I could have really gone without the 8 pages at the start of the issue of Lois Lane being abrasive and insufferable, but other than that the issue was an ok start to the over all arch. Get ready for this book to really turn to shit when Gail Simone and Rainbow Rowell write it starting in issue 1067...Ugh it's going to be a painful slog...

"Confess your crimes-- save your immortal soul!" - Alan Scott: The Green Lantern #5, page 5, panel 4.

As far as I'm concerned, these words alone tell you the Alan Scott of AS: TGL is not any Green Lantern we've ever seen before -- certainly not the Golden Age Green Lantern, angry willful clever complicated hero that he was, who never once made a single allusion to religion, who always seemed to believe in nothing but his work and his own two hands and his determination to survive.

The inexplicable insertion of religion as the be-all, end-all of 1940s internalized homophobia is not just reductive but antithetic to the character. Worse still, it seems to have gone almost entirely unacknowledged by audiences at large, as if a sudden case of Catholicism is an acceptable addition to the creation of Jewish artists and writers, as if Alan Scott had not been again and again shown to be concerned with the palpable consequences of the society he lives in and the laws of the time rather than his "immortal soul".

Beyond bad characterisation, dubious art, lamentable pacing, treating random add-ons like the above as fundamental & basic to the character does nobody no favors and only serves to make longtime fans lean into the retcon allegations. Alan's sexuality might not be a retcon and the coding may have been there all along, but you certainly wouldn't know it looking at this book.

This issue, in particular, is also historically illiterate. Most readers might assume this takes place during the Cold War but title cards early on have reliably informed us this is the middle of WWII, and the full scale attack from the USSR at the end makes one question where exactly the writer thinks the Soviet Union stood in WWII and who were its allies (hint: The Big Three).

The degree to which this series is set on resurrecting Red Scare-era propaganda is almost remarkable, from Vladimir finding out the Red Army's betrayal via an American newspaper (the most reliable, trustworthy and objective source of news in the free world, don'tcha know?) to what I've dubbed The Red Scare Squadron being actively contrasted against the brightly-colored, handsome, well-muscled American superheroes... here to save the day for freedom and democracy everywhere at the behest of their good & righteous government.

Ahistorical, anachronistic, vaguely homophobic and deeply out of character is what this comic is and still remains. more

This mini has come to nothing except recons and poor characterizations. If you like this book because you like this iteration, that is one thing. However if you like this cause you, in delusion, think it is anything like Alan was designed to be... well that's a special kind of special.

This feels like character assassination at its finest. Wiping out everything dear to poor Alan. Retroactively reducing my enjoyment of the Alan I know and love from the Golden Age stories. more

Absolute garbage. This story and concept are just lame. This will end up in the dollar bin at some flea market but that is more than it should get.

while i normally quite enjoy Mike Allred's art, this was just an insufferable story to slog through.

Bring back BATMAN '66, but PLEASE do not make Allred have to draw garbage like this. You can even see how much he was not enjoying having to draw this within each panel. Poor guy was probably gritting his teeth the entire time.

The first story was so heavy handed and poorly executed I thought the second story couldn't be any worse....boy was I wrong. Horror done wrong is the only words that come to mind when I think of creep show vol.2 #1. The cover is the only thing good about this issue.

Garbage.

This series is firing on all cylinders. Great series!

Wonder Woman character was created and introduced in All-Star Comics as a character to raise up and unite American people. Now we have CIA's Tom King using the DC Comics issue almost as a parody level of absurdity of targeted hate based on race, gender, and religion. If the roles were different, the DC Comics published tract would be labeled as a "hate crime" piece. But as it is, CIA Tom King's effort to divide and demean is now good "comics fiction."

Wonder Woman is a prisoner of the criminal Sovereign who seeks to brainwash Diana with a "Lasso of Lies," while Wonder Woman hallucinates including a scenes where her daughter uses a bow and arrow to mutilate (and possibly murder?) criminal Sergeant Steel tied to a tree. The comic goes through various out-of-context writing from the Christian Bible, based on a Jewish writer Saul/Paul and his religious teachings based on the Torah (yes, Tom King leaves **THAT** part out for certain), and eventually after I concluding "I do not believe in Your God," Wonder Woman breaks the Lasso of Lies and attacks the criminal Sovereign.

The story begins with Wonder Woman hallucinating about the 1950s era with a sexist, hate-filled version of Steve Trevor, and the criminal Sovereign using a "Lasso of Lies" and quoting Christian religious scripture of Ephesians 5:22 from 2000 years ago, twisting it out of context to make it be a basis for inequality, rather than a basis for love. Furthermore, using a translation that does not match the original text in Greek. And since Tom King wants to use this as a religious attack, the correct statement is: "Submit to one another," NOT "Wives, submit to your husbands."

Tom King also takes out of context Christian Bible passages from Corinthians (based on Paul/Saul's Jewish history and his interpretations of the Jewish Torah), Timothy (again based on Paul/Saul's Jewish history and his interpretations of the Jewish Torah), Titus (once again based on Paul/Saul's Jewish history and his interpretations of the Jewish Torah).

Now if this was Saul, and they were quotations from the Jewish Torah? How would this be viewed in USA today? Would it be considered Anti-Semitic twisting of religious verse to spread anti-Jewish hatred? But since it is Paul who converted to being a "Christian," Tom King views this as "OK."

But the goal here is for Tom King to divide between men and women, religious Christians and others, young and old, and target a certain group as inherently evil. Mr. King fails to note that he actually fits a lot of the element of the inherently evil hate he spews towards others.

No I am not going to rate this comic based on the "backup comic." That would be cowardly and lame dodging. Let's be clear about what this issue of Wonder Woman #8 is: "Hate Crime Tract." It is the same type of thing you would read from racists, those who hate people based on their gender, and those who hate people based on their religion. In fact, it is PRECISELY the type of thing that the Wonder Woman character was created to combat. But now, with the CIA's Tom King, DC Comics has turned Wonder Woman into the very thing she was to defeat: Hate Itself.


I only give this a 1 because there is not any lower score available. It does NOT deserve a 1.

To those of you who think, OK, but I hate old people, I hate white people, I hate men, I hate Christian people, etc., remember - other Hate Mongerers can fill in those labels with different lables. Hate is NOT the Answer and it has no place being praised in comics heroine stories. more

Star is trash. Foxe has her saying she's not a bad person so many times then has her do bad things. Yeah, super funny Steve. Jess talks about going off the tracks then Star happens to blow up the bridge Jess is looking at...again, super funny (eye roll). Star causes tons of destruction that she didn't care about before as long as she got Jessica Drew then doesn't get her when she has the chance and apologizes to the passengers & leaves, off panel. Jessica breaks up a fight over a fucking turkey sandwich??? WTF is this nonsense? This is the first issue of this series I've read and I'm happy to say it will be the last. more

I heard about this issue and HAD to read it and yeah, it's one of King's worst. Damn I miss Greg Rucka. Put simply this is cliche bullshit. The Sovereign is an old man who is incompetent apparently cause he's done NOTHING in this run. Is that what King wants to tell us all, that the patriarchy has no real power beyond what we give it? Dear Lord. Wonder Woman is a stereotypical housewife again. WTF? Same old shit and now it's powerful writing??? It's sad that the most bad ass woman in all of comics is reduced to this trope. Modern day pandering and out of character moments to fit the writers world views just shows that Tom King is nothing more than a hack. A+ art. more

Batman: Dark Age #1 isn't your typical Batman origin story, & that’s only a small part of what makes this book so good. After working together on the hit Superman: Space Age, Mark Russell teams back up w/ artists Mike & Laura Allred to deliver a fresh, & sometimes brutal, take on the Dark Knight's beginnings.

As mentioned, the future-defining events of Crime Alley unfold differently yet their impact is no less heavy. Bruce isn’t present for the events & isn’t immediately thrown into a journey of revenge. Instead, we meet a Bruce who has become Gotham's resident "delinquent son," a brooding rich kid w/ a penchant for trouble & paying off the cops to avoid consequences. We also get to see a fun new twist on Bruce’s first meeting w/ Selina Kyle, which sets up the next issue.

Russell's narration, delivered by an older, possibly unreliable Bruce, casts a cynical light on Wayne Enterprise & the power struggles which occurred until Bruce came of age. He is seemingly aware of the evil organization, the False Face Society, who ran things at Wayne Enterprise in his stead & was behind his parent’s murder. They are hellbent on eliminating the only Wayne heir, but Alfred does everything he can to ensure that doesn’t happen. The older Bruce’s recollections of Alfred’s impact on his life are some of the best writing in the book.

Mike Allred's designs are a perfect match for Russell's narrative. He utilizes a retro motif the exudes nostalgia w/ bold lines and it’s complemented superbly by Laura Allred’s vibrant colors. The two create a Gotham that is feels classic, yet unsettling. The world feels like it's teetering on the brink of chaos, a perfect breeding ground for the Russell’s script. It’s a great juxtaposition to the all-white, pristine future Gotham the two create to show how Thomas Wayne envisioned what the city could have become.

This was a bold & audacious reinvention of the Batman origin story. It's a dark, suspenseful tale that will leave you eager to see where this alternate history takes us next & how this version of Bruce ends up becoming the Caped Crusader. more

Ugh, I really wish DC would just stop hiring Mark Russell. The guy gives hack writers a bad name. He might have a shot at writing a decent comic if he didn't inject his warped perspective on issues and turn your favourite characters into dislikable muppets. This book is destined for some 60% dollar bin in a flea market but even at that price I would say you're over paying.

A very weak ending. Ohhh it was magic so everything just goes back to where it was before. Aaron built a scenario and then took the easy solution to resolve the story. Having Bizarro trapped in Superman's mind wasn't a bad twist but it wasn't that exciting either. the character of Bizzarro is a cardboard stand in at best with no real use of the character to make the reader care what he is doing or what happens to him. A story full of potential but just fizzled out. Better than the previous crap I guess. more

This not am Bizarro story. Bizarro am funny. Bizarro am looney. Bizarro no am evil. Me like old Bizarro, not new Bizarro.

I will say, I have more hope for the next issues by Joshua then I do this arc. I liked the start, but it just never got great. It was only ok. It never really felt like it got to the unique story it wanted to tell.

While there were a couple of good moments like the joker knowing he would turn back, and the ice cream truck scenes, so much of the story was just told and not shown. Aaron did the opposite of what a good writer should do. We apparently get an epic Joker vs Bizarro battle of wits vs violence but we never get to see it. We are told Superman is Superman but we never see his resolve besides a small panel or two. It just glosses over some of the best stuff to get through the story.

This felt rushed and if this is what Aaron is going to give us for Action Comics, I am not impressed. more

I’m tired of stories taking place inside a broken hero’s psyche. I’m tired of Joker deconstruction. I’m tired of cities under siege. I feel like Jason Aaron and Chip Zdarsky are the same person. Bring on Josh Williamson!

Meh. Had the potential to be good but failed to do so. Thankfully it didn't have the "Super Family" in it but that only went so far. The main problem is that the story involves magic...So any problem can be explained away with use of magic. There is no real risk here. Also, the motivations of Bizzaro are muddled. Why wouldn't he just us magic to bring back his own lost Bizzaro World? Anyway, an average story with good art. more

this issue had a lot of exposition that made it a chore to read, but the ending got me hooked and made it more interesting.

After an exciting, well-written first chapter, this new chapter turns into a mess. A little Bizarro goes a long way. A lot of Bizarro makes for a muddled, inconsistent read, and to make matters worse, the writer throws in a time jump and doesn’t consistently follow the backwards logic he laid out. We end up a story in which Superman needs to battle an adversary inside his own mind, which Chip Zdarsky has struggled to do with Batman on that title for 20 months. Very disappointing issue, though the art was very nice, hence the above average rating. more