, while the villains were totally left out. It also never made sense to me, that the heroes just could live with memories of 2 lives& could deal with them. Having memories of 2 different lives would turn everyone crazy& like it or not, but most of the heroes are just humans. HIC adresses this problem. I‘m also glad Wally is the murderer & not some random D hero/ villain, because this would be really boring. He is making a confession about how & why he committed these murders. So he just broke at some point, because he had lost his family as a consequence of Flashpoint. So people will ask, why Wally, since murder is out of character for him? I actually don’t know, because I’m not that big fan of Wally& maybe that is one reason, why I can like the outcome. But King obviously choose Wally, because he is one of the characters, who lost everything due to Flashpoint, while Barbara Gordon for example won her legs back. However I have the feeling issue 9 will ruin everything again, that issue 8 accomplished & probably will come up with some bad excuses or maybe even a forced happy ending. We will see. What is sad, that issue 8 shows what HIC could have been, but instead of a deep plot, that explores the feelings of the characters, we got so many filler issues or characters, who were acting out of character. Especially Harley ruined the story for me. Her sudden friendship with Batgirl made no sense. Same goes for interesting storylines just being abandoned like it was never explored what consequences Lois leaks had. Maybe issue 9 will answer this, but I have my doubts. As for the dialogue, it’s typical King, but it wasn’t so bad as in the other issues.

I don’t think this issue is that bad& looking back at the whole story it gave us a realistic take on what happens, when humans are confronted with things, that goes beyond their understanding& capacity. What I never liked about Rebirth was the idea, that the heroes just would be fine with having the memories of 2 separated lives. I can’t think of anyone staying sane& being able to deal with that. It was just bad writing back then. HIC finally adressed this issue& it’s good to see, that at least Wally seemed to have learned something about how selfish& irresponsible time travel is. Barry is responsible for what Wally did as well. This irresponsibility or rather stupidity has cost many lives. Something similar happened in Cosmic Odyssey as well. So I’m glad a writer finally adressed this hypocritical side of the heroes. And as for me this story made Wally more interesting to me. Damien’s& Spoilers interviews also were funny. However what ruined this story for me is Harley Quinn& her forced friendship with Batgirl. Harley is such a big hypocrite I really can’t stand her here. Same goes for Ivy. She also killed, but both are acting as if they are so much better. What Wally did isnt on the same level of the crimes Ivy& Harley committed. So Poison Ivy is back, but other characters are still dead. Since DC reduces Ivy on being Harley's sidekick, she also could have stayed dead. Ivy is a joke these days. What also ruins this story is the bad dialogue, that never becomes any better. So I think with a better dialogue writer & without Harley Quinn this story could have been great. The story also lost some great opportunities. We never saw any impact of the interview tapes made public. It’s a storyline, that King abandoned in the middle of this mini series. It had the potential to create more fights among the heroes& I was curious to see that, but unfortunately we didn’t. I‘m also wondering what will happen to Wally. The Trinity imprisoned him after all at the end. I feel kind of sorry for him, since despite the talk with Batgirl, Harley, Ivy& Booster he is left with nothing. Only time will tell I guess.

This isn’t a bad comic, but my problem is, that the character doesn’t act like Harley at all. Actually she is pretty unrecognizable & I would never think of her being Harley Quinn, if the comic wouldn’t constantly mention her name. Harley is suddenly a genius, who graduated early from high school& is superior to everyone else. She is also a talented profiler. That’s not Harley Quinn, she slept her way up to her degree& is more like the mass murderer groupie she despises in this story& while in Harleen this origin story of her is adressed& changed in a believable way, this story just portrays her as a genius. Harley being in this consequently seems rather forced& DC rather should have created a new character than using her. Also despite the beautiful art, not much happens in this issue. It’s over before it really starts.

The art in this comic is great, but the story is quite slow. Harley‘s investigations bring her closer to the murderer& I don’t know if I am going to like this version of Joker. It might be the art, but he reminds me a lot of Leto Joker, what is bad. However we havent seen much of Joker yet, so it’s too early to judge him I guess. We also see some camoes by other villains like Scarecrow & Zsasz, which I enjoyed. Harley working with Gordon is also interesting to read. The beginning of the story also reminds me a little of the Hannibal TV show, but Harley just doesnt feel like the character at all. I know this is still Harleen, but it was mentioned in many comics, that Harleen wasnt a genius, but a cheater. This comic tries to portray her as a gifted young woman, but she never was, so honestly if she wasnt called Harley you wouldnt know it’s her. So I don’t know, why DC forces characters to be something they aren‘t. For me this is a big let-down. I also don’t know why this is Black Label. None of the BL titles had mature content or things in it you don’t see in regular comics as well. So after Batman Damned Black Label became pretty pointless. However I am still curious about the next issue.

Not that bad, but Joker turning a psychiatrist, who is trying to analyze him mad isnt a new story. Nothing really outstanding here. And I can’t see, why this is Black Label.

I enjoyed this issue way more than the first one. This story is mainly about Joker‘s psychiatrist& what effect Joker has on him. The outcome at the end wasnt anything New, but it still was fun to read. Joker is well portrayed here- funny, but manipulative as always. I only wish the other Villains in Arkham were treated better in this story. They are just in the background, but then again this is a Joker story. I however still cant see, why this is Black Label. Same goes for Harleen or Last Knight on Earth. Guess Black Label just means Elseworld.

Great issue, however my complain is, that everything Joker did here, made the other villains look like beginners. Yes it’s Joker, but most of the other villains have successfully teamed up with him& he wasn’t more successful in fighting the heroes than they were. It’s sad they were portayed as mere puppets of Joker, while they actually can do better& also deserve better. I also see no reason for them fearing Joker, since they have a reputation of their own. They were downgraded to make Joker look more badass& I am no fan of this.

Good issue. Especially the ending was fun. I however hope this will turn out to be one of the good Crisis in the multiverse storylines& not a messed up one. I like that Snyder brought back the Legion of Doom, so Im curious what Luthor& the others are going to do. According to Snyder this will all tie in with the Batman Who Laughs& the summer villains event. So I’m excited for the next issue.

Good issue. Not sure to what it will lead, but it feels like a crisis in the multiverse storyline. These fake future versions of the heroes were interesting& I was asking myself the same Batman did. So for me it’s the best comic of this week& I’m looking forward to the next.

The plot is promising, but I’m not sure what to think of it yet. What the hell is wrong with Batman? He seems quite manipulated here. Since this story feels like another crisis story I hope Snyder does a better job here than with Metal, which was quite rushed. I’m more curious about the Legion of Doom& hopefully other villains will join them, even so they walked away from it some issues ago.

Good issue, but the problem I have with it is, that the background story for perpetua is contradicting so many Crisis stories. At least Snyder puts the Source above Perpetua, what makes sense& I’m glad he did. However the anti monitor appears to be quite weak in this story. What I also don’t like is, that the New Gods, except Darkseid are all dead& people from earth have to face Perpetua. It makes no sense. It sounds more like a job for the New Gods/ Gods in general, but DC apparently doesn’t know what to do with these characters. I however don’t buy it, that heroes from earth or the Legion of Doom can take on Perpetua. What I also don’t like is, that the Legion of Doom are just a few members, because most villains were kicked out some issues ago& Joker left voluntarily. Makes the story less interesting& the other villains deserve some respect too. This issue also teases the Legion of Doom, but is mainly giving more background informations of Perpetua. Time will tell, if Snyder can deliver a great story. It has potential. He at least made me care for Justice League run again.

Great issue. I keep asking myself, whether Batman is out of his mind, but this also keeps the story exciting. Snyders JL is great so far& teases a big event coming. And the Darkseid is line was funny used this time. I hope Snyder uses Darkseid well in future issues.

Nothing special. Batman was way too overpowered in this issue& I don’t buy it. Snyder is often taking the prep time a little bit too far& I also don’t buy it for a second, that Batman could invent anything with the X element. Also I’m quite tired of his stupid suits. Why not somebody has them just blown up, I don’t know... I also didn’t really like Darkseid‘s role in this story. Why would he team up with the remnants of the Legion of Doom& I don’t buy it, that some future version of Lois is smarter than him. Batman‘s motivations also don’t make much sense, he just seemed to have lost his mind here. Therefore it was ok, but had many flaws.

Good issue. Nice to see Batman acting reasonable again& the alternative future or whatever story was wrapped up& not without some assets for the JL. This issue also marks the beginning of the Year of the Villains& it’s a mix between Justice storyline& Underworld Unleashed. I hope Snyder‘s event can live up to these stories. On the one hand I think it sounds cool, but on the other hand I hope this event won’t ruin some villains. I hope the writers will do them justice. Lex is cool so far, so I hope the other villains also will be as great.

This issue was quite boring. Nothing much happened. All we saw were the heroes recruiting other heroes& Martian Manhunter trying to find Lex. Since this is called the Year of the villains I also would expect to see more villains& see them more explored. It’s not called Year of the Heroes, oh wait every year is.

Still nothing that much happens, but there are some references to the multiverse crisis& it’s better than last issue.

Not a bad issue, but Year of the Villains is pretty slow& despite its name, we don’t see many villains in it up until now. Sure it’s not Year of the Heroes ( oh wait that’s every year anyway)? Instead of concentrating on the villains, Lex is trying to make his offer to many heroes as well. This time it’s Martian Manhunter. What’s weird, that Lex‘s outfit looks like he borrowed it from Desaad. While Lex is talking to J‘onn, the league is facing 3 members of the legion of doom, which is quite underwhelming. There’s also a timeline error. Batman is fighting in the league, while in Kings Batman run he just broke his back& is somewhere walking in the mountains. Year of The Villains just doesn’t fit well with some runs, what’s sad. Overall I want the focus more on the villains as the title is promising. Forever Evil, Arkham War& Underworld Unleashed all did a better job so far.

Good issue. Don’t know how the heroes could think it was a good idea to remove anyone from the Source Wall, who basically hold it together, but well guess it’s Luthors fault too. It’s great to see Jack Kirby’s New Gods back& not their New52 versions. Hope that stays that way. Also great to see Darkseid having a plan, hope it works out for him. The Source Wall getting destroyed already happened a few times& is nothing new, Same with New Genesis& Apokolips disappearing, but it sure felt nostalgic. I don’t know what to think of Perpetua though. Guess future issues will tell her story.

It was ok, but nothing outstanding for me. It is nice to see Darkseid not being portrayed as a total idiot, but this current reminder of his humiliating deafeat in Darkseid War is just getting annoying. What I also don’t like is, that the origin of the New Gods are ignored again, but it’s too early to judge what is really up with the old gods here. I hope this series will restore Darkseids former glory.

I think the story has its flaws like Starfire, Cyborg etc. being old gods, but maybe it’s just part of Darkseids plan. Overall I am glad to have a story, that doesn’t portray Darkseid as a total idiot as he was portrayed as since New52 started. My hope is, that this story restores Darkseid former glory.

This story seems ok so far, but nothing outstanding. In this issue Cyborg has to prove, that he is worthy to be called a god, while Darkseid is seeking Blackfire for help. I‘m only reading this series because of Darkseid& when it comes to him his portrayal is a lot better than in every other story, since New52 started. Darkseid seems to act more like the tactician he really is, but there are still so many things, that are wrong. Darkseid still hasn’t got his full power back& maybe that’s why he seeks the help of characters, who are much weaker than him. Why not Desaad? DC totally ruined their friendship. It also feels wrong, that the citizens of the Cyborg planet were able to built a mother box, since Apokolips & New Genesis have the highest technology in the DC universe. Overall it sucks a lot how much DC downgrades the New Gods. Darkseid is depended on so much weaker characters than him& that feels just wrong for his character. Giving Cyborg the mother box background in New52 contradicts everything New Gods related, so New52/ Rebirth pretty much ruined them. This story does Darkseid a lot more justice than Darkseid War ( worst New Gods story ever) or than Mr Miracle, but it’s still far away from great New Gods stories like Cosmic Odyssey or Orion run. My hope for this story is, that Darkseid might finally get his true powers& his throne back. As for the other characters I don’t think they are doing much up until now. They are pretty clueless& act that way.

How much I would love to love this, but even so the story finally got more exciting, I’ll bet DC ruins it in the end. JL Odyssey promises what I hoped for since New52 started, that Darkseid finally would get his real powers back, rule over Apokolips again& that I can finally forget about the Darkseid War disaster Johns put him through. It’s one of Darkseid best portrayals since Death of the New Gods& definitely the best since New52 started. The other characters still don’t do much, but I bet this story gets ruined by them stopping Darkseid again& him getting humiliated again.

Good issue. Feels a little like Cosmic Odyssey even so it can’t reach its level of quality. The JL members are acting so dumb& clueless, it fits them though. Wouldn’t be the first time& that’s another reason, why it reminds me of Cosmic Odyssey. Hope Darkseid doesn’t die again, he’s the last hope for the New Gods after all& apparently it’s too much to be asked to have him save on Apokolips with the others. My hopes aren’t very high with the end of this issue, but I still hope he somehow makes it. But nice to see a more classic Darkseid again. Hope DC continues to write him like that, even so he isn’t on his former power level, but he at least doesn’t feel braindead like in Mister Miracle or Darkseid War. So I’m excited for next issue& I’m wondering how it ties in with JL.

The only interesting part of the story is Darkseid& I hate how much DC humiliates him these days. What a waste of a great character. Cyborg being linked to a mother box also was a big mistake in New52, since it contradicts so much about the New Gods. Not a good time to be a fan of Darkseid or the New Gods. As for this issue nothing really happens. Starfire almost kills Blackfire, who still wants to kill Darkseid for no reason. Then the team leaves to find Darkseid& helps him fight some monsters. Darkseid is once again treated badly by being put in the situation to rely on the help of some C/ D heroes. If this story at least lead to Darkseid getting his planet, kingdom& powers back, it would be worth it, but the way the story goes I really doubt it. If DC doesn’t have writers, who can see what a great character Darkseid & the New Gods are, DC should just ignore their characters for a while instead of wasting them. Therefore I’m not really happy with this story.

The plot still hasn’t really started yet. Darkseid is repeating once more, that he needs their help to save the New Gods/ ghost sectors. It’s frustrating to read, that the C JL members apparently still don’t get that. Cyborg also starts to really pissing me off. Isn’t he supposed to be smarter in New52/ Rebirth? Apparently not... The good thing is, that Darkseid at least sounds more like himself again, which is the first time since Death of the New Gods, but it’s still frustrating to see how much DC messes his power level up. This entire quest is beneath him, but for some reason he has to go through with it, because DC really hates Darkseid & loves to humiliate him. As a fan of Darkseid I soon give up here...

This issue was ok, but felt more like a filler. All we saw was Azrael getting Anti life equations like powers out of nowhere& ending the battle with Blackfire, who was so annoying I’m glad she is beaten now. Never got her problem she’s having with Darkseid. The team also comes to the conclusion, that Darkseid is right- we knew this issues ago- and they now want to help him, but betray him as well. No Darkseid in this issue, what made the issue kind of boring, because the other characters are portrayed quite boring here. I only keep reading this because of Darkseid, he’s the best part of the story. Still wish his plans finally would be successful& he would gain his powers & throne back. Not a good time for Darkseid fans. That’s for sure.

This is pretty much a filler. Nothing new happens, but I’m still annoyed by the fact, that Cyborg has a mother box even so that makes zero sense ( Thank you Geoff Johns) & I’m really annoyed, if the C heroes succeed in tricking Darkseid once again. I am tired of waiting for him getting his powers and throne back, what might never happen.

The problem with this series is, that it’s way too slow. Whenever I’m reading it, Im thinking come on you’ve pointed that out many times ago. The JL expressed their doubts so often I can’t hear it anymore. At least we are seeing more of Darkseid in this issue& he’s basically just talking. It was nice to read Cyborgs comments about Darkseid being above humans& having unimaginable intelligence. Sure that’s true, but I wish DC actually would portray Darkseid like that. He is portrayed as an idiot since New52 started, but JL Odyssey at least does him more justice than King, Castellucci or Johns. I also doubt Luthor could offer Darkseid anything of interest for him as it was suggested at the beginning of this issue. Overall I just want Darkseid finally get his powers& throne back& just forget about the New52/ Rebirth mess. DC just needs to ignore this crap, if they care about their characters.

Great issue. Finally something happens. Darkseid finally gets his full power back& yes it would be awesome, if I didnt know, that DC is going to mess this up in future issues. I bet Darkseid will be beaten again in the dumbest way possible& by the dumbest people. Being a fan of Darkseid is so frustrating these days.

I really can’t understand how people can like this. They must have never read a story, which focused on the New Gods. King‘s Mr. Miracle run started good, because after their bad portrayal in Darkseid War the characters at least looked like their original versions again, but surely don’t act like them. However Kings entire run is quite repetitive: nothing really happens& all the exciting parts of the story ( like Darkseid getting the anti life equation) is only shortly mentioned, but we never witness the plot, boring dialogue, where the characters are just babbling nonesense. Mr Miracle 11 however shows no understanding for the characters or their power level. Darkseid was yet again portrayed as a total idiot. He not only fell for the most obvious trick in the world, but also was out of character, since he would never give up the anti life equation for a baby. Maybe this is all a dream of Mr Miracle or something like that. The story doesn’t seem to be canon, but otherwise I wouldn’t know how to save it.

Don’t understand the praises here. This run started good, but became dull pretty fast. SPOILER I am glad it’s just a dream/ alternative reality of Scott in the end, but nothing really was explained in the last issue. So Scott just keeps living in the fantasy world he created? Well doesn’t really fit his character. SPOILER END However I have a problem with the entire run, how the story was told. Many normally exciting things like Darkseid finally getting the Anti-life Equation was just mentioned, but never shown how he did it or the consequences. Everything was just shortly mentioned and therefore presented in the most boring way possible. This seems to be an issue of Kings writing, since he did the same thing in jokes vs. riddles. Even so he did the characters way more justice than Johns did in Darkseid War ( Johns portrayed all of them as total different characters), some portrayals were just weird like Darkseid, who was acting like a total idiot. Or Granny caring for Scott Free. You could argue, that they were acting differently, because it wasn’t their real selves, but thats no excuse for portraying Darkseid as a retarded idiot. This story was a Mr Miracle story, but I am waiting for a year for the story to finally start. If the point was just to show, that Scott didn’t want to face reality, I don’t think 12 issues were needed for that. I expected more& more importantly an exciting plot. The good thing was, that Scott finally got rid of this terrible beard though. I am a big fan of the New Gods, so I don’t think it’s entirely bad, but it can’t keep up with Walter Simonson‘s, Kirby’s or Byrne‘s New Gods run. Overall I wish DC would do the New Gods more justice& stay closer to Kirby’s vision of the characters. I hope the Female Furies Mini series will be better.

As a long time fan of the New Gods I don’t really understand all the good reviews for Mister Miracle. The characters aren’t really in character& while you could excuse this happening to characters like Granny or Orion due to the outcome of the story you can’t excuse it with Scott. He’s acting and also looking like an alcohol addict& why you could argue, that he’s a broken character due to his past, he still never would let him go so much. He isn’t the kind of guy, who gives up like that as he does in this story. So it rather appears to me, that King forced this depression type of story on a character, he doesn’t really understand. Another problem is the bad dialogue, which is quite typical for King, if I look at his Batman run& HIC. The characters just pretty much sound all the same& are just babbling away. Storywise nothing really happens, except that actually it’s constantly said, that exciting things were happening like Darkseid getting the full Anti life Equation or Orion becoming the ruler of New Genesis. However nothing of this is shown to the reader or has any real impact on the story. We are just seeing Barda and Scott going from place A to place B& punching one guy& that’s really it. Walter Simonson told an exciting story about what could happen, if someone gains the Anti life Equation. The story here focuses rather on Scott being depressed for no reasons. I also hate how dumb Darkseid was portrayed here. I’m surprised he could still breath and wasn’t even too stupid for that. The „Darkseid Is“ lines didn’t change that& actually never made sense. They can’t keep up with old lines like „Die for Darkseid& he will live for you“. The only good thing here is, that the New Gods look like their Kirby version again, but doesn’t help much if their characters aren’t done justice. Many like the art, but I think Barda just looks too much of a guy here to enjoy any of the art. So I can’t recommend that, I would rather recommend Walter Simonson‘s Orion or John Byrne‘s Fourth World, which both really got Kirby’s New Gods right. It’s sad to see, that new readers don’t get an idea of how great the New Gods are with stories like this.

Some of these stories are good others feel rather pointless. I liked the one with Ares& his former lover the most. Also the story with Chronos was interesting. Joker’s& Harleys stories were kinda boring. Ivy trying to help some D villains also felt out of place, but at least she was portrayed more like a villain again.

I really loved this comic: I hear many Nightwing fans complaining about what happened to Nightwing in Batman 55& I can see why fans are worried, however I think it’s an interesting take on Nightwing, that needs to be explored more. In Batman 55 we could see Nightwing being really carefree& it was stated in many Nightwing or Robin stories, that he is enjoying his vigilante „job“ ( a little too much) & the adrenaline, that comes with it. But this is when reality strikes& Dick isn’t untouchable anymore. It would be great, if we see a character development like Dick thinking more about the risks he is taking every night. Pre52 Dick was also wounded at some point, so it’s not an entirely new idea, but it was never that severe.I also think his reaction is quite normal. It makes sense, that he is pushing people away& tries to find a way to deal with his trauma. His anger is an understandable reaction. I however hope the writers won’t make him cross the no killing line, but to let him come back stronger& maybe wiser. This story isn’t only a Nightwing story, it’s also Scarecrow‘s story. I especially loved the flashbacks with him. He was finally fully in character, what unfortunately doesn’t happen quite often in New52/ Rebirth. It was great to see, that the story also was told from his perspective. Nowadays comics unfortunately don’t focus much on the villains anymore. We rarely see their point of view. Like there are stories where the villains get one line at best. However the flashbacks with Scarecrow aren’t random at all, he was the first super villain Dick had to deal with in the New52/ Rebirth timeline after all. In Batman and Robin Eternal (BRE), where this was stated Scarecrow unfortunately was reduced to a side character in favor of a new& in my opinion boring villain. So the entire story about Dick fighting Scarecrow was never really addressed. The flashbacks however seem to take place after BRE& as for me I am happy their relationship gets addressed again here. The flashbacks with Scarecrow& the ending teases an exciting conflict between Dick& Scarecrow ( which last time happened in the 90ies) Unfortunately Percy doesn’t have the chance to finish his story& another writer takes over next issue. The newest Solicitations are still promising a clash between Scarecrow & Dick, so I hope Lobdell also does the characters justice. I hope we are seeing more flashbacks about Scarecrow‘s & Dick’s conflict in the past& also in the present. Addressing Nightwings fears after a severe trauma makes sense. I only hope Lobdell also does Scarecrow justice& gives him more than just one line.

This issue was ok, but nothing really happened. I dont like the idea of another wannabe hero- just this time Nightwing gets copied. The old solicitaions did't mention a Nightwing copy, so I guess that's the idea of the new writer. Even so Scarecrow luckily is still part of the story, the old solicitation seems to have made more sense. Overall I think this Nightwing copy is a bad idea, so I hope he gets killed off pretty fast.

This issue was ok, but the only interesting thing, that happened was,, when Scarecrow‘s fear gas killed the police men. Apart from that nothing really new happened. The plot is moving only slowly. The new Nightwings still seem pointless& I would prefer just a Scarecrow vs. the real Nightwing story. The old Solicitations seem to have focused more on these two, so I think it’s a bad decision to add these wannabes instead. Maybe it’s too early to judge it& the plot first needs to evolve, so I am still giving the story a chance& I am still curious about the outcome.

Finally the story started& I really enjoyed this issue. The new Nightwing became more likable ( Don’t know how long this lasts for me)& also had a fun scene. He isn’t portayed as a total loser, but we are seeing the difference between him& Dick at the same time. I like, that up until now he is still kind of acting like a cop& not like some maniac like Lock-up.As for Dick apart from protecting his friend, I don’t think anything real interesting happened to him, but how can fans not like to see him happy? I am also glad Scarecrow‘s story finally really started& his group therapy was fun to read. Love his new costume. It already happened in other stories, but not really in the main runs, so I am glad DC finally gave him an outfit, that looks more like his Pre52 one. He finally has his hat again! The ending with Scarecrow teases an exciting story, so I hope Lobdell can give us one. Moore is doing the art again in this issue& I don’t know, which art I prefer. His and Mooneyham‘s art are both cool in a different way, so I can live with both. I am definitely excited for the next issue& I hope the story stays good.

I think this issue was great. Dick getting therapy from Scarecrow without any of the two realizing who the other one is, is funny, priceless, but also an interesting approach. I wish this was longer& not just for this issue. Since Scarecrow doesn’t really know, that Dick is Nightwing, I am wondering how this will play out in future issues. I am hoping Scarecrow knows/ realizes at one point, that the new Nightwing isn’t Dick& gets his chance to take revenge on the real Nightwing at one point. As for Dick moaning about, that he doesn’t want to be Dick or Nightwing anymore gets a little repetitive, I mean I think after 4 issues everyone got this now. We also see the new Nightwings in action& it doesn’t bring anything new to the story. I however like, that up until now they don’t act like ruthless vigilantes, but are doing everything by the book instead. I like the way Scarecrow is portrayed here, he finally gets more than just one small scene to what he nowadays is often reduced to in comics& we also see the story from his perspective. His scenes definitely were the best parts of this issue& even so this whole Ric story is getting a lot of hate ( what I can understand) it at least has the potential to be a great Scarecrow story in the end, if Lobdell doesn’t mess it up. I however wonder how this Ric thing works out, when the Scarecrow story is over& a lesser villain is fighting Ric or none known villain at all. Guess only time will, but up until now I am looking forward to the next issue.

I loved this issue. Scarecrow is making his move& it’s pretty cool, what he is doing. He puts that policewoman from a few issues ago in her place& is taking care of Blüdhaven. People criticized, that after so many issues we didn't even knew his plan yet, while I think his plan was already made clear in #50, he points his plan out again. This issue is mainly focusing on Scarecrow& shows us nothing new about Dick or the new Nightwings. I think it’s a little weird, that Scarecrow doesn’t realize, that this isn’t the real Nightwing. However he might realize it next issue, since he hasn’t really met the new one in this issue. I also fear he will be downgraded next issue in sake of Dick coming back to fight crime again, what of course would be bad. Scarecrow successfully fought more dangerous/ skilled heroes/ villains than Dick after all. As for the art, it’s inconsistent, since it changes from issue to issue. As for me I really enjoyed the art of Nightwing 55. The cover looks great. Scarecrow‘s new outfit is really cool& so much better than his normal New52 outfit. Wish DC would keep it. There is a lot of hate for the Ric storyline, what I can understand, however, if you are a fan of Scarecrow you should definitely check this out, because it’s one of the best portrayals of him, since years. Since #56 will be the end of his storyline& while I think it’s a little short I hope it doesn’t end that bad for him ( as a Scarecrow fan I’m worried). Hopefully Lobdell can end the storyline without making it feel incomplete. With all the hate the Ric storyline gets I think DC should have kept Scarecrow as the villain a little longer. Joker’s Daugther seems like a real lame replacement in Nightwing 57& 58.

Compared to #50, 54& 55, which were all great, this issue feels underwhelming as I feared,since it’s the last of this story arc. First of all it’s a shame DC decided to change the cool cover with Scarecrow finishing off the new Nightwing& Ric coming to his help. Would have been the perfect cover, but instead we got just this cover with Ric. It however fits this issue way more than the cancelled one, so I at least get the change now, it still feels like a bad decision. Scarecrow is still attacking Bludhaven& the new Nightwings. Because of his actions Dick feels the need to help them& from there one the plot could have been a lot better. As one of Batman‘s A villains Scarecrow deserves way better than how he was treated in this issue. While he fought Nightwing in previous comics ( For example Pre52 Nightwing Vol 2), Dick was never this big of a threat for him as he is portrayed in this story. Scarecrow successfully fought way stronger heroes than Nightwing before like Superman, Hawkman or the entire JL, not to mention the countless times he fought Batman, so Dick beating him so fast really feels wrong. A burning tire beating the fear gas doesn’t only make it look way too easy nor does it make any sense. And of course Dick is immune against Scarecrow‘s newest fear gas just like that. You could explain it with that his newest version makes people afraid of their fearlessness ( while I’d rather think it makes people choose to fight instead of flight, while facing their fears) & since Dick isn’t afraid of being fearless as we could see in his therapy session in 54, it has no effect on him. But that’s only me trying to find some sense. What felt wrong from the beginning as I pointed out in earlier reviews, that Dick never was fearless ( Nightwing vol 2 shows his fear& even in New52/ Rebirth he isn’t)& I hoped this would be adressed, but unfortunately it wasn’t, so that’s kind of disappointing, too. It especially makes no sense, because there were other stories, that shows that being fearless isn’t good at all. Therefore Scarecrow is just there in this issue to make look Dick badass& to make him team up with the other Nightwings. This outcome is especially disappointing if you look how well Scarecrow‘s plot was built up since 50. His story had so much more potential, but DC missed that opportunity . Luckily Scarecrow was well portrayed in the previous issues& got some spotlight in #50, 54&55, so as a whole story arc I still like it, but the ending was rather bad& didn’t do his character justice. I think it would have been better, if there was another issue where Dick is affected by the fear gas& has to fight it. Sure would have been the more exciting plot than making things too easy, but that might would have brought Dick back as the guy we know& DC made it pretty clear at the end of this issue, that this will take quite a while.

Meh with Scarecrow gone the story is kind of boring now. Best part surprisingly was Jokers daugther. She had some cool scenes, but most was teased for the next issue. Actually could be one of these stories, where Joker‘s daugther isn’t lame or annoying. As for the Ric plot it’s repetitive- I can’t hear the word „muscle memory kicks in- anymore. Ric basically just repeated, what happened last issue. And even so it was already clear that he would work with the Nightwings, it’s been pointed out again. He also shortly mentions, how he beat Scarecrow, but what is really weird, that we see zero reaction from Ric about the fact, that a mass murderer gave him therapy. Guess Ric doesn’t bother. There’s also a scene with Barbara, which was ok ( even so she acted kind of unfair to Rics new girlfriend), but this scene was mainly there for Dick Grayson fans to cope with Dick being Ric. The art was great, but overall I think I will slowly walk away from Nightwing, since after Jokers daugther there aren’t any guest appearances of any Batman villains teased& Rics love life isn’t interesting enough for me to keep me reading.

It was an ok issue, but had many problems. On the positive side it’s the first good portrayal of Joker‘s Daugther I have seen ( just like last issue). She has more than just 1 line, even so her plan is a little weird. But the problem is, that just like Scarecrow Ric beat her way too easily. There was no excitement in Ric fighting her, since he also just beat her with one single punch. If Ric can beat Batman‘s super villains so easily I am asking myself, why doesn’t Bruce quit& Ric takes over? What comes next? Ric beating Joker with one punch? It’s just ridiculous& just overpowering Dick, so it’s quite boring& an insult for the villains. They all deserve better. As for Ric there’s still no character development& he starts to get on my nerves ( not that Dick wouldn’t annoy me, but he certainly wasn’t so annoying in Nightwing Vol. 2 from the 90ies. That Vol. was readable& enjoyable even so you aren’t the biggest Nightwing fan ever). He is still repeating the same line over& over again, that he doesn’t want to be a „hero“& live a normal life, but now he has agreed to help the Nightwings, which we already know since 56, but it gets mentioned once again. As for the dialogue with Barbara, fans of the ship might enjoy it, but as for me I couldn’t care less about Dick‘s love life. Barbara also once again feels like the petty ex girlfriend for stalking Ric all the time. That would be below Oracle. The art was great& the dialogues were well written, if you compare it to Kings stories. But overall it’s kind of „meh“.

Not a bad issue, but not great either. The new arc is starting slowly, what isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Ric is training with one of the Nightwings& we are getting more informations about the past of the Red Nightwing. More background sure will be explored in future issues, since the issue ends with a new enemy attacking Bludhaven Police Department. I would have preferred to see more Batman villains, but it’s good that Nightwing gets his own villains. We also see Ric shortly interact with his new girlfriend Bea, then he leaves to help the Nightwings. This issue shows no new character development of Ric, emplying, that DC wants to keep him a little longer. As for me I can live with that. It’s still an interesting new take on the character. Nightwing currently is more interesting than Kings Batman run.. As for the writer change Dan Jurgens isn’t doing a better or worse job than Lobdell or Percy. So we have the same quality writing here. Dialogue is fine& characters are in character. So nothing to complain about here. My only problem is, that the plot is starting slow, but that’s ok, since it’s the first issue of the new arc. I also like the art. Wish DC would stick with one artist for Nightwing for a while.

Good issue. We get more background for the Nightwings& see the team working together against a flame monster, of which we don’t know yet where he/ she is coming from. The story is told from Ric‘s point of view& from Nightwing Prime‘s point of view, which is how Ric is calling Sapienza. I also liked Rics& Bea‘s interaction with each other& I hope we will get more background infos about her character as well at some point. Sapienza is also investigating the case further& guess the case will be solved next issue. I liked the interaction between the characters& they were all well written. Jurgens is doing a great job just like Lobdell did with the story. Overall I hope this Ric story is lasting a little longer, because Nightwing is quite fun since #50. I also love Mooneyham‘s art, it reminds me a lot of the 90ies& hopefully he stays as well.

Another good issue& a fresh conclusion to a story. I don’t think the reveal of who the monster was is surprising, but it’s cool to see a connection to Doomsday Clock by mentioning the metagene. Doesn’t happen often in canon comics despite DDC being an important story. It was also nice to see a different ending& not an ending, that’s just black and white. I think the way Dick is calling the Nightwings are fun& their interaction was fun to read as well. Like I said as for me the Ric thing can go on a little longer, since the concept is fresh& interesting. Would have preferred Mooneyham‘s art, but Cliquet‘s was fine as well. So overall I’m looking forward to next issue.

Good issue. This issue makes it clear, that Ric also cares about small crimes like stealing a kidney& not just about the big crimes of super villains. ( So I don’t know how some people still can claim Ric is more selfish than Dick. I’m wondering, if they even read this series.) What I also liked were the scenes between Ric& Bea. Dick is making the next step& tells her everything about his past as Robin/ Nightwing, then they have sex. Only question is, whether this was a good idea.I like Bea as a character& I hope her character gets more explored. I want Bea to be her own character, not just Dicks love interest ( but I have the feeling she dies soon). The Nightwings also make a short appearance talking about who Ric might be. What I didn’t like, that everything Ric stated in his monologue is nothing new. It was all best adressed in 54 already, so I don’t know why every writer has to mention in every issue, that Ric doesn’t want to hang out with the batfamily anymore? We get it. The Court of Owl was teased for this issue, but all they are doing in this issue is observing. They are trying to find out, which people are important in Rics life now. Then Lex appears& makes his offer. I don’t know what to think of Year of the Villains yet. It’s quite underwhelming up until now& the way Lex is portrayed, he feels like a copy of Neron from Underworld Unleashed, but without the fun part. I wasn’t a fan of the art in this issue. I’m missing Chris Mooneyham‘s art here. However the good thing with Nightwing lately is, that compared to other titles the series keeps being enjoyable& its quality doesn’t decrease. As for me I’m looking forward to the next issue.

Good issue. Talons finally make a move& hurt one of the Nightwings. Bea is in great danger as well. I don’t think Jurgens is going to kill her, but I‘m still worried here. Looking forward to the next issue.

Good issue. It would be interesting to see Ric becoming a Talon indeed, even so I don’t like the Court of Owls very much.

Meh I don’t know, I originally liked the Ric arc, but turning the memory loss into a Master Plan of the Court of Owls is lame. Deus ex Machina indeed. I think it’s time to end Ric, while Lobdell had some good stories Jurgens unfortunately doesnt bring much to it. I wonder what Dick will say, when he finds out about Alfred. It’s also weird, that Bruce doesn’t give a crap about Dick trying to murder people Next issue.

This issue was rushed& ended, when it became interesting. Ric is mind controlled by the court & is trying to kill the Nightwings. It could have been more exciting, but it’s not that bad either.

This issue was rushed. I don’t know why, but writers let Dick win way too easily & way too fast. He overcame the Talons manipulation as if it was nothing. Same happened with Scarecrow, with Joker‘s daugther& now with the Talons as well. If you write the villains too weak, how much is the victory of the hero worth? Nothing. The writers are portraying Dick way too strong & it’s quite ridiculous. I wouldnt be surprised, if Dick beats Joker in the upcoming issues as if he was nothing. The art was great though.

Nothing that much happens in this issue. Ric is still confused due to 2 memories, that he has in his mind& the Nightwings are still injured. Joker was kinda fun in this issue, especially when he wore Nightwings outfit. Slow plot progression, but still ok. It’s time things go back to normal. DC doesnt know what to do with the Ric status anymore.

I liked some parts of this Ric story like the beginning in #50-56, but it went on for way too long. So Dick is back, but this issue is so badly written I can’t believe Jürgens, who wrote Hunters Prey also wrote this. The talisman changing Dicks memories is so over the top, Dick being callled Dickboy just overdid the new names thing& Joker basically did nothing, but standing around. I still hate the idea, that he knows the identity of Batman & the batfamily, but what really annoys me in this issue, that Dick is acting like the biggest ass ever. As soon as Bea brought his real self back all he‘s doing is ignoring her, then he wonders why she left. So if he really breaks up with her, because of remembering his past, then I have another story, that proves what an ass Dick Grayson actually is& that he isn’t the good sweet guy some fans want to see him as. It’s also unbelievable that the batfamily suddenly always believed in Dick returning, when they stated the opposite in former issues. So it’s just really bad& Bea‘s character really deserves better, but what do I expect of a guy, who sleeps with his former girlfriend one day before his wedding.

This annual gives us informations& scenes we should have already seen 1 year ago in Kings Batman run, when Dick was shot. If we had seen these scenes with the batfamily I am sure fans wouldnt have hated the idea of Ric so much. Only shows once again what bad writer King is. Most of this should have been in his Batman run right after Dick was shot. Most of the things, we get to know here were already adressed in Nightwing 50& 54, but we finally get a better explanation, why Ric hates the name Dick so much. Since Bruce acted like a sellfish& insensitive ass in this issue, we can understand more, why Ric doesnt want to remember him. Fans of Dick also get some nice flashbacks from his childhood. However what feels really forced to me is, that Ric‘s memory loss is all due to a manipulation of the Court of Owls& not because of the wound itself, what would make things more interesting& also more realistic. This way neither Dick or Bruce have to ever take responsibility for his injury, because they can always blame the court. It‘s indeed a deus ex machina.

Awful comic. It’s basically the current Harley Quinn series with the same illogical plots, same ridiculous interpretation of Harley- like constantly overpowering her- same awful dialogue, only this time with an old Harley, who looks like a bordello queen. It also seems to mix the story with Batman Beyond, what makes it suck even more. What also feels wrong, that Harley apparently killed Penguin in the past, what makes no sense, since he is by far more intelligent& cunning than she ever can be, but that’s exactly what I mean with overpowering Harley. I don’t know why DC is wasting paper for such a terrible comic.

The outcome of this is better than expected. Guess Harley needs to be in her 70ies before growing as a character. This series started as a comedy one, but became more darker in the final issue. I’m not a fan of Batman Beyond, but this one with Harley surprisingly was ok. The ending teases a sequel& it actually wouldn’t be so bad. I hope other characters, which weren’t in this one would return.

Good issue, much better than the last two. Guess now that Nightwing is monthly Lobdell has more time to focus on Red Hood again. Thanks to Jason for summing up what happened, since I honestly forgot most of it. I liked the short flashback with Jason as a child& hope he keeps the dog. With what happened this issue some people assume Jason will be the Arkham Knight again& have to say it would be quite funny.

Maybe I’ve missed something here, but it seems like a big time jump from last issue to this. Seems quite unbelievable how fast& easy Red Hood took over Penguins empire. Especially because it’s told in just a few sentences. I also can’t see Bruce just accepting Red Hood being in Gotham again. As if Bruce couldn’t find a way to kick him out of Gotham again. Lobdell is a good writer. His Nightwing run is great& so is Red Hood, but this issue felt a little rushed like there’s missing one issue. Jason is also really getting on my nerves this issue, so I’m definitely rooting for Penguin here. On the other hand it would be nice, if he was portrayed as a villain again as he was Pre52. So let’s wait until next issue. Maybe more things get explained there.

Well it’s good to see Jason being more of a villain again, but unfortunately he’s still nothing like his Pre52 self. What is quite disappointing, I’ve never liked the idea of excusing his crimes as it was done in New52. I’m also missing psycho Red Hood as he was in Battle for the Cowl. However in this issue Penguin is still held hostage by Jason, while he took over his Casino& life. Penguin is organizing a break out& we don’t see, if he succeeds. That’s the entire plot. Just like in his Nightwing arc Lobdell is doing a great job writing the characters, but we still don’t get any explanation how Jason took over Penguins empire& why. Or why does Batman accept it just like that? These are questions, that hopefully get answered soon. I also hope we get to see more interaction between Penguin& Jason& Batman. The regular cover is pretty awesome in my opinion& therefore I’d buy this issue for the cover alone.

This issue was ok, but also weird. Jason is trying to ruin Penguins business & life even more, but at the same time some super natural foes are planning their attack on him. I hope Penguin finally gets out of his prison next isdue. Characters are well portrayed& in character. So overall it was ok, but nothing special.

Good issue, but the ending made me want to rather read the next issue.

Good issue. Finally the Red Hood shooting Penguin story gets addressed more& we get to know more about how Penguin survived& about his recovery. I don’t remember his name, but I like the guy, who freed Penguin, since Jason betrayed him. It’s only sad, that Penguin is portayed quite weak here. He’s written in character, but he’s not allowed to do any harm to Jason. Would have been more exciting if Penguin was. The dog was also cute. The year of the villain offering didn’t feel that right to me& somehow the event isn’t exciting yet. Everything takes too long without any real developments. Anyway we‘ll see next issue.

I don’t really care about Artemis or Bizarro, but this issue was ok. The two were fighting in an alternate universe. We don’t see much of Jason in it though.

I usually like these kind of specials, but most of the stories in this special are mediocre. The vampire Batman story revisits an old Elseworld, which was written by Doug Moench. However if you have read it, this new story just doesn’t fit well with it. Batman doesn’t act like he did back then. Not to mention, that there isn’t really a story. DC is trying way too hard to make this feel like Halloween, but truth is, just some monsters were put in it. That’s really it. Also most characters, that are in here don’t even have a horror theme like for example The Atom has nothing to do with horror. Neither does Green Lantern. Would have been better, if DC concentrated on characters, which fit with the Halloween theme. Like why for example isn’t Scarecrow in this? He loves Halloween& is all about fear, yet he doesn’t get a story in this. Seems like a missed opportunity by DC. The only story, that is really worth reading is the one from Paul Dini, which is about Harley& Zatanna. Harley also acts more like her animated series self, even so her regular series is mentioned here. This story features some horror elements, but is funny at the same time. Everything else is quite forgettable.

It was good, but nothing special. Best part was Dex- Starr& it’s nice to see Talia getting a story again. The Supergirl story was kind of boring though.

I don’t think this is bad, it’s just rushed. It has some cool disturbing ideas like what Azrael did to Bruce, but what is sad, that we don’t really get to see, what happened to Gotham or how it affected certain characters. Penguin is in it, but we don’t see what happened to the other villains. Overall this should be a 4 part mini series to make people care.

I liked the Knightfall one more. This one Shot has some good scenes, but overall it fails to explain, why Lois turns so psycho. Grieving isnt a very good explanation. She also never really struggles with killing people or killing her friend. Overall it’s too rushed just like Knightfall one Shot.

Another story, that downgrades Darkseid & the Anti Life Equation. It seems modern DC writers have absolutely no clue about how powerful it is. Since this is an alternative version of Blackest Night it would have been interesting to see Scarecrow in it, but no... quite boring& poitnless this time.

This story starts good, but I think DC is exaggerating a little with all the alternative Batmans, Jokers& even Bruce Waynes. I hope this mini series won’t be like the Batman one shots from Metal, which were quite repetitive& wasted the other villains. That this will happen here too was already teased with Mr Freeze getting set on fire by the armored Batman. It’s sad, that Snyder only seems to think, that only Joker is a great& dangerous villain& that’s why he always reduces the others to canon fodder or to mere puppets of Joker. If Snyder just wants a Joker story, he should just leave them out, if he can’t give them a role, that does them justice. I think the idea of the armored Batman is quite boring, but the Batman who Laughs still looks cool, so that’s why this story can be interesting. I think Bruce was really naive at the end ( What's with DC portraying Joker& Batman more as friends lately?), so the ending might be kind of shocking, but also feels wrong at the same time.

There is nothing in this issue I could really complain about. Snyder is doing a great job with portraying the characters. I wasn’t a fan of Metal& the one shots with the Batmen, but this one is well written. This issue never gets boring. Batman is trying to find a solution to beat the Batman Who Laughs& the Batman with weapons. It’s interesting to see all these alternative versions of Batman& what the Batman who Laughs said about him being the most miserable of them all is quite ironic. I’m also glad to see, that Snyder focuses on the main characters& leaves the other villains out this issue. Didn’t like how they were reduced to canon fodder in the Metal One shots, so hope the other 4 issues continue with that. It was also great to see the Laughing Batman acting more like Batman than Joker. He used his knowledge about Bruce Wayne and his mind against Batman. It’s nice to see him not just crazy like Joker. But the Laughing Batman just looks cool as ever& the art enhances that. I also liked the ending SPOILER it was great to see Gordon reunite with his son James,& I’m wondering what these two are up to. Always felt kind of sorry for him in Batgirl SPOILER ENDING So I’m definitely excited for the next issue.

Batman (the real one) is acting quite crazy and also pretty mean ( towards James Jr.) in this issue, but it’s still a great one. Can’t complain about much here. I especially liked Gordon’s interactions with his son. I already felt sorry for him in Batgirl, so I hope DC gives him a chance to redeem himself ( even so he probably will be a psycho mass murderer again). Have to say the Batman who Laughs is great so far, even so I didn’t like Metal. However Im wondering how James reacted, when Bruce went all crazy at the end. It’s nice to see Batman‘s limits& the alternative versions of him works quite well here. Penguin felt kind of pointless, but guess he’s part of the plan. This mini series keeps being great.

Good issue, even so it was a little bit confusing. Bruce is getting crazier. He’s apparently trying to think like the Batman Who Laughs by becoming him to beat him, but not sure, if that really works. His scene with Joker was quite weird, but also showed how much he’s already lost. These Bruce Waynes are also kind of weird. Gordon is still held hostage& I don’t know, if James Jr. already betrayed both. Guess we’ll find out next issue.

Great issue. This story never gets boring& the Batman Who Laughs is a cool character in this mini series. The Grim Knight is more in the background though. TBWL wants to activate Last Laugh to turn Gothan in a twisted version of itself& Batman, Gordon& James want to stop him. Poisoning the water supplies to harm Gotham citizens is a classic Batman villains plan, so nothing new here, but what makes it really interesting is the interaction between the characters. Batman appears to be disillusioned, even broken due to realizing what the City really is. He appears quite crazy himself, but at the same time I’m thinking he has a plan or has to have one. We will find out next issue. Finding all the dead Bruce Waynes throughout the arc is pretty dark& I like that. TBWL also approaches the Court of Owls& I’m wondering how it will connect to Nightwing. I loved the interaction between Gordon& his son. Glad James Jr. hasn’t betrayed him yet, so I hope DC will keep him as a good guy a little longer. Always felt sorry for him. The interaction between Gordon, Batman& Alfred also was great& felt classic, but new due to Batman changing at the same time. When Alfred was trying to comfort Bruce, I felt sorry for Batman& that’s the scene where things get really exciting. The Batman Who Laughs is a must read for every Batman fan so far& I can’t wait until next issue!

Good issue. I like the Gordon& James Jr. dynamic& I keep wondering, if James really betrays him once again. Or maybe he even gets killed off. As for Bruce he’s acting quite crazy, but I still think he has a plan, so I’ll wait until the final issue. However there are 2 things I didn’t like: When Bruce said: ,,The thing is science doesn’t know a lot about laughter. It’s nature“. Then he is mentioning, what anthropology is saying about laughter& that makes me wonder. Bruce hopefully does realize, that anthropology, the humanities, jurisprudence etc. are all sciences, not just natural science? I find this to be a very unscientific view Bruce is showing here. Could be Joker‘s influence though. Then as much as I like this mini series, but if I compare the way New52/ Rebirth currently is with Pre52 the Batman with his no killing rule we all know has become the exception, not the norm. Pre52 Bruce only turned murderer in a few Elseworlds or on other earths, but in New52/ Rebirth he is doing that on different earths& in the entire dark multiverse. This story turns Batman darker than he might be. Proving that Batman really is no better than the villains he’s fighting, since under the right circumstances he also turns psycho.

Great finale. I think Bruce gave Joker a little too much credit in the end& sounded quite crazy with his evil Batmen are the better Batmen talk, but this could be the gas still talking. Overall this series is a great character study of Batman‘s dark side& it reminds me a lot of Arkham Knight‘s idea: what would have happened if Joker& Bruce became one& the same person. It’s sad, that the Grim Knight doesn’t appear as a real threat in the final issue, since the story concentrates more on the Batman Who Laughs. But I like the interaction between Gordon& his son. I’m also happy, that Snyder gives James Jr. a chance to rehabilitate& the scene hugging his father was nice to watch. I hope other writers don’t mess this up. However given the ending this could change, so I’m not that happy what Snyder did with Gordon at the end. Overall great mini series every Batman fan should check out.

Great issue. It’s a cool Elseworld story, which takes place in the canon timeline, at the same time giving us some background for the Grim Knight. It’s interesting how crazy (or crazier) Batman can be under the right circumstances. Which proves he can be even worse than his villains, when he’s just pushed over the edge. It’s also interesting, that villains like Two Face never became villains in this world. Gordon& Alfred are my favorite ones in this issue. However I personally can’t stand the Grim Knight, the idea of a Batman, who kills is just wrong for me. But that’s the point of the story, so I hope he gets killed at the end. (And as cool as the Laughing Batman is, I hope the same for him.) The art changed, when the past was told. I liked both. So cant wait until The Batman Who Laughs 4 gets released.

This issue sets up Year of the Villains& I’m looking forward to it. However I hope DC will do all the villains justice. That’s my biggest concern. This issue is mainly about both sides recruiting& thinking about, what will come. I question Perpetua‘s taste in the end, but well... Overall I’m curious how this event will fit with other events& whether Doomsday Clock is still a canon story& I hope the upgraded designs will look good as well. We will see.

It wasn’t bad. Some parts of Sionis Pre52 origin story gets referenced& also when he was in charge of Gotham during War Games times I guess, but it feels quite short. He gets the ability to change his face, but doesn’t do anything meaningful with it? Sounds like a big waste.

Finally a good Joker story. Feels like a classic portrayal of the character. Wish we would get more stories like this. However the tie- in with YotV And City of Bane felt quite forced. If you read both, youll know, that these two stories don’t fit with each other anyway.

This is a fun read& we see some Villains getting an award for what fans actually could vote on Twitter etc. The awards arent surprising, since it’s always going to The Villains, who had the big stories this year like The Batman Who Laughs, Bane ( should have been „Worst Villain of the Year) or Flashpoint Batman. While this is fun, it unfortunately also shows, that so many great villains get zero attention by DC. Therefore it’s also frustrating to read.