Blue & Gold #5 Review

 

Blue Beatles

Writer: Dan Jurgens

Artist: Ryan Sook

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: January 18, 2022

Blue and Gold is one of those books that still hasn't grabbed me.  So, why do I keep reading it and reviewing it?  Well, I like this Blue Beetle and Booster Gold team-up, so I haven't hated an issue or been angry that I read it.  Instead, I end up having no strong feelings about it after I'm done and don't think about it until the next issue pops up.  Hopefully, that changes soon since we are in the stretch run here.  Does this issue hook me?  Yea, it does a bit...

Wonder Woman #783 Review

 

Deadman's Party

Writer: Vita Ayala, Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad

Artist: Skylar Patridge, Marcio Takara

Cover Price: $4.99

Release Date: January 18, 2022

Everybody will have runs of their favorite characters that they don't enjoy.  That's how things go, and while it sucks while it's happening, things constantly change, and hope springs eternal.   That is unless you are me and Wonder Woman!  For me, this book has never fully recovered from Greg Rucka leaving it early, four and a half years ago, and while there have been a few bright spots, things have been pretty dark and dismal.  Sadly, Becky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad took over this book at a crucial time, with Wonder Woman coming off one of the most significant sacrifices in DC Comics history, but somehow making everything feel small and insignificant.  Then, when Diana returned to living on Earth, things felt even smaller.  Oh well, here we are, and I can only hope the next issue will be when it all turns around.  Is this that issue?  Let's find out...

Nightwing #88 Review

 

A Lot of Help from My Friends

Writer: Tom Taylor

Artist: Bruno Redondo

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: January 18, 2022

Nightwing was my pick for the book of 2021.  I didn't think it was perfect, but Tom Taylor showed a back-to-basics approach that combined fan service moments with a likable lead is a winning formula.  Sure, the book got taken over by Fear State, but Taylor stuck with the recipe, and here we are.  So, do the good times continue in this issue?  Let's find out...

Catwoman #39 Review

 

A Valentine Gift

Writer: Tini Howard

Artist: Nico Leon

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: January 18, 2022

I was not a massive fan of the recently ended Ram V run on Catwoman.      While I liked the characters and concept of it, things just never felt like they ever got going in a proper direction before the book was taken over by Fear State and Mr.V was forced to end it.  That said, while I am a little worried about Tini Howard taking over (Excalibur was not my fav X-Men book), I hope that she brings a much-needed boost to this book.  Let's find out if she does just that!

Batman: The Knight #1 Review

 

Again with Feeling

Writer: Chip Zdarsky

Artist: Carmine Di Giandomenico

Cover Price: $4.99

Release Date: January 18, 2022

I am a Chip Zdarsky fan and will always check out any new #1 from him.  Whether this book is needed or not will be determined later, but if anyone is going to get me to read the story of a young Bruce Wayne and his steps towards being Batman again, it's Chip.  So, how was the first issue, and will I be continuing?

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #7 Review

All questions are answered except the important ones

Written by: Tom King

Art by: Bilquis Evely

Colors by: Matheus Lopes

Letters by: Clayton Cowles

Cover art by: Bilquis Evely, Matheus Lopes

Cover price: $4.99

Release date: January 18, 2022

 

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #7 is the penultimate issue in this experimental take on the Girl of Steel wherein a ruthless army of brigands arrives to rescue the nefarious Krem from Supergirl's capture. What happens when Ruthye sees an opportunity to confront her father's murderer... alone?

Nubia & The Amazons #4 Review

Written by: Stephani Williams, Vita Ayala

Art by: Alitha Martinez, Darryl Banks, Mark Morales

Colors by: Romulo Fajardo, Jr.

Cover art by: Darryl Banks, Hi-Fi

Cover price: $3.99

Release date: January 18, 2022

Nubia & The Amazons #4 recalls lessons from her past time in Chicago when her current predicament with Medusa encourages her fellow Amazons to call her leadership into question. Will Nubia do what's right to stop Medusa and restore the confidence of her subjects?

Aquaman: The Becoming #5 Review

Jackson Hyde plays hero... in the next issue

Written by: Brandon Thomas

Art by: Paul Pelletier, Diego Olortegui, Norm Rapmund, Wade Von Grawbadger

Colors by: Adriano Lucas

Letters by: Andworld Design

Cover art by: David Talaski

Cover price: $3.99

Release date: January 18, 2022

Aquaman: The Becoming #5 reveals secrets and lies while a plan to scuttle the Reunification talks between Xebel and Atlantis comes to fruition. Can Jackson Hyde save Mera and the delegation from a deadly terrorist plot?

Green Lantern #10 Review

A Future State Of Mind

Written By: Geoffrey Thorne

Art By: ChrisCross, Juan Castro, Marco Santucci, Mike Atiyeh, Rob Leigh

Cover Price: $4.99

Release Date: January 18, 2022

Let's hop back over to the Dark Sector and also to Oa to continue our two-story style of comic that is the Green Lantern series. Previously, we saw John Stewart with Lonar going up against the mad god Esak who was using the life force of people to create a new god, but since our favorite mortal-guardian John Stewart stopped him, we had instead what was called a God-Storm. Back on Oa Jo Mullein was learning that things may be bigger than she imagined with the explosion of the Central Power Battery as the people of the sorcerer planet Xerox had teamed up with the rogue Guardian Koyos to bring magic back into the Universe. Now it's up to Jo and the rest of the depowered GLs to stop them. Let's jump into this issue and see if our heroes can prevail. Let's check it out.

Superman: Son of Kal-El #7 Review

This Looks Like A Job For... The Gamorra Corps!

Written By: Tom Taylor

Art By: Cian Tormey, Raul Fernandez, Hi-Fi, Dave Sharpe

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: January 18, 2022

Jon Kent is going to have his hands full if the end of the last issue is any indication of things to come because while it looked previously like Henry Bendix, the President of the Island Nation of Gamorra, had just started tinkering with giving people powers, we saw that he has an entire army of Post-Human kids ready to go at his command and quite possibly....... Jon has pissed him off enough to unleash his dogs of war. Let's jump into this issue and see if Jon can continue to hold his own not only against this Presidential pest and anything else that's thrown his way. Let's check it out.

DC Comics Weekly Review Ep 394: Shadows of the Bat, Explained Jokes, Siberian Helicopters & Nobody’s Batgirls

 

Five DC Comics for you Weird-Os this week and as Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20 warned us, it is a Batfamily-Centric episode!  The Shadows of the Bat Story continues, Batman Urban Legends starts four new stories, and much more!

DC Comics Secret Origins Ep 13: Whiz Comics #2 (1940) ”Introducing Captain Marvel!”

 

DC Comics Secret Origins Podcast featuring the first appearance and origin of Captain Marvel!  If you like this episode, please rate, review and subscribe to the podcast and check out our Patreon ( Patreon.com/weirdscience ) for more podcasts, some just like this! 

Show Links:

Patreon  (patreon.com/weirdscience) to support us and get tons more shows!

This Week's Patreon Spotlight: Justice League vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes #1 & Titans United #5

Manga Podcast - Weird Science Manga Podcast 

Marvel Podcast - Weird Science Marvel Comics Podcast 

Youtube Channel - Weird Science Comics 

Justice League vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes #1 Review

 

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Artist: Scott Godlewski

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: January 11, 2022

Review by Rocky of Comic Boom! - Click to check out his awesome Youtube Channel

Arguably, one of the most iconic and beloved stories in the DC Comics echelon of evergreen collections is the Great Darkness Saga of the Legion of Super-heroes. Despite the numerous iterations of the Legion over the last 40 years, the one thing that most collectors can agree on is that the classic Paul Levitz tale where the Legion battled a future resurrected Darkseid represents a high watermark in Legion lore. Given this reality, it is with a high degree of hope and anticipation that any new series that pits the future Legion of Super-heroes against the present-day Justice League as they battle a “Great Darkness” is going to get some attention. 

Batgirls #2 Review

As Dramatic as TP'ing a High School Gym

Written by: Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad

Art by: Jorge Corona

Colors by: Sarah Stern

Letters by: Becca Carey

Cover price: $3.99

Release date: January 11, 2021

Batgirls #2 introduce the Batgirls to the Saints, a militant gang of killers for hire who believe Simon Saint is still alive and are devotees of his grand vision for Gotham. However, when Barbara sends the girls out to perform some recon, they find the local gang of robbers from issue #1 linked to the GCPD for some mysterious purpose. Meanwhile, Simon Saint is alive... or is he???

Robin & Batman #3 Review

The One Where A Robin Learns to Fly!

Written by: Jeff Lemire

Art by: Dustin Nguyen

Colors by: Dustin Nguyen

Letters by: Steve Wands

Cover price: $3.99

Release date: January 11, 2021

Robin & Batman #3 brings the run to a close with a final confrontation with Killer Croc after he learns Robin's true identity and a more profound conflict between Dick and the hero he's meant to be.

Batman: Urban Legends #11 Review

Half and Half

Writer: Vita Ayala, Mohale Mashigo, Mark Russell, Ram V

Artist: AnandRK, Nikola Cizmesija, Arist Deyn, Karl Mostert

Cover Price: $7.99

Release Date: January 11, 2022

Batman: Urban Legends #11 does something that I've been hoping would happen in a while.  We start four brand new stories this month, two of which are longer 6-issue minis.  Now, the danger of being stuck with a stinker for months is scary, but hopefully, that's not the case here.  Screw it, let's find out right now...

Detective Comics #1048 Review

Writer: Mariko Tamaki

Artist: Ivan Reis

Colors: Danny Miki

Letters: Ariana Maher

Cover Price: $4.99

Release Date: January 11th, 2022

In the last issue all heck broke loose in Arkham Tower without context, going from its grand opening to weeks later where the patients had taken over. Finally, in Detective Comics #1048, we see what happened, but not all of it yet.

I Am Batman #5 Review

Goodbye Gotham

Written By: John Ridley

Art By: Christian Duce, Juan Ferreyra, Laura Braga, Rex Lokus, Troy Peteri

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: January 11, 2022

We're Gotham bound..... for now..... as we check back in on Jace Fox and how his adventures in being the Next Batman are going. Previously, we saw that while the Magistrate was believed to be dead and buried that the idea is still going strong and now looking like it might even go nationwide, but where we had Peacekeepers before, now we have bigger, badder Talos Troopers keeping the streets safe and at the end of the previous issue it looked like their first task was to end the new Batman once and for all. Let's jump into this issue and see how things work out.

Titans United #5 Review

Less Than Black Zero

Written By: Cavan Scott

Art By: Jose Luis, Jonas Trindade, Rex Lokus, Wes Abbott

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: January 11, 2022

The Tamaranean invasion has begun on Earth and while it looked like our Titans were going to be able to fight off the forces of Blackfire, it turned out that she had a secret weapon up her sleeve in the form of a brainwashed Superboy, now going by the 90's Hypertime name of Black Zero. It's just too bad that Starfire wasn't able to defend the world against her sister because sadly, Starfire was knocked unconscious along with Lady Vic when the two confronted each other. Let's jump into this issue and see if our heroes can overcome their brainwashed friend and fend off the planet from its invaders. Let's check it out.

The Joker #11 Review

Stabbed But Not Deterred 

Written By: James Tynion IV, Sam Johns

Art By: Giuseppe Camuncoli, Cam Smith, Lorenzo Ruggiero, Adriano Di Benedetto, Arif Prianto, Romulo Fajardo Jr., Tom Napolitano, Belen Ortega, Alejandro Sanchez, Becca Carey

Cover Price: $5.99

Release Date: January 11, 2022

It's time for a joke as Jim Gordon continues his pursuit of the Clown Prince of Crime. In our previous issue, we saw a great big Network conspiracy in a secret lab that would make new villains based on the DNA of previous ones..... a lot like we see with Vengeance the Daughter of Bane, and while that was pretty big, it wasn't as huge as the Sampson Family showing up, stabbing Jim Gordon and kidnapping the Joker so that they could take him back to Texas and feast on the person that they believe killed their Uncle Billy. Let's jump into this issue and see what Jim Gordon will do next and find out more about our Punchline backup. Let's check it out.

Justice League Incarnate #3 Review

 

The MetaCurse

Writer: Dennis Culver, Joshua Williamson

Artist: Andrei Bressan, Todd Nauck, Ariel Olivetti, Nik Virella

Cover Price: $4.99

Release Date: January 5, 2022

Joshua Williamson is in charge of this big thing DC call Infinite Frontier, and I think he is up for the task.  He and Dennis Culver might not have put their best feet forward, but I have high hopes it will all hit big down the line.  Unfortunately, in the here and now, this Justice League Incarnate book feels like it could go off the rails at any second.  So let's talk about Justice League Incarnate #3...

Dark Knights of Steel #3 Review

 

Not so Super

Writer: Tom Taylor

Artist: Yasmine Putri

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: January 5, 2022

Dark Knights of Steel has quickly become one of my favorite DC Comics.  Tom Taylor takes the Elseworlds concept of a medieval DCU and makes it work through his character and story choices.  After the last issue, I couldn't wait for this issue and now that it's here, let's see if it's as good or even better than what led up to it.

Batman #119 Review

 

Dark Side of the Gloom

Writer: Karl Kerschl, Joshua Williamson

Artist: Mikel Janin, Karl Kerschl, Jorge Molina

Cover Price: $4.99

Release Date: January 4, 2022

It's funny how each new run of Batman is a reaction to the previous one.  James Tynion replaced Tom King and added so many characters to the book, which fixed what some thought was missing in King's run.  However, Joshua Williamson is already praised for narrowing the focus back to just Batman.  I guess that's just the way things work out.  I liked the first issue of Williamson's run because it set up a cool mystery and had a sexy Lex Luthur for the cliffhanger.  So, does Batman #119 continue the fun?  Let's find out...

One Star Squadron #2 Review

Minute Man Is In Pain, And So Are We

Written by: Mark Russell

Art by: Steve Lieber

Colors by: Dave Stewart

Letters by: Dave Sharpe

Cover art by: Steve Lieber, Dave Stewart

Cover price: $3.99

One Star Squadron #2 follows Minute Man on his desperately drug-addicted attempts to make some spare cash to fuel his Miraclo pill habit and get the public respect he insists he deserves. In the end, we witness a has-been hero rapidly spiraling toward rock bottom.

Arkham City: The Order of the World #4 Review

There Is No Order In This World

Written by: Dan Watters

Art by: Dani

Colors by: Dave Stewart

Letters by: Aditya Bidikar

Cover art by: Sam Wolfe Connelly

Cover price by: $3.99

Release date: January 4, 2022

Arkham City: The Order of the World #4 challenges Dr. Jacosta Joy's world view by showing her the ghost of Amadeus Arkham does exist (or does it?) while Azrael continues hunting down former Arkhamites, putting Dr. Joy directly in his path.

Superman: Son of Kal-El #6 Review

Kidnappings And Heart Stealing

Written By: Tom Taylor

Art By: John Timms, Hi-Fi, Dave Sharpe

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: January 4, 2022

Let's get back to Superman: Son of Kal-El, but where I was hoping on picking up after where we left off in the Annual, we're continuing this series proper, where Jon Kent and Jay Nakamura will try to get to the bottom of what Henry Bendix is up to and how the duo can take down the Island Nation of Gamorra, where Bendix is making Post-Humans and now threatening our new Superman. Let's jump into this Lex Luthor-less issue and see what Jon's next step is. Let's check it out.