Comic Reviews: Detective Comics and Daredevil (Saturday Evening Cartoons)

Sorry this is late, I was crazy busy last week.

Once again, I reviewed Detective comics...

... and I reviewed Chip Zdarsky's first issue of Daredevil.

I also read:
Spider-Man/Deadpool #45 features solid art from Jim Towe, more fun writing from Robbie Thompson and is a fairly satisfying end to the Blastaar arc. Its basically just a slug-fest, but since when is that a bad thing in a Marvel comic?

Batman #64, written by Joshua Williamson instead of Tom King for "The Price" crossover with the Flash. It's an intriguing, though depressing, opening so far.

In Avengers #14 the vampire war finally begins and it's mostly worth the wait.

Deadpool #9 is another darkly fun tale from Skottie Young. Nic Klein's art, reminiscent of Micheal Gaydos work on Alias fits the satirical noir story really well.

Star Wars #61 is pretty mediocre. Subpar art, overly "hip" dialogue and a pretty uneventful story make this issue a pretty poor end to the current arc.

Star Wars Age Of Republic Anakin Skywalker #1 is a fun throwback for fans of The Clone Wars, even if the story is a bit rushed. Cory Smith's artwork is solid.

Comic Reviews: Detective Comics and Star Wars (Saturday Evening Cartoons)

Once again I've done two comic book video reviews over the past few weeks.
First off Detective Comics #996

Secondly, Star Wars #60

I also read:
Star Wars Age Of Republic Special #1, which was ok. The three short stories were mostly superfluous and each one is successively less good then the last, but it's worth reading for the Mace Windu story (though maybe not worth the $3.99 cover price). The Asajj Ventress story has the best art of the three, courtesy of Carlos Gómez.
Spider-Man/Deadpool #44, which is good fun. Spidey, DP and the Eternals fight Blastaar and a brainwashed Ransak in the Negative Zone. What's not to like?
Batman #63, which was frustrating. Bruce is still stuck in some kind of illusion and, aside from emphasizing that he's upset about Selina leaving him and Dick getting shot, I'm not sure what the point of this is.
Avengers #13 continues the series solid run so far. The story, a flashback about the original Iron Fist, is bonkers in all the right ways and Andrea Sorrentino kills it with the art. With that said, Aaron really needs to stop stalling and get back to the main plot.

Saturday Evening Cartoons: Super Sons, Volume 1: When I Grow Up

I decided to go back and read Peter J. Tomasi's Super Sons as the series is concluding with a miniseries that started earlier this month...

     Spinning out of he and Patrick Gleason's Superman run Super Sons focuses on the friendship/rivalry between Jon Kent and Damien Wayne. The two characters have very different personalities. Damien is a rather egotistical, rebellious teen, while Jon is a really good kid, though lacking in Damien's confidence. Like their fathers this causes them to have difficulties getting along, except, as 10 and 13 year old boys, they lack the maturity to see past their differences. This is the main focus of this book, from a character perspective.

     The story opens by showing a creepy kid controlling his family members, who seem mortally afraid of him. Then, we see Jon and Damien fight some unidentified bad guys in a forest. Finally, we cut to to two days earlier, where Jon tries to stand up to bullies at school only to have Damien, disguised as bus driver, show up and scare them off. The first few pages jump around an awful lot and I'm not really convinced that this nonlinear storytelling really works for this story. We don't get back to the fight in the forest until the third issue, by which time (especially if your reading monthly) you may have forgotten about it. In addition to this, we're already switching between two different story lines, with the creepy boy and his family opening each issue.

      Back at the Kent Farm Superman is called away on League business and, as Batman won't let him go out on patrol, Damien shows up and convinces Jon to come with him to investigate break-ins LexCorp without their parents permission. Reaching LexCorp, they are caught trying to break in by Luthor. Damien pushes Jon off of the building in order to distract Lex, who has to save him (this is before Superboy has learned to fly). After hacking into Lex Corp's security footage, Robin and Superboy make their escape.

     Damien tells Jon that he has found footage of the break-in. It is revealed that the same creepy kid who we saw torturing his family is responsible. He and family gained superpowers during the breakout of the Amazo virus (in Justice League Volume 6). Although the cure removed most people's powers, 5 percent kept them, including this boy's family. Afterward, they became a superhero team but disappeared after a battle amongst themselves. Investigating fursther, Jon and Damien find corpses of family in the warehouse where the younger son (calling himself Kid Amazo) was holding them captive. Jon, feeling they are in over their heads, decides to go to tell his father. Damien, wanting to investigate further on his own, is unhappy with this.

     Jon finds the daughter, who apparently survived, hiding outside the warehouse and, simultaneously, Damien determines that there's a body missing. At this point, an Amazo bot, which has Batman's appearance and skills attacks Jon while another, with Superman's appearance and skills, attacks Damien. They are subdued by their fathers' doppelgangers but the girl, who has telekinetic powers over machines, shuts them down. The girl, named Sara, explains that her brother, Reggie, had held her family captive for weeks. Possessing the power to multiply himself, Reggie's powers increased when he stole Luthor's Amazo armor and he began splitting himself into Amazo powered creatures. The bodies that Jon and Damien found were actually doppelgangers of Sara's real family who Reggie killed over and over again while they were forced to watch. But Sara was able to escape.

     Once again, Jon wants to go and get help but Damien disagrees, calling himself, "the world's greatest superhero.” They are then attacked by Amazo duplicates of themselves, bringing us back (finally) to the action scene that opened the story. It is then revelaed that Sara is also an Amazo bot as Reggie attempts to control her. She tells them that they need to find Reggie before he kills the real Sara, and agrees to buy them time. Chased by their Amazo doppelgangers, Jon and Damien are eventually overwhelmed and captured.

     As Kid Amazo explains his plan to defeat the Justice League and take their powers, Lex shows up and frees them. They take Sara and family to safety while he fights the Amazo bots. They return with Sara who uses her power to separate Reggie from the Amazo armor, defeating him. Lex promises to help her develop her powers as Jon and Damien sneak off once again, only to be caught by Lois and Alfred, who discovered that they snuck off on their own.

     In the last issue Damien stews about being grounded by Batman while Jon is yelled at for using powers to do chores, which his parents forbade him from doing as a punishment. He is upset about having to move to Metropolis and runs away to Gotham to talk to Damien. Damien teases him for being a crybaby about moving leading to a fight which is broken up when Alfred shows up. Alfred tries to counsel the two super sons, telling them that they must learn to trust each other as their fathers have and emphasizing the importance of seeing from someone else's perspectives. Finally, Batman and Superman show up and Clark tells Jon that, while it's natural to be apprehensive about moving to a new place, its something they need to do as a family. He also gives Jon permission to go on adventures with Damien, saying that he'll find a way to make Lois understand.

     Once again, I think that Tomasi really knows these characters. Not only had he written Jon Kent for 16 issues, he also written Damien in Batman and Son during the 52 era. He also does a great job with characters like Alfred who, after discovering that Damien has snuck off on his own declares, "At least when master Richard snuck out, he had the decency to construct a pillow dummy." There are some confusing elements to this story. For some reason Lex doesn't seem to know who Superboy or Robin are. Surely they've been around long enough for him to be aware of their existance and connection to Superman and Batman. I'm also not sure why Superboy doesn't know about the Amazo virus, especially since he seems to understand what Damien is talking about but then questions it when they talk to Sara. I understand the need to give readers unfamiliar with the Justice League story the necessary exposition, but this came off as a little sloppy.

     It was also a surprisingly dark story. I was hoping to maybe give this story to my 8 year old sister to read but its clearly much too violent. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, some of my favorite comics are very adult, but superhero comics have always, traditionally, been aimed at a younger audience and it troubles me that you now have to go out of your way to find kid-appropriate books, especially ones that aren't comedic in nature.

      The art by Jorge Jimenez and Alejandro Sanchez is quite good and fits the material well. Jimenez has a very exaggerated style that sometimes rubs me the wrong way but it works here. He also, at times, struggles with facial work in some of the wider panels, but these kinds of problems are few and far between. The last issue in this volume was drawn by Alisson Borges with colors by Hi-Fi Design. Borges pencils are even more cartoony then Jimenez but it's not too distracting as the last issue is basically a one-off, taking place after the main plot has been resolved. The plotting throughout the story is quite creative, particularly the panel breakups during the action scenes.

     Super Sons, Volume 1: When I Grow Up is a solid start to Tomasi's run. I'm exicited to see what else I missed, especially as the quality of the current Superman title has flagged considerably in Tomasi's absence.

Score: 8/10

Saturday Evening Cartoons: Superman, Volume 4: Black Dawn

In the fourth volume of Tomasi and Gleason's run on Superman a lot of the plot threads they had been building up are finally paid off...

     It begins with relative calm, as Clark and his family enjoy a pleasant evening. Then Batman shows up Damien, questioning why Superboy's powers have not developed further. Because of his unique Kryptonian/human physiology, Batman believes that Jon should be on his way to becoming even more powerful then his father, yet his development seems to have stalled. The reason for this is revealed in this arc.

     Batman believes that environmental factors may be contributing to Jon's issue. He decides to investigate their neighbor Cobb's cow, to see if her milk may not be what it seems. He is proven right as milk turns into black goo and envelops him. Clark, wondering what Bruce has gotten up to, decides to investigate himself, taking Damien and Jon along to find him. Their search is interrupted when a giant alien monster attacks Hamilton. After a fierce battle, Jon kills the monster, much to his father's chagrin.

     Damien then inadvertently informs Superman that Jon and Kathy's adventure in the Dead Man's Swamp (back in Volume 3). Clark is disappointed to find out that Jon disobeyed him and then hid it from him. He goes to search the Dead Man's Swamp for Batman on his own, leaving Jon and Damien behind. Damien urges Jon to continue the search on their own, leading to a fight between the two super-sons. Kathy shows up to break it up and revels that she has telepathic powers, strangling Damien with her mind.

     Lois, who has seen the alien attack on TV, decides to investigate herself. After talking to Cobb, who feigns ignorance, she goes to town where she finds a secret lair with monitors showing Jon. Someone has been watching him. Then Candice, who runs the local paper, shows up despite seemingly having been injured during the attack. Suspicious, Lois pepper sprays her and runs back home only to find Candice there along with the mayor and other townsfolk. Realizing that something strange is going on, Lois tries to alert the Justice League only to find that Mayor Goodman has stolen the communicator. They try to capture her but she is able to escape using the Batmobile, which Bruce left behind.

     Superman, still searching for Batman, finds him, Robin, Frankenstein, and the Bride, along with others, being kept in stasis in the labyrinthine pathways under the cellar of house in Dead Man's Swamp. As Lois drives away from the house, Mr. Cobb shows up and telepathically dismantles it. He tells Lois that he's preparing her and her family for a new world. When she tries to shoot him he crushes her weapon telepathically. Hearing her scream, Superman flies off to see what's wrong. Her confronts Cobb, declaring that never really trusted him.

     Cobb claims, again, that he was only trying to protect Jon and Kathy and he refuses to tell Superman where Jon is. When another alien monster emerges, Superman restrains Cobb and goes off to face it. He finds Mayor Goodman and some of the other townsfolk fighting with the creatures. They use lethal force and try to persuade Superman to do the same. Calling themselves The Super Elite, they say that "he" taught them to and that "he" will teach Jon as well. As the fighting continues Lois, seemingly, loses a leg to flying debris and Superman cauterizes the wound.

     Jon, strapped to chair, watches all of this in horror as a mysterious person, quickly revealed to be Manchester Black (the villain from Joe Kelly's semi iconic Superman story What's So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way? which was later adapted into the 2011 film Superman vs. The Elite), talks to him. It is then revealed in a flashback that Kathy, Mr. Cobb and the Super Elite are actually aliens. Kathy watched her home planet be decimated by the Kroog (the same race as the alien criminal from the Super-Monster) and Black offered her and her grandfather protection. The Super Elite are his new team, they how they came to join with him is never really explained.

     Back in the present Cobb is shaken by what has transpired and demands to talk to Black. Clark has taken Lois to hospital where the staff are blind to what's happening, believing the alien attack to be an earthquake. Clearly Black is messing with peoples' heads. Superman then discovers that there is an entire network of tunnels beneath Hamilton where Black and the Super Elite are hiding their ship. Manchester Black then shows up along with Jon and he and Superman fight. It is revealed that Black has rendered Jon's powers inert by scrambling his brain. He tries to persuade Jon to kill Kroog but he refuses saying “I'd die first”.

     Mr. Cobb and Kathy then show up and fight against Black who kills Cobb. Superman then frees Batman, Robin, Frankenstein and the Bride as Black mind controls Jon, making him attack Superman along with the Super Elite. Batman and Superman try to talk him down but he is too far under Black's control. As Jon and Black quickly subdue Frankenstein and the Bride Baman tells Clark that the familial bond between he and Jon might be able to overcome Black's and influence and Superman draws Jon away from the fight.

     Then, the quantum reactor in Black's ship is disrupted and begins giving off arcs of space-time. This allows Jon to sees other timelines and he is able to break free of Black's control. He tries to kill him but Lois intervenes and Jon sees that her lost leg was an illusion conjured by Black. He and Kathy then defeat Black by combining their powers into a telepathic attack.

     After the battle the Super Elite agree to stay and guard their ship to keep the rift that has been created from worsening. They realize that Manchester Black was wrong and they help to rebuild Hamilton to make amends. Kathy, left without any mentor, also decides to stick around. Manchester Black, though still alive, seemingly has no neural activity and is left on ice in the Fortress of Solitude. It is revealed at the end of the book that he transferred his consciousness into Kathy's cow, Bessie.

     Like Multiplicity this arc feels a little rushed. There's a conflict of ideas set up between Manchester Black and Superman that is never adequately explored. Once the Super Elite see what Black is capable of, they immediately turn against him. The writers seem to assume that Superman's position, that killing is always wrong, is the correct one and needs no justification. I'm kind of ok with that as I do generally wish more modern Superman stories would simply allow the character to be himself without a lot of psychoanalytical hand-wringing, but if your going to bring these issues up you should probably do a little more to explore them.

     Jon goes through a bit of a character arc here. He's is afraid of using his powers which allows Black to more easily manipulate him by making it look like the people he cares about will suffer if he and Superman don't take more drastic action. Ironically, it's only when Black forces his powers to fully emerge that he sees that he can control them. He reveals to Kathy at the end of the story that he is no longer afraid. Taking Kathy's hand, he then takes flight for the first time.

     Tomasi and Gleason are at their best when writing the small human moments like early on in the story, as Clark does work on the farm and takes a minute to appreciate his family and the home they've made for themselves and then near the end when he and Lois watch Jon and Kathy fly up into the sky. Their are also small moments and lines dispersed throughout the story where their grasp of these characters really shines through. Lois shouting "Jonathan Samuel Kent" to get through to her son before he murders Black is just perfect. So is Superman's speech to Jon after he kills one of the alien monsters, "Listen, son. One day you're going to have to choose what to do with your own fear... whatever you choose, right or wrong, it's going to change people's lives. It's going to change the world and it's going to change you."

     The art is pretty good but, once again, it was drawn by two different art teams. Patrick Gleason penciled the first two issues, then Doug Mahnke did the next two and both worked on the final issue. It's somewhat distracting but, at this point I'm used to it. At least, in this case, Mahnke's issues tended to be the darker, more action driven ones, providing a contrast to Gleason's, which are the quitter more character driven ones. It's really distracting in the final issue though, where you literally have Mahnke's art on one page and then Gleason's on the next. Inkers include Mick Gray, Joe Prado, Ray McCarthy and Jaime Mendoza while Wil Quintana and John Kalisz provided the colors for most of the story, though some of it was done digitally by HiFi Design.

     In the end, Back Dawn is an important chapter in Tomasi and Gleason's run on Superman, even if it's middling in quality.

Score: 7/10

Batman #50 and other comic reviews (Saturday Evening Cartoons) (Video)

I did a bunch of video reviews for recent comics this week...

Batman #50 by Tom King

Superman #1 by Brian Michael Bendis

Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #21 by Jody Houser

Daredevil #605 by Charles Soule

Wonder Woman #50 by James Robinson

Hopefully I'll get back to Tomasi's Superman next week.

Saturday Evening Cartoons: Superman, Volume 3: Multiplicity

     Superman, Volume 3: Multiplicity collects three different stories. The first is a crossover with Swamp Thing from the first Superman Annual. Being a Swamp Thing story, this gets pretty tripy at times. It starts with the fields around Superman's farm dryin up. After some fruitless investigation, Swamp Thing shows up. He believes that Superman is causing a disturbance in The Green because their is some kind of anomaly between him and the earth. He offers to cleanse Superman but Clark is initially reluctant and the two (of course) end up fighting. In the end Superman sees reason and allows himself to be "bonded" with Swamp Thing, who fixes the anomaly through some scientific mumbo jumbo. The artwork by Jorge Jiménez, Alejandro Sanchez is really beautiful, though there is some inconsistent facial work. The story, unfortunately, isn't great. There is simply no reason for the fight between Superman and Swamp Thing, so the whole thing feels contrived and, in the end, anti-climatic.

     The main story collected is Multiplicity, sees Superman get mixed up with the Justice League Incarnate, a multiversal (is that a word?) version of the Justice League created by Grant Morison for his Multiversity miniseries. The story begins with Clark meeting Red Son Superman, who warns him that someone called Prophecy is coming before being attacked by an army of humanoids called the Gatherers. He then overhears that the Gatherers are planning to capture Kenan Kong, the Superman of China.

     It turns out that Prophecy is trying to capture Supermen throughout the multiverse who are on his "Lyst." After defeating the Gatherers, Clark and Red Son Superman are met by the Justice League Incarnate who are also investigating Prophecy and the disappearance of the Supermen. Clark decides to team up with them to stop Prophecy. They travel to the various earth's to try and warn the Supermen there before they are captured but the Gatherers keep thwarting them so Superman comes up with a plan to take the fight to Prophecy. He allows himself to be captured so the League can track him to Prophecy's location.

     This story is delightfully absurd. Superman uses music (yes music!) to lead the Justice League International to Prophecy and he and the other heroes get some really inspiring moments. I can't compare it to Multiversity as I didn't read that book, but I am guessing that it is far less meta then Morrison's story. For me, this is a good thing. I don't want a lot of self aware weirdness invading my Superman book. Multiplicity also includes some set up for later on as we learn that Prophecy was capturing the Superman in order to take their power for himself so that he can stop a greater looming threat that he knows is coming.

     This arc was drawn by like six different artists including Ivan Reis (on #14), Clay Mann on (#15 and 16), Ryan Sook, Ed Benes, and Jorge Jiménez (all on #15) and Tony S. Daniel (on #16). Because of this the art is kind of all over the place but they sort of make it work by having different artist tackle different Earths in the multiverse. I still found the radically different art styles from page to page a bit distracting though.

     The final story is a one-shot entitled "Dark Harvest" which sees Jon and his friend Kathy Branden search for her grandfather, who has gone after their prize cow Bessie who went missing in the woods. There, they run into some increasingly bizarre situations and are followed by a mysterious dark man, who at one point grows giant and tries to catch them. They are saved by Mr. Branden, who has found Bessie after a long search. He assumes that something in the swamps waters must have caused them to hallucinate.

     The art by Sebastian Fiumara with colors by Rob Stewart is really quite strong and has a harsh, sketchy quality that really fits the tone of this story. They do some really cool things with perspective for the more trippy, hallucinatory scenes and the use of light and shadow is really effective. This story reads like something you'd release in October despite it's April release date. It's sufficiently mysterious and creepy but there's little in the way of character growth or real drama, which is unfortunately true about all the stories in this volume.

     I think DC's twice-a-monthly shipping schedule hurt a lot of there rebirth titles and it definitely shows here. We spend most of this volume dragging our feet and teasing the larger story without moving it forward. With that said I think that Tomasi and Gleason's characterization of Superman is still spot on. There's a moment in the Multplicity story where he tells Kenan Kong, "it’s in places like this that hope burns brightest.” That's Superman. He also does a good job portraying the family dynamics between Clark, Lois and Jon, though there's sadly very little of it in this volume.

     In the end this third volume of Superman is a relative low point in Tomasi and Gleason's run. The overarching story is stalled and, unlike the last volume, the individual stories told here feel pretty inconsequential and dramatically inert. There are nice moments and the art is pretty solid overall but this volume is pretty skip-able when it's all said and done.

Score: 6/10

Saturday Evening Cartoons: Superman, Volume 2: Trials of the Super Son

It's an exciting time to be a Superman fan. The character is celebrating his 80th anniversary this year and there's a lot going on with his character, both in comics and elsewhere. The 1000th issue of Action Comics was released last month to much fanfare. A new movie adaptation of The Death of Superman is set to be released later this year. Meanwhile Brian Micheal Bendis, after his recent departure from Marvel Comics, is set to start writing both Superman and Action Comics after the completion of a miniseries, The Man of Steel, the first issue of which was released this past week. Finally, Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason have completed their run on Superman. Which brings me to my point. With all of this going on I figured this would be an opportune time to review the rest of their run (I reviewed the first volume last year).

     Superman, Volume 2: Trials of the Super Son is essentially a collection of short stories. To be honest, in this age of serialized storytelling, I find this approach really refreshing. In the first story, Our Town, we see Clark accompany Lois and Jon to the Hamilton County fair. While there he prevents a robbery, must to Lois' consternation, as he promised her there would be no super-heroics. This is a fun little story and its nice to see Clark interacting with his family. However, the main source of tension, Superman trying to avoid suiting up so he can spend time with his family, doesn't really work for me. Surely Lois doesn't expect her husband to stand idly by while the robbers take the entry money for the fair, and potentially hurt the ticket agents? Her impatience with him is meant to be endearing but I don't really buy it.

     In the second arc, Escape from Dinosaur Island, Superman and Superboy are transported to Dinosaur Island where they meet Captain Storm, one of The Losers, a team of WWII soldiers created by Robert Kanigher in the 1960's. We learn that Storm is the only surviving member of the team, the others having perished in their mission to the island. Its a really fun story, I mean who doesn't want to see Superman fight dinosaurs and giant ape monsters. It's also a fitting tribute to Darwyn Cook who, in his out-of-continuity DC: The New Frontier, had The Losers killed off during a mission to Dinosaur Island to rescue Rick Flag. Cooke passed away from cancer a few months before the story was published and it serves as a nice tribute to one of our generations most unique and vital creators.

     The third arc, In the Name of the Father: World's Smallest, serves as a set-up for the Super Sons ongoing series, focusing on Jon and Damien Wayne. In it we find out that Damien has been spying on Jon behind his father's back. He and Clark decide to help the two boys become friends by putting them through a sort of "training camp." This is really the main arc of this volume, the one that moves the overall story forward the most and it's pretty well done. Jon and Damien's very different personalities and attitudes create a lot of natural drama but I also buy it when they eventually work together and become friends (or frenemies to borrow an annoying modern term). There also some, more subtle, growth in Superman's relationship with Batman. Ever since the 52 version of Superman was killed in The Last Days of Superman, Batman has mistrusted this new (or older, I guess?) version of the character. Throughout the early issues of Tomasi's run we see them begin to form a trusting relationship. This will end up becoming irrelevant due to some retconning later on, but oh well.

     In the last story arc, Super-Monster, it is revealed that Candice, an editor who has offered Lois a job writing for the Hamilton Horn, is actually an alien fugitive named Kroog, who Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. is searching for. A conflict breaks out when The Bride of Frankenstein, now a bounty hunter, shows up to collect the bounty on Kroog. In the confusion, Kroog escapes. We learn that Frankenstein and the Bride broke up after she was forced to kill their son, who went on a murderous rampage. Ultimately, Frankenstein allows her to take Kroog and collect the bounty, hoping to win her back but she rejects him. This story is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand I like the relationship between Frankenstein and the Bride and the way Tomasi frames it as a tragic mirror of Clark and Lois' marriage, giving them a greater appreciation for what they have. On the other hand some of the conflict feels a bit contrived, especially considering how easy it is all resolved in the end.

Jorge Jimenez's art for Superman #7

     For this volume the different teams of artists were assigned to different stories, making for a more cohesive read then the first volume, which featured jarring shifts in the art style in the middle of a story. The first story was drawn by Jorge Jiménez with colors by Alejandro Sanchez. Jimenez is not a bad artist, but a lot of his work here looks a little rushed, with some sloppy facial work. Both Escape from Dinosaur Island and Super-Monster feature pencils by Doug Mahnke and inks by Jaime Mendoza (along with Trevor Scott on the former and Keith Champagne, Norm Rapmundand and Christian Alamy on the latter) with coloring by Wil Quintana. This art is, generally pretty strong and Mahnke handles the over-the-top action scenes really well. Finally, In the Name of the Father: World's Smallest was penciled by Patrick Gleason with inks by Mick Gray, Mark Morales and Christian Alamy and coloring by John Kalisz. This art is the strongest of the run as Tomasi and Gleason clearly have a really strong working relationship. They do some interesting things with the panels contrasting the more wild action beats with the more standard plotted dialogue scenes.

     Overall, Superman, Volume 2: Trials of the Super Son is a fun read. While some of the stories are better than others there all worth reading and the art work is more consistent then the first volume. Nothing super important happens, continuity wise but for me that's kind of a plus.

Score: 8/10

Geoff John's New 52 Justice League Retrospective: In Summary

     Looking back on the Geoff John's Justice League run as a whole, it was definitely a mixed bag. Early on, it really struggled to provide a confident direction for the New 52. The first two story arcs, in general, are pretty mediocre with surface level characterization, one note villains and, at times, incoherent storytelling. It's not until Throne of Atlantis that the book really begins to hit it's stride, beginning to flesh out the characters more and to tell more compelling and well written stories. From there it goes back and forth in quality with Forever Evil being the high point and Trinity War a relative low point.

     Visually it's almost always worth a look, with Jason Fabok's art being the standout. His facial work is really strong and he also delivers some really epic full page spreads. Throughout the run John's provided plenty of epic moments for comic book fans and all of the various artists really knew how to deliver. Even the most terribly written stories feature some dynamic artwork. With that said, the art could be inconsistent at times. The rapid pace that monthly comic book publishing demands means that, oftentimes, multiple artists would have to work on a given issue, so the art style could change in the middle of a story. In addition to this, the main pencilers, like Fabok and Reis, didn't always have time to finish their work and some issues feature art that has (rather obviously) been completed by a back up artist.

     Standout moments in the run include Wonder Woman and Superman kissing (though its memorable for all the wrong reasons), Aquaman accepting his birthright in Throne of Atlantis, Lex Luthor killing Alexander Luthor in Forever Evil, the death of Darkseid, the death of Owlman, and Batman taking Green Lantern's ring and overcoming the Mobius chair in The Darkseid War. Johns made some major contributions to the DC Canon in this run, introducing some memorable new characters, most notably Jessica Cruz, and reintegrating some old favorites, including Billy Batson. He also made Lex Luthor into something of an antihero. I would never have thought that having Luthor join the Justice League was a good narrative choice, but Johns made it work. The run was definitely held back by DC's editorial machine. Trinity War comes across more as a company mandate then as a story Johns wanted to pursue. It's strange having Forever Evil come right after another major (and arguably bigger) crossover event. Of course the company's decisions regarding the core characters in the New 52 reboot also had a major impact on Johns' storytelling, especially early on. Since Johns was already the company's chief creative officer when the New 52 was launched, its impossible to know how much of this was his idea.

     Of all the regular core Justice League members Johns probably does the best job with Batman and Wonder Woman. Aquaman is really only focused on during Throne of Atlantis and Hal Jordan is absent for a good chunk of the run. Superman and Flash, on the other hand, never really get much to do at all. Kal is at his best when interacting with Luthor while Barry gets to shine as Jessica Cruz's mentor. Speaking of Jessica, she, and many of other the new members inducted into the league over the course of the run, are generally more fleshed out. Adding Cyborg to the League was a little bit controversial, as he's usually a Teen Titan and many felt that the character worked better in a more teen focused book. While I tend to agree I do like what John's does with the character. Victor Stone is the one character who's their from the beginning who really grows and changes over the course of the run, becoming a more confident and fully rounded individual by the end. Lex Luthor, who joins the League after the events of Forever Evil, was also a welcome addition and his more ambiguous morals provided a nice contrast to the League's selfless heroism. We continually see Lex try and, oftentimes, fail to be a hero and this is something that has continued to be explored in the Rebirth era by Peter Tomasi and Dan Jurgens in Superman and Action Comics respectively.

     The villains featured throughout the run are also a little hit-or-miss. Darkseid fails to make much of an impression in the opening arc. This is remedied a little during The Darkseid War but, ironically, he is killed half way through that story. Grail is the real villain of The Darkseid War and is a pretty good one with a nature vs. nurture style backstory. Other new villains include the lackluster David Graves; Grid, the supervirus who takes over Victor Stone during Trinity War; and patient zero, who turns into Amazo. Of these three Grid is definitely the most interesting being a sort of mirror for Victor Stone, showing what he could be if he lost his humanity and forcing him to confront his deepest fears. In general, it's the Crime Syndicate who stand head and shoulders above every other villain in the run. The ever tense power dynamic between Ultraman, Owlman and Superwoman really makes for some compelling reading. Both Ultraman and Olwman get fleshed out backstories, mirroring Superman and Batman, and the same goes for Grid, Johnny Quick and Atomica, and Power Ring. Superwoman's origin is left unexplained, in order to hide her relationship with Alexander Luthor until the big reveal, but this is mitigated somewhat in The Darkseid War, where she easily has the biggest role to play out of the surviving members.

     For anyone wanting to check this run out I'd recommend starting with Throne of Atlantis (especially if you like Aquaman stories) and then slogging through Trinity War, which you kind of need to read before Forever Evil. If your not hooked by then this run probably isn't for you.

To read my detailed thoughts on all of the trades collecting this run see the links below:

Justice League Volume 1: Origin

Justice League Volume 2: The Villain's Journey

Justice League Volume 3: Throne of Atlantis

Trinity War

Forever Evil 

Justice League Volume 6: Injustice League

Justice League: The Darkseid War

Geoff John's New 52 Justice League Retrospective Part 7 (Sunday Evening Cartoons)

Perhaps I should just give up on posting these on time...

     The Darkseid War was published in two volumes (volumes 7 and 8 of the series proper). It is the final arc from Geoff John's run on the Justice League.

     The Darkseid War starts out with a flashback showing an Amazon named Myrina giving birth to Grail, the Daughter of Darkseid, on Themyscira on the same day that Diana was born. Menalippe, who witnesses this birth, foresees a war between Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor that the child will bring about so she and Penelope try to kill the child. Myrina, however, refuses to let them do this and kills them both, fleeing Themyscira.
   
    Meanwhile Metron relates persuading Darkseid and the Highfather of New Genesis to exchange sons in order to prevent further wars between the two planets. He also recaps the emergence of the original Anti-Monitor and his defeat in Crisis on Infinite Earths along with other major DC crossover's including Flashpoint, the results of which, according to Metron, have not yet solidified. This Anti-Monitor, we learn was the named Mobius was the first to sit in the Mobius Chair. Metron approaches Mobius and offers to undo his curse. He warns him of Darkseid's ambitions but Mobius wants a war with Darkseid so he can destroy him and break his curse, ending the age of the New Gods once again. It is then revealed that Grail is aiding Mobius and she attacks Metron, causing him to flee so he can try to prevent the coming war.

     Back on earth Darkseid's servants, Kanto and Lashina, search for Myrina, finding and murdering anyone who bears her name, Terminator style. Mister Miracle relates his escape from Apokolips. We learn that the exchange of sons did nothing to prevent war with Apokolips and Highfather's son began to search for a means of escape. Eventually breaking out of Darkseid's prison he met Himon, a rebel who inspired him to fight against Darkseid. Darkseid, we learn, is now amassing power to attack earth again and Mister Miracle decides to go to the League for help. He faces Darkseid who thoroughly beats him and is forced to flee.

      The League, meanwhile, is investigating the boom tube opening created by Lashina and Kanto. As they search the scene of Myrina's murder, Grail emerges from inside Flash and takes him out. A fight breaks out between her and the League and she tells Wonder Woman who she is. She then takes Jessica Cruz's power ring and summons Anti-Monitor and an army of shadows. With the rest of the League incapacitated, Wonder Wonder is forced to fight Grail and Mobius on her own. Then Metron arrives and uses his chair to transport the League away.

     While searching for the man responsible for trying to kill Lex Luthor, he and Superman travel to his lab at LexCorp. There, Lex shows Superman his new Kryptonite powered suit, angering him. Superman threatens to kick Lex off of the League but their confrontation is interrupted when Lena shoots Lex and, declaring her loyalty to Darkseid, sends both men to Apokolips using a Boom Tube. Arriving their, Superman revives Lex and cauterizes his wound, informing him of his sister's treachery.
 

     Arriving on Earth, Mister Miracle finds another woman named Myrina murdered and Lashina and Kanto, who are still on the scene, fight him. He teleports away from the fight and encounters the real Myrina. He warns her about Kanto and Lashina and she informs him off her plan to destroy Darkseid by having Grail manipulate a war between him and Mobius. Shocked by this revelation, he refuses to cooperate with her plans and uses his Boom Tube to escape when she tries to kill him.

     On Apokolips, Steppenwolf informs Darkseid that Superman has arrived and pledges to kill him. But Darkseid wants his to destroy his spirit as well as his body. He orders his slaves to kill Superman, offering them their freedom if they so. This will show Superman that Apokolips is a world without hope. He also sends Steppenwolf and Kalibak to capture Grail and Myrina. Superman and Luthor are attacked by hundreds of beings from the slave camps and Superman finds that his powers are fading because of the lack of sunlight on the planet. Luthor flies him away from the oncoming slaves and they are attacked by parademons. Desperate for help Luthor drops Clark into the Fire Pits of Apokolips in order to charge him with solar energy.

      Metron takes the league to the Shazam's hideout, the Rock of Eternity. He tells them to flee earth and save themselves. They, of course, refuse to do this. Wonder Woman uses her lasso to get information about Mobius from Metron. He tells her that he himself knows nothing and she must take the chair in order to obtain this information. She removes him from it and, before it can transport itself away, Batman sits in and is immediately overwhelmed with information. He is still unable to get any information about the Anti-Monitor however. He discovers the origin of Grail and informs the League who are concerned that the chair will permanently alter him. Mister Miracle then teleports in and asks the League to help him persuade Mobius to leave earth. Batman and Green Lantern go to find answers in the multiverse while the rest of the League go with Mister Miracle. The League then confront Grail and Mobius and tell them to leave when Darkseid and his army arrive, summoned by Grail.

     Batman and Hal Jordan visit Earth 3 to see what Mobius did to that world. Jordan wants to return to earth and help Diana and the others but Bruce insists on continuing the search, saying the knowledge is important. They then travel to Mobius' birthplace of Qward and discover that he built the Mobius Chair. He came to see the Anti-Life Equation and was cursed because of it

     Back on earth the war has begun. Kalibak fights with Grail while Mobius fights Darkseid. Darkseid then summons the Black Racer and together they start to beat Mobius down. The Anti-Monitor then uses the Anti-Life Equation, which he reveals to be inside him, to take control of the Black Racer who then bonds with the Flash. With this combined power, the Racer kills Darkseid.

     On Apokolips the Fire Pits have transformed Superman into a dark god and he now wants to kill Luthor. He rips Luthor's suit in half and leaves him to rot on Apokolips. Ardora and the Forgotten People then find Luthor and tell him of a prophecy which said that a human would walk through the ashes if Apokolips after Darkseid's death. This prophecy refers to Superman but Lex claims that he is that man. As a result, Ardora attemps to contain the Omega effect inside Lex to see if he's worthy to claim it's power. He survives the process and becomes the new god of Apokolips.

     Meanwhile, Mobius has reverted to his original form, separating from the Anti-Life Equation which Grail takes. The New Gods call Shazam who also attains Godlike powers. At this point in the story Batman, Superman, Flash, Lex Luthor and Shazam have all essentially become the New Gods. All of them have been altered by this experience, and refuse to give up their new power. Green Lantern, failing to convince Batman to leave the Mobius chair, returns to Oa to fight the a parademon invasion.

     The members of the League still fighting on earth decide to regroup in the face of Darkseid's death. Volthoom attempts to take over Jessica Cruz again but she resists him. Kanto tries to kill Scott Free but is stopped by Barda's arrival from Apokolips. Scott Free then reveals that they're married. Wonder Woman decides to question the Syndicate about Mobius but Steve Trevor informs her they are Level Zero inmates at A.R.G.U.S., so they'll have to break into Belle Reve to question them. Jessica, Barda, Scott and Cyborg teleport away to do this while Diana and Steve go to locate the other Leaguers. Before they can leave, Superman shows up and attacks Steve. Wonder Woman intervenes, using her Lasso to calm Superman down, and he accepts his identity as Clark Kent, restoring him to his normal mental state. Batman then returns to earth and tells Superman that his mental state has only been restored temporarily and that the solar energy from Apokolips is breaking down his cellular structure and will eventually kill him. He then detects that Mobius is returning.

     In the meantime, Jessica, Barda, Scott and Cyborg have broken into Belle Reve and questioned Ultraman, who tells them that Mobius has come to destroy everyone. When they break into Superwoman's cell, Volthoom takes control of Jessica, something which, it turns out, the two former Crime Syndicate members had planned ahead of time. Cyborg tries to hack into the ring and restore Jessica's power but Volthoom reactivates Grid who takes over Cyborg's body yet again. Owlman then arrives, and suggests that the League and the Syndicate work together to stop Mobius.

     The Syndicate claim that they know how to find and defeat Mobius. They want Luthor to give his kryptonite to Ultraman, to restore his powers. The League agree to this under the condition that Grid release Cyborg after Mobius is beaten. Jessica, according to the Syndicate, can't be helped. Grid locates Mobius in Gotham and the League and the Syndicate teleport there to face him. They find the city under attack by an army of shadow soldiers. As the battle begins Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps show up to aid the League. Many of them perish in the ensuing fight.

     Grail then teleports in and takes Steve Trevor while Wonder Woman is occupied helping Superwoman to fight Mobius. Both woman are beaten by the Anti-God and Ultraman and Superman then attack him. Ultraman punches Kal El away, attacking Mobius himself. He is killed by Mobius and then Lex Luthor teleports in, leading an army of parademons.

     Meanwhile Jessica Cruz, trapped within the Volthoom ring, hears a voice telling her to locate the rings central battery. Power Ring, who soul is still trapped in the ring, tries to dissuade her as Volthoom will return and torment him if she leaves. But Jessica takes courage and sets off breaking into the ring's central battery where she finds Vic who downloaded his consciousness into the ring.

     Myrina has remained on earth because of the Anti-Life Equation, which is capable of controlling the will of everyone in existence. Grail tells her it cannot be destroyed and so she hopes to control it herself. Grail then relates how her mother fled Themyscira and was pursued by Zeus's storms. After arriving in man's world, her mother taught Grail to keep her inner darkness at bay but one night she tried to kill Myrina only to break down in tears. One day the two woman located a blind witch possessing the eye of seeing. Grail killed her and, using the eye saw the Anti-Monitor who she hoped to use to defeat Darksied. Grail knew that Mobius was a killer before he became the Anti-Monitor and that he would pose a great threat to mankind even after being separated form the Anti-Life Equation, but she hid this from her mother. She now wants the power of the Equation to kill Mobius and exact revenge on Zeus and the Amazons. The oracle said that the first man to touch the soil of Themyscira would save the world or destroy it and Grail wants to use him to hurt Diana. She bonds him to the Anti-Life Equation.

     Back on Earth, Lex uses his newfound power to fight Mobius. Superwoman is about to give birth and Diana wants to take her away from the battlefield but Owlman won't let her. Batman reveals that the child is the weapon the Syndicate wants to use to kill Mobius. Lex gains a temporary advantage when he sends the parademons to attack Mobius but he is quickly overwhelmed by attacking shadow soldiers and Barda and Mister Miracle come to his rescue. Barda wants to return to Apokolips and lead a rebellion in Darkseid's absence but Scott Free insists on staying and aiding the League. As Mobius begins to converge on Batman to take his chair back Superman releases a Solar Flare, gaining energy and hurting Mobius. Mobius then tries to kill Luthor when Grail and her mother arrive with Steve. As Superwoman's baby is born Grail forces Steve to kill Mobius.

     Grail then commands Steve to kill Diana and the the rest of the League. Steve asks Diana to stop him but he can't control himself. Luthor tries to kill him but Superman intervenes. Mister Miracle chains Grail and the Green Lanterns try to imprison her but she breaks free. Superwoman channels Luthor's power into her child by saying "Mazahs", only to be killed by Grail. Then Steve tries to kill Diana but Barry resists the control of the Black Racer and pushes her out of the way. Grail tries to steal his power but she is unable to as the Black Racer is a sentient being. The Racer separates from Flash and tries to kill him. Grail takes Shazam's powers instead.

     Cyborg attempts to tap into the Volthoom ring's supernatural technology. He finds that's there's a third quantity other then ones and zeroes: Fear. Jessica controls her fear helping Vic to bypass it. She tries to save Barry from the Black Racer and is killed in the process. The League, depowered, face Grail and the baby. Scott Free asks Batman how to stop her. He tells him that Steve wasn't the first man on Themyscira and that Grail made a mistake by choosing him. Overhearing this, Grail takes the Anti-Life Equation back from Steve and gives it to Superwoman's son instead. The child is reborn as Darkseid, but he must now do Grail's bidding.
 

     The Mobius chair starts to overwhelm Bruce and Hal gives him his ring so he'll have the willpower to get off of it. Barda arrives from Apokolips and leads the Furies and Kalibak to attack the newly reborn Darkseid. Batman, having left the Mobius chair, still remembers that Grail and Darkseid are connected. Owlman then takes the chair and Grid downloads himself to it, releasing Vic. Myrina, meanwhile, begins to regret starting the war. Batman tells Diana that Darkseid must be separated from the Antil-Life Equation and that only Grail can do this. Wonder Woman lassos Grail to calm her down. Myrina asks Grail to kill her as a sacrifice, erasing her rage. Grail unleashes the Equation through Myrina, killing her and depowering Darkseid. Grail and Darkseid then vanish and Myrina dies.

     It is then revealed that Jessica survived the Black Racer's attack as the Racer only killed Volthoom. She is then chosen by a Green Lantern Ring which made it's way to earth. It is also revealed that Barda made a pact with the Furies in order to save Mister Miracle. She promised to join with them again in exchange for their help. Grail decides to raise Superwoman's child as her mother raised her. Lex returns to Apokolips to lead the revolution against Darkseid's forces. Superman is dying because of his contact with th solar power on Apokolips and Batman must investigate the Mobius' Chair's revelation that there are three different Jokers. With her dying breath, Myrina told Diana she had a brother named Jason and that there are lies about Themiscrya .Owlman asks the chair for the secrets of the universe when he is mysteriously killed, presumably by Dr. Manhattan.

     This story is really dense. So much plot and backstory are packed into a mere 12 issues that the book can barely handle the strain. The book must establish the backstory of both Grail and Mobius as well as recap much of Jack Kirby's New Gods for readers who are unfamiliar with that material. It must also tell the main story which involves the battle between Mobius and Drakseid, Mister Miracle and Barda's resistance against Darkseid on Apokolips, the Crime Syndicate's attempted return to power and their quest for revenge against Mobius and, finally, Myrina's and Grail's plot to destroy Darksied once and for all. With all of this the book's main charterers end up feeling oddly sidelined. With the exception of Batman, all of the League members who gain godlike powers have them thrust upon them unwillingly and then they lose them without any effort on their own part. Batman is the exception, as he takes the Mobius chair in a moment of urgency and is able to give it up with help from Green Lantern, which is one of the standout moments of the run.

     The relationship between Hal and Bruce, in general, is really solid. Other character relationships are also given focus. Early on, there's a lot of interaction between Superman and Lex, as the two must learn to trust each other better. This doesn't really go anywhere but it's nice while it lasts. Diana and Steve have some time to bond again, as we find out that they still have feelings for each other. Jessica Cruz probably gets the most character development as we see her finally overcome Volthoom's influence when she breaks free from the ring. Her friendship with Flash is stronger then the fear that has held her back for so long. It may be a plot contrivance that she is chosen by the Green Lantern ring, as there's already a Green Lantern for earth, but it does feel that she has earned it.

     This arc is influenced both by Jack Kirby's New Gods and by Greek mythology. It presents itself as an epic battle where old guys die and new one's are reborn. In the end, plain old heroism wins the day. There's a general theme running through the story of using violence to end violence. Myrina, trained as an assassin, can only see a violent path to defeat Darkseid but, as Diana later says, "You don't start a war to end a war. Violence begets violence, unless someone breaks the cycle." Ultimately, her actions only lead to the creation of a younger, stronger Darkseid. It's by giving her own life, not by taking life, that Myrina ends the war. There's also a lot of undermining of the current status quo. Between Superman's impending death, Wonder Woman's discovery that the Truth about her heritage has been covered up, and the tease of Dr. Manhatten at the end of the story, it feels like the writing was already on the wall for the New 52.

     It's interesting, two years later, how much this story is influencing current DC storyarcs in other books. The current Wonder Woman arc deals with her meeting Jason for the first time as well as Grail's quest to restore Darkseid's power. Superman and Lex Luthor return to Apokolips to fulfill the Forgotten People's prophecy in Imperius Lex (the current Superman arc). This story even teases Dr. Manhattan, leading to the The Doomsday Clock, the first issue of which came out last month.

     The influence of Jack Kirby's New Gods on this story this extends to the artwork. Pencillers Jason Fabok and Francis Manapul both channel the legendary artist's penchant for dynamic action and they do their best to replicate the burly, muscular look he always drew characters with when drawing the characters from New Gods. Despite this, both artists have dramatically different styles with Manupul's pencils being much more expressionistic then Fabok's more realistic renderings. Despite this discrepancy, The Darkseid War is an awesome looking book filled, with epic splash panels and striking imagery. Oscar Jimenez did the artwork for The Darkseid War Special, which goes over the Grail's childhood with Myrina and it's a little more rough around the edges but this fits the darker, murkier storyline and, as it is essentially a diversion from the main story, its not overly distracting.

     Overall, The Darkseid War is a little overly ambitious. Attempting to simultaneously wrap up all the loose ends from the run and to lay the groundwork for Rebirth it ends up feeling a little rushed and the main characters are somewhat sidelined. Nevertheless it's a pretty good event comic, filled with epic moments and telling a grandiose story spanning many years and echoing the history of the DC Universe going all the way back to 1986's Crisis on Infinite Earths. Definitely worth a read.

Score: 8/10