Saturday Morning Batman: Detective Comics #36

Cover Date: February 1940

Plot Overview: Batman sees a man shot and when questioned mentions something about a strange fog. The police arrive and chase Batman thinking that he killed the man. Later, Bruce Wayne ponders what he heard earlier and realizes the man meant Hugo Strange. He also finds a list of Banks in a book he took off of the man.

The scene shifts to Hugo Strange as he begins his plan. The city becomes covered in a thick fog and Strange's men use it as cover to commit a series of bank robberies. Batman uses the black book and ambushes them at one of the banks. He easily subdues the men and leaves them for the police.

Strange realizes that Batman must know where he'll strike next so he plans a trap. Batman arrives at the next place and Strange has left a whole gang of men to take him out. Batman valiantly fights the men off until one catches him with a black jack. They take him to Strange and they tie Batman up. Batman easily breaks his bonds and uses a tear gas on Strange and his men. Batman chases Strange down and after a brief fight he captures Strange and leaves him for the police.

My Take: This is of course the first appearance for Hugo Strange. He comes and goes in the Batman lore but he does have the honor of being the first recurring Batman villain. This issue is also interesting because Batman has stopped using lethal force. A few issues ago and the amount of brutality to these fights would've been much greater. It seems with the new character model that they've lightened Batman up just a little bit.

I enjoyed this issue quite a bit. The writing was a lot better than usual and the grammar didn't seem to be as clunky as it usually is. The story was pretty simple and to the point and I think that is why it was so readable. They didn't try to get clever with it and they didn't use situations that were going to be hard to show with the art or the writing. Simple seems to equal better at this point. I would say this is the first of the golden age stories that I really enjoyed on it's own merits.

The art was pretty solid. The new Batman is a nice change of pace and the characters in general aren't as ugly as they were. The action sequences were also very good looking and I could actually tell what was going on.

I'd give this a solid C.

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #8

Guy, Arisia and Killowag are heading for OA when Parallax restores the impurity to the rings. Arisia freaks out and heads towards OA. Suddenly a legion of GLC attack Guy and Killowag. Killowag helps Guy escape and then lets himself get captured. Guy reaches out for other GLC members and the only person to respond is Hal Jordan.

They meet up on a distant planet and brief each other on what they've been doing. Tensions run high and they start to fight. Hal and Guy reveal their true feelings for each other and fight until they realize it's Parallax causing the issue. They manage to take off their rings and Guy is a little shaken up as he realizes their bad blood runs deeper than he thought. The issue ends with them wondering how they're going to defeat Krona and the entire GLC.

My Take: So... we're in part 3 of the story and they've essentially done the same issue three times so far. GLC members freak out, survivors figure it out, then fight, then take off rings. I know the book is crossing over three series but you can really just move the story on. So far, they've done 3 parts, the story hasn't moved at all and they've spent a huge amount of time, rehashing what they've been building for the last year in the titles.

I know you don't want readers to be lost but sometimes you just have to push forward and let the reader be a little lost. This crossover is just bogged down right now and it makes me wonder how many parts this storyline is going to have. I'm starting to think there will be double digit issues with the pace so far.

I'm glad to see that Hal Jordan was effected by Parallax. I was really worried that this was going to be a "Hal Jordan is so kewl." storyline and I'm glad to be wrong. Right now, it's the 4 Earth GLs sans rings against the whole GLC. Wow, no pressure there guys. I wonder how they'll pull this one off.

I'm just tired of Green Lantern events at this point. I feel like I'm just going through the motions with these issues and I'm absolutely dreading what Flashpoint is going to do to the books I actually read. I really just need a break from event books at this point.

I'd give this a B-.

Saturday Morning Batman: Detective Comics #35

Cover Date: January 1940

Plot Overview: A man comes to see Commissioner Gordon. He received a ruby idol and has been receiving threats. One thing leads to another and a car cash later and a bunch of Hindus bump a body in the river. Bruce Wayne becomes Batman and follow the Hindus to a man named Sin Fang after they steal the idol.

Fang puts Batman through a series of death traps but he thwarts them all. Batman catches Sin Fang unmasking to reveal the man who they had thought killed earlier. The man pulls a gun but Batman hits him with the idol and the man falls out of the window to his death.

My Take: A couple of notes here. The artist style of Batman changed in this issue. He now looks a lot more like the classic Golden Age Batman that people know him by. He has blue in the costume and has the more classic cape.

This story was okay. There were a lot of grammatical errors and that was distracting. The story was pretty straightforward and simple. It was a very cliched story and I felt like I had read similar stories 5 or 6 times throughout my life. I would say compared to the other stories so far that this was one of the stronger ones. It still had a lot of the writing flaws but the story was interesting enough this time to overcome those flaws.

As far as the art. The book has really lost the mood that it had in the early issues. That creepy vibe has just faded from the book. The people in the stories are starting to look better and various other items as well. Batman is more stylized now and I think he looks better overall. It's a weird combination. It's more stylized but it's lost some of the crude charm that it had. It will be interesting to see what direction the art takes over the next couple of issues.

I'd give this a D+.

Green Lantern Corps. #58

Several of the Green Lanterns return from Qward just as Parallax restores the impurity to their rings. Most of the Lanterns head off but Kyle, John and Ganthet aren't as effected. Kyle and John begin to duke it out and Ganthet realizes what's happening. He uses his ring to remove the rings of Kyle and John. Ganthet uses so much willpower to do it that his ring explodes and takes his hand with it.

John helps to bandage his wound as Ganthet explains that they all survived because they had been infected by Parallax. He says that Hal, Killowag and Guy are the only other Lanterns that won't be as effected by the situation. They realize a search party is out looking for them so Ganthet sends them off. He tells Kyle that it was no accident that he received the ring and that he may be their best hope now. Ganthet tells them to do what they must and that so will he as the issue comes to a close.

My Take: Right off the bat here, why are John, Kyle and Ganthet struggling with Parallax when Hal Jordan didn't even struggle for a second with it. This still reeks of a wankfest over Hal Jordan being the greatest ever or whatever nonsense they seem to be pushing with it. I really don't want to sit through a crossover if it's going to be all about making Hal Jordan seem awesome.

With that aside, this was better than part 1. This has me looking forward to reading part 2 while part 1 was pretty forgettable. I still don't really like the mind control angle and I don't see how 6 guys are going to pull this off. I really feel like I'm just going through the motions on this issue. I was loving Green Lantern Corps. and this issue kind of derailed the momentum the series had built with the last 20 issues of so. I felt like this title was A+ issue after A+ issue and this is more like a B- for me. I'm really just not taking to this War of the Green Lanterns thing after 2 parts.

I think DC is playing a dangerous game here. Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps. were running on all cylinders. Then they introduces a third book and now they're doing yet another crossover. If they aren't careful, they're going to burn out the Green Lantern idea really quick. I mean, this is a concept that they've never really gotten to work. They finally pulled it off a few years ago and now they can't run it into the ground quick enough. I guess that's the modern comic book industry for you.

The art was great as always for this book though. Really strong issue from an art stand point. I wish the story could've been as good as the art here.

As mentioned earlier. B- for an improved part 2 that still isn't wowing me.

Walking Dead #83

Rick plans on getting out the town and goes back to how he and Glenn once escaped the zombies. By covering themselves in zombie guts they can walk among the zombies unnoticed. Meanwhile Michonne to the dying Morgan about how she really feels. It's not shown, but I assume Morgan goes zombie on her because she kills him as Rick starts to tear a zombie apart downstairs. Maggie decides to stay with Sophia so it will just be Rick, Carl, Michonne, Denise, Jessie and Ron walking among the zombies.

They depart and Ron urinates himself out of fright. This seems to attract the zombies and he gets bitten. Jessie tries to save her son and that leads to the zombies biting and eating her too. Douglas, at this moment is trying to commit suicide and sees the events taking place. He begins to shot at the zombies and yells for Rick to find safety. Jessie won't let go of Carl as the zombies continue to eat her so Rick cuts her hand off with an ax.

Douglas continues to fire away until a zombie bites him and he begins to fire wildly. Rick turns to see that half of Carl's face has been blown off by a bullet. Rick grabs up Carl and tells him to keep breathing. Carl gets to Denise at the hospital and tells her to save him as the issue comes to a close.

My Take: Interesting issue here. I don't know what I think of Carl dying. The number 1 rule of this series is that only Rick is safe in any given situation because the series is about him. If he dies, that's the last issue. Carl has been fair game from day 1, I think everyone has just gotten comfortable with his safety in any given situation over the years. I think it's especially jarring because the last issue was mostly about developing Carl as a character and helping to resolve the inner turmoil he had been feeling about some of the choices he's made during the long road of survival.

This issue also follows another main rule of the series. If the characters let themselves become a little too comfortable and a little too complacent, it's going to blow up in their faces in a really bad way. Take Rick during this town story arc. He was starting to reclaim a life. He had a love interest, he had a home and he had a job. He was allowed to be Rick Grimes, human being again. He and all of the survivors essentially put themselves into a death trap and how here they are. Scattered in various buildings and most will probably die trying to escape.

Back to Carl though. I'm not sure how the series progresses from here. If you go back through to even issue 1, Carl is what has kept Rick going. Rick has always survived for Lori and Carl. When Lori died, all he had was Carl. So what keeps Rick moving now? Does he just keep going because that's what he always does? Does Denise somehow save Carl and now he's deformed? Interesting possibilities for the future.

Really strong issue for me. Since the zombies showed up, I've been dying to get the next issue every month. As always, the book doesn't disappoint when things go horribly wrong.

I'd give this issue an A+.

Saturday Morning Batman: Detective Comics #34

Cover Date: December 1939

Plot Overview: Bruce Wayne encounters a man with no face and then a woman that is scared for her life. After things settle down, they explain that this man is trying to get money from them and even burned off the man's face. Bruce tells them he can't help and then later visits them as Batman.

Batman drops in on the man but is captured. They place him on this giant wheel to hopefully kill him or drive him mad. Batman escapes the wheel and ends up in this garden where the plants all have faces. Meanwhile the woman and the faceless man are captured. The faceless man is placed on the wheel and cries out for help until Batman saves the day.

The villain escapes but Batman chases him down in his Bat-plane. Batman and the villain struggle until Batman causes him to crash. Batman saves the girl as the bad guy crashes to his death.

My Take: This was a rough one to get through. It was really poorly written and the concepts were pretty ridiculous. It's really a shame too, I had hopes for some improved writing after the last issue seemed to read more coherently than previous issues had. This was a major step backwards. The writing seemed worse here than in any of the other issues.

Storywise, I didn't care for this. The faceless man was dumb and not believable. They burned his facial features off. Okay... it looked like someone took an eraser to your face. The plants with human faces were also never explained. It was just this weird little aside to the whole storyline.

Speaking of that part. Batman is in that weird garden and the bad guy has the girl and faceless guy captured. How freaking long was he sitting there getting creeped out by a bunch of plants. Seems it might take awhile to track down and capture your enemies. Batman seemed like he was loafing a bit in this issue. He could've wrapped things up quick but NOOOOOOOOO... he has to hot dog it and almost get the innocents killed. The recklessness of youth I guess.

This is a straight F.

Green Lantern #64

The various Lanterns react to the revelation that Krona is the man that had the Manhunters go rogue. Hal and Atrocitus argue when Larfleeze's lantern pops out of the Book of the Dead. Larfleez goes for it and gets pulled into the book. Lyssa Drak appears and has the book chain them up.

Meanwhile Krona arrives on OA and drops in on the Guardians. Krona has the entities possess the Guardians. Back at the Book of the Dead. Sinestro and Hal use their rings to create a big explosion and Hal is left looking at all of the rings of the other Lanterns. Salaak and a group of GLC members arrive at that moment.

Salaak tells Hal that he's under arrest. Hal wants a moment to explain and the other Lanterns want to hear him out. Just then, Parallax flies into the Central Power Battery. As a result, all of the Green Lanterns go crazy. Hal appears to be the only one not effected by this turn of events and escapes into space. The issue ends with Krona planning to unleash the GLC on the universe like he did the Manhunters.

My Take: Are we really going the mind control route here. Didn't we just have this with Final Crisis? I don't know what it was with this issue. I just didn't like the sudden direction the book took. It seems like the odds are really stacked against Hal so how are we going to get out of this hopeless situation?

I don't really understand Krona's motivations here either. Revenge on the Guardians to destroying the universe with Green Lanterns seemed like kind of a big leap there. Likewise, Parallax going into the power battery doesn't add up all the way. Why does that give Krona control of them? Wouldn't it just bring back their weakness to yellow?

I really hope this doesn't turn into some "Hal Jordan is such a bad-ass storyline." It has the workings of Hal beating all of the other Green Lanterns and I really don't want to sit through that. We'll just have to see where this goes. I for one am a little worried with the direction that the first issue took. This could turn out to be a colossal disaster.

I think the event fatigue, for me, really hurt this issue. I know that I'm in for some big multi-part storyline and I think I'm just worn out on it. I really think I needed another year for me to be more accepting of this. I feel like Blackest Night ended and things for the War just started ramping up.

I'll give this a C overall.

Green Lantern #63

The Guardians are meeting with Salaak. They want him to form a band of Green Lanterns and hunt down Hal Jordan. They believe that he has gone rogue and needs to be captured. Salaak seems very hesitant to follow the order but goes along with it.

Meanwhile, Hal Jordan and the other Lanterns are having a strategy session on how to bring in Krona. Krona attacks and the Lanterns scramble until Sinestro arrives on the scene and reveals that it was just an image and no real threat to the Lanterns. They teleport down to a planet and find the Book of Black. It contains the missing chapters of the Book of OA.

The book opens and they're taken back to Krona avoiding the Manhunters. The scene then shifts and it's realized that Krona turned the Manhunters rogue to show the other Guardians that no emotions is a flawed way to police the universe. It's also shown that Krona discovered the green light that would become the Green Lanterns' power. The issue ends with the book saying there can be only three and an image of Kyle, Hal and John diving for rings.

My Take: I was really surprised when the end of the issue popped up. It didn't feel like there was very much to this issue at all. I enjoyed what there was but I think I read this issue in maybe 5 minutes tops. I really hate shelling out $2.99 for a book that's a five minutes read.

This issue seemed like mostly filler to me. It felt like they needed another issue before they kicked off the War crossover so they strung out about 8 pages of content into a full length comic. Like I said, I enjoyed what was there, there just wasn't a lot of it. I am a little frustrated though. It felt like the Guardians learned their lesson a little after Blackest Night and it seems like they're back to being ridiculous and counterproductive to the cause again. Maybe the Green Lanterns would be better off with no Guardians around at this rate.

The art was good as always. I think Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps are two of the best drawn books in the DCU right now.

That's it for the stuff leading up the War of the Green Lanterns. I'll be back with Green Lantern #64 to kick off the War in a day or two.

I'll give this a B- overall.

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #7

Zardor subdues Sodom Yat as the issue opens. He reveals that Krona has been influencing Yat since he removed the Ion entity from him. Zardor plans to override Krona's influence and use Sodom Yat as his own weapon. The mind control snakes swallow Guy and Bleeze and start to take hold. Guy in desperation smashes his snake into the one that has Bleeze and kisses her to bring out the red rage. They escape the snakes and Guy dukes it out with Zardor while Bleeze tries to help the telepaths escape. Zardor gains the advantage by using his flame sword. Killowag and Arisia arrive on the scene to join the battle.

Sodom Yat briefly regains control and tells Killowag to kill him. He hesitates and Yat attacks. Zardor collects Bleeze, Yat and his telepaths and starts to make his escape. Guy follows and enables lethal force for himself. He goes for a shot at Yat but Arisia knocks his shot off the mark. Zardor and company make their escape as Guy argues with Killowag and Arisia. Arisia still plans to try and save Yat. Guy thanks them for coming to the rescue as the issue comes to an end.

My Take: I really dislike Zardor as a character. He seems needlessly overpowered and I don't know. He's just bugged me since he showed up around issue 2 or so. This whole War of the Green Lanterns is kind of a bummer because he's going to play a big part in it.

My complaints with Zardor aside, this was a pretty solid issue. It's put a lot of the pieces into place for the War to begin. We now know that Yat is the one that has been stealing power from the other Green Lanterns. We know that Zardor wants a GLC of his own. It's a nice lead in to the actual War. I am intrigued by what all three titles have done leading into this event. I wish it wasn't so close on the heels of Blackest Night but that's the way the comics world is.

This issue finally had the action that had been building up for the last couple of issues. Guy and Zardor duking it out was pretty cool. It was one of the better fights I've seen in a comic lately. I didn't care for the end with the flame sword and Aleesun. The first part of the issue was a little slow but that was putting the puzzle together with you.

The art was really good. The art has been one of the strongest aspects of this series. Really, the art has been really good for all three of the titles.

I'm hoping Killowag is the one to take Zardor out in the end. He deserves it for seeing all of his recruits get killed in the previous issue. Yat is pretty expendable to me. I've never really cared for him since the GLC series started. Kill him, save him, whatever. I'm also hoping that this is the last Green Lantern event for awhile. I'm a little burnt out on GL events. I think a few years of letting the individual series breathe would be a good idea. I doubt I'll be that lucky though.

I'd give this issue a solid B.

Saturday Morning Batman: Detective Comics #33

Cover Date: November 1939

Plot Overview: This issue opens with the telling of Batman's origin. You've probably seen this reprinted before so I'll gloss over it. The real story begins as the town is attacked by a group calling itself the Red Horde. Bruce is on the scene and helps a few of his fellow citizens out.

Later Wayne reads that Professor Carl Kruger has been released from a mental institution. Wayne theorizes that Kruger might be behind the attack. Dr. Kruger has a Napoleon complex which of course means he's dressing himself up like Napoleon and planning to conquer the world.

Batman unsuccessfully confronts Kruger and barely escapes with his life. Batman then decides to focus on the minions of Kruger. One unwittingly leads Batman to their base. Batman tries to destroy the death rays but Kruger shoots him in the back. Kruger appears to kill Batman with a death ray but it's quickly revealed that Batman switched places with one of the guards.

An aerial battle follows and Batman manages to cause Kruger to crash into the bay killing him.

My Take: This issue was really up and down. For the first half, I was really impressed as it seemed the writing had really improved with this issue. Then it all fell apart. The part where Batman switched places with the guard made no sense. It, literally, was impossible due to how the book presented it. That really took me out of the issue and it made the good points of this issue a little harder to stick with.

But, the writing was a little better in this issue. It flowed as a story better than previous issues have. I didn't feel like I was forcing myself to push through the book. I am kind of curious to see how Superman reads from this time period now. I wonder if the writing is as bad as it can be in Batman. I'm guessing that it probably is.

I was so-so on the art this time. It didn't seem to set the mood that previous issues have. It felt kind of generic and rushed. There was also a point where Batman got hit in the head with a gun and you really couldn't tell from the art that it happened.

Overall, I'd give this issue a D for some up and down writing and for some less than stellar artwork.