Comic Book Case

Batman #14-15 (Beautiful Romance)

Batman and Catwoman talk about the changes made to her situation. Waller has gotten Catwoman life at Blackgate instead of the death penalty but Batman also said he know she didn't kill those 237 people though Catwoman says she did. Before he takes her to Blackgate the two agree to spend one last night together stopping crimes, and stealing some of Selina's own diamonds that she wants Batman to use to make an orphanage. The two embrace and make sweet Bat/Cat love but Catwoman flees afterwards. Batman later finds a place under the name Holly Robinson, a name Selina used for the apartment that hid her diamonds and he finds out that she was someone who was in the same orphanage as Selina and finds Holly in her apartment but she tricks Batman and stabs him in the neck, luckily Selina takes him to Wayne Manor to get patched up. Selina then tells us that it was Holly who killed those people and that she had tried to channel Holly's anger into something positive but Holly was too far gone. Batman later recovers, realizing that both Selina and Holly are gone and that for all intents and purposes, Catwoman stole the night from him.

I had honestly waited for the rest of this story to come out before I reviewed it and it was worth it. My favorite pairing for Batman has always been Catwoman, and this book reminds me of why. As the two make sweet comic book PC love, they regale in how they first met, with Batman remembering their first meeting in the comics and Catwoman remembering their first meeting in Batman: Year One. It's interesting hearing that be how they remember it because in a lot of ways it shows what attracts them to each other, with Batman being enamored by her cunning as she pretends to be an old woman and Catwoman by his heart as he tried to protect Holly. Holly is interesting as I myself had only seen her in Year One but I had heard about her in things like Arkham City and I think the animated series. In a lot of ways she parallels what Bruce and Selina could have become and in a lot of ways, she was Catwoman's Jason Todd. I wasn't 100% sold on the artwork but I think it works because there is attention to how rough and scarred the two are on the outside, showing how broken and damaged they are as the two of them confess their love to one another.

Trinity #5 (Inception!)

Poison Ivy reveals why she is here. Since she became a champion for the Green she had been able to enter her own dreams and found a child there that she taught how to learn to love, plant, and care before someone or something took her. According to Ivy, something about Clark, Bruce, and Diana (she doesn't know who they really are), are giving off enough solar power that she can use it to bring that child to her, through the Black Mercy plant. Meanwhile, Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman engage Mongul and while they think Mongul is inside their dreams, it turns out they are inside his and that the Black Mercy granted him a child, White Mercy whom he taught to fight and by using their dreams, White Mercy will be able to use the connection they established to trick Poison Ivy into helping Mongul escape, this is shown with White Mercy speaking to Ivy through the body of Clark.

I had said this reminded me of the episode of the Justice League Unlimited series and it really shows it here and I wonder if this is somehow a weird continuation of it as Batman says the last anyone saw of Mongul was he was trapped by the Black Mercy Plant (which isn't really trues as we saw him in Sinestro). This plan makes some sense as it implies that somewhere on Earth Mongul is trapped by the Black Mercy and that within his dream he had more than likely gone made but at some point the experience became something more. Using Poison Ivy was a good move as it not only makes sense but it also makes me want to pick up Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death again. It's interesting that Ivy doesn't seem to know who Bruce Wayne is or who Clark is but I honestly don't think she cares, all that matters to her is getting her "child" back and that's sad; going by what she implied, her children have all died and the White Mercy is praying on that. A really good exciting issue.

All-Star Batman #6 (White Walkers?)

Freeze is at it again though this time he is experiment on people who have undergone cryogenic sleep from as early as the 60's and Batman needs to stop him if for no other reason than to keep him from getting killed by the firebombing the military is planning. It turns out that among other things, Freeze will release a virus that will necrotise the plant life on the planet as just a start. Batman is totally prepared to battle Freeze as he takes on his army of awakened subjects, with is copper Batarangs to generate heat, and a virus he put in his own body that allows him to fight without his own suit as he beats the crap out of freeze and locks the two of them in a cryo casket to endure the firebombing.

This issue was a bit confusing at first and I blame that more on myself as after a second reading it was much easier to get. Freeze is in classic form this issue, which is good as he hadn't been really fleshed since New 52 started. The book here I think relies more on the inner dialogue and the artwork. The idea of dreams, passion, combined with this very haunting and realistic atmosphere set up. I wanted to make the White Walker reference not just because of the cryogenic people who plan to walk through the world as Freeze ushers in a long winter, but because of the Robert Frost poem. This was very different from the first story with Two-Face which relied more on the action, this one kept itself very small and relied more on the conversation between Batman and Freeze with Nora and humanity in the middle. 

Superman #15  (ALL THE SUPERMEN!)

Superman and the Justice League Incarnate are trying to figure out how to save the other Supermen from getting captured but realizing there are just too many Superman for them to try and save, they decide to round them up themselves. We see Superman from Earth-13 who I guess is Etrigen, Earth-10 with Overman, Earth-12 with Justice League Beyond Superman, etc. The plan is to keep the Supermen and their Earths safe as they plan to figure out who is trying to capture them. They still don't know why whoever is taking them doesn't want our Superman but they decide to use all the Supermen as bait to lure whoever it is out. The plan works and Superman engages him.

This issue had a lot going on but not a lot of information. It was nice seeing all these different versions of Superman, and it reminded me a bit of Final Crisis. I really like how they used the blue speech bubble for whoever is capturing all these Supermen as for a moment I thought we were going to see Doctor Manhattan but it's just someone I've never seen though he might have some connection to Manhattan if for no other reason than it would be a neat little hint. 

Green Lanterns #15 (Jessica Cruz is amazing)

This issue isn't so much about story as it is about a day in the life of Jessica Cruz. I think every issue so far that talked about Jessica was more about the action and this issue is about what she deals with on an average day. How her hardest battle every day is just getting out of bed, how she battles her own insecurities everyday and that being a Green Lantern helping people helps her more. It's the little things that people take for granted that give her problems, as it wasn't the monster fight that set her off but the stupid looking cowboy that pushed her over the edge. Her conversation with Simon and how he doesn't really understand how anxiety works help flesh out her character more but what was really great for me was how we saw her dealing with an anxiety when it happens. She meditates, spars with her constructs, washes dishes with her sister and pets her cat Crouton. It was all a great story ending with Jessica and Simon patching things up and being called by Batman to help out in Gotham City. This reminded me a bit of Gail Simone's New 52 Batgirl. Barbara had noted problems managing after literally getting back on her feet and how her life seemed to be falling apart as Barbara seems to be drowning in her stress.

There was something nice in seeing how the League encourages Jessica though whether they are just being nice or mean it is up in the air and unimportant. It's also nice seeing her back and forth with Flash though I'm not sure if this is before or after she leaves the League. If I had one problem with this issue it is that Jessica has been getting more time than Simon which I think is understandable but a bit sad at the same time. Though Simon has been out longer he hardly felt like a character until now and honestly, Jessica is just more interesting to read about.