Category: DC Superhero

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Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps volume 1


By Peter J. Tomasi, James Robinson, J.T. Krul, Ardian Syaf, Eddie Barrows, Allan Goldman, Ed Benes & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2804-0

After years of inexorable build-up, when the Blackest Night finally dawned, it was, like death itself, unavoidable and inescapable. The Event permeated and saturated every aspect of DC’s publishing schedule and found almost every hero and villain living, dead or provably otherwise an active participant in a final clash between Darkness and Light…

The basic premise of the crisis was simple and delicious. All those times when a hero or villain physically came back from the dead, it wasn’t a miracle – or even fashion and comicbook market forces – but part of a cunning plan by a cosmic death god to end all life.

The ghastly ultimate antithesis Nekron had simply allowed the likes of Jason Todd, Superman, Superboy, Donna Troy, Bart Allen and all the rest to return as strands of an infinitely patient plan to replace the lights of life’s emotional spectrum with the silent ebon glow of ultimate, all-encompassing nothingness…

Reprinted here are three of the supplemental 3-part miniseries which accompanied and garnished the main event. Blackest Night: Batman, Blackest Night: Superman and Blackest Night: Titans were first released in released in 2009 to augment the culminating saga, but in isolation make for pretty confusing reading so best ensure you have a copy of the collected Blackest Night on hand unless you want a killer headache…

Blackest Night: Batman ‘Who Burns Who’ (Peter J. Tomasi, Ardian Syaf, Vicente Cifuentes & John Dell) is a blistering introduction to the epic event as, in Gotham City, new Batman Dick Grayson and latest Robin Damian Wayne examine the desecrated family graveyard where recently Flash and Green Lantern battled someone impossible who did something horrible…

As they tend to the shattered open graves, in the distant Himalayas Ghostly Guardian Deadman is attacked by his own reanimated corpse. Attempting to re-possess his resurgent black be-ringed skeleton, Boston Brand is drowned in a ghastly torrent of memories and discovers how Death’s agent Black Hand has brought about the Blackest Night…

In the skies above Gotham, a plane carrying the cadavers of many of the Dark Knight’s foes is shredded by Black Lantern Rings seeking beings of power and malice to resurrect.

Soon Blockbuster, the Ventriloquist, KGBeast, Magpie, Deacon Blackfire, King Snake, Abattoir and the Trigger Twins are on a rampage of slaughter just as Deadman tracks down his old friend Batman and discovers the one true Gotham Guardian is also gone…

As the phantom brings the substitute heroes up to speed on the Big Black Picture, more ebony power-rings rain down, programmed to cause maximum grief and pain.

Soon Grayson’s murdered parents are stalking the streets hunting for their heroic son, as are Tim Drake‘s (third Robin and currently operating as vigilante Red Robin) long-gone Mum and Dad…

With Deadman in agony as he taps into the ravening hunger of the undead horde, the Caped Crusaders realise that all of Gotham is under attack by the rapacious Black Lanterns…

Feeding on emotions, the zombies bolster their forces with every life they take, and Batman and Robin are forced to the regrettable extreme of tooling up with incendiary weapons from the National Guard armoury as, in the centre of town, Police Headquarters is slowly being drowned in undead berserkers.

Soon only Commissioner Jim Gordon and his wheelchair-bound daughter Babs are left to hold a Horatian rearguard action when the Dynamic Duo arrive with flamethrowers blazing…

Even then the effects are only temporary as the necrotic rings constantly reassemble the blazing Lanterns. With Deadman’s surreptitious assistance – and thanks to Red Robin’s timely arrival – the Gordons make a spectacular escape, but with the situation already beyond dire, the shaken survivors decide on a potentially catastrophic remedy and have Brand possess misanthropic occultist Jason Blood.

As the Batman Family are furiously fighting their own bloodthirsty dearly departed, Deadman is wearing the moody modern mystic and rushing to the rescue. Blood’s esoteric knowledge might be of some use in this situation, but the actual plan is to go for broke by releasing Etrigan the Demon from his immortal mortal cage and hoping they can all survive the Prince of Hell’s understandable and predictable outrage…

At roughly the same time in Kansas, Blackest Night: Superman began with ‘A Sleepy Little Town’ by James Robinson, Eddy Barrows, Ruy José & Julio Ferreira. Here the alternate-Earth Man of Steel Kal-L erupts from his grave to attack Superman and recently reborn Superboy Conner Kent as they visit the family farm.

Distracted by the blistering blockbuster blitzkrieg, the Kryptonian combatants rampage all over the state in a perfect storm of destruction. Thus only faithful hound Krypto is left to protect ideal mom Martha Kent when Black Lantern Lois Lane-Kent of Earth-2 arrives, hungry for human hearts and emotional sustenance…

Meanwhile on the freshly established planet New Krypton the dead are also rising, and Supergirl and her mother Alura are confronted by the last man they ever thought they’d see again…

On Earth, Smallville is deserted except for BLs Kal-L and Lois who hold Martha hostage in ‘Psycho Piracy!’ The long-dead master of emotion has also macabrely reincarnated and the entire township has succumbed to his spell. When Ma Kent boldly makes a break for freedom, Superboy falls under the Psycho Pirate’s power too and turns on “big brother” Superman, whilst on New Krypton Supergirl vainly fights back against her dead dad…

‘The Long Dark Night’ (with additional pencils from Allan Goldman and inks by Eber Ferreira) sees Kryptonian science and Supergirl’s indomitable spirit drive off and exile all Black Lanterns from the embattled artificial world, whilst on Earth Krypto rockets to the rescue in Smallville, allowing Superman and Superboy to overcome and apparently deactivate Kal-L, Lois and the Psycho Pirate.

Apparently…

This initial sub-collection of Black Lantern butchery wraps up with Blackest Night: Titans as the teen team is similarly targeted by their beloved lost ones…

‘When Death Comes Knocking’ by J.T. Krul, Ed Benes, Rob Hunter, Jon Sibal & JP Mayer, begins as the current team visits their hall of dead heroes. The Titans have lost more than their fair share of friends and comrades, but at least two have returned from the grave – Superboy and Bart Allen, the second Kid Flash…

As the mournful group parts, a Black Lantern ring finds the grave of Don Hall, (first Avatar of Peace to carry the code-name Dove) but is unable to rouse the fallen defender as he is “at peace”.

His belligerent fallen brother Hank, however, is not…

In WashingtonDC current Hawk and Dove Holly and Dawn Granger are the resurrected raptor’s quarry and despite their best efforts he hunts them down and slaughters his successor.

On Titans Island, Beast Boy Gar Logan is visited by dead and deadly Tara Markoff, who joined the team as Terra only to betray and kill them. Gar has always loved her and, despite knowing she’s evil, again falls for her “little lost girl” act, even as Cyborg and Starfire are ambushed by departed telepath Omen…

In her home, Amazon powerhouse Donna Troy finds her dead husband Terry and baby Robert calling out to her, but many other Titans are simply attacked rather than beguiled. In ‘Bite the Hand That Feeds’ (by Krul, Benes & Scott Williams), dead baby Robert – who had only just cut his second tooth when he was taken – used them to bite his traumatised, grieving mother and infect with her toxic, terminal darkness, just as Terra turns on Gar and two undead Hawks pursue the frantic furious Dove as she flies for help…

Kid Flash and Wonder Girl Cassie Sandsmark rescue Donna and begin to orchestrate a defence when Tara brings their skyscraper HQ down around them, leaving all the living heroes together at last but surrounded by their murderously-intentioned loved ones.

As an army of reincarnated Black Lantern Titans close in, hope blossoms in the Capitol when Holly tries to consume her sister and finds Dove impossible to “swallow” as her Black Lantern ring malfunctions…

‘When Doves Cry’ (Krul & Ed Benes) sees Donna, Kid Flash, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Wonder Girl and Starfire valiantly battling a dozen of their past team-mates and loved ones with little effect when Dove unexpectedly arrives. Exhausted and desperate, the Angel of Peace is seemingly easy meat for her closely pursuing dead sister, but as she readies herself for death, Dove suddenly emits a burst of light which melts her attacker. A second wave vaporises the entire attacking Black Lantern horde, and Dawn suddenly experiences an impossible vision…

Saved by an unimagined power they cannot understand, the weary Titans prepare to strike back at the cause of all their woes, unaware that the dark infection in Donna is gradually turning her into something Black and deadly…

This initial volume also includes covers and variants by Andy Kubert, Barrows, Benes, Hunter, Bill Sienkiewicz, Shane Davis, Sandra Hope, Brian Haberlin, George Perez, and a big section of design and data pages by Joe Prado, uncovering the facts on thirty Black Lantern villains.

Fast-paced and action-packed, this is an impressive and pretty selection of comic thrills, spills and chills – unless you haven’t read Blackest Night (and preferably Blackest Night: Green Lantern and Blackest Night: Green Lantern Corps too). If not, it probably feels like repeatedly hitting yourself in the head with shovel dipped in dayglo coffin liquor.

No, don’t visualise: just read the series in a sensible order. You won’t be sorry (and your split skull won’t glow like a rainbow in the dark)…
© 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Blackest Night: Rise of the Black Lanterns


By Geoff Johns, Tony Bedard, Dan Didio, J.T. Krul, Dennis O’Neil, Greg Rucka, James Robinson, Peter J. Tomasi, Eric Wallace & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-4012-2806-4

After years of inexorable build-up, when the Blackest Night finally dawned it was, like death itself, unavoidable and inescapable. The event permeated and saturated every aspect of DC’s publishing schedule and even prompted the one-time-only resurrection of a number of beloved but deceased titles for one more clash of Darkness and Light.

Those all new final issues are gathered here in an intriguing but rather incomprehensible tome… unless you read it in conjunction with the other books in the monolithic crossover sequence.

The basic premise of Blackest Night was simple and smart. All those times when a hero or villain actually came back from the dead, it wasn’t a miracle or the triumph of abiding will but part of a patient plan by a cosmic death-god to end all life. The ghastly Nekron had merely permitted the likes of Superman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Flash, the Doom Patrol and so many, many others to return to the land of the living simply to pave the way for a long-intended mass rising of the dead.

This particular trade paperback compilation – one of seven collecting the colossal saga – features individual skirmishes from the thanatopical war and encompasses The Atom and Hawkman #46, Phantom Stranger #42, Green Arrow #30, Adventure Comics #7, Starman #81, The Question #37, Catwoman #83, Weird Western Tales #71 and Power of Shazam #48, all cunningly designed to appeal to older fans whilst intensifying that all-pervading sense of doom and manic energy craved like a drug by modern comicbook readers…

One further word of warning however: these stories were released at separate times as the saga ran its course and, whilst maintaining a uniformly high quality of illustration throughout, are not meant to be read in isolation. For full comprehension you really, really need to have the other books to hand or at least fresh in your mind.

Following a crucial prose section detailing ‘The Story So Far…’ the off-camera action commences with ‘Bye Bye Birdie!’ by Geoff Johns, Ryan Sook & Fernando Pasarin (from The Atom and Hawkman #46), wherein ill-starred scientist Ray Palmer is forced to re-examine his traumatic career as The Atom before he is deputised into the mysterious Indigo Tribe.

These enigmatic aliens utilise the cool Light of Compassion and their adoption of the much-travelled physicist enables him to fight off not only the lethal Black Lantern assaults of his greatest friends Hawkman and Hawkgirl but also the dark psychological thrusts of his deranged dead wife Jean, incidentally saving the universe into the bargain…

Next follows Phantom Stranger #42, with ‘Deadman Walking’ by Peter J. Tomasi, Ardian Syaf & Vicente Cifuentes once more pairing the immortal wanderer with deceased acrobat and Agent of Cosmic Balance Boston Brand – with spooky fan-favourite Blue Devil thrown in for good measure.

With the Earth’s dead enslaved to an occult invader, even the omnipotent Spectre is now trying to wipe out all life and the Stranger determines that passion rather than might will win the day.

To this end he seeks out the former Deadman – currently residing in Earthly paradise Nanda Parbat – but Brand is already fully involved in the cosmic struggle as his own corpse has been reanimated by a Black Ring and is currently assaulting the spiritual haven to end forever the tortured existence of the ethereal avenger…

With the immediate threat ended by the champions of Life, Deadman, who has gleaned wisps on information about an unsuspected “White Light”, sets out to warn the other heroes battling against Nekron’s Black onslaught…

‘Lying To Myself’ by J.T. Krul, Diogenes Neves, Ruy José & Cifuentes, from Green Arrow #30, offers a glimpse into the workings of the ravenous revenants by highlighting the inner struggles of the once Emerald Archer.

As his moral spirit struggles against the programming of the Black Ring animating his corpse and compelling it to kill best friend Hal Jordan, the newly returned to true life Barry Allen and his own wife Black Canary, the first inklings of wilful independence return.

Also in his sights but far less reluctant to fight back are Oliver Queen’s son Connor Hawke and current Speedy sidekick Mia Dearden, but even together they can do little to stop the relentless Black Arrow. It takes Oliver’s own indomitable will, bolstered by happy memories of the loved ones he’s stalking, to overrule Nekron’s vile programming and score a major hit against the Black Lantern army…

In Adventure Comics #7 a similar situation occurred in ‘What Did Black Lantern Superboy Do?’ by Tony Bedard, Travis Moore, Dan Green, Keith Champagne & Bob Wiacek, as the clonal Boy of Steel reviews his short but eventful life to combat the effects of the ebon band which had brought him back to kill his Teen Titan friends.

Again love conquered death as, whilst battling his superdog Krypto and lover Wonder Girl, their valiant resistance enabled Connor Kent to throw off the Black Lantern influence and even return to true life – for the second time…

The immortal Shade took centre stage in Starman #81 as David Knight disinterred himself to become the ‘Blackest Night Starman’ (by James Robinson, Fernando Dagnino & Bill Sienkiewicz). The firstborn son of the original Astral Avenger was only a hero for scant days before being murdered and now carves a path of frustrated death through OpalCity until the enigmatic Demon of Darkness defeated him.

Moreover when Nekron’s ring tries to assimilate the Shade it turns and flees from a blackness even deeper than death…

‘One More Question’ (The Question #37 by Dennis O’Neill, Denys Cowan, Sienkiewicz & John Stanisci) sees new truth-seeker Rene Montoya challenged to a test of skill by martial arts assassin Lady Shiva, even as the world is rent by rapacious revenants. The new Question is then saved by the old, who also finds his past a partial bulwark against Nekron’s enslavement, whilst the living duellists’ embracing of Zen philosophy subsequently starves the black zombie of the emotional fuel it needs to survive…

Catwoman #83 provided the Feline Fury with an opportunity for more vengeance when the sadistic madman she executed returns in ‘Night and the City’ by Bedard, Fabrizio Fiorentino, Ibraim Roberson, Marcos Marz, and Luciana Del Negro.

Roman Sionis was the first crime overlord to use the name Black Mask: torturing, maiming and killing members of Selina Kyle‘s family but his raging return and hunger for payback is thwarted by Catwoman’s stubbornness and the timely intervention of her allies Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn.

Weird Western Tales #71 offered a distant and different perspective as ‘And the South Shall Rise Again’ (Dan Didio & Renato Arlem) found Joshua Turnbull – descendent of Jonah Hex‘s greatest enemy – and technological corporate raider Simon Stagg pooling their vast resources to capture and forensically examine one of the deadly Black Rings. Unfortunately that only brings the unstoppable wrath of a vast posse of dead Cowboys and Indians such as Bat Lash, Super Chief, Scalphunter, The Trigger Twins and even Hex himself down on the doomed entrepreneur-scientists…

This bestiary of the bizarre concludes with Power of Shazam #48 as ‘Rest in Peace’ (by Eric Wallace, Don Kramer & Michael Babinski) explores the troubled soul of murdered Black Marvel Osiris; recalled to a semblance of life by the power of the Black Lanterns.

Baffled and bewildered, the mighty lad is driven by dark hungers but glad to see his best friend Sobek has also returned – even though the crocodile man killed and consumed him the last time they met.

However the memory of friendship and love betrayed drives the infuriated zombie to savagely settle his differences forever and even Nekron’s Ring’s cannot override the emotional storm within…

This book also contains covers and variants by Ryan Sook, Ardian Syaf & Vicente Cifuentes, Greg Horn, Aaron Lopresti, Tony Harris, Cully Hamner & Dave McCaig, Adam Hughes, Bill Sienkiewicz, Jerry Ordway & Alex Sinclair, Mike Grell & Francis Manapul and a selection of info pages digging the dirt on (unlucky) 13 Black Lantern heroes and villains from the collection by Ethan Van Scriver & Joe Prado.

Alternatively action-packed and moodily suspenseful, this ambitious epic, whilst cunningly manipulative of the subtler shades of continuity, will be utterly impenetrable to all but the most devoted DC disciple, but there’s so much that is great about Blackest Night that I’d strongly urge every fan addicted to Cosmic Costumed Drama to give it a try (but you really, really need to read Blackest Night, Blackest Night: Green Lantern and Blackest Night: Green Lantern Corps if not all seven collections). Think of it as a valuable funnybook exercise to stave of the Grim Reaper of boredom…
© 2010 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Blackest Night


By Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, Oclair Albert & Joe Prado (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2953-5

After years of inexorable build-up, and following a plethora of end-of-everything crossover crises, when the Blackest Night at last dawned it was, like death itself, unavoidable and inescapable. The Major Publishing Event permeated and saturated every aspect of DC’s publishing schedule and even caused the one-night-only resurrection of a number of deceased titles for even more clashes between Darkness and Light…

The basic premise of the event was simple and delicious. All those times when a hero or villain actually came back from the dead, it wasn’t a miracle but merely part of a cunning plan by a cosmic death god to end all life.

The ghastly Nekron had just allowed the likes of Superman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Flash, Jason Todd and all the rest to return as strands of its infinitely patient plan to replace the lights of life’s emotional spectrum with the ebon gleam of ultimate, all-encompassing death…

The bare bones of the crisis were recounted in the core 8-issue miniseries Blackest Night by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis & Oclair Albert (with additional inking from Rob Hunter, Julio Ferreira & Joe Prado); collected in this volume with background material from the supplementary and complementary Blackest Night Director’s Cut one-shot.

The cosmic catastrophe had been building since time began (in continuity terms, but only a couple of years in the published comics) so, following an Introduction from movie producer Donald De Line and a few brief recap notes, the terror at last launches with ‘Prologue: Death Becomes Us’ as resurrected best friends Hal (Green Lantern) Jordan and Barry (Flash) Allen stand in the Wayne family cemetery, reminiscing on the manners of their respective demises and returns, as well as the friends and comrades they have lost in their lives.

Elsewhere, Black Hand, earthly avatar of Nekron and instigator of the eternally dreaded Blackest Night, rises from his own unquiet grave…

Issue #1 then commences as Hand unearths Bruce Wayne‘s skull and summons a horde of Black Lantern rings from the cold, dark void, commanding them to find corpses to reanimate: hungry souls to feed and fester on the broken hearts of the still-living…

On a day dedicated to remembering the dead in newly rebuilt Coast City (site of the greatest domestic massacre in US history), Jordan and fellow Green Lanterns John Stewart, Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner are attending a commemoration service and contemplating their own personal failures.

At the grave in Smallville, Martha, Clark and Connor Kent mourn the loss of family patriarch Jonathan.

In San Francisco, the Teen Titans wander through their hall of the dead, remembering their many fallen friends whilst in Central City Flash’s Rogues Gallery pay their unique respects to expired associates at the criminal cemetery Avernus.

In Metropolis the Justice Society of America and other costumed champions gather their thoughts as they honour their own fallen few in the forested memorial gardens of Valhalla.

On a solitary stretch of coastline the lonely grave of Aquaman is tended only by his wife Mera and former sidekick Tempest.

Later, Hal informs Barry of who else has died whilst the Flash was gone. The Speedster is appalled by how many heroes have passed – and which ones have since returned…

In deepest space the Guardians of the Universe are finally forced to admit their eons-long plan and convoluted efforts to forestall the prophesied Blackest Night have failed when one of their number – “Scar” – reveals she has been corrupted by the dark and brutally slaughters one of the immortal aliens.

The murder is the trigger for a wave of black rings to possess the corpses of heroes, villains and significant loved ones throughout the universe. On Oa, dead and cherished Corps champions return as Black Lanterns to kill their living comrades. On Earth a wave of still-missed dearly-departed stalk their nearest and dearest, generating love, grief, terror, compassion and other blazing emotions which the zombies use to fuel their rings – and something else…

When traumatised Alfred Pennyworth summons Hal and Barry to Bruce Wayne’s desecrated grave they are ambushed by the revenant of their beloved comrade J’onn J’onzz, even as in St. Roch, Hawkman and Hawkgirl are attacked and killed by the cruelly sneering corpses of the Elongated Man and his wife Sue Dibny…

The second chapter opens as the Black Lantern Hawkman lures his closest friend Ray Palmer into a trap. The Atom was already dejected by the crushing realisation that although his own dead wife Jean murdered Sue and started a bloody war between heroes, he loves her still…

In Gotham Jim Gordon and his daughter Barbara are on hand when Jordan comes crashing to Earth, whilst in Amnesty Bay, Tempest and Mera are confronted by the cadaverous Aquaman they so recently grieved over…

…And in a Gotham graveyard, ghostly guardian Deadman is reeling in psychic shock at the spiritual disturbances. The raw emotion is greatly intensified when his own corpse rises, called back into murderous physicality by a black ring.

The ubiquitous gems are not infallible however. When one targets the final resting place of Don Hall the hero dubbed Dove stays buried and “at peace”. The same is not true of his bellicose brother Hank, who rises as a bleak and even more savage Hawk…

Drawn to Deadman’s grave, a cadre of mystic heroes comprising Zatanna, Blue Devil, Phantom Stranger and The Spectre are confronted by the cadaver of pan-dimension doomsmith Pariah. Although even the black rings cannot affect the Stranger, they manage to separate the divine force of the Spectre from its latest mortal host – murdered cop Crispus Allen…

As Flash and Green Lantern continue their battle against Black Hand, Tempest dies and only Mera escapes the savage attacks of Black Aquaman. Events turn truly grim when Nekron’s earthly agent manifests an army of dead Justice Leaguers and sets them after Barry and Hal…

The bombastic battle looks a foregone conclusion until the Atom appears. Although ambushed by Hawkman, the incredible shrinking man had survived by hiding within his attacker’s monstrous black ring…

At Justice League HQ, Jason Rusch – who, with his girlfriend Gehenna, forms the fusion hero Firestorm – is trying to get a grip on the situation when Mera breaks in. Meanwhile Hal, Ray and Barry are saved from certain doom when the enigmatic alien Indigo Tribe arrive, using their brand of light to sever the Black Ring connections to their zombie hosts.

The exhausted heroes then join Firestorm and Mera, as the Indigo priestess reveals the secret and true history of the universe and how the seven hues of the Emotional Spectrum must unite to end the threat of the Blackest Night – a scheme to return creation to its cold, dark and unendingly lifeless primordial state…

The extraterrestrial shamans also reveal how the seemingly indestructible emotion-eating horrors can be disrupted by any two light forces acting in unison – although green and any other works best…

The powwow is interrupted by the dead Leaguers who again mercilessly attack. As the Indigo Tribe vanish – taking a horrified, unwilling Hal with them – the fight immediately goes bad. Black Lantern Firestorm Ronnie Raymond merges with Jason and Gehenna’s incarnation, killing the girl whilst repossessing and dominating the Nuclear Man’s composite form…

With victory already assured, a new flight of black rings then reanimates the collection of unclaimed super-villain cadavers stored at the JLA facility…

Issue #4 opens as the army of the Unliving Dead corners Flash, Atom and Mera. With his last surge of willpower, Jason takes back control of the Firestorm frame, allowing Flash and Atom to transport the embattled companions to relative safety. Before being again subsumed, Rusch also reveals that the inimical force behind the rings needs Barry to be dead.

All life and hope somehow depends on the Flash staying ahead of the Black Lanterns…

A fightback begins in Gotham and Metropolis as the Scarecrow and Lex Luthor are singled out by the Yellow Light of Fear and Orange Light of Greed, whilst Flash ponders on the fact that only the dead with emotional ties to heroes and villains are rising.

The uncountable mass of “ordinary”, unknown dead people are staying that way…

The battered, enlightened trio then travel to Manhattan to link up with the Justice Society survivors, before Barry begins his self-appointed mission to warn and inspire everybody left alive; staying always one step ahead of those implacable Black Lanterns…

As pockets of resistance such as the JSA and Teen Titans endure on Earth, in space a colossal Black Power Battery, fuelled by the collected emotions of everyone slaughtered by reanimated ring-bearers, nears completion.

As Flash travels the world telling every hero to converge on CoastCity, Nekron at last arrives…

One word of warning: this saga was merely part and parcel of a plethora of stories simultaneously occurring as the Event ran its course. Whilst maintaining a uniformly high quality of illustration throughout, the story is never meant to be read in isolation. For full comprehension you really, really need to have the other books to hand or at least fresh in your mind.

Thus, subsequent to actions seen in other venues, Chapter Five opens as Hal – kept busy since his abduction – musters a rainbow coalition of individuals – mostly old colour wielding enemies like Sinestro, Star Sapphire, Atrocitus and Larfleeze.

They are to unite and work together under the direction of rebel Guardians Ganthet and Sayd to reclaim the night, even as on Earth Flash confronts supreme antithesis Nekron and his herald Black Hand.

He is suddenly reinforced by his former protégé and successor Wally West and an army of resurgent (and mostly resurrected) heroes from the JLA and Titans. In Manhattan the last stand of the JSA sees Ray and Mera captured by the Atom’s Black Lantern wife Jean and taken on a subatomic voyage of discovery inside a Black Ring…

Just as Scar joins Nekron, bringing the Black Power Battery to CoastCity, Hal’s Rainbow Corps arrives but their concerted attack has negligible effect. When a Black Lantern Batman manifests and turns Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Superboy, Kid Flash, Donna Troy and many more into black ring copse warriors, Hal realises the living victims have one thing in common – they’ve all returned from the dead before.

Of all resurrected heroes, only he and Barry remain alive and with minds of their own…

Within the Black Ring, Ray and Mera are joined by Deadman who warns them that every Black Lantern in the universe is now headed for Earth, frantically urging them to get out and warn the living…

In the greater universe Ganthet takes drastic steps as the ultimate secret of the Emotional Spectrum is revealed. Working in unity, wielders of the seven individual wavelengths can form the pure White Light of Life and turn back death – but first the rings have to find exactly the right people to wear them…

Chapter Seven sees the beginning of the end as that lucky septet confront the triumphant Nekron, even as Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner assemble every ring wearer of every colour in the spectrum and lead them in Life’s last desperate counterattack…

At ground zero a minor hero named Dawn Granger changes everything. The successor to Don Hall is the new Dove, Avatar of Peace and her simplest touch destroys Black Lanterns. Calmly making her way through the legions of doom, she liberates Nekron’s hidden power source whilst the death lord is occupied killing an undying Guardian…

The lord of death’s actual intention is then revealed as a gleaming white Entity manifests: it is personification of the universal lifeforce and everything Nekron has undertaken over billions of years has been simply so that he could get close enough to kill it…

With all existence about to succumb to eternal darkness, one of the assembled champions must assume the power of a White Lantern to literally save everything…

Of course, following even more astounding battle and plot twists, life wins – but in the aftermath only twelve of the hordes who have perished are reborn, and those blessed individuals and the universe aren’t out of the dark woods yet…

But that’s all tackled in the sequel series ‘Brightest Day’, proving some things truly are eternal…

With every cover from Reis and Albert accompanied by its un-inked pencil artwork, this cosmic compilation also includes another nine variants by Ethan Van Sciver, Mauro Cascioli, Rodolfo Migliari, Doug Mahnke & Christian Alamy, Director’s Commentary from Johns, Reis, Albert, Prado, colourist Alex Sinclair, letterer Nick J. Napolitano plus editorial bods Adam Schlagman and Eddie Berganza, Deleted Scenes and a selection of info pages digging the dirt on Nekron, The Entity and Sinestro courtesy of designers Reis and Prado.

Bombastic, complex, thrilling, incredibly ambitious and awesomely impressive, Blackest Night shows exactly what superhero comics can be – but might also be why so many casual readers and newcomers to the art form apparently can’t handle them.

© 2009, 2010 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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World’s Finest


By Sterling Gates, Julian Lopez, Ramon F. Bachs, Jamal Igle, Phil Noto & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2797-5

For decades the Man of Tomorrow and Caped Crusader were quintessential superhero partners: the “World’s Finest team”. The affable champions were best buddies as well as mutually respectful colleagues and their pairing made sound financial sense since DC’s top heroes could happily cross-pollinate and cross-sell their combined readerships.

During the 1950s most superheroes of the American Golden Age faded away leaving only headliners Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman (plus whoever they could carry in the back of their assorted titles) to carry on a rather genteel campaign against a variety of thugs, monsters and aliens.

With economics and rising costs also dictating a reduction in average page counts, the once-sumptuous anthology World’s Finest Comics (originally 96 pages per issue), which had featured solo adventures of DC’s flagship heroes plus a wealth of other features, simply combined the twin stars into a single lead story every issue, beginning with #71, July-August 1954.

And so they proceeded until 1970 when another drop in superhero fortunes saw WFC become a Superman team-up book with rotating guest partners. However, after a couple of years, the original relationship was rekindled and renewed and, with the World’s Finest Heroes fully restored to their bizarrely apt pre-eminence, enjoyed another lengthy run until the title was cancelled during Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985-1986.

The maxi-series rewrote the DC universe, and everything was further shaken up by John Byrne’s subsequent retooling The Man of Steel which re-examined all the Caped Kryptonian’s close relationships in a darker, more cynical light.

When the characters were redefined for the post-Crisis era, they were recast as suspiciously respectful co-workers who did the same job but deplored each other’s methods and preferred to avoid contact whenever possible – except when they were in the Justice League of America (but for the sake of your sanity, don’t fret that right now!).

Over the following few years of this new status quo the irresistible lure of Cape & Cowl Capers inexorably brought them together again, but now with added modern emotional intensity derived from their incontestable differences.

Moreover, sentimental fools that we comics fans are, the sheer emotional cachet (and perhaps copyright value of the brand) ensured that every so often a new iteration of the singular title was released to keep all interested parties happy…

Thus this moody, cleverly post-modern 21st century spin on the irresistible combination of heroic dynasties which gathers World’s Finest volume 4, #1-4 from December 2009-March 2010, set during the period of the recent overarching Superman publishing event “World of New Krypton/World Without Superman”, wherein 100,000 Kryptonians who have escaped imprisonment in the Bottle City of Kandor gain superpowers under Sol’s light, and build themselves a planet in our solar system…

The book also contains supplementary material from Action Comics #865, 2008 and DC Comics Presents #31, 1981.

With the Man of Steel’s arch-nemesis General Zod prominent and pre-eminent in the newly re-established society of New Krypton, and most of Earth crazy-paranoid about a world full of belligerent supermen flying around in their backyard, Kal-El has abandoned his adopted homeworld to keep an eye on the system’s newest immigrants…

Earth is not completely defenceless, however. As well as the JLA and Superman’s hand-picked replacement Mon-El of Daxam, Supergirl and a mysterious “Superwoman” still fly the skies and top-secret, sinister paramilitary, anti-alien task force Project 7734 is watching, certain that there are other ET insurgents just waiting in hiding…

Against such a backdrop this quartet of interlinked team-ups written by Sterling Gates charts a heroic procession which begins with ‘Nightwing and Red Robin’ (illustrated by Julian Lopez and Bit) and finds the latest Kryptonian to use the appellative seek out the third Boy Wonder’s aid in rescuing his partner Flamebird from the insidious criminal broker The Penguin…

In Case You Weren’t Paying Attention: “The Dynamic Duo of Kandor” were first created by pulp author Edmond Hamilton with artists Curt Swan & George Klein for Superman #158 (January 1963, ‘Superman in Kandor!’) which saw raiders from the Kryptonian enclave attacking the Man of Steel and painting him as a traitor to his people.

The baffled Superman then infiltrated the BottleCity with Jimmy Olsen where they created Batman and Robin-inspired masked identities Nightwing and Flamebird to ferret out an answer.

Over intervening decades the roles were reprised by a number of others in Kandor and on Earth, before eventually being appropriated for Bat-characters when Dick Grayson became Nightwing and original Batgirl Bette Kane re-branded herself as Flamebird.

The latest heroes to use the names are Kryptonians masquerading as human heroes during this time of xenophobic hysteria: failed soldier and former priest Thara Ak-Var and Lor-Zod, a boy born in the Phantom Zone and briefly adopted by Lois and Clark Kent (for further details check out Superman: Nightwing and Flamebird volume 1).

With Thara captive, the former Christopher Kent has tracked down Tim Drake, whom he had previously met. They unite to rescue Flamebird, consequently uncovering an insidious, wide-ranging plan involving many members of their respective crime-busting clans as well as villains Kryptonite Man and the robotic Toyman…

With mission accomplished the heroes are replaced in #2 by ‘Guardian and Robin’ (art by Ramon F. Bachs & Rodney Ramos) as the clone of 1940s mystery man Jim Harper tries to fill the Man of Steel’s shoes in Metropolis, battling human Xerox machine Riot, only to run into the latest iteration of Robin (Damien Wayne, son of Bruce and Talia Al Ghul).

The acerbic, abrasive, assassin-trained 10-year old is tracking stolen Waynetech gear and won’t let super creeps like Mr. Freeze or the life-leeching Parasite stand in his way – even if it means having to work with sanctimonious old fogeys like the Golden Guardian. Sadly neither generation of hero is aware that Toyman will intercept their prisoners as soon as they hand them over to the cops…

In another part of Metropolis, cyber-crusader Oracle contacts the undercover Girl of Steel for a mission. The enigmatic data-wrangler has tracked Freeze and Kryptonite Man to Gotham but her usual operatives have been captured by the mystery mastermind behind the plot. Flying to the rescue, Kara Zor-El effects their rescue but chooses not to work with the morally-ambiguous Catwoman. She has no problems pairing with the junior partner, however…

‘Supergirl & Batgirl’ (illustrated by Jamal Igle, Jon Sibal & Jack Purcell) finds the Kryptonian bonding with Stephanie Brown (daughter of C-list bad-guy Cluemaster, and previously known as The Spoiler and fourth Robin) tracking the nefarious trio of nogoodniks and uncovering the truth behind the far-reaching plot.

The original aged paranoid inventor Toyman wants to remove forever the threat of the aliens above him. To that end he has constructed a monolithic Superman/Batman Robot, stuffed it with lethal Green -K ordinance (courtesy of reluctant hostage Kryptonite Man) and sent it hurtling towards New Krypton.

At least he would have if those interfering kids hadn’t become involved and set the monstrous K-droid rampaging through downtown GothamCity…

Everything pulls together for the climactic ‘Superman & Batman’ – with art from Phil Noto – as replacement Dark Knight Dick Grayson convinces the original Man of tomorrow to temporarily abandon his clandestine assignment on New Krypton to join him in stopping the rioting robot.

The new Daring Duo are as much hampered as assisted by Robin and Batgirl, and things go from bad to worse when the manic mechanoid finally launches for space with Supergirl and Batman still aboard…

Despite a lot of potentially confusing backstory to navigate, this is a tremendously engaging Fights ‘n’ Tights romp, packed with rollercoaster pace and drenched with light-hearted action: even finding room for a portentous teaser of more sinister games in play. As such it should amply reward fans of either or both franchises, but this tome also includes even more comics thrills, chills and spills.

It starts with an introduction from Sterling Gates dealing with how star scribe Geoff Johns married a myriad different and conflicting versions of one of Superman’s oldest foes into a viable and thoroughly competent revival, revealing the life-secrets and horrific motivations of ‘The Terrible Toyman’ (Action Comics #865, July 2008, illustrated by Jesus Merino) to doomed hostage Jimmy Olsen and, of course, us…

Dick Grayson also gets a another shot sharing the limelight with the Man of Steel as ‘The Deadliest Show on Earth’ (by Gerry Conway, José Luis García-López & Dick Giordano from DC Comics Presents #31, March 1981) concisely describes the odd couple’s pre-Crisis battle against a psychic vampire predating the performers at the troubled Sterling Circus…

With covers and variants by Noto, Kevin Maguire, Brad Anderson, Ross Andru & Giordano, this is a surprisingly satisfying superhero treat for all fans of Costumed Dramas and raucous rowdy adventure.
© 1981, 2008, 2009, 2010 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman: Impostors


By David Hine, Scott McDaniel & Andy Owen (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3144-6

At the climax of a harrowing and sustained campaign of terror by insidious cabal The Black Hand and following an all-out invasion by the New Gods of Apokolips, the original Batman was apparently killed. Although the world was unaware of the loss, the superhero community secretly mourned whilst a small dedicated army of assistants, protégés and allies – trained over years by the contingency-obsessed Dark Knight – formed a “Network” to police GothamCity in the days which followed: marking time until a successor could be found or the original returned…

Most of the Bat-schooled battalion refused to believe their inspirational mentor dead. On the understanding that he was merely lost, they eventually accepted Dick Grayson – the first Robin and latterly Nightwing – as a stand-in until Bruce Wayne could find his way back to them…

None of that is germane to this sleek and sinisterly straightforward vigilante adventure, designed to tie-in with a videogame release (and thus deliciously free of extraneous subplot) which first ran in Detective Comics #867-870 from September to December 2010, and can be accessibly consumed as a cunning and compelling case of heroes vs. impending chaos…

It all begins with ‘Laugh and the World Laughs with You’ wherein yuppies and bored Gothamites take up the latest recreational drug and craze of the spoiled and over-privileged: snorting non-lethal, metamorphic Joker Juice before going wilding through the city.

The transformed Jokerz then indulge in liberating, conscience-free vandalism, chaos and carnage until the Juice wears off. It’s a rush but nobody really gets hurt. Not really, truly, fatally hurt…

However, the recurring, ever-expanding “mad mobs” are actually being orchestrated by a king Joker; someone not submerged in temporary insanity but rather following an appalling secret agenda…

As the new Batman, Oracle and Gotham’s police struggle to maintain order without bloodshed, tempers are beginning to fray and when one young cop is wounded in a scuffle, he responds with deadly force…

The king Joker is plagued with memories of the night he was an unwilling witness and a collateral casualty in a terrifying clash between the true Harlequin of Hate and the Dynamic Duo. Of course, the heroes rushed him to hospital and his life was saved from the toxins sprayed on the rooftops during that particular murder-spree – but in their haste the heroes missed his girlfriend. She died in ghastly agony all alone…

The death of the first party-rager polarises the city and The Impostor is quick to capitalise on the tragedy, calling for a massive Jokerz rally to show support and solidarity for their fallen comrade.

But when the Dark Knight leads squads of strictly-censured police officers in trying to contain the subsequent riot, three cops are ambushed and assassinated…

A new factor then weighs in: an Impostor Batman calling on all decent, hard-working citizens to take back their city from the drug-addled, party-crazy Jokerz. Soon there is open warfare in ‘The (s)Laughter of Fools’ and Batman is forced into a desperate experiment and takes a dose of the Joker Juice to discover just what he’s up against…

Whilst he’s trapped in the throes of the psycho-drug, both Impostors are busy exhorting their growing followings to even greater acts of violence and there are even rumblings of mutiny in the GCPD ranks.

Eventually the inevitable occurs and a gang of Jokerz are found shot to death from behind. They were fleeing, not attacking, and the Guardian Bats all claim that it was the Impostor Batman who murdered them…

By day ten the brutality is almost commonplace and industrialist Winslow Heath, the survivor of that long-ago rooftop battle, calls his chief chemist Doctor Kaligari for a progress report. He wants to know when the next Joker Juice upgrade will be ready for distribution…

‘Laughter out of Bellies’ sees top cop Harvey Bullock helpless to prove his suspicion that his own men are bolstering the ranks of the Guardian Bats gang: crippling, maiming or killing Jokerz in the streets. It’s a small mercy that the supply of J-Juice has dried up, although the hopelessly “Jonesing” junkies don’t think so…

After a week without liberating transformations, the thousands of Juicer addicts are going crazy… which is when philanthropist Heath announces his Bartholomew’s Fair as a way of soothing tempers on all sides. He’s also ready to release his brand new Joker Juice hyper-amped onto the bloody, fun-starved streets…

Batman can’t prove Heath’s involvement, and his terse confrontation with the philanthropist doesn’t shake the vengeful maniac from executing his insane plan in ‘Last Man Laughing’, but as the Fair explodes into a vast, orgiastic bloodbath, all the hard-pressed hero can do is hope to take out both Impostors before the city becomes a living Hell on Earth… 

Complete with a cover gallery by Peter Nguyen, this is a splendid, stripped down, all-action tense suspense thriller (designed to tie-in to the Videogame of the same name) elevated by the ingenious efforts of scripter David Hine and penciller Scott McDaniel – two of the modern industry’s most underrated and undervalued talents – ably augmented by inker Andy Owen – that will delight any Fights ‘n’ Tights fanatic
© 2010 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman: The Collected Adventures volume 2


By Kelly Puckett, Mike Parobeck & Rick Burchett (DC Comics/Titan Books)
ISBNs: 978-1-56389-124-3 (DC)                   978-1-85286-563-6 (Titan)

As re-imagined by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm, Batman: The Animated Series aired in America from September 5th 1992 until September 15th 1995. The TV cartoon series – ostensibly for kids – revolutionised the image of the Dark Knight and happily fed back into the print iteration, leading to some of the absolute best comicbook tales in the hero’s many decades of existence-year publishing history.

By employing a timeless visual style (dubbed “Dark Deco”), the show mixed elements from all iterations of the character and, without diluting the power, tone or mood of the premise, re-honed the grim avenger and his team into a wholly accessible, thematically memorable form that the youngest of readers could enjoy, whilst adding shades of exuberance and panache that only most devout and obsessive Batmaniac could possibly object to.

The comicbook version was inevitably prime material for collection in the newly-emergent trade paperback market and this long out-of print second volume – published in America by DC and by Titan Books in Britain – gathered issues #7-12 of The Batman Adventures all-ages comicbook (originally published from to April -September 1993) in a stunning, no-nonsense furore of family-friendly Fights ‘n’ Tights fantasy.

After a mere half-dozen superb stories the comicbook adventures took a step towards total sublimity when rising star Mike Parobeck assumed the pencilling duties.

Although his professional comics career was tragically short (1989 to 1996 when he died, aged 31, from complications of Type 1 Diabetes) Parobeck’s gracefully fluid, exuberant and purely kinetic fun-fuelled animation-inspired style revolutionised superhero action drawing and sparked a resurgence in kid-friendly comics and merchandise at DC and elsewhere else in the comics publishing business.

Following an ‘Introduction by Bruce Timm’, accompanied by a wealth of series concept sketches, the stories – all divided into three chapters scripted by Kelly Puckett and inked by Rich Burchett – begin with ‘Raging Lizard!’ which sees shady pro wrestler Killer Croc face a long dark night of the soul in ‘Requiem for a Mutant!’ when he’s scheduled to fight Masked Marauder – a grappler who humiliated and broke him in their last match…

Batman meanwhile is searching for Chicago mobster Mandrake who’s planning on taking over Gotham by ousting reigning crime czar Rupert Thorne in ‘Eye of the Reptile!’ and naturally all those trajectories converge in the third act for a major throw-down ‘Under the Waterfront!’…

In issue #8 ‘Larceny, My Sweet’ begins with the hunt for an unstoppable thief who can ‘Break the Bank!’ with his bare hands, whilst TV reporter Summer Gleeson divides her time between chasing scoops and being romanced by a dashing stranger in ‘Love’s Lost Labours’. Sadly when the Gotham Gangbuster ends the crime-wave he also exposes a monstrous old foe and ends the affair of ‘Beauty and the Beast!’

In #9 ‘The Little Red Book’ everyone is chasing holds all Thorne’s dirty secrets and Commissioner Gordon is presiding over a ‘Gangster Boogie!’ with the cops and entire underworld looking to win out over ‘The Big Boss’. It takes all Batman’s energy and wits to bring the diary to District Attorney Harvey Dent for the beginning of ‘Rupert’s Reckoning!’…

‘The Last R?ddler Story’ describes ‘Nygma’s Nadir!’ as the perpetually frustrated Prince of Puzzles considers retirement. Dispirited because the Caped Crusader always solves his felonious games, the villain is convinced by his faithful hench-persons to give it one more try in ‘Days of Wine and Riddles!’

How upset would Eddie Nygma be if he knew Batman isn’t even aware of him, absorbed as he is in apprehending the infamous trio Mastermind, Mr. Nice and The Perfesser in ‘Triumph or Tragedy …?

‘The Beast Within!’ features obsessed scientist Kirk Langstrom who believes he, is uncontrollably transforming into the monstrous Man-Bat in the ‘The Sleeper Awakens!’ The truth is far more sinister but incarcerated in ‘G.C.P.D.H.Q!’ neither the chemist nor his beloved Francine can discern ‘The Awful Truth!’ Happily Batman plays by his own rules…

This fabulous foray into classic four-colour fun finishes with a shocking shift in focus as young Barbara Gordon makes a superhero costume for a party in ‘Batgirl: Day One!’ and stumbles into a larcenous ‘Ladies Night’ when the High Society bash is crashed by Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy.

With no professional help on hand, Babs has to act as ‘If the Suit Fits!’ and tackle the bad girls herself… but then Catwoman shows up for the frantic finale ‘Out of the Frying Pan!’…

Breathtakingly written and iconically illustrated, these stripped-down rollercoaster-romps are the ultimate Bat-magic, and this is a collection every fan of any age and vintage will adore.

Pure, unadulterated delight – so keep kicking and agitating for new editions now!
© 1993, 1994 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman: The Collected Adventures volume 1


By Kelly Puckett, Marty Pasko, Ty Templeton, Brad Rader & Rick Burchett (DC Comics/Titan Books)
ISBNs: 978-1-56389-098-7 (DC),      978-1-85286-521-4 (Titan)

Batman: The Animated Series launched in America on September 5th 1992 and ran until September 15th 1995. Masterminded by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm, the show revolutionised the image of the Dark Knight and led to some of the absolute best comicbook tales in his almost 75-year publishing history.

By employing a timeless visual tone (dubbed “Dark Deco”) the show mixed elements from all iterations of the character and, without diluting the power and mood of the premise, perfectly honed the grim avenger and his team into a wholly accessible, thematically memorable form that the youngest of readers could enjoy, whilst adding shades of exuberance and style that only most devout and obsessive Batmaniac could possibly find fault with.

Naturally the comicbook version was an cast-iron contender for collection in the newly-emergent trade paperback market and this long out-of print edition – published in America by DC and by Titan Books in Britain – gathered the first half-dozen all-ages epics from The Batman Adventures comicbook (originally published from October 1992 to March 1993) in a smashing, straightforward sampler of Fights ‘n’ Tights fantasy.

Preceded by ‘An Introduction by Paul Dini: Batman’s Most Animated Adventures’ and accompanied by a plethora of pulsating storyboards, the action begins with ‘Penguin’s Big Score’ by Kelly Puckett, Ty Templeton & Rick Burchett.

Each story was divided into three chapters and ‘Charm School Dropout!’ found the Bird of Ill Omen taking tips on how to rehabilitate his nefarious reputation from The Joker, whilst in ‘Top of the World, Ma!’ the Foul Fowl’s new standing as a philanthropist had all Gotham agog.

The sinister scheme was finally exposed by Batman in the climactic third act ‘Power of the Press’, but the hero had no idea that the real winner was the Clown Prince of Crime…

In issue #2 ‘Catwoman’s Killer Caper’ (Puckett, Templeton & Burchett) kicked off with a gem heist before, on Joker’s urging, sultry Selina Kyle visited England’s Tower of London to swipe ‘The Family Jewels!’

In hot pursuit, the Gotham Gangbuster headed across The Pond to quell ‘Panic over Londontown’ and solved the mystery of a seemingly impossible theft in ‘Midnight Madness’ – but not before the Harlequin of Hate snatched the real prize…

All that crafty conniving culminated in ‘Joker’s Late-Night Lunacy!’ by Puckett, Templeton & Burchett, with Gotham’s airwaves hijacked and Commissioner Gordon kidnapped by the larcenous loon who made himself literally unmissable viewing in ‘A Star is Born!’

‘I Want My JTV!’ saw District Attorney Harvey Dent make it onto the Joker’s inescapable guest list, but Batman was again one step ahead of the game and lowered the boom in the explosive ‘Flash in the Pan!’

Writer Marty Pasko and penciller Brad Rader joined inker Rick Burchett for a gripping two-issue tale of terror guest starring Robin as ‘Riot Act’ describes ‘Panic in the Streets’ after a strange plague caused citizens to lose the ability to read.

Even with utter chaos gripping the city the Teen Wonder’s ‘Help on the Wing’ results in a huge step forward but when ‘Robin Takes a Fall’ the mastermind reveals himself and the drama intensifies in #4 with ‘Riot Act: Johnny Can’t Read!’ as the Scarecrow steps up his campaign to teach the slackers of the modern world a lesson….

However, the Dynamic Duo are well aware of the ‘Hi-Fi Hijinx’ at the root of the problem and, with the help of a repentant henchman, end the crisis in ‘Those Who Can’t Do!’

This initial foray into classic four-colour fun ends with a stunning change of pace as Bruce Wayne is arrested for murder in ‘The Third Door!’ Crafted by Puckett, Rader & Burchett, the cunning locked-room mystery opens with ‘The Party’s Over’ as the prime suspect details the facts of the case to young Dick Grayson, before being locked up with a mob of dangerous thugs in ‘Crime and Punishment’ leaving the kid to ferret out the real  killer in the tense conclusion ‘War and Peace’…

Compellingly written, superbly designed and spectacularly illustrated, these stripped-down rollercoaster-romps are quintessential Bat-magic, and as a host of big name bad-guys vie with timeless crime scenarios on every page, this is a book any fan of any age and vintage will adore.

Sheer, unadulterated magic – so start agitating for a new edition now!
© 1992, 1993 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batgirl: The Flood


By Bryan Q. Miller, Lee Garbett, Pere Perez & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3142-2

Batman has gathered young allies about him since the second year of his all-consuming crusade: adopting assorted waifs or strays and training them to be the best that they can be, all for the greater good of his beloved GothamCity.

Stephanie Brown, daughter of C-list bad-guy Cluemaster, began her costumed crime-busting career as the Spoiler, secretly scotching Daddy Dearest’s schemes before graduating to a more general campaign against the city’s underworld.

Eventually, she undertook a disastrous stint as the fourth Robin: a tenure which provoked a brutal gang war which devastated Gotham and ostensibly caused her own demise under torture at the red hands of psychopathic mob boss Black Mask.

When Stephanie returned to Gotham after months in self-imposed exile, she overcame incredible obstacles – the greatest of which was her former Bat-family’s deep mistrust. Thus she inherited the role of Batgirl from Cassandra Cain, a former assassin who had revived the role after her own predecessor was crippled and forced to retire…

Barbara Gordon, the computer crusader known as Oracle, is the daughter of Gotham City’s Police Commissioner. Her own valiant vocation as Batgirl was ended after the Joker blew out her spine during one of his incomprehensible capers. Although trapped in a wheelchair, she still hungered for justice and found new ways to make a difference in a very bad world.

Reinventing herself as a cyber-world information gatherer for Batman, she wound up an invaluable resource for the entire superhero community, before putting together her own fluctuating squad of female fighters – the Birds of Prey.

She also crossed keyboards with her intellectual antithesis: a sociopathic computer hacker and ex-costumed whacko called the Calculator…

Barbara, with grudging acceptance of stand-in Dark Knight Dick Grayson, then decided to mentor Stephanie as the troublesome teen attempted to combine undergraduate studies with her compulsive mission to save lives and help the helpless…

Collecting issues #9-14 of Batgirl volume 3 (from June-November 2010), this full-on action romp scripted by Bryan Q. Miller blends grim urban adventure and deadly Weird Science with infectious wry humour, as perfectly seen in the 4-part ‘Batgirl Rising: The Flood’ (illustrated by Lee Garbett, Pere Perez and inkers Jonathan Glapion, Richard Friend, Rodney Ramos, Walden Wong).

After Batgirl saves a subway train from a crazed suicide bomber, Stephanie is drawn into her mentor’s deadly ongoing cyber-war with the Calculator.

Not only does the digital desperado bear an unhealthy grudge for his past humiliations at the hands of the enigmatic Oracle, but now, since the computer crusader harbours his own estranged and wheelchair-bound daughter Wendy, turning her against him, all bets are off…

His diabolical revenge includes not only a devastating hack-attack on Oracle’s database and systems but also, using stolen alien programming code, mind-controlling thousands of citizens. The Apokolips nanites are everywhere, turning ordinary folk into savage suicide-assassins aimed at Barbara and the new Batgirl.

Either they surrender Wendy or an army of innocents will turn the city into a charnel-house…

Forced to lethal lengths to combat the Calculator’s bloody assault, Babs goes mobile but succumbs to the mind-stealing mechanoid plague, leaving Wendy to act as Stephanie’s new partner and digital quartermaster. However since the villain’s army of thralls now include brain-bound techno-zombies like Man-Bat, Catwoman and The Huntress, the task seems impossible…

Reduced to a last-ditch frontal assault Batgirl spectacularly invades the Calculator’s base, unaware that, despite being a victim of the nanovirus, Barbara has begun her own counterattack from within the vengeful villain’s own mind…

After the main event this delightful Fights ‘n’ Tights fun-fest clears the palate with a brace of one-off yarns beginning with ‘Trust’ (illustrated by Pere Perez) detailing Stephanie’s unique response to a cocked-up bank hostage-situation perpetrated by Clayface.

The grim debacle is made excessively complicated not only because the Teen Tornado’s Person of Potential Romantic Interest (Police Detective Nick Gage) is on scene, but also -since the shape-shifting charlatan is disguised as one of the imperilled customers – because Batgirl is the one holding them all captive until she can deduce who he is…

Manic insanity rounds off this chronicle with ‘Terror in the 3rd Dimension’ (Garbett & Trevor Scott) as a civilian Girl’s Night Out with BFF Supergirl goes crazily wrong when a campus science experiment goes “boink!” and 24 Draculas from an all-night classic movie show are materialised to run riot through the city.

With obviously no peace for the wicked-hot, the World’s Finest Blondes have their work cut out doing a passable imitation of Buffy the Vampire Slayer before things return to any semblance of “normal”…

With a stunning cover gallery by Stanley “artgerm” Lau, this collection offers that rarest of modern delights for comics fans: complication-free, easily accessible thrills, chills, spills and fun, fun, fun!!!

So get some before the next angst-storm drags us all down again…
© 2010 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman: Time and the Batman


By Grant Morrison, Fabian Nicieza, Tony S. Daniel, Cliff Richards, Andy Kubert, Frank Quitely, David Finch, Richard Friend, Scott Kolins & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2990-0

At the climax of a harrowing and sustained campaign of terror by insidious cabal The Black Hand, Batman was apparently killed. Although the general public were unaware of their loss, the superhero community secretly mourned whilst a small dedicated army of assistants, protégés and allies (trained over years by the Dark Knight) formed a “Network” to police GothamCity in the catastrophic days and weeks which followed: marking time until a successor could be found…

Most of the Bat-schooled taskforce refused to believe their inspirational mentor dead. On the understanding that he was merely lost, they accepted Dick Grayson – first Robin and latterly Nightwing – as a stand-in until Bruce Wayne could find his way back to them…

This slim, grim volume collects the contents of Batman #700-703 (August-November 2010) and takes an imaginative glimpse into the past and future whilst laying the groundwork for the imminent Return of Bruce Wayne…

The turbulent time-warping terror and tragedy begins in the anniversary #700, written as a detective mystery by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Tony S. Daniel. ‘Yesterday’ sees the Dynamic Duo at the start of their careers, with Batman and Robin saving chronal researcher Carter Nichols from a pack of kidnappers which include Catwoman, Mad Hatter, Scarecrow, Riddler and the Joker.

The assembled felons and maniacs are using Carter’s “Maybe Machine” discoveries to plunder and muck up the time-stream, but after capturing the Gotham Gangbusters the Harlequin of Hate is getting some particularly dangerous ideas about the nature of reality…

By the time Jim Gordon‘s SWAT team breaks in it’s all over, but Nichols is clearly disturbed. Why else would he want the Joker’s Jokebook as a souvenir…?

‘Today’ (with art from Frank Quitely & Scott Kolins) opens years later as Dark Knight Dick Grayson and Bruce’s assassin-trained son Damian (the latest Boy Wonder) investigate the locked-room murder of Nichols. The bullet-riddled corpse is decades older than it should be…

It’s a busy night: after brutally cleaning up “Crime Alley” the heroes are almost too late to break up an underworld auction where a horde of masked malcontents are bidding on the recently discovered Joker’s Jokebook…

‘Tomorrow’ (Andy Kubert) takes us into a previously established future where Damian is the Batman of a Gotham even more impossibly debased and chaotic, where Joker venom rains from the skies thanks to weather control sabotage by cyborg psycho Max Roboto.

However even with Jokerzombies marauding through the besieged urban jungle and Police Commissioner Barbara Gordon‘s forces ruthlessly hunting the Cowled Crime-crusher, Damian has no time to rest as he searches for the macabre 2-Face-2, who holds hostage innocent toddler Terry McGinnis.

The unpredictable maniac has the infamous Joker’s Jokebook and seems to have a time-traveller named Nichols as his advisor…

The generational saga ends in brief visits with a succession of Future Batmen in ‘And Tomorrow…’ by David Finch & Richard Friend; encompassing the mid 21st century and ADs 3000, 3050 and 85298 (with guest appearances by Batman Beyond, Batman and Robin 3000, Brane Taylor and Batman One Million…)

Issues #701 and 702 revisited a recent Batman crossover with ‘R.I.P. – the Missing Chapter: The Hole in Things’ wherein Morrison & Daniel at last supplied the details of what occurred between the Dark Knight’s nigh-pyrrhic victory over Dr. Hurt and the Black Glove and his apparent demise after New God Darkseid invaded our dimension in Final Crisis.

‘R.I.P. – the Missing Chapter: Batman’s Last Case’ also reveals what bizarre machinations led to Bruce Wayne being alive in the corridors of history whilst apparently rendered into a mouldering corpse in Blackest Night.

Confusing, no?

A measure of narrative normality returned in #703 as ‘The Great Escape’ – scripted by Fabian Nicieza and illustrated by Cliff Richards – resumed the adventures of Dick and Damian in the now, with the heroes trying to stop second-generation super-thief Getaway Genius, all whilst Red (Tim Drake) Robin carried on his campaign to stop investigative journalist Vicki Vale proving that all Bruce Wayne’s kids were masked vigilantes…

This bombastic collection also includes a host of pretty picture treats: a selection of covers and variants by Daniel, Finch, Scott Williams, Andy Kubert, Mike Mignola & Kevin Nowlan, plus ‘Creatures of the Night: A Batman Gallery’ by Shane Davis, Sandra Hope, Barbara Ciardo, Juan Doe, Dustin Nguyen, Guillem March, Tim Sale, Bill Sienkiewicz & Philip Tan, and detailed and instructive ‘Operational Files: The Batcave’ offering views, schematics and diagrams by Freddie Williams II & Mathew K. Manning to satisfy any rabid Batfan…

Torturous, tumultuous, convoluted and challenging, this action-packed, high-octane Fights ‘n’ Tights drama will deliver all the thrills, spills and chills fans could hope for with impressive punch and panache aplenty. Sadly, though it’s all very pretty to look at and deucedly clever, it’s probably utterly impenetrable to casual consumers.

I’m not saying don’t read it if you qualify as a neophyte, just be prepared… and, perhaps, patient…
© 2010 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Seven Soldiers of Victory Archives volume 1


By Mort Weisinger, Bill Finger, Jerry Siegel, Mort Meskin, George Papp, Jack Lehti, Hal Sherman, Creig Flessel, Ed Dobrotka & various (DC Comics)
ISBN 978-04012 1-84576-236-3

After the actual invention of the comicbook superhero – for which read the Action Comics debut of Superman in 1938 – the most significant event in the industry’s history was the combination of individual sales-points into a group. Thus what seems blindingly obvious to us with the benefit of four-colour hindsight was proven: a multitude of popular characters could multiply readership simply by appearing together.

Plus, of course, a mob of superheroes is just so much cooler than one (or one-and-a-half if there are sidekicks involved) …

You can’t say it too often: the creation of the Justice Society of America in 1941 utterly changed the shape of the budding industry. Soon after the team launched, even National/DC – All American Comics’ publishing partner in the landmark venture – wanted to get in on the act and created their own proprietary squad of solo stars, populated with a number of their characters who hadn’t made it onto the roster of that super-successful cooperative coalition of AA and DC stars.

Oddly they never settled on a name and the team of non-super powered mystery men who debuted in Leading Comics #1 in 1941 were retroactively and alternatively dubbed The Law’s Legionnaires or The Seven Soldiers of Victory.

They never even had their own title-logo but only appeared as solo stars grouped together on the 14 spectacular covers – the first four of which, by Mort Meskin and Fred Ray, preface each collaborative epic in this spectacular deluxe hardback.

The full contents of this bombastic barrage of comicbook bravado were originally presented in the quarterly Leading #1-4, spanning Winter 1941/1942 to Fall 1942 and, following a fascinating history lesson and potted biography of the component crusaders in cartoonist, biographer and historian R.C. Harvey’s Foreword, the Golden Age glamour and glory begins with the heroes’ first adventure.

The sagas all followed a basic but extremely effective formula, established by scripter Mort Weisinger in the first adventure when dying criminal genius The Hand drew up a ‘Blueprint for Crime’ (illustrated by George Papp) to leave a lasting legacy of villainy.

Unable to carry out his perfidious plans in person, he subcontracted a fistful of macabre felons but insisted they warn their particular heroic arch-enemies as part of the triumphal deal…

Following a trail of breadcrumbs, Green Arrow and Speedy, the Shining Knight, Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy, Crimson Avenger and the Vigilante stumbled upon each other, shared their knowledge of the grand scheme and soon separated again to tackle their own particular antagonists…

Papp continued as illustrator whilst the Emerald Archers headed to ‘Death Valley’ to stop the ingenious Professor Merlin using a freeze machine to extort the location of a fabulous gold mine out of a sun-loving old prospector, before heading back to track down the Hand…

Regular creative team Jerry Siegel & Hal Sherman then took the Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy south of the border in ‘Peril in Panama’, where ectomorphic assassin the Needle tried to steal a seismic ray gun and shatter the Canal Zone and American trade, whilst Jack Lehti revealed how Crimson Avenger (and oriental sidekick Wing) bagged blue-collar mobster Big Caesar when the thug created a ‘Blackout over Broadway’ to plunder in relative safety…

Arthurian paladin the Shining Knight slept in ice until defrosted in 1941, where his magic sword, armour and winged horse made Sir Justin a formidable foe of injustice. Here he battled ‘The Red Dragon’ (illustrated by Creig Flessel) to free a lost tribe of Indian braves from the sinister slaver whilst undisputed artistic star of the show Mort Meskin revealed in stunning style how Hollywood’s glitterati were saved from being transformed into ‘The Stone People’ by the diabolical Dummy…

With each subordinate subdued, the heroes simultaneously closed on The Hand to end the dying dastard’s depredations in Weisinger & Papp’s explosive finale ‘Blueprint for Crime’…

The valiant crusaders came together again in Leading Comics #2 as ‘The Black Star Shines’ (Weisinger & Flessel) found juvenile genius Sylvester Pemberton and his chauffer Pat Dugan witnesses to a simple bank heist perpetrated by five of the nation’s most infamous criminals and realising that Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy might need a little assistance…

The Pentagram of Perfidy were actually operating under explicit instructions to steal millions for themselves from a cautious and secretive hidden Machiavelli who only required five unobtrusive and mundane objects for himself, but the Law’s Legionnaires had no inkling of such when they split up to track the fiends down…

The cross-country campaign began with Sir Justin who hit New Orleans during Mardi Gras to confront the ‘Mystery of the Clowning Criminals’ (Weisinger & Flessel). The Shining Knight clashed with gang-leader Falseface and his battalion of buffoons, but although victorious was unable to prevent the sneaky Black Star from stealing an old rag doll…

Hal Sherman joined Weisinger to solve the ‘Mystery of the Santa Claus Pirate’ wherein the Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy tackled a seaborne scoundrel Captain Bigg in Florida: a jolly jokester who gave away rather than stole loot. Of course the bandit had a bigger game plan in motion which the patriotic pair soon scuttled, but once again the surreptitious Black Star got away with the true prize – an old corncob pipe…

‘Mystery of the One-Man Museum’ (Weisinger & Papp) found Green Arrow and Speedy in glamorous Pleasure City hunting The Hopper, a mobster trying to appropriate valuable objets d’art from an eccentric millionaire. Once the human kangaroo was captured, however, his silent partner delightedly sloped off with a broken pocket watch…

The Crimson Avenger and Wing headed for the Great Lakes to duel with The Brain in ‘The Case of the Twisted Twins’ (Weisinger & Lehti), wherein the criminal genius assaulted attendees at an identical siblings convention whilst Black Star used the subsequent commotion to purloin an old silver dollar.

Bill Finger & Meskin handled the last two chapters and revealed the incredible truth as Vigilante battled venomous villain The Rattler at rich retired folk’s resort ‘The Sixty Kiddie Club’, but couldn’t stop the real menace grabbing an old key. Thus when ‘The Black Star Shines’ – using the gathered bric-a-brac to become an incredible super-menace – it needed the full might of the assembled Seven Soldiers to thwart the menace and end his astounding threat forever.

The scripter of ‘The Tyrants of Time’ in Leading #3 is sadly unknown but the first chapter (with art credited to Meskin) discloses how sinister scientist Dr. Doome built a time machine and recruited five historical tyrants to loot 1942, gathering funds and resources to build an even better device.

Their entire campaign was overheard by Speedy and the temporal thugs were then targeted by the Law’s Legionnaires, beginning with Stripesy and the Star-Spangled Kid who gave Napoleon a taste of ‘Defeat Before Waterloo’ (Sherman art), whilst the Amazing Archers prevented Alexander the Great from turning ‘The Radium Robots’ (Papp) into his most unbeatable army…

Flessel illustrated ‘The Man Who Told a Fish Story’ with the Shining Knight and an inveterate angler scuppering the naval ambitions of time-transplanted Genghis Khan, even as Vigilante teamed with a western legend to smash the schemes of Attila the Hun in ‘The Spirit of Wild Bill Dickson’ (by Meskin as “Mort Morton & Cliff”).

Lehti then delineated the bombastic battle between the Crimson Avenger and piratical Emperor Nero in ‘Fiddler’s Farewell’ before the Septet of Sentinels convened to follow Dr. Doome into the past and end the menace of ‘The Tyrants of Time’ in a stunning conclusion by Meskin, set at the fall of fabled Troy…

‘The Sense Master’ in Leading #4 was completely created by Bill Finger & Ed Dobrotka: a clever compendium of mystery and melodrama which commenced after paralysed mastermind The Sixth Sense used a robot to surgically augment the abilities of a band of brigands, as part of a plan to obtain five unique jewels for his undisclosed but nefarious purposes.

Interrupted by Sir Justin, the hyped-up hoods overcame the crusader before scattering, leaving the Shining Knight no recourse but to call in his crime-busting colleagues…

The Crimson Avenger then intercepted sound sensitive Mickey Gordon as ‘The Crime Concerto’ that the ex-musician conducted deprived a young girl of her precious diamond, but also started an irrevocable process of redemption in the penitent criminal…

In ‘Don Quixote Rides Again’ the Knight followed “Fingers” to the home of a dotty scholar who loved a certain book, but although he saved Don Coty‘s life, the paladin was unable to stop the theft of his golden Topaz, after which the Star-Spangled Kid (and Stripesy) failed to stop the Human Bloodhound from stealing Mrs. Pemberton‘s fabulous emerald in ‘The Man Who Followed His Nose’.

Vigilante and his geriatric sidekick Billy Gunn met a former movie idol who was ‘The Man who was Afraid to Eat’… It was all a cunning campaign by taste-sensitive poisoner “Palate” to purloin the faded star’s gem and, following his success, Green Arrow and Speedy were unable to prevent ‘The Man with the Miracle Eyes’ making off with a circus barker’s garnet.

However “Eagle Eye” didn’t escape, and once the heroes joined forces – assisted by Mickey Gordon – to track down ‘The Sense Master’ behind the whole incredible charade, they saw him briefly obtain ultimate power only to lose everything once the indomitable crusaders waded in…

These raw, wild and excessively engaging capers are actually some of the best but most neglected thrillers of the halcyon Golden Age. Still modern tastes too have moved on and these yarns are probably far more in tune with contemporary mores, making this a truly guilty pleasure for all fans of mystery, mayhem and stylish superteam tussles…
© 1941, 1942, 1949, 2005 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.