Birds of Prey (vol.2) #1 (2010)

Birds of Prey (vol.2) #1 (July, 2010)
"Endrun, Part One of Four: Without Breaking a Few Eggs"
Writer - Gail Simone
Artist - Ed Benes
Colorist - Nei Ruffino
Letterer - Steve Wands
Editor - Janelle Siegel
Cover Price: $2.99

Finally... Birds of Prey.  I think with this issue we've covered at least one Brightest Day issue from each "family" of titles.

Now, I wasn't necessarily "saving" the Birds for last... it's just that my comics library is kind of a disaster area.  If you've been following me on Twitter, you'll see just how crazy my latest attempt at organization has been!

Anyhoo... let's talk Boyds!

--

We open with Black Canary arriving somewhere... very cold (Iceland, I think), for a hostage exchange with a group of nogoodniks.  There are strings attached, however.  The lead baddie informs her that he'll let the little girl go if her parents will hold a press conference to apologize for messing around in Quarac... oh, and also to publicly kill themselves.  Dinah has a different idea.

After calling in Lady Blackhawk... and beating the holy hell out of the baddies, the ladies reconnoiter at a nearby hospital.  A live television airs the news of the rescue of Katy... but leaves Dinah's name out of it.  Lady Blackhawk is a bit annoyed... but Dinah informs her that she asked not to be mentioned.  Their chat is cut short by... a call.

A call from Oracle.  She informs the girls that something major has come up... so major that they need to pull the team back together.

On another monitor, Barbara watches another former "Bird"... Huntress!  She's in the midst of crackin' skulls in some alley somewhere.  As the dust settles, Babs makes contact.

Elsewhere... on the "nice side" of Gotham, we Dove and the resurrected Hawk as they... beat up a bunch of cheerleaders?!  No kidding, Hank Hall and Dawn Granger are beating up the "Pep Squad".  Ay yai yai.  Hawk makes a few cryptic comments about his return... and claims that "God wants a soldier".  Because, in case you'd forgotten (like I had!), this is a Brightest Day tie-in!

We jump ahead a few hours to a bar... and it's here that the storytelling kinda gets jumbled.  Maybe it's just a case of me being too dense, but it almost feels like some of these panels are out of sequence.  Hank is chatting up an old man... and sorta flirting with the (sorta Barbara Gordon-looking) waitress.  Meanwhile, Lady Blackhawk enters and starts talking to Dawn... about Hank?  Feels like a scene written for television... but stuck in a comic book anyway.

The scene ends with... I think Lady Blackhawk asking if Hawk is gay... then Hawk and Dove deciding to throw their lot in with the Birds?  I dunno.

We shift scenes to a Gotham City rooftop, where we finally get our Oracle/Black Canary/Huntress reunion.  Unfortunately, their meeting isn't under the best of circumstances.  Barbara shares with them that she'd recently received a strange package from a homeless courier.  The package included files upon files of information about the hero and villain community... secret identities, people of interest, all that stuff!

What's more, the unknown sender has threatened to kill one of the names on the list every hour from midnight on.  And wouldn'tcha know it... the clock is just about to strike.

They speculate on what's about to happen... when they notice a strange canary-esque symbol being shone into the sky.  They (Dinah and Helena) follow it and discover a woman threatening... the Penguin!

The Birds get involved... and kinda get their butts kicked.  The mystery assassin then jabs a blade into the Penguin's jugular... and dares them to try and save him.  This woman is... White Canary (not that we'd know that quite yet).

--

Not a bad little "gathering of forces" issue to open up this too-short  volume.  It's kind of paint by numbers... but, that's not necessarily a bad thing.  The oldest tricks are sometimes the best.

Joining each other characters "en media whatever" is a fine way to introduce them... and helps potential "new" readers (ha!) to get a better look at them outside of the "Birds" dynamic.

The premise is a really intriguing one... and a great way to keep these characters "busy" while the rest of Brightest Day can... ya know, happen.  Again, the concept of a dossier isn't exactly revolutionary, but it's a lot of fun... and opens up several interesting storytelling possibilities.

I'm not sure how popular an opinion this is, but I've always dug Ed Benes' art.  It's clean, and pretty... and, outside of that odd bar-scene the storytelling was clear and easy to follow.

Overall, I had a lot of fun with this.  Birds of Prey is one of those books which exemplifies just what was being thrown away when The New-52! was foisted upon us.  Well worth checking out... and, for your convenience is available digitally.

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Action Comics #836 (2006)

Action Comics #836 (April, 2006)
"Superman This is your Life, Part Two"
Writer - Joe Kelly
Pencillers - Dan Jurgen, Dick Giordano, Ed Benes, Ian Churchill, Phil Jimenez, Tom Derenick, Renato Guedes, Lee Bermejo & Doug Mahnke
Inkers - Kevin Conrad, Jose Marzan, Norm Rapmund, Andy Lanning & Drew Geraci
Colorists - Guy Major, Dave Stewart  Renato Guedes
Letterer - Nick J. Napolitano
Assistant Editor - Jeanine Schaefer
Editor - Eddie Berganza
Cover Price: $2.50

Sometimes we can get a little too "close" to our comics.  For the longest time, this was a Superman story I couldn't bring myself to reread.

I mean, as comics readers (or fans of any consumable entertainment/media), I think we've all experienced that feeling where we have an idea where a story is headed... and knowing that we're powerless to stop it.  That's how I felt reading this back in 2005-2006.

I remember the first time I heard (in comics) that a Crisis was on its way.  It was an issue of Teen Titans by Geoff Johns... and from that point on, my DC-reading fell into sort of a fog.  I wasn't around for the first Crisis... so this was really my first time not feeling "safe" as a DC Comics fan.

Of course, these days that almost seems quaint.  DC is getting just as bad as Marvel when it comes to reboots/relaunches/re-whatevers... and the industry has become so knee-jerk reactionary that I can't even remember the last time I felt "safe".

Anyhoo... this issue (and the story it's a part of) comes from a very... shaky time in my (and likely some others') DC fandom.  Things were weird... and nebulous at best.

Let's give it a look and see if time has soothed this fan's soul.

--

We open with three... kinda different tellings of Superman's origin story... it's a tale of three Kryptons... three families of El... three rockets, and three sets of Kents.  Yeah, there's definitely something weird going on here.  It's almost as though we're in the midst of experiencing a... Crisis of sorts.  Hmm...

We jump ahead to the events(ish) of Man of Steel #1, where Lois and company are about to crash the "space plane".  They find themselves saved by a strange flying man, who upon setting them down gives Lois a peck on the cheek and introduces himself to her as "Superman".  Well, that's not right... right?

We briefly pop into the present, and find Superman in the heat of battle with... somebody.  This somebody is commenting on the corruption in the world... and is wondering why Superman hasn't done more.

We hop back to the past... this time, it's the first meeting between Superman and Batman.  This is a contentious meeting, so clearly post-Crisis.  Batman tells Superman if he steps near him, it will set off a bomb that will kill an innocent.  Superman calls his bluff, because he knows the bomb is on Batman's person.  They agree to team up.

We briefly check in with the Earth-2 Superman, who is holding vigil over the ailing Earth-2 Lois Lane.

Back to the past!  We relive an... altered version of Lex Luthor's Kryptonite Ring saga.  It starts similarly enough, Lex taunts Superman with the one thing that appears to hurt him.  He (Lex) then contracts cancer due to the Kryptonite exposure.  Then, on his death-bed, Superman makes Lex an offer he can't refuse... he'll use Kryptonian technology in order to grant Lex a quarter-century of life.  Lex accepts.

Then... a couple of versions of Lois Lane learning "the secret".  They both end the same way.

Then... Doomsday!  It's a greatest hits (pun!) from Superman (vol.2) #75... right up until the ending.  Ya see, the titans both land their "finishing blow"... only, this time around Doomsday's punch isn't enough to keep the Man of Steel down.

We jump ahead... though, still in flashback... to the events of Identity Crisis.  The satellite-era League is arguing about what they ought to do about Doctor Light.  Just as in the original story, half of the team seems a-okay with the mindwipe... and the other half ain't exactly on board.  Superman arrives to offer a third alternative.  Well, he doesn't so much offer it as "invoke" it.  He zaps Doctor Light... and banishes him to the Phantom Zone!

This, somehow, is viewed as the worst option by the League.  Mindwiping is totally cool... but Phantom Zoning is "crossing the line".  It's not that I disagree, but, c'mon... the League was acting a bit shady in the original Identity Crisis story.  It's not like they have all that much room to talk.  Anyhoo, the League holds an intervention with the Man of Steel... it seems as though the "Phantom Zone banishment" has become something of a go-to for him.  Superman decides to disband the JLA... to which, Zatanna attempts to put Superman "to sleep"... but cannot seem to muster the words.

Then we meet Superman's new running buddies: The Elite.  Well, the Justice League Elite.

We wrap up back in Metropolis where Jimmy Olsen and friends are having drinks and trying to ride out the apocalypse.  Jimmy tells his pals that Superman has the situation under control... and there's nothing to worry about.  Then... something happens.

--

Such an... uncomfortable read.

This entire issue just feels "off", which I suppose is the point.  It's like the "fun-house mirror" version of the post-Crisis Superman story.  Added the "jam" of artists here... I'm not entirely sure what to make of it.

I get that this is just running alongside the actual Infinite Crisis event book... so things are being left purposely nebulous, but today... just as over a dozen years ago... I really can't talk myself into liking this.  Perhaps it is the years of hindsight we now have... or maybe I just never let go of my reboot-bitterness.  We've definitely hit, at least in my opinion, the point where these sort of things have diminishing returns.

I think back to the early days of the "Berganza era" and the influx of, what many post-Crisis fans referred to as "S.A.S." (that's Silver Age Sh-tuff)... and how that didn't really bug me.  I felt like that was adding something, where I feel like this is only taking away.

Overall... this is a difficult one for me to recommend.  I will say, if you do decide to give this a whirl, read the entire three-part story... and not just the middle chapter like we're doing here.  It's available digitally, and has been collected in the Superman: Infinite Crisis trade paperback.

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Justice League of America (vol.2) #10 (2007)

Justice League of America (vol.2) #10 (August, 2007)
"The Lightning Saga, Final Chapter: The Villain is the Hero in His Own Story"
Writer - Brad Meltzer
Penciller - Ed Benes
Inker - Sandra Hope
Letterer - Rob Leigh
Colorist - Alex Sinclair
Assistant Editor - Adam Schlagman
Editor - Eddie Berganza
Cover Price: $2.99

Okay, we finally made it...

If you need/want to catch up:
Chapter One: Justice League of America (vol.2) #8
Chapter Two: Justice Society of America (vol.3) #5
Chapter Three: Justice League of America (vol.2) #9
Chapter Four: Justice Society of America (vol.3) #6

--

We pick up back during the Computo fight.  While Superman and Power Girl realize they've been duped, the rest of the amalgamated Justice League-Society continues the battle.  Spotting Sensor Girl, and assuming she's behind the illusion, Superman zips across the battlefield to question her.  He grabs her by the shoulder... shattering it?  Well, no... turns out, Sensor Girl is also an illusion!

We shift to the Legionnaires and find that they are all in position... Dawnstar is in Tokyo, Timber Wolf is in Central City, Sensor Girl is in Smallville, Wildfire is in San Francisco, Starman is in Gotham City, and Dream Girl is in Keystone City... where she is joined by an inquisitive Jay Garrick.  He knows that she knows how this is all going to roll out... but she ain't talkin'.  In fact, she hints that her placement was simply to pull the present-heroes' resident speedster off the scent.

Jay smiles... because, well... he's always smiling.  At that moment we can see that each of the Legionniares we just mentioned have been joined by a member of the Justice League.  In Smallville, Sensor Girl finds herself in the company of Superman.  She is crying, knowing that this time around we won't just be losing a "Proty".  He asks if he can see the Lightning Rod.

In Gotham, Batman is joined by Mr. Terrific so they can have a discussion/debate on suicide... which, I suppose is relevant at this juncture but still comes across as somewhat forced.  While across the globe the League members try and talk the Legionnaires out of their suicide mission, we see that Batman and Green Lantern are in very familiar locales.  Batman is where he was during Crisis on Infinite Earths when Barry Allen appeared before him... Hal is in Barry's police lab.  Really cool visual.

We find ourselves around twenty seconds from "impact", and the waiting Legionnaires activate their force fields.  Jay radios in to Black Canary, who immediately deactivates the Legion Flight rings... unfortunately for the League/Society, the Legionnaires Rings are able to override the command.  Welp, that was a good use of a page!

The seconds continue to tick down, and we shift to Blue Valley, USA where Karate Kid (remember him?) is stationed.  The League/Society were unable to follow him as he removed his tracer.  Hmm, perhaps the Legion did already know who was going to be zapped today!

He looks to the skies, says "Lightning Lad" and is struck by a... sorta iconic looking... lightning bolt!

Moments later, the remaining Legionnaires begin to fade away... being drawn to the Fortress of Solitude so they can go back to the future.  In the smoldering crater where the lightning struck in Blue Valley we see... Wally, Linda, Iris, and Jai West?  Well, there's some folks I wasn't expecting to see.

While the Legionnaires continue to fade away, Starman removes his flight ring to remain in the present with his new team.

The Legionnaires arrive at the Fortress, and as they proceed through the time-portal thingie... Karate Kid is told that he's got to stay behind... a story thread that will be picked up in the pages of Countdown.  Fate worse than death?  Oh and if you're wondering, he survived the lightning bolt by "ducking".

We follow the remaining Legionnaires into the future, where Brainiac-5 is a bit surprised about the lightning bringing the Wests back.  Ya see, they weren't inside the lightning bolt... they simply rode it back.  Back in the present, Superman looks a bit betrayed... and wants to talk to Starman.  Batman looks disappointed... suggesting that he might've been expecting, I dunno, a different speedster? 

We wrap up with Wally accepting an invitation to rejoin the Justice League... and Brainiac-5 revealing that the Lightning Rod gambit was successful, and they get exactly who they were looking for.

--

Well... that was moderately unsatisfying.  Feels like a whole lot of buildup for not much of a result.  We discuss the whole "decompression" thing here from time to time... and we're about to do so again!

I feel like the second-half of this story could have easily filled a single issue.  Hell, this entire story would've made for a great annual or something.  There just doesn't feel like nearly enough "meat" to satisfyingly fill five whole issues.  Chapter Four was basically just the fight with not-Computo, and this was just waiting for lightning to strike.

I'm a pretty big Wally West fan, but the result here even felt like a bit of a letdown.  I guess that's a problem we face when we read things out of context.  I'd actually forgotten the era we were reading about, and the fact that Wally and Family had vamoosed for a bit there.  Made the entire thing feel anticlimactic.

As for who the Legion were hoping to bring back... well, we'd have to wait about a year and a half to find out what that's all about.  So, if you were a Legion fan hoping for some follow-up, you're gonna have to exercise some patience.  Nothing new for Legion fans though, right?  Especially nowadays...

Overall... I found The Lightning Saga disappointing.  To be fair, I'm coming at this from a position of not knowing a whole helluva lot about the Legion of Super-Heroes... and having little investment in the characters, disparate reboots, and stories which may or may not have happened.

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Justice League of America (vol.2) #9 (2007)

Justice League of America (vol.2) #9 (July, 2007)

"The Lightning Saga, Chapter Three: Suicide"

Writer - Brad Meltzer

Artist - Ed Benes

Letterer - Rob Leigh

Colorist - Alex Sinclair

Assistant Editor - Adam Schlagman

Editor - Eddie Berganza

Cover Price: $2.99

Welcome to the halfway point of The Lightning Saga!  If you're interested, be sure to check out our chats on Chapter One and Chapter Two first!

--

We open with Mr. Terrific and Black Canary getting us caught up on what's gone down so far.  Of interest, we (or at least, I) learn that Wildfire is actually using Red Tornado's body... that's pretty neat, and not something I ever knew.  Not sure if this had ever been established before this.  They also look at the odd utility belt that Wildfire had produced last chapter... and find that it looks almost too ordinary.  Speaking of Red Tornado, Michael is still almost creepily stoked to get him into his lab.  On the other side of a two-way mirror, we can see a soft-interrogation going down.  Batman chats up Karate Kid, asking about the "Trigger Word", suggesting that it might be a sort of fail-safe.  Val thinks he's on to something... and they discuss how "random" their being flung into the past might... or might not, have been.

We shift scenes to the Congo... seemingly to facilitate Vixen explaining how her powers differ from Animal Man's.  She, along with Jay Garrick, Hal Jordan, and Wildcat Jr. are visiting Gorilla City... the House of Solovar, to be precise.  They are greeted by Nnamdi, who as it would happen feels power emanating from Mari.

Their chat is cut short by the arrival of some very important news... about an arrival!  Ya see, a Nzame (which a Google search says is the name of the African God of Creation) is about to be born... and this is an event that only happens once every thousand years.  Ain't he just the sweetest thing?  Or... does he remind you of another white gorilla we might know?

While the Gorillas celebrate, Jay and Mari prepare to scout the area in search of their futuristic bounty... annnnnd, they find him!  Legionnaire, Timber Wolf is running with a pack of hunter-apes... riding dinosaurs!  I'm not much for Internetty "lol, random" humor, but this is pretty cute.  Hal's Green Lantern ring speaks the trigger-word, waking Brin from his haze.

We next shift to Thanagar, where Power Girl and Red Arrow provide a little bit more in the way of expositional catch-up.  They are joined on this journey by Hawks Man and Girl.  It would appear that this might be the most hormonal flight in existence... because you can cut through the romantic tension with an Nth Metal knife.  We see that Roy is quite smitten with Kendra... a fact that isn't lost on her, and one she appears to sorta-kinda enjoy playing with.

Power Girl looks on, and cautions Roy about getting tied up with one of the Hawks.  We see that she and Carter had a bit of a fling earlier on... which ended the way most Hawky romances do.  No, not with death and reincarnation... with Hawkman and Hawkgirl being pulled together again.

Next stop, the future.  Remember Dolores Whatsherface from Chapter One?  The Ultra-Humanite host with cancer from 1948?  Well, we now see her laid out on a table with the top of her head cut off.  Well, that's pleasant.  We then (thankfully) turn the camera to see her captors/saviors... Per Degaton, the Ultra-Humanite (White Gorilla... hmm... edition) and (pre-Crisis) Despero!  Last we saw them on this blog, they were messing with Rip Hunter over in the pages of Booster Gold (vol.2).

Back on Thanagar, our foursome arrives at the foot of the building where they believe Dawnstar is hanging out.  They head for the roof and find a winged woman knelt in the corner.  They offer up the trigger-word, but it's no-dice.  We come to find that this isn't Dawnstar... just the person she left her Legion Flight Ring with.  It might be her lover, I'm not sure.  I guess when you're packin' wings, a Flight Ring isn't a "must".  We learn that Dawnstar has already "felt" her friends, and is headed to them.

Back with the League, we see our five Legionnaires reunited... and discovering their true purpose in the present.  Ya see, that Utility Belt actually houses several lightning rods... with which they will sacrifice themselves???  Sooo, the Legionnaires are actually on  a suicide mission to "bring him back".  Considering the safe-word is "Lightning Lad", they've got Lightning Rods, and the story is called The Lightning Saga... I gotta wonder who they might be talking about!  Ya know, the more I type the word "lightning" the weirder it looks...

We wrap up this chapter with the arrival of Dawnstar.  Despite having been drawn there, she's still in her haze.  Wildfire has to trigger-word her out of it.  Now with all her bearings, she knows where they need to go to successfully complete their mission...

--

Boy is it nice to have Ed Benes back on art!  Not that Davis was a slouch or anything... just came across a bit inconsistent.  Plus, that Power Girl... ay yai yai.  That's not to say we don't get our cheesecake here... it's just a lot... well, I wouldn't say subtle... just nicer.

Anyhoo... after this chapter we're up to six out of our seven time-lost Legionnaires.  Not being a "big" Legion dude, I can't say whether there's rhyme or reason to the characters chosen.  If it were up to me, I'd have went with the bigger names... Brainiac-5, Saturn Girl, Mon-El, Ultra Boy... but it is pretty neat seeing some of the ones I don't know quite as well (or at all).  If not for the wings, I wouldn't recognize Dawnstar if she delivered a pizza to my house.

I was thinking about this story... and found myself bothered that the Justice League/Society doesn't know who the Legionnaires are.  I was recently re-reading The Final Night for an episode of the Cosmic Treadmill... and there were time-lost Legionnaires in it!  I mean, they figured into it in a fairly large way.  Brainy helped with the plan to put out the Sun-Eater... and the only way Dusk's warning could be translated was via the universal whoziwatsits in the Legion Flight Rings!  I suppose it serves this story for them not to know... and hell, for all I know their presence was erased from the people-in-the-present's memories.

Outside of the main story, we do get some neat character beats.  I've given Meltzer some guff over the way he does things from time to time... but I gotta say... I appreciate his keeping League-centric stories moving forward throughout this crossover.  If someone were only reading the Justice League... they still get a decent amount of character-progression here.

Now, the subplot with Per Degaton and the gang... I can't recall where this was headed.  I wanna say it ties in with Countdown (to Final Crisis), but wouldn't swear to it.  All I know is that they were beboppin' and scattin' throughout time a bit during this era.  If it does all wrap up in Countdown... well, then it makes sense that I wouldn't know how it goes down.

The reveal that the Legionnaires are on a suicide mission is an... interesting wrinkle.  I suppose this could've brought some urgency with it back in 2007... I mean, there was already a Legion "in the world" (I think the cool kids called it the "Threeboot Legion"), so it might've stood to reason that these Legionnaires were "expendable".  Either case, this helps move this story toward its climax... and I'm really looking forward to seeing how it wraps up.  If I were a betting man (and thankfully, I'm not) I'd wager that the Rebirth-Legion (if that ever becomes "a thing") might be in this vein... hell, might even be in this continuity... so, this could wind up being "must reading" in our Legion-Learning journey.

Overall, if you've read the first two chapters... you might as well pick up the third!  As mentioned in earlier installments, these were collected a few times, and are available digitally.

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