Tag: Blackfire

Sunday Reviews

With being on holiday for a couple of weeks and having to catch up with everything, Sunday Reviews have been a bit scarce for a while. Let’s see if we can get back into it, shall we?

BABYTEETH #16

It’s five years later and we get to see just what Satan’s made of the place since he brought his demonic horde through. Sadie and her rag-tag crew – including Clark the Anti-Christ – have somehow muddled through before deciding to return to their childhood home where they meet someone we haven’t see for a while.

Nice to have this series back and being as fun and crazy as ever.

BLACK HAMMER/JUSTICE LEAGUE: HAMMER OF JUSTICE #3

The League interrogate Abraham Slam and the others, while Batman and Cyborg work at getting out of the farm. Elsewhere in the Para-Zone, Colonel Weird and John Stewart view the final fate of the Flash . . . with surprising results. And Golden Gail finds a surprising ally when she breaks out of the League’s cage.

Another fine issue of this crossover – worth it for the interrogation scenes alone.

CHASTITY #1

Chastity, fresh from hunting and killing some vampires, heads to an audition for a burlesque show where she finds a bunch of other actresses, all waiting for different auditions. Too late she realises the room’s drugged and the others fall asleep; when the bad guys arrive, they manage to overcome her as well.

I enjoyed Leah Williams’s work on BARBARELLA/DEJAH THORIS so thought I’d give this mini-series a go even though I knew next to nothing about the character of Chastity Jack. This sets things up and introduces her nice and quick, but it’s a bit lightweight. I guess we see where we go from here.

HAWKMAN #16

In order to regain their shadows, Hawkman and the Shade have journeyed to the Shadowlands to face the Shadow Thief, but the Shade recognises that something has changed within Hawkman – he’s more vicious than he’s been in a long time.

Venditti writes a good, fast paced issue with enough of a change in Hawkman to make you realise something’s off. A good issue of a solid series.

JUSTICE LEAGUE ODYSSEY #13

On an abandoned Zamaron space station, a small group try to summon the New Gods to go up against Darkseid but what they get is Blackfire and the corpse of Green Lantern Jessica Cruz, whom Darkseid killed at the end of the previous issue. She doesn’t stay dead for long, though, as Darkseid’s own Omega Force appears to have healed and empowered her which comes in handy when they’re attacked.

I’d be surprised if anyone thought Cruz would stay dead but she’s come back with an intriguing change. Interesting to see where they go from here, but hey – Red Lantern Dex-Starr’s joined the team!

Sunday Reviews

HAWKMAN #11

London, and the rest of the world, is in danger from the return of the Deathbringers and even an army made up of Hawkman and all his previous incarnations from across time and space may not be enough to stop them.

This issue is basically a big fight scene as Hawkman and his former lieutenant Idamm go against each other while the other Hawkmen fight the Deathbringers, and finishes with a cliffhanger as London is about to fall. Its not bad – it looks good, as you’d expect with Bryan Hitch, but I’m left thinking this could have been condensed rather than dragged out.

JUSTICE LEAGUE ODYSSEY #8

Darkseid finally spills the beans about the real reason the League are here: he knew the Source Wall would be destroyed and that the Multiverse would fall and has spent millennia preparing for the event. He needs the League to recover a handful of relics so he can build Sepulkore, an ark to hold life and protect it from the end of the Multiverse. Before the League decide whether to work with him, Blackfire attacks, forcing Darkseid to send Cyborg off to find the first relic, while Azrael reveals a previously unknown power.

As I said for the previous issue, the unsteady start to this series seems to have smoothed out as Dan Abnett takes over and brings a less frenetic pace to the book while tying in, at least tangentially, with the main JUSTICE LEAGUE book and it’s big-scale story. Oh, and it looks great, too.

Sunday Reviews

BLACK HAMMER #9

Talky Walky tries to convince Lucy Weber of the existence of superheroes and fails; Barbalien’s lover is killed and he enacts bloody revenge on Mars; Abrahamn Slam gets a harsh dose of reality; and just as Talky’s about to end it all . . .

This series is so good; in the DC world, this whole alternate reality/superheroes never existed storyline would probably take six issues so it could be neatly packaged as a trade paperback. Here it’s already half way over in two issues.

FREEDOM FIGHTERS #4

The team strike a massive propaganda blow against the Reich and, unknown to them, that’s enough to get Uncle Sam back on his feet in the Heartland, the idea space where he’s been resting for decades. As the Fuhrer begins to suffer doubt and anxiety, that’s enough to get Sam back into the real world and delivering his first blow against the Nazis.

Another good, solid issue that brings more info about the Fighters’ dynamic as well as moving the story along nicely.

JUSTICE LEAGUE ODYSSEY #7

Confronted by Blackfire and her troops, Starfire loses control and almost kills the lot of them before the rest of her team manage to calm her down. While they end up leaving Tamaran, they at least have a lead on Darkseid’s location and head off to find him, unaware that Blackfire is setting Rapture – the ex-follower of Azrael – on their trail. Finding Darkseid, the League save him from the Eskaton and he promises to tell them the truth of his plans.

As much as I like Joshua Williamson’s other stuff – BIRTHRIGHT in particular – the early issues of this series seemed a little all over the place. Dan Abnett seems to be tightening up the story and it’s working better.

SHAZAM! #4

Talky Tawny makes his first appearance in the series, being arrested for “not being a proper tiger” before we see the various Shazam family kids in the other magic lands where King Kid has sent them. The King reveals to Billy that every time a child turns 18, they’re sent to the Below where they work to keep Funland fun – and that’s where Mary’s ended up. And back at the Rock of Eternity, Black Adam turns up to find to find the place deserted.

Remember when Geoff Johns seemed to be writing everything in the DCU? Sure there were mis-steps along the way (FOREVER EVIL instantly springs to mind) but when he was good (JSA, TEEN TITANS, INFINITE CRISIS) he was good. So far, this is a return to form.

TERRIFICS #14

The Terrifics face off against Java’s Dr Dread and the Dreadfuls, overcoming the multiversal bad guys and finally bonding as a team through choice rather than circumstance.

This is the end of Jeff Lemire’s run on the series and it’s been great fun; this has consistently been one of my favourite titles as it doesn’t take itself too seriously, has some great dialogue, and remembers (almost alone amongst the DC titles) that they’re part of a multiverse. Sad to see Lemire go, but I hope the new team continue the same feel.

Sunday Reviews

No reviews last week as Mrs Earth-Prime and I were away. This week, though . . .

BLACK HAMMER: AGE OF DOOM #8

Lucy Weber starts to unravel the mystery of what’s happened t Spiral City’s heroes . . . again. This time she has the help of Talky-Walky who seems aware of the reality shift, unlike Lucy.

A little bit of a placeholder issue in an otherwise excellent series.

FREEDOM FIGHTERS #3

The Freedom Fighters strike back against the Nazi regime, hijacking their electronic systems and broadcasting God Bless America by Irving Berlin across the country in an attempt to raise the dormant Uncle Sam. Meanwhile the Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler II, assigns his son – the imaginatively named Adolf Hitler III – to bring down the Fighters.

Another cracking issue with a ton of action plus hints into the pasts/origins of the heroes without disrupting the story.

JUSTICE LEAGUE ODYSSEY #6

Darkseid continues his quest to build something called Sepulkore that will stem the tide of darkness released by the collapse of the Source Wall, but something seems to have stopped him with some finality. Elsewhere, the League arrive on Tamaran only to find Starfire’s sister Blackfire waiting and holding her to account for their planet’s devastation.

New writer Dan Abnett picks up the threads of the original story and brings in his own stuff; it’s a little better that previous issues and, having enjoyed his work on AQUAMAN, I’m curious as to where Abnett’s going.

SHAZAM! #3

In the Funlands, Billy and the family are hosted by King Kid who tells them his origin and wants to join the family, though Mary is rightly suspicious. When it’s revealed she’s nearly 18, King Kid flips and captures her – only kids are allowed in the Funlands, apparently – and this triggers the rest of the family into becoming their adult, heroic forms which means they all get either captured or thrown out into the various other Magic Lands.

Another fun issue that moves the story along. I’m guessing, based on his origin, King Kid will be revealed to be an adult after all this time and so defeated by his own rules.

THE TERRIFICS #13

Mr Terrific is rescued from the Dreadfuls by Mrs Terrific of Earth-23 who looks just like his late wife and he, of course, looks just like her late husband. The other Terrifics – joined by Offspring and Tesla Strong – track them down in time to stop the Dreadfuls’ final attack.

I’m still liking this series so much, partly because it seems to be the only one in the DCU that remembers there’s a multiverse out there – we get glimpses of six other Earths in the last few pages alone. Pick up the collections if you haven’t already.