Authority Prime #9: With one more issue to go the two teams (who have by now gotten most of their grudges out of the way…at least temporarily), enter the bad guy’s hideout. The bad guy in this case is Bendix the creator of Midnighter and Apollo (amongst others). He also is the creator of Rose Tattoo who, as seen in the last issue, he has turned against them. As expected Rose attacks and yet another fight ensues, this one too ending at the cliffhanger closer. Although it isn’t anything much to write home about, Authority Prime has gotten its act together as the series has progressed. Had this been an ongoing it would have worked a (near) perfect opening arc. Not so much for a mini. Unfortunately the upward curve of the story is offset by the downward spiral of the art which has gotten increasingly muddled and rushed. Definitely not Darrick Robertson’s best, this isn’t good enough to rate his B-game.

Conclusion: Veteran Authority and Stormwatch fans might enjoy this. Newbies? Not so much. And that is without the heavy reference to the past of these two teams.

RATING: 3.5/5

Batman and the Outsiders #4: I wanted to do a full review for this but with the delays, the Everest sized backlog and the new (advance) issues coming up each day a quickie is all the time I can spare. I have been enjoying this series from the get go and with Chuck Dixon, one of my favorite Bat-writers, on the helm, I have no worries about its quality. Kudos to Julian Lopez and the rest of the art team for some awesome visuals. As for the story itself, it continues the OMAC plot from the last three issues, while adding some interesting twists both to the OMAC/ReMAC and to baddies. Also, just to sweeten the deal even more, there is the ‘couple’ who is tracking Batman.

Conclusion: ‘though the pacing still seems a bit off (sometimes) its getting there.

RATING: 4/5

Hack/Slash: The Series #9: This is the third and last part of the ‘Tub Club’ arc. The ‘Tub Club’ was the last/latest in the story of Emily Christy which began in 2006’s Hack/Slash: Slice Hard one-shot special and was continued in the recent issue #5 of this series. As expected this final part of the story has a whole lot of fighting, quite a bit of skinning and the ever important slashing. There are a couple of interesting revelations made about Cassie by the secret-agent-type guys. Too bad they don’t make it alive out of this story themselves. The artwork is good too, and with no recent Avatar Press series/special (none that would feature on my pull-list) it was nice to see Andrew Dalhouse’s understated colors elsewhere.

Conclusion: The issue as with the previous two is good enough but without being mind-blowing. Take that as you will.

RATING: 3.5/5