Comic Book Case

Detective Comics #954 (Ra's is at it again)

Batman gets the truth out of Ra's about the League of Shadows. It turns out that the League of Shadows was created by Ra's to manipulate history from the shadows where the League of Assassins exists to move financial and poitical powers. Batman actually had been close to finding the truth out about them five separate times and each time Ra's has had to use magic to erase his memory of the interactions. Shiva was put in charge of the League of Shadows but went rogue when she found out his intentions for the group. Batman agrees to help Ra's but then Ubu lowers the Batcave defenses, allowing Shiva's men to infiltrate the cave but not before Ra's uses backwards magic to get Batman to remember the League of Shadows before Shiva's team shows up as he knocks Batman out before handing him to Shiva.

This was a really good if not underwhelming issue but it gets the job done. Ra's explaining exactly what is going on with the League of Shadows, and how he and Shiva tie in together. It does go back to the Court of Owls story by Snyder. The idea that Batman was aware of the League of Shadows but had his memories altered by Ra's using magic he learned from Zatanna is a nice callback to the events of Identity Crisis where Zatanna made Batman forget the decision made by League members to magically lobotomize Doctor Light. At the same time this issue also has Jake Kane getting out, courtesy of the Colony and we find out that Orphan is back in the game and is on the war path. This is a big strength of the book, it doesn't keep the focus on just one of it's character and keeps the division of labor as broad as possible.

Action Comics #977 (New Event!)

Everything seems to be going fine in Clark's life as he now works at the Daily Planet alongside his wife Lois and Perry White is one again his boss and godfather to Jon. Despite this Clark feels like something is wrong, as if nothing else he doesn't know exactly who it was that took Mxyzptlk in the first place who also split him and Lois in two and decides to head to the Fortress of Solitude to seek information from Kelex to find anything doesn't match up in his timeline. At the same time, the villains Metallo and Blanque are offered chances to get back at Superman by a mysterious digital red figure. At the same time Superman is watching his history in the Fortress like the destruction of Krypton, his arrival on Earth and adoption by the Kents, and his childhood and while there is nothing wrong he hears a voice in the Fortress that Kelex can't and we see a figure in a crystal before the comic ends.

This was a solid issue that gives us a good reveal about the state of affairs in the Kent Families life since Mxyzptlk. They are no longer the Whites and it does seem as if the Earth or at least as far as Superman's personal Earth has been righted to where it was before New 52. It is a bit fitting that as he looks at his past, his enemies are preparing for something big in the future though we still don't know who this mysterious figure is that is getting Metallo and Blanque on his side. Could it be Brainiac, Zodd, Doctor Manhattan, Xanatos from Gargoyles? We will just have to wait to find out.

Trinity #8 (Let's figure out how we get here)

Superman has been having dreams lately, about fighting himself or rather his New 52 self and the battle rages on as the two of them call the other a fake. The dream escalates to not just them fighting and almost getting people killed but Batman and Wonder Woman show up, and Clark views them as representations of his hop and doubt about what is going on. As the fight goes on, it then culminates with multiple versions of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman appearing. This has been the dream Clark has been having since the events with Mxyzptlk and him fusing with his other half. Batman and Wonder Woman are equally confused as to what do with Bruce being skeptical and Diana being worried. Superman tells them about Mr. oz and how he told him that they (Clark and his fmaily) are not who they think they are and that he believes someone or something his messing with their reality. If anything, the group agrees to keep it a secret from the League as they still don't have anything else to go on and just them knowing is causing them to fight and argue. They also agree to keep an eye out for Mr. Oz, who unbeknownst to them is also watching.

This issue was not what I thought I was getting but it is fun. If you recall we left off with Ra's, Circe, and Lex having some sort of epic meeting and now we find a cool down issue for Superman Reborn. It's by no means bad but it was a bit of a let down. The dream sequence is interesting and feels very "Crisis" in a lot of ways.

Wonder Woman #20 Truth (Interesting)

Doctor Cale is running out of ideas as to how to help her daughter so instead decides to request the help of Circe. Circe says that they first have to capture Phobos and Deimos if they want them to release Izzie's soul and they ultimately do, capturing and sealing them into two dogs, the same two dogs that Cale has in the present. When Circe examines the crystal that should have Izzie's soul, she finds that it is cracked meaning that the soul was either released or it broke out and Phobos and Deimos say that it was taken from them by Ares and is on Themyscira in his prison. Doctor Cale says that she will wage war on the gods to get her daughter back and the issue ends.

This was fun enough, primarily because of Circe. She feels very much like the larger than life sorceress you'd think she is.......... or River Song. I'm a bit upset that we didn't see the first time Barbara Ann became the Cheetah the first time, we just know that it happened and I wonder if that was just a story Rucka had in his head but didn't have time to tell it. It's nice to see that Ares is still a figure in the story despite his one appearance but if his prison is on Themyscira, why does he need to know where it is? Could it be that Themyscira actually is the prison and the women are the prisoners? That is still the big question and does Ares really have some role to pay in the truth of Diana's origin.

Superman #21 

The next morning Jon and Damian wonder where Batman is and decided to go looking for him with Superman. While looking around at the fair they are attacked by the giant squid we saw earlier on in this book and at first Superman is able to contain him but things get out of hand with it and Jon singes/possibly kills it with his heat vision. While talking about whether it was right to kill the octopus Damian lets it slip that he went to Deadman's Swamp and that Mr. Cobb found them which upsets Superman because not only did Jon lie to him about it, but Mr. Cobb did too so he tells the boys to go home as he heads for the house in Deadman's Swamp. Damian says the they should follow but Jon says he's gotten into enough trouble and the two start fighting before Kathy appears and lifts Damian in the air somehow and tells Jon that he is special and that no one will hurt him.

The mystery of Jon is a strange on in this book as we don't know exactly what he can or can't do, let alone how his body works. I was really hoping that Kathy wasn't involved with what her grandfather has been doing but the question is what are they doing exactly? They seem to be watching Jon and his family and are able to even influence Krypto. It's also nice to see Jon sort of develop as his own hero, he may think that it was all right to kill the Octopus where his father was of the mind of not doing it and the response was that Jon was praised while Superman wasn't. The other question is where is Batman in all this?

Green Lanterns - Doctor Polaris 19-21 (Really fun, heartfelt story)

This was an interesting story though I admit I wasn't that sold on it. Instead of going through all three issue I just want to talk about the premise and exactly how good this story was. Doctor Polaris, his brother Seth, Simon, and Jessica all come off as really well written here. Simon and Jessica have had a varied level of growth over the past few issues, with Simon finding his own self worth and Jessica dealing with her anxiety while being a Green Lantern. Doctor Polaris never came off as that interesting a character to me, the Green Lantern amateur I am but seeing him go back and forth between wanting to be Polaris over Neal Emmerson and the back and forth in his mind is interesting, especially when we see his brother serve as the focal point of the story juxtaposed to Simon's relationship with his best friend/brother-in law. The story is that Neal wants to save his brother who is dying and he is trying not to be Doctor Polaris but things keep happening like the guy he's trying to get medicine from tries to arrest him with the help of A.R.G.U.S. and the Green Lanterns try to stop him, all the while "Doctor Polaris" and "Seth" in his head try to convince to don the costume or not to. Simon and Jessica try to keep up with Polaris but he is really too much for them to deal with while at the same time Simon comes to understand Polaris and wants to help save Seth, remembering that he has done the impossible before but it doesn't seem to help as he is unable to save Seth. Jessica meanwhile just shows how much she herself has grown. The event itself ends with John using their rings to drag them to Oa, especially after hearing news of the Guardian Rami being on Earth.

Captain America: Up to Secret Empire

Cap has been on a role as a member of HYDRA operating in the shadows of the Marvel Universe. While Helmut has taken to assembling a new team for Steve, Lady Hydra has revealed herself to be Elisa and she herself also created a council of HYDRA after getting Task Master and Black Ant on his side. Meanwhile, Cap has acquired the codes to the Force Field and has killed Red Skull, after RS had lost Professor X's brain courtesy of the Uncanny Avengers and Beast. Cap now has taken control of HYDRA from Red Skull while Helmut Zemo deals with Bucky Barnes. We also find out what happened in the past as a younger Steve laments over HYDRA's faling but Elisa tells her that the real battle is about to begin as the Allied Forces have acquired a Cosmic Cube and will use it to rewrite history so they win and as a result, Steve must be frozen so he will be able to resist it. This tells us what we needed to know: Steve's reality was rewritten so he thinks that the current reality was created by another Cosmic Cube, that he was always in HYDRA and that the Allies created the world he lives in now. It's all one big intense story and despite what it would mean, you can't hope but help Steve succeeds.

The next issue, being Secret Empire, shows Steve revealing himself to the world and it is pretty intense how he does it. With the Force Field being on the fritz courtesy of the tower exploding, leaving Alpha Flight and others to fight off the Chithuari invasion. At the same time a bunch of Pleasant Hill escapees wreak havoc in the city as HYDRA begins to invade. All of this is happening as Steve moves the pieces into place, while Riri and Tony try reboot the Force Field, Steve is waiting for the right time to activate it himself. When he does it is after Quasar is injured and the Pleasant Hill enemies just leave as HYDRA takes the S.H.I.E.L.D. Carrier and Sharon Carter is taken into custody as Captain Marvel and others are locked out of Earth.

This is easily one of the best moments ever. It's weird because Steve doesn't feel out of character so again you want him to succeed. He has literally pulled back the curtain to reveal that he has become the greatest threat, a good man on the wrong side with too much power. It reminds me of the scene from Doctor Who where Missy says "Give a good man an army and he'll never run out of people to kill." and it works. No one stopped to think for a moment if Steve should have the power he was given as the Director under the S.H.I.E.L.D. just because he was Steve Rogers. Now everyone has found themselves to be duped. Heroes lost in space, S.H.I.E.L.D. in HYDRA's control as HYDRA expand everywhere else, powerhouses stuck in space with no way back to Earth, it's all great.