Batman Beyond 2.0 #34 Review

Written by: Kyle Higgins and Alec Siegel
Art by: Thony Silas
Cover Price: $0.99
Release Date: September 20, 2014

Family Ties

Batman Beyond 2.0 only has a handful of issue left, but Higgins and Siegel use this one to setup more than push forward.  That's not a bad thing since what they setup is pretty damn awesome.  This arc has been about Family, but it's also clear it's about living up (or down) to reputations.  Everyone and everything seems to be heading towards a huge final confrontation.  I can't wait until it happens and when it does, issues like this one will make it all the better.

DC Comics Best Covers of the Week 9/20/14

We are right in the middle of the Futures End Event and while I think those 3D covers are a bunch of bull pucky, that really doesn't
matter this week.  This week should be called, "Multiversity Week" because that book's covers are sweeping the awards like it think it's Ben Hur in 1959.  It truly is the King of Kings.

The Flash: Futures End #1 Preview

Written by: Robert Venditti and Van Jensen

Art by: Brett Booth

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: September 24, 2014

It’s the final showdown between The Flash and his future self for control of the Speed Force – with Wally West’s life hanging in the balance!

Now this is an issue I'm looking forward to.  Not only does it have the full regular creative team, but uses the Event to continue it's own storyline in a way that matters.  I'm sure Wally West haters are still gonna hate, but I just hope Venditti and Jensen make him a wee bit more likeable.  One thing is a given, Brett Booth's art rocks as usual.  Enjoy the preview.

Smallville: Continuity #4 Review

Written by: Bryan Q. Miller
Art by: Ig Guara
Cover Price: $0.99
Release Date: September 19, 2014

Crisis Prevention

Now this is more like it.  After being disappointed by the ending of Chaos and the beginning of Continuity, it only took this issue to make things right again.  This issue is strong from start to finish and Supes even gives another "Independence Day" speech to end it and this one is pretty good.   I guess the second time's the charm.  I'm usually all for a good reboot, but I'm now officially against it.

Supergirl: Futures End #1 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Tony Bedard
Art By: Emmanuela Lupacchino, Ray McCarthy
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: September 17, 2014

Girl of Steel...... Literally

I guess since I can't give you a proper recap because there's five years between what I know and what's going on here, I'll simply give you a tutorial on the New 52's Cyborg Superman.  This could be completely pointless for people who have been reading every issue of Supergirl, but way back in Supergirl #24 we learned that one of my favorite villains in the history of DC Comics was for his re-imagining the father of Supergirl, Zor-El.  Yeah Cyborg Superman's whole plan was to use a Kryptonian and use their DNA to revert himself back to the Kryptonian he used to be before Brainiac changed him and when he actually succeeded in his plan he realized that he was Zor-El and that he just destroyed his daughter to get that information.  So aspiring for father of the year award, Zor-El reversed the process, bringing his daughter back to life and becoming the monster that he was trying to escape once again.  While it wasn't the Hank Henshaw version that I loved in the old continuity, this version really created a cool dynamic and it was one of my favorite Supergirl stories of the New 52.  Okay so now you know and we can get into this Futures End event not completely in the dark.  Let's check it out.

Catwoman: Futures End #1 Preview

Written by: Sholly Fisch
Art by: Patrick Olliffe
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: September 24, 2014

Catwoman’s battle to be kingpin of crime in Gotham City takes 
an unexpected turn when Selina and Black Mask are revealed to be one and the same!


I can't wait to read this issue.  You know why?  It's Sholly Fisch and not Ann Nocenti. Fisch was the writer on the only Catwoman issue that was worth anything in the past year.  From this preview, I think I'll enjoy this as well.  I think that Crime Boss Selina has been a bit forced in Eternal, so I hope this changes my mind a bit.  Again, it's not Ann Nocenti...awesome.

Top 5 Fridays: Top 5 Titles That Should Have Been Cancelled Before Superboy

While I was tooling around this week thinking about what Top 5 list to do, it occurred to me through numerous conversations that involved a lot of bitching, how much I really missed Superboy.  While I enjoyed reviewing the title I never really thought of it as one of my favorites, but now that it's gone and since it's Futures End tie-in sucked, I finally know that it was my top Superman family book and I want it back!  The book took so long trying to figure out what it wanted to be and yeah it took misstep after misstep, but it's heart was in the right place.  Yeah that doesn't make any sense, but it was Kon and he was cool and if the title would of held out a little longer and figured out a way to bring Kon back and get rid of Jon Lane Kent, it would have won it's fans back by showing them what they've missed.  Now it's rumored that Kon will return either at the end of this year or beginning of next in a Gen13 comic, but the problem I have with that is, it still isn't the title I want.  The hell with it, You all know that I love this title now and I'm going to throw other titles under the bus that should of been cancelled instead of my recently realized beloved Superboy.  For this Top 5 I'll also be giving you the sales numbers from May, when Superboy was announced cancelled and giving you the August sales numbers for Superboy's final issue.  So let's get to bashing titles you might love just so I can get through a proper interweb tantrum with Top 5 Titles That Should Have Been Cancelled Before Superboy.  Let's check it out.

Sensation Comics featuring Wonder Woman #6 Review

Written by: Ivan Cohen

Art by: Marcus To

Cover Price: $0.99

Release Date: September 18, 2014

'Cause You Gotta Have Faith

I've really enjoyed Sensation Comics for what it is.  Nice little stories about Wonder Woman and her place in the World.  Nothing too mind blowing, but that's it's charm and I wouldn't want it any other way.  This book has filled the void that was left after DC canceled Adventures of Superman and seems to be it's spiritual successor.  I can only hope this book lasts as long (if not longer) as Supes' book did.

Batwoman: Futures End #1 Review

Written by: Marc Andreyko
Art by: Jason Masters
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: September 17, 2014

I Want to Suck...

I wish I had some fancy time traveling Police Box that may or may not be bigger on the inside because right now I'd set it to go back ten minutes or so and warn myself not to read this issue.  I know that would mean that I couldn't review it, but it also means that I'd still have total faith in Marc Andreyko and his take on Batwoman.  I have complained about these Future End issues having nothing to do with Futures End and this issue is a prime example, but my hatred of it runs deeper.  It's just an awful issue that ruins everything I've loved about Andreyko's run on the book.  Don't get me wrong, I am not a dummy who thinks this story is ever going to continue or that these Futures End stories won't be wiped clean after the event, but the bad taste this issue  left is going to stick around for a while.

Teen Titans: Futures End #1 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Will Pfeifer
Art By: Andy Smith, Keith Champagne
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: September 17, 2014

The New Kids On The Block

So if you've read Batman and Robin: Futures End, then you'll know that the Dark Knight spent the majority of that issue getting his ass handed to him by The Heretic.  Now the interesting thing about that is that The Heretic is the one that killed Damian Wayne and turned out to be a deformed baby headed hulking monster clone of Damian, so with all this Robin Rises hype going around it's not out of the realm of possibility to think that this might be a future incarnation of Damian or a clone of Damian.  Here's the problem.  In Batman and Robin: Futures End, The Heretic was just a silent hulking beast that wanted to kill Batman.  Here we'll see a very different Heretic that joins this new group of super teens that form a team to take down an asshole billionaire that does awful things to people and pretty much anything around him.  We can speculate about the other Heretic just being a programmed clone, but for the Damian lovers out there I'm going with this being the "real" Damian or the "real" incarnation of a future Damian created from a clone.  I'll quit it with the exposition so we can just get into this issue.  Let's check it out.

The New 52: Futures End #20 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Brian Azzarello, Jeff Lemire, Dan Jurgens, Keith Giffen
Art By: Aaron Lopresti, Art Thibert
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: September 17, 2014

Getting inside Batman's Head

Getting to our weekly recap so you know what's going on this issue, we're looking at Cal Corcoran aka Tim Drake who has faked his death and has decided to spend his days dispensing beer at a bar called "The Wounded Duck".  All would of been fine and Tim could of lived happily ever after with his girlfriend Madison if Lois Lane hadn't come snooping about with the items from her mystery box, she got after Green Arrow's funeral, pointing her to Tim and other mysterious things.  So Lois tried outing Tim and eventually outed Shazam as being an impostor Superman.  More things we'll be looking at here involve Batman Beyond teaming up with villains to gain access to Terrifitech, where they planned on stealing the Usphere prototype and Terry planned on gaining info about Brother Eye's location.  Well Terry got what he wanted and got Key and Coil arrested.  On Cadmus Island we've learned that Brother Eye has been hiding out in their systems and now has full control over it and the Earth 2 heroes that were given implants.  Well all of Cadmus except Deathstroke, Lana Lang, Fifty Sue and Grifter.  One last thing, awhile ago we jumped further ahead to the future where we saw that Brother Eye didn't kill Batman after sending Terry back in time and after he was captured we also saw that the Joker is alive and well Thirty Five Years From Now.  So let's jump into this issue and see where Futures End takes us this week.

Superman/Wonder Woman: Futures End #1 Review

Written by: Charles Soule
Art by: Bart Sears
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: September 17, 2014

War and Something Else

This issue picks up directly following this week's Wonder Woman: Futures End #1.  In that issue, Wonder Woman used the dead of Hades and the power of War to fight a war with Nemesis.  Just when the tide seemed to be turning, Superman showed up looking as if Nemesis had taken him.  Oh no.

Justice League: Futures End #1 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Jeff Lemire
Art By: Jed Dougherty
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: September 17, 2014

Dr. Manhattan Envy

Here we are with part two of the story that began in last week's Justice League United.  There we saw Equinox team up with the Futures End Justice League to try and stop a prison break from a secret gulag on Mars, built to keep the worst of the worst off of Earth.  We found out that after the facility was built, Martian Manhunter became it's warden to watch over the prisoners and to telepathically keep them docile.  Yeah it's a bit fucked up, but everyone's crazy in the future so what would you expect?  Once on Mars the team is met by many villains and when Equinox, Dawnstar and Stormguard break off to find Martian Manhunter, we find our hero restrained by Gorilla Grodd, but the mastermind behind the breakout turned out to be the long missing Captain Atom.  So let's jump into this conclusion and see why Captain Atom was locked away in the first place and see if our heroes will be able to overcome him and his new band of villains as they try to escape their Martian prison.  Let's check it out.

Wonder Woman: Futures End #1 Review

Written by:Charles Soule
Art by: Rags Morales, Jose Marzan Jr. and Batt
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: September 17, 2014

Forever War

This Futures End Event sure is an odd egg.  I'd dare to say it's like a box of chocolates, but that reference is played out even for me.  I'm just confused about what it's all about.  This issue doesn't tie directly into the Futures End story.  It doesn't seem crucial to the main run of the book, either.  However, it's one of the better books I've read so far this month.  How can that be?  Well, sit down and pour yourself some grape kool-aid and listen as I tell you the story of the God of War.

Batman and Robin: Futures End #1 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Ray Fawkes
Art By: Dustin Nguyen, Derek Fridolfs
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: September 17, 2014

Fight Scene

Leading up to this issue I've been getting really excited because since Damian died and this title became Batman and *Insert Name Here*, I've been patiently waiting for any sign of Damian's final fate.  So here we are Five Years From Now and we have The Heretic on the cover, so why wouldn't I just squeal like a tiny Asian girl at the prospects of seeing what became of young Damian?  So this could be the issue people that gives us the definitive answer on the fate of our fallen Robin and possibly give us some closure, or at least a bit of hope for what future stories might bring........  Oh yeah that's right this is merely a deceptive event issue and probably won't lead to anything that isn't completely vague on something that matters to so many of us.  Sorry I almost forgot how comic books work for a second.  So enough banter, let's check out what Batman and Robin holds for us Five Years From Now.

The Multiversity: The Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors of The Counter-World #1 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Grant Morrison
Art By: Chris Sprouse, Karl Story, Walden Wong
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: September 17, 2014

Damn That's A Long Title

Here we are again, exploring Grant Morrison's strange imagining of the Multiverse and this time we'll be checking out Earth 20 and Earth 40.  Not that it really matters here, but last time we saw Superman of Earth-23 and a convention of parallel Earth superheroes all get together at a hub of the Multiverse to rescue the last Monitor, Nix Uotan from a unspeakable evil that was threatening the whole of the Multiverse.  After missing their landing point and ending up on the wrong Earth, our heroes fought Marvel-esque versions of the DC Universe and eventually found themselves in trouble when Nix Uotan and his sidekick pirate chimpanzee enter that Earth, but it seems that he too has been corrupted by the evil that threatens them all.  It's funny to me that after all that info was dropped on our lap that this issue has nothing to do with it and we have to relearn everything all over again.  So let's check out this issue's Society of Super-Heroes and see what peril threatens them and their world.