Batman #651: The Bat-villain cleaning continues in this issue. With KGBeast, Magpie and the Ventriloquist already biting the dust, it is the turn of yet another ‘Bat-has been’, namely Orca. Although not as big as he once was, I wouldn’t pool Scarface and his dummy with the rest of these characters (maybe because of his appearances in the BTAS and BMGK animated series). However, that doesn’t happen quite yet. After ‘cleaning slate’ with one Harvey, Bullock that is, Batman heads for the second and most definitely the more famous Harvey….Dent. Along the way Robin breaks off to deal with Killer Moth, who is once again human. It is good to see the camaraderie that the dynamic duo share. Now it seems (in Bruce’s eyes), finally Tim has come out of Dick’s shadow (and possibly Jason’s) and made the Robin costume his own. However, what left me confused and somewhat cold (the first for a OYL Bat-issue) was the ending. Will see how it plays out in the next part (Det. #819).

Conclusion: Not quite as good as the precious issues of this arc.

RATING: 8.5/10

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Captain Atom: Armageddon #8: Starting this miniseries, I didn’t know much about Captain Atom, let alone any of the characters from the ‘Wildstorm’ Universe. However, during the course of the past few months, I have grown to get a little understanding of all of them, the Authority, the Wildcats, Majestic and of course, the Captain. Continuing from the last issue, the Engineer (Angie) is down for the count, bringing her other teammates, Apollo and Midnighter onto the playing field. Compared to the DC heroes, these people (Heroes if you wanna call them) are so hardcore that its like comparing diamond to glass (in terms of hardness). The ensuing fights show it clearly, as does the behind the scenes play from their teammate Hawksmoor and to a certain extent the Doctor. We know that at the end of this mini (and from IC #7) that Captain Atom is due to return to his own universe (i.e. to the ‘New’ Earth). Does this mean that in terms of DC timeline, the Wildstorm earth is going to end….after all, didn’t Alex Luthor’s meddling destroy all the other earths out there. If that is the case, won’t that make any future interaction b/w these two universes….very difficult.

Conclusion: Fast paced story, great artwork…especially the fight scenes, and compared to DC, ‘freer’ dialogue.

RATING: 8.5/10 (almost 9)

Manhunter #21: Going into this issue, my interest level was already below 75%....not because of the writing, art or anything else in the title, but because of the choice of the villain. Dr. Psycho as a character has never appealed to me, and post-Crisis my mindset doesn’t seem to have undergone any major change. Even then, it was good to see the events on ‘Infinite Crisis #7’ and ‘Villains United IC Special’ being brought out into the present and fleshed out. One shortcoming I felt about IC #7 (apart from the sketchy art) was that the Metropolis battle could/should have been given a few more pages. Anyways, here were have Kate Spencer (Manhunter) defending the ‘head’ of the villains’s attack on the city of the Man of Steel. Why she is going along with this is something I am still not quite sure about. Maybe she is an agent for the DEO (n’ Mr. Bones) or maybe something happened in the last year….I would like to know. So, its along the trial that the guest star of this issue, Dr. Mid-Nite shows up, as an expert (for the prosecutor). After the day is over and Dr. Mid-Nite is leaving, Kate rushes after him and in the ensuing conversation it is revealed that Kate is the granddaughter of the first Atom, Al Pratt, and that she wants Dr. Mid-Nite to confirm it and also check about the possibility that she and her son might get the mental illness that her father had…and that caused him go crazy loco towards the end of his life. There is also another subplot, but its still developing…slowly n’ secretively.

Conclusion: Interesting, but still feeling a bit lost about the previous issues I’ve missed.

RATING: 7/10

Y The Last Man #45: I just started on this series due to the reviews I read about it….and I am quite happy that I did. Although I am still a bit quite on catching up with some of the happenings, things were pretty easy to understand. This issue has Yorick and Agent 355 in Japan where they are still trying to get Ampersand, Yorick’s pet ‘male’ monkey back. En route they also manage to get some help (last ish.). On the other hand, his mother, as we know from a previous issue, is already dead. This one shows her staff/colleagues discovering her body. This in turn is tied up to the third subplot that of Allison Mann (or Ayuko Matsumori) and her mother. After Allison’s mother skewered her companion Rose (who, unknown to Allison is a spy), they try to save her. All these events take independently of each other…and yet they are not mutually exclusive. The writing and the art are both great and mature without being creepy dark…great for an adventure thriller mystery like this.

Conclusion: Only -ve point. The money I saved from dropping my Marvel titles will all be going on getting this series (both current and the past issues’ TPBs)

RATING: 9/10

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