Love the Sinner...

I probably should not be writing this blog, but it has been bugging me for a little while now. I really do not know where to start this blog, so it may ramble a bit, but I hope it does not because I think there is an important message here for Christians and non-Christians alike. I pray that this comes across in the right spirit and that all who read it, read it with an open mind and an open heart. If you choose not to, then there is nothing I can do, if it does not read in the right spirit, then my writing skills are to blame.

Recently, it seems like the supporters of gay marriage are in an uproar over a statement by the COO of Chik-fil-a that the company does not support gay marriage. Here's what I think is a fairly unbiased article about the statements including two of the specific comments made.

http://www.businessinsider.com/chick-fil-a-admits-its-against-gay-marriage-2012-7

What's this got to do with the title of this blog? Everything in my opinion especially as I listen to people I know declare that Chik-fil-a hates gays. As they declare boycotts against the restaurant and as mayors and others declare their allegiance to economically harm Chik-fil-a for the COO choosing to make the statements he made as well as for Chik-fil-a funnelling money into groups that actively seek to stop gay marriage from being legalized throughout this country, some of which are even being called hate groups - here's a link to an article by the Huffington Post that cites some of the foundations that Chik-fil-a supports via their charitable donations:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/02/chick-fil-a-anti-gay-group-donations-_n_1644609.html

As a disclaimer, I am not sure I would consider Huffington Post a non-biased source, but the links to the groups are there, so you can always go read about them and decide what they are doing that makes them hate groups. They may be hate groups; I did not go read all of their web-sites yet.

That should put us on the right foot for the rest of this blog, which while using Chik-fil-a as an example, but about Christian beliefs and the truth of those beliefs as the Bible defines them. I am sorry if you want to say the Bible is just a book and therefore a justification to hide behind for hate (your view by the way, not mine), but as a Christian, I can tell you that if I fail to believe the Bible is absolute truth from God, then I am not being a very good Christian, and in all probability I am not really a Christian at all, but someone who is doing exactly what you would accuse me of and hiding behind the Bible only when it suits my purposes.

So, I have given you Chik-fil-a above, but to really dive into this, I have to give you someone else, the Westboro Baptist Church. This is a hate group that claims Christianity as their basis; I do not have to look any further than the name of their web-site to prove that to myself nor should any other true Christian:

http://www.godhatesfags.com/

And their web-site continues with much more than just that; I never had to read it to know the hatred that is there though. I can completely justify that statement with Bible. I will start with the simple fact that God does not hate anyone, not a single person, living or passed on. Anyone can argue with a statement though, here is the relevant scripture which a Christian should accept as truth (and I am sorry, these will be long because I want them in context, so I include them with surrounding text as well):

"For when we were still without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only by that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation." - Romans 5:6-11 NKJV.

AND

"Jesus answered and said to him, 'Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he Who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen that they have been done in God.' " - John 3:10-21 NKJV.

Okay, that sets everything in the right tone for me. Now, one of the verses that the Christian stance is based on; I would point out that both Chik-fil-a and Westboro Baptist Church are using this verse and others that basically say the same thing in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible:

"Also you shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness as long as she is in her customary impurity. Moreover you shall not lie carnally with your neighbor's wife, to defile yourself with her. And you shall not let any of your descendants pass through the fire to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. Nor shall you mate with any animal, to defile yourself with it. Nor shally any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is perversion." - Leviticus 18:19-23 NKJV.

This statement tells every Christian that homosexuality is a sin. It should be no surprise to anyone when a company whose owner claims Christianity tells you that they do not support sin. The Bible both Old and New is full of passages telling man to abstain from sinful acts and mankind's sinful nature. Paul tells the Christians in the New Testament on several occasions to put away the flesh and its sinful desires. So, why Chik-fil-a making these statements is suddenly creating an outpouring of rage towards them is unknown to me - the company has never been open on Sunday because it believes in the Christian values of the Bible, which includes a day of rest. You can argue that it should be on Saturday (the original Hebrew Sabbath and still the Jewish Sabbath as far as I know) or some other day, but the fact is that God commanded that we should set aside one day a week for rest. Originally, it was the last day of the week, which would have been Saturday and Christians shifted it to Sunday, which is the traditionally believed day on which Christ rose from the dead. In the end, that is just all hype to move away from the actual fact that Chik-fil-a is owned by a Christian family that has never made any bones about that fact. They have even made statements that this is why they are not open on Sundays - for their employees, this has translated into a day off always every week on Sunday whether they were Christians or not, which I always thought was a good thing, but no one ever protested them over this.

Now, I am going to tell you that I am a Christian just in case you did not already know that. I am also going to tell you that I have sinned and I will sin in the future. I am no better or worse than any person who professes homosexuality - not because they are not sinners, but because being a homosexual in and of itself does not make anyone a sinner. We are all sinners, and we have been since the fall of Adam and Eve - if you are a Christian, you know this. The Bible tells us this, and it even states there is only one that is good and that is God, so why any group would think they have the right to say that God hates gays, lesbians, transgenders, etcetra is beyond me. God does not hate sinners, God loves us all. God does hate sin. He wants to see us live without it, but He came to earth as Jesus, the Messiah (the Christ) or any of dozens of other titles that belong to Him to save us from our sin. Nothing else does that. If you choose not to believe that, you have that right because He also gave us all the choice, and we have always had that choice.

Further, I have heard many people say that homosexuality is a greater sin because God called it an abomination. Really? Have you read the rest of your Bible? Proverbs 20:23 states, "Diverse weights are an abomination to the Lord, and dishonest scales are not good." So, a man who deals unethically when weighing out goods for sale is obviously just as wrong as any homosexual according to the Bible. This is a fact, sin is sin to God. No sin is greater than any other when you stand before God for judgement. You will either stand before God and say that you are saved by the Blood of Christ (there is more to it than standing there and saying it as any Christian knows) or you will be told by God that He does not know you and be cast into the Lake of Fire with the enemy of all mankind on the day of judgement. This is not me trying to convert anyone, so that is probably all I am going to say about that today; that is something I would do only face to face in order to truly share my heart and why I am a Christian with you.

On to the issue of hate because Chik-fil-a says they support the traditional concept of marriage between a man and a woman and not between gay men/women. If you read the statements earlier, I would like to know where you see that they have singled out gays specifically in their stance.  The first quote from the COO, states that they believe in the traditional concept of marriage as defined by the Bible, not just that they are against gay marriage - they also think divorce is wrong (I am divorced and remarried, so they are not in favor of the laws that allowed me to do what I did), they believe cheating on your spouse is wrong (something I think even people in a gay marriage would agree with), the list could go on for a while. The point is they support the Biblical concept of marriage as God defined it - and do not get confused by the lack of contextual reference showing that God support multiple wives, etc. God says one thing about marriage ever in the Bible as far as I know other than when He talks about divorce to Moses or when He talks about divorce when questioned about it as Christ and that is this, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." - Genesis 2:24 NKJV. This is expanded by Christ, "Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate." - Mark 10:9 NKJV, which is the prohibition against divorce. I know many Christians who have been divorced, and not always for the singular reason that has ever been given for it to be okay in the Bible which is sexual infidelity. Chik-fil-a is no more saying they hate gay people than they are saying they hate divorcees; they are standing to their conviction that they will not support gay marriage monetarily or morally. This does not make them perfect nor does it make them a hate group, and, in reality, it does not mean they hate gay people. If they are true Christians, as the evidence would indicate so far, they do not hate anyone, they are simply standing up for their Christian beliefs - something more Christians probably need to be doing instead of allowing the Word of God to be watered down to cater to the whims of man, which is actually moving us in the direction of false prophets and the end of days as spoken of in Revelation (if you do not believe me, you have never read the last book of the Bible).

Now, if you want to see what a hate group that claims Christianity, but all indicators point to the opposite, go back and read Westboro Baptist Church's web-site title again or go further and read some of the articles on that web page. The name of their web-site alone in the way I read it is blasphemy, since God hates no one - the Bible tells us that, I gave you the passage earlier where it stated that God loved us all even while we were/are sinners. God cannot abide sin, the Bible tells us this over and over again, but on many occasions did Christ (God manifest in flesh) show his love towards sinners - the four gospels are full of these examples. The Bible also tells us we should not blaspheme the name of the Lord or take His name in vain - if attributing something to God that is clearly the opposite of all that the Bible says about Him is not doing that, then I do not know what is.

So, in closing, I will state this. I am a sinner, I have gay friends who are sinners - not because they are gay, but because they are human like me. God loves us all. God wants us all to repent and be saved and enter into His glory. If you want to do that, then seek out someone you know to be a true believe in Christ, they will be happy to share with you the way to do it. If you are happy with your life and your lifestyle, whatever your lifestyle may be, then stay there; on the day each of us dies, we will all know the truth. I have no doubt in my heart what that truth is, and I have no doubt that my atheist friends have no doubt in their hearts either even though we disagree. None of us hate the other as far as I know, and I think everyone who knows me knows that I have no hate for gays or anyone else as a group.

I think that those who are lashing out at Chik-fil-a because of their Christian beliefs are treading a thin line between standing up for something and hating a group of people for what they are. If you support gay marriage, then support their advocacy groups, do not hate a Christian because s/he does not support your belief and supports advocacy groups that support traditional marriage in opposition to gay marriage - Christians are called to oppose what the Bible defines as sin, including that in their own lives. I struggle with this every day as do many other Christians that I know, when we are asked our opinion about something though, we should state our beliefs whether they agree with popular opinion or not, anything else would be to lie. I would hope that even supporters of gay marriage could understand that and support other people's rights to their beliefs.

If you choose not to buy Chik-fil-a anymore because they support traditional marriage above gay marriage, you have the right to do so. You also have the right to use the language of hate that I have seen used in reference to Chik-fil-a since this "news" was announced, just remember that you may be guilty of exactly what you accuse Chik-fil-a.

In closing, I will say this, almost 400 years ago, the first Pilgrims and Puritans came to America seeking freedom from persecution because their Christian beliefs were too much for Europe. Their desire for freedom to practice their Christian beliefs is what led to our own American belief in freedom of religion and the separation of state and church (organized religion - or religious organizations). History may repeat itself today except instead of organized religions supported by the state persecuting the Puritans, it will be organized anti-religion supported by the state persecuting all Christians who speak out. That day will come, but I had hoped it was not going to start today, and I would hope it would not start over a single Christian based company exercising their right to do what they want with their monies.

Thanks for reading this, and I do apologize to anyone this may have offended, that was not my intention. My intention was to point out that if you read the statements by Chik-fil-a's COO nothing about it says hate - he even adds that he would pray for God's mercy on those he believes are on the wrong path - that does not sound like hate to me, that sounds more like love. Again I would point to the other group who is thankful for dead American soldiers and calls them damned with no knowledge of whether they are Christians or not as what hate sounds like.

I should also say that I do moderate comments to my blog. I will allow opposing viewpoints to be posted and I will not respond to any of them or to supporting comments for that matter. I have said what I had to say, and I have nothing more to add. I will not allow anything with words of hate or hatefulness to be posted though. I would actually appreciate people being civil if they choose to comment no matter what side of any of this they fall on; I know this is the internet though, and that is asking a lot. Also, while not hateful in and of itself, calls to boycott or patronize Chik-fil-a will also be disallowed.

The Culling (New 52 Crossover in the Young Justice titles)

The Culling is a crossover event in what DC refers to as its Young Justice titles. Yes, again, this review is a bit behind schedule. I am still catching up, and I have about a month's worth of comics to go. Note that there are spoilers in this review because it is so late.

The Young Justice titles include the following titles: Superboy, Legion Lost, and Teen Titans. I am not sure why Blue Beetle does not fall into the category as well, maybe he does and they just chose not to use him for this crossover. The cross over is preluded in Superboy 8, Legion Lost 8, and Teen Titans 8. The main story takes place in sequential order in Teen Titans Annual 1, Superboy 9, Legion Lost 9, and Teen Titans 9. There is an epilogue in the new title, Ravagers (1).

This event has been building in Teen Titans and Superboy since the beginning of the New 52. An "evil" organization known as N.O.W.H.E.R.E. has been kidnapping teenaged meta-humans (superheroes in the DCU) for some unknown reason. Superboy is an experiment from one of N.O.W.H.E.R.E.'s labs as a part of this scheme. The story finally culminates in the three prologue comics when the Teen Titans, Superboy, and our lost Legionnaires from Legion Lost are captured by N.O.W.H.E.R.E.

During the course of the story we get a full introduction to the man (monster) behind N.O.W.H.E.R.E., Harvest. He claims that his motives are altruistic in nature. That he is trying to prepare this generation of meta-humans to stop a great threat that is coming in the future. His story might be believable by the heroes if he weren't experimenting on some of the youth, and forcing all of them to live in an underground ghetto of his creation where they are forced to fight for survival against one another until he decides to have a culling (the point of this whole story).

The Culling is a point in time where Harvest has one of his loyal Ravagers (those meta-humans who have survived past cullings and thus been recruited by Harvest to help him in his plan) incite all of the other meta-humans into a state of aggression where all they wish to do is fight. Harvest then dumps all of the meta-humans into an arena dubbed the Crucible for a battle to the death. Those who survive are offered positions as one of Harvest's Ravagers. Why not just train them and prepare the youth for the coming threat instead of this way is the question by the reader and the heroes involved.

A new team of Ravagers is born from the end of the Cullling, but they are not loyal to Harvest. They are actually escapees from the complex. They are led by the scientist Caitlin Fairchild from Superboy for now, and her goal for them is to teach them how to survive with their powers and as heroic individuals or at least not as villains.

Together with this new team, we also get "new" characters from DC's old universe and the Wildstorm universe introduced to the new DC universe. Warblade from WildCATs is here. Grunge from Gen13 is here. Beast Boy, Terra, Thunder, and Lightning from DC are all here as well. They all have interesting new looks and in Grunge's case even had a temporary upgrade to his powers, which I am sure will get reinstituted if he returns after this crossover.

The whole crossover is well done for the first major event. The lead ups brought the reader to where he needed to be for the event and even the prologues properly set the final stage for the Culling. There are still plot threads that have ran out of the crossover for all of the individual series, while still leaving the major threat of Harvest and/or his upcoming threat intact. The story as a crossover even added to the events for each of the individual titles. Superboy grows more towards his heroic destiny. The Teen Titans finally start bonding together as a true team. And Legion Lost learns that there is more to what's going on for them here and in the future then they all knew, which will no doubt have many repercussions for them in the future.

If you did not pick up the serial comics, I recommend the trade paperback when it is released (as I am sure it will be eventually) or even going out and picking up the crossover issues and reading the event straight through as I did. Even if you have not been reading the three separate series, the event from the prologue to the epilogue can be enjoyed on its own.

Thanks again for reading.

Scarlet Spider 5, Grifter 9, and Deathstroke 9

Okay, it's been a while. Sorry, life happens. I moved back home to Louisiana in December 2011 and it's been one thing after another since I've gotten here trying to get resettled. Because of that I'm way behind on reading my weekly supply of comics, but I read three today that I really wanted to share my opinions about; they're from May 9, so spoilers will be present, but it should not matter to most of you. One is a Marvel title and the other two are from DC (part of the almost one year old New 52).

The Marvel title is Scarlet Spider, written by Chris Yost with pencils by Neil Edwards, inks by Karl Kesel, and colors by Edgar Delgado. This book is still in its infancy, and I am loving it so far. The premise of the series stems from the Spiderman clone saga of years gone by. From that story ultimately came a failed clone of Peter Parker who somehow survived the degenerative effects that all the other clones had. This clone took the name Kaine, and, for a time, he hated Spidey and wanted to kill him. Something happened in recent Amazing Spiderman stories though and things have somewhat changed I guess (I stopped reading Spidey about a year and a half ago - the stories just weren't the same to me with the changes from the One More Day storyline). Anyway, Kaine was leaving New York and running from his past to Mexico when an unexpected stop in Houston went all the wrong way for Kaine. Now, he's a superhero (though you should not tell him that; he does not like the idea much) with the press dubbed moniker of Scarlet Spider.
This Spider is billed as having all of the power and none of the responsibility and Yost writes the serial in a way that brings that out regularly. Kaine is a man with a bloody past. In this most recent issue (#5), he's trying to help a friend(? I am not sure Kaine has friends yet) on the Houston Police Department stop a dirty bomb from going off. His methods do not include asking nicely; instead he prefers torturing the perps and threatening to kill their whole families to get answers to where the bomb is. In the last issue of this series (#4), we actually learned of a prior problem Kaine ran into with the Assassin's Guild of New Orleans (ran by the X-Man Gambit's ex-wife, Belladonna) which led him to make a deal to do one job for the Assassin's Guild if they would leave him alone from this point on - I'm looking forward to when that tale gets told. Kaine is definitely doing good as you can see if you read the series, but Yost does not let you forget that Kaine used to be a deadly killer and that past is still there as well as at least a hint of his former hatred for Spidey.
The penciles by Neil Edwards in this issue bring out the franticness of the situation as much as anything without detracting. His pencils capture the essence of the story being told and although I have not seen a lot of his work yet, I like it already. When the shadows are added by Kesel with the inks and the colors applied to make the images complete by Delgado, the images stand out to relay the story that Yost wants told. This is a fun book for anyone who remembers the anti-heroes of the nineties and wants to see a new one in action. I recommend it highly even if you have never been a Spiderman fan.

Grifter has been a part of the New 52 since DC's relaunch of the DC Universe. I've been a fan of Grifter since the Image days with the original limited series of WildC.A.T.s - I still have that series somewhere in my collection. Anyway, this issue (#9) changes the team on the book and we get a writer that I am not a fan of by any stretch of the imagination (in fact, I am kind of disheartened by the fact that Jim Lee and Geoff Johns are putting this guy on any titles, but I guess it is just business at the end of the day and the guy has a few fans somewhere, although I have never met them). Grifter is now being written by Rob Liefeld. Pencils are by Scott Clark with inks by Dave Beaty and colors by Andrew Dalhouse. While the story is by Liefeld, the dialogue is being done by Frank Tieri, which may change the way I feel about this whole thing, since I did actually like this issue of Grifter still.
In this issue, Grifter is on the one from the Daemonites still (the aliens who are possessing humans here on Earth as a precursor to invasion - you can see them lurking about in a few other New 52 titles as well - Voodoo, The Authority, and recently Superman. Grifter is joined during the new issue by a new character, Nico, who seems to swing a sword pretty well in order to help Grifter get rid of a few of his Daemonite friends - I thought we might be seeing the new version of Zealot at first, but no luck in this series. At the end of the issue though, we do get another Wildstorm character introduced into the new DCU as Deathblow shows up as a member of the resistance against the Daemonites that Grifter has just been recruited into. That puts us 2/7 of the way to Team 7 being present in the New DCU.
The story itself is not badly written. I think Liefeld did a good job of framing the story and moving it in a way that maintains the groundwork that had already been laid in this series. If this is what he's capable of, I might be able to continue with this series. This was mostly a fight issue though with brief introductions - no real character building though, so I am still not sure that Liefeld is a good choice on any book as a writer. Given that Hawk and Dove was probably the worst of the New 52 series, we will see how this plays out before I change many of my opinions on Liefeld. Tieri's dialogue seemed to be spot on for how the one existing character appearing in this issue, Grifter, should behave and the few lines we get from Deathblow at the end definitely show it to be the same Deathblow attitude and character from the Image/Wildstorm days. Clark's pencils seem to be hit or miss to me - there are panels where the detail and lines are great, while there are others where it seems like he has gotten lazy and just gone for a broad brush. Maybe this is intentional, but I did not appreciate it. The inking is fabulously done and does a wonderful job of bringing out the darker edginess of this title with the colors being toned down just enough to show that this is not a book about the lighter side of the DCU.
I will probably follow for a bit and see how the Liefeld work goes. I like Grifter and Deathblow, but I do not see Liefeld writing these characters in a way that keeps me coming back for any long term period of time.

Deathstroke is the final title of this trio. I was already losing interest in the title before this issue, and the change in writer and penciller to Rob Liefeld has all but killed my interest. Deathstroke was a title I really enjoyed back in the nineties, but the stories so far have been fairly lackluster and would have worked just as well as backstories in a Titans book (although I guess there is no Titans book where Deathstroke really belongs right now). I am sure fans of Deathstroke have liked this stories; for me it has pretty much been one mercenary assassination after another and Deathstroke seeking to prove he is the best there is in the mercenary world of the new DCU - even the fight with his son that finished out the issue before last (#7) was anti-climactic when coupled with the issue before this one (#8).
The arc starting in this issue (#9) has some promise only because Deathstroke has been hired to hunt down the last Czarnian (and we all know Lobo is the main man and not to be trifled with by anyone short of Superman). This story may be well suited to Liefeld's storytelling and art styles in that this stands out as the type of arc that will be mostly fight scene after fight scene with very little character development taking place - something I have always found lacking in past Liefeld works. This is Lobo's introduction to the new DCU, and I am interested to see how that develops. Also, on the Image/Wildstorm front for characters here, we do see Zealot finally introduced to the new DCU in this issue of Deathstroke. Her look is the same, her attitude seems familiar although not exact so far, and I would like to see how they will develop her from here.
The artwork in the book is typical Liefeld. His style has not really changed since the ninteties, which makes it well suited for this story - big guns, big fights, big muscles on his men. I did not like the way he drew Zealot at all - it was almost like he did not want to draw her and someone made him include her. Also, as always with Liefeld, the shoulder pads have been added to Deathstroke, and they just make no sense. The inking by Adelso Corona and Jacob Bear was fine as were the colors by Travis Lanham, but I still had a hard time getting past Liefeld's style (as I said, I am not a fan). I really do not recommend the book past this point unless you are a huge fan of Lobo, Deathstroke, or Liefeld. If you are a fan of Zealot, I would still not recommend the book for you as I do not think this is going to be the Zealot you want to read.

Well, thanks for reading again, especially if you're still sticking with me or looking for these after my hiatus. Hopefully, I will get the next 5 weeks of comics read soon and start posting regularly again as well as talking about more up to date issues...

Voodoo #5, The Mighty Thor # 10, and Aquaman #5

3 comics in today's blog. I was trying to only do 2 at a time, but since it's Tuesday and there were more I wanted to talk about then days I blogged, I decided to do 3 of them today.

Voodoo #5 is a fantastic story as the first arc moved to a twist that I never saw coming. Voodoo is a daemonite (alien race and very evil) half-breed - the other half being human. She is being used by the daemonites to gather intelligence on the inhabitants of Earth as a precursor to invasion. In this issue, she flees to a daemonite ship in an attempt to upload her intelligence and complete her mission. When she gets there, she encouters a pure breed daemonite who is not fond of the hybrids (what the pure daemonites call the half-breeds) who tries to kill her before she can complete her mission. She wins the fight in a very brutal fashion and proceeds to upload her intelligence only to find out a very significant fact about herself (this is where the twist comes in).
Josh Williamson (writer) is doing an excellent job of telling the tale of Voodoo as she's been introduced into the mainstream DC Universe. At first, I wasn't sure how much I would like this story, since Voodoo is in actuality the bad guy of the story, but it has been a great read and a great way to introduce this former Wildstorm star to the DC universe.
Sami Basri (artist) does an awesome job depicting the story. The look of Voodoo is dead on with what she should look like in human form from the old Wildstorm days and the new form that she regularly takes when she shapechanges into her hybrid form is absolutely fabulous. The depiction of the scenes all around are fantastic and the look of the daemonite in this issue is wonderfully well-done as well as the whole fight scene between Voodoo and her daemonite brethren.

The Mighty Thor #10 continues the story of Thor after his death as well as the tale of Asgardia's new rulers (the All-Mother) to bring all of Asgardia together in a democratic rule. This story is working really well with the new status quo for Asgard since Fear Itself ended. Although, I have been waiting since Thor's death to see him finally return to his glory, which begins at the end of this issue. I am really liking the rule of Asgard under the all-mother versus the rule of Odin as the all-father. Their attempts to be benign and give more freedom to the residents of Asgardia than the previously iron-fisted rule of Odin is a brilliant contrast. The contrast also illustrates very well why Odin never allowed for democratic rule by his subjects, since the All-Mother has also been incredibly duped by the trolls of Asgard with Tanarus as the replacement Thor while no one remembers Thor and thinks Tanarus (who is actually Ulik the Troll in disguise) has always been the god of thunder.
Matt Fraction (writer) is doing a wonderful job of redefining Asgard and its denizens in the wake of Fear Itself. The story is well crafted and even the magnificent use of young Loki as the wayward hero adds to the tale.

Aquaman #5 starts the next arc of Aquaman, and I am looking forward to it as much as I did the first arc with the first issue of Aquaman. I am truly enjoying the way Geoff Johns (writer) is redefining Aquaman as a meta-human who is as powerful as Superman or Wonder Woman and truly deserves his place in the legends of the DC Universe. This arc starts with a mystery left behind by the end of the last arc, a mystery that seems to stretch to the early days of Atlantis before the fabled continent ever sunk beneath the waves of the ocean.

In all, I would definitely recommend going out and picking up these titles if you're not already - in the case of Aquaman and Voodoo, I would definitely say try to pick up the first 4 issues as well. In the case of Thor, I would say try to go back to the issue that started this arc at the end of Fear Itself. All three of these series are wonderful and deserve a read.

Thanks for reading.

Alpha Flight #8 and Justice League Dark #5

Well, another limited series comes to an end after having been changed from a limited series to an ongoing series and back to a limited series. Also, the first arc of Justice League Dark comes to an end. Both were good reads, although I think I liked Justice League Dark more than the Alpha Flight series.

Alpha Flight #8 comes to an end with the final battle between Alpha Flight and The Master (anyone else think they stole his name from Dr. Who?). Heather even finally pulls it together when she realizes The Master will sacrifice her daughter to save himself or just to hurt Mac.
Van Lente (writer) did a great job on the series. The writing brought out the old Alpha Flight that I loved with these fan favorite characters (even if they can never sustain sales well enough to get an ongoing series again) and at the same time introduced some newness to them at the same time. Marinna as a goth punk alien was an awesome take on a character that I think had grown fairly staid by the time they killed her off in the older series. Additionally, the final breakdown and what may at last be a cure for Jeanne Marie / Aurora was a fantastic bit of writing. The only issue I took with the writing is that it became pretty evident early on that The Master was going to be behind the whole debacle - while this did not detract from the story, I do think a new villain would have made a better story here.
Greg Pak's artwork was impeccable and the character's looked spectacular as did the scenery around them. I always like Pak's work though.
If you missed the series, watch for the trade that will no doubt be released and pick it up. If you're an Alpha Flight fan, it's definitely worth it. If you're not an Alpha Flight fan, I still think you can enjoy the story and the villain will be fresh for you, so you may not fall into the same trap that I did of knowing who it was before the reveal - unless of course you just read this.

Justice League Dark #5 closes out the first arc of these new 52 title with a twist. If this were a normal super hero team book, this would be the issue where all the heroes come togehter finally to form a team and stand united at the end. Considering the nature of these characters and this series though, the arc closes with the world saved and John Constantine voicing the feelings of everyone in the group as he tells Mme. Xanadu to sod off and storms out; the rest of the "team" walks out right behind him. It's interesting to finally see the reason Madame Xanadu seemed to be working for the opposite side at the end of this tale. Apparently, there is a dark future she is trying to prevent, and to do so, she needs this mystical version of the Justice League to come together as a team and be prepared to do what it takes to stop that dark future. Too bad she's not the tactician that Batman is, the inspiration that Superman is, or the people person that Wonder Woman is. It will be interesting to see how this non-team comes back together again for the second arc or if Madame Xanadu's cards lead her to organize a different team to try and halt the dark future.
Peter Milligan (writer) did a wonderful job crafting this tale and capturing the essence of these newly remodelled characters personalities, while Mikel Janin (artist) did a spectacular job depicting this dark side of the new DC universe. The two worked well together to tell a tale that bordered the creepy and helps to redefine magic in the new DC universe with artwork that made you feel how nasty that dark world of magic is without heroes to shine some light into it. The fact that the story wraps back around to reverse what Madame Xanadu did originally to trigger the events of this arc just adds even more of a twist to the whole tale and the dark and twisted nature of Justice League Dark.
I definitely recommending going back and picking up the series or if they do a trade, which I think they should, go pick it up and read the whole tale at once.

Thanks for reading!

Catwoman #5 and Lord of the Jungle #1

One really good comic book today and one that I didn't care for much even though I was in anticipation of the title.

Catwoman #5 was a wonderful read. This series has continued to impress me once the first and second issue were over, and Winick (writer) moved away from the need to turn Selina Kyle (Catwoman) into some little tart. The current arc has Selina once again caught in the middle of something she didn't expect to be in the middle of and dealing with while at the same time having demonstrated with extreme skill why this "non-powered" individual can hold her own in a world of super people. In the first few pages, Catwoman skillfully avoids plummeting to her death after being sent a mile into the air and falling towards the earth rapidly to become a human pizza. She then returns the favor to the super who did her the favor of sending her flying by quickly demonstrating that if you're not invulnerable like Superman, you probably should watch your back when a skilled street fighter is sneaking about. Just as rapidly, Catwoman also proves why she needs nine lives like a cat as she realizes that the extreme amount of cash she has just stolen from a drug dealer's courier actually belongs to dirty Gothcam City cops who send the whole force after her to get their money back.

Judd Winick continues to knock this title out of the park with his writing. While I was not impressed with the title early on, I'm glad I gave it a chance to progress past the tawdry tart Winick seemed to be making Selina into to illustrate that he just chose a poor way to tell that part of his tale. Granted, I know most of the red-blooded American male fan boys don't agree with me on that last part.

Guillem March's artwork on Catwoman continues to be spectaclular from the detail as we watch Selina rip her arm out of socket in this issue saving herself to popping it back in and the anger and surprise depicted over and over again throughout the title.

If you turned off on this title due to the first or second issue, I recommend picking it up now. It's a wonderful series at this point, and I hope it stays that way.

Lord of the Jungle #1 is a title I was in anticipation of - I even went out and read Tarzan of the Apes in anticipation of the comic book to ensure I could properly judge between the two. I'm sad that I did now, because this first issue was a disappointment to me. Granted, not as much of a disappointment as the previous Tarzan movies are to me now after reading the book and seeing how far they strayed from the books and crossed multiple books together in horrible fashion, but still disappointed.

This first issue gets through to the point where the she-ape, Kala, picks up little Lord Greystoke after her tribe has killed his father. The lack of very much dailogue or even captioning in the comics really detracts from the story of how Lord Greystoke and his wife, Lady Alice, ended up on the remote coast of Africa. While you see them being dropped off on the African coast by the mutinous crew of their ship, you never see the reasons for the crew committing mutiny or why they choose to spare Lord and Lady Greystoke. Also, the story brings in Mbonga's tribe of natives while Lord and Lady Greystoke are still alive and even has them note the little cabin on the beach, which is out of sequence iwth the actual book (not really detracting in and of itself, but worth noting with my other issues with the issue). I can only hope the title gets better and goes for a little more detail in the story with the next issue. Right now, I would say check this title out if you're a die-hard Tarzan fan and have been waiting to see him in comics or if you really enjoy Dynamite Entertainment's work.

I will say the artwork in the book is stunning for the genre and works well within the context, so kudos to Castro. I'm not sure who's decision it was to go light on the early part of the story, but having read the book now, I think it is invaluable information in many ways to understanding how the Greystokes ended up being dropped off on this remote coastland.

Thanks for reading!!

Batman #5 and Blue Beetle #5

I continue to be impressed with the New 52 from DC. The relaunch of the DC Universe just continues to do great things in the comic book world.

Batman #5 continues the tale of the Court of Owls vs Batman. According to legend, the Court of Owls is the unofficial guardians and rulers of Gotham City. Years ago, Batman investigated the Court of Owls and determined they didn't really exist, but if they do not exist, then who is sending a Talon (the trained assassin and agent of retribution of the Court) after Batman, and who is currently holding Batman captive.

Scott Snyder (writer) continues to impress with this tale weaving a new legend into Gotham City's mythos. The Court of Owls is as worthy an adversary for Batman as the League of Assassins has ever been and their agent, Talon, is more than formidable and has already fought Batman to a standstill once almost killing Bruce Wayne in the process.

The artwork by Greg Capullo is incredible and tells the tale as much as the words by Snyder. The darkness of Gotham fits the mythos of old. Batman continues to look the way he should dark and brooding, and in this issue, brooding while obviously drugged and trying to fight off the effects of the drugs.

Start reading Batman now if you haven't already. This is sure to be a tale for the ages of Batman and is as gritty and Gotham'esque as any tale has been in a very long time.

Blue Beetle #5 continues the origin story of Jaime Reyes. Blue Beetle is impressive and while I never read any of the previous series for this character, I definitely regret that at this point. I'm glad of the new 52, which has allowed me to jump in like new readers for the entire DC universe. I'm not sure if the previous incarnations of Jaime Reyes's Blue Beetle included the origin initiated in Smallville where the Blue Beetle scarab actually belonged to an alien race bent on conquest, but that addition in this series works wonders for the story. Not only is Jaime having to try to learn how to use the scarab, he also has to fight against the programmed orders of the scarab to use him as an agent of conquest of the planet earth (it helps that the scarab is damaged and malfunctioning at present).

This intent by the scarab to protect and continue its mission even though it is not totally sure what that mission is at the moment leads to Jaime actually stabbing his best friend right through the heart in this issue. Jaime forces a small construct out of the scarab armor to resuscitate and heal his friend Paco just in time to turn him over to EMTs. Afterwards, Jaime is invited to the house of the archvillain of the story and almost captured. The cliffhanger at the end of the story sets us up for an epic battle no doubt in the next issue.

Tony Beddard's writing continues to do justice to this often overlooked character and his series, while Ig Guara's pencils do more than justice to the organic nature of Blue Beetle's armor and the overall look of the LA barrio where Jaime lives. An excellent read and a great comic.

Two great titles that I reccomend highly for fans of Batman, Blue Beetle, and even fans of Iron Man.

Thanks for reading!!

Opinions of the Omniverse: City On Our Knees

Opinions of the Omniverse: City On Our Knees: A break from the comic book world today. I started reading the book City on Our Knees by Toby Mac today. I've had the book for a while and ...

City On Our Knees

A break from the comic book world today. I started reading the book City on Our Knees by Toby Mac today. I've had the book for a while and only just now got around to starting it. I listen to K-LOVE radio, and I had previously heard some brief snippets of the stories shared in this book on there.

I had to share the very first story that I read though on this blog today. The one thing you need to know about me is it generally takes a lot to make me get broken up emotionally. I don't cry at sad movies and stuff like that, so something I read has to be pretty emotional in nature to touch me. This story did. I'm sure some of you have even read this story already since it got press when it was going on I guess back in 2002.

The story was about this young girl who was diagnosed with a form of cancer called neuroblastoma. Before she had turned one year old, she had to endure a 12 hour surgery to remove cancerous tumors from her body which left her paralyzed at the time from the chest down. Doctors said she would be unable to even feel her legs again even if her cancer went into remission. Two weeks later, she wiggled her leg with some coaxing from her mom and dad. By two she was crawling around her house albeit with leg braces at that time. Eventually, she even was able to walk on her own without the braces. Her cancer was not gone, however, and by four she was in the hospital receiving intense chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant.

This is where the story really begins to touch the heart though. While recovering from that procedure, she shared an idea she had with her mom about opening a lemonade stand (you know one of those little childhood stands that you see occasionally) in order to donate the money to her doctors to help them find a cure for childhood cancers like hers. Her mother assumed they would probably get a small amount of donations from the stand. This little four year old girl wrote up her little plan and with the help of her big brother, they made $2,000 with her little lemonade stand that summer. The story progressed and by 2004, her little lemonade stand had grown into a nationwide charity event that raised over $1 million to fund cancer research. The little girl didn't live to the end of 2004, but her dream lives on even today in Alex's Lemonade Stands which have raised more than $30 million for more than eighty cancer-related projects that sek cures and treatments.

That story alone means I will be reading this book through the weekend to find more inspiration for my life and what I should be doing to help others, because if a 4 year old little girl can do something like this, what can the rest of us do.

The book overall is a book of inspirational stories like this to show how people have shared love with others throughout the world at different times. If this one story is any indication of the inspiration that can be drawn from this book, everyone should read it. We all need to learn to stop looking out just for ourselves and consider the impact we could have on the world around us.

I recommend this book to everyone even though it is written by a Christian artist to illustrate how we can share the love of Christ. I think anyone who has a heart can benefit from reading this book.

Thanks for reading.

DC Universe Online Legends #21

Another week of new comics. I only got one read today though, and it was this one. I am not a fan of the DC Universe Online MMO - I haven't even played it since the Beta. I found their desire to use console style controls and play-style to be detracting. Lots of cool concepts that they had in their game versus other superhero genre MMO's like Champions Online or City of Heroes/Villains like being able to climb walls or "glide" out with acrobatics, but just not as versatile or as robust overall as the others in my opinion for customization, etc.

On the other hand, the backstory for the game is fabulous from the first trailer I ever saw for the game at San Diego Comic-Con 2 years ago, I loved it. This comic book series is all about that back story and has been awesome from the beginning until now. The surprise to me is that it wasn't worked on by Geoff Johns or Jim Lee - the two people who probably did the most work on the game from DC, but has been written by Marv Wolfman (who I think is an oft-under-utilized writer) with art by Bruno Redondo. These guys have done an awesome bringing this story to life and keeping it true to the game that I saw in Beta (and in current from all that I have heard from friends who still play).

The most awesome scene in this issue is the point where current Batman meets future Batman. Current Bats reaches out to touch his future self as Lex Luthor stands by watching in anticipation. After the proximity gets too close the Roche limit takes place and future Batman disappears in a temporal feedback (either he's slungshot back to the future or he's disintegrated - Lex proposes either as a possibility). The fact that Lex knew it would happen due to the Roche limit and does nothing to stop it angers current Batman of course. (For those of us who aren't time travelling nerds, according to Luthor, the Roche limit is the minimum distance a person from two different times can reach before they are destroyed - apparently the effect that occurred was not what the theory proposed according to Luthor though.)

Anyway, for those who aren't familiar, the story is based on Brainiac having made a deal with Lex Luthor to take over the earth. The results is supposed to allow for Lex to finally kill Superman and allow Lex to look like he has saved the earth and thus become the hero he always wanted to be. The problem is Brainiac really just wants to destroy the earth, and he's been using Lex as a patsy. In the future, Brainiac has all but succeeded and Lex travels back in time to ignite super powers in as many people across the earth as possible using the nanites that Brainiac has been using to steal the super powers of all the heroes and villains across the DC Universe. The alliance of earth's heroes and villains to combat Brainiac starts there.

In all, this series has been great. I recommend it to anyone who wants to go look for the back issues, or I recommend if you haven't been reading, when the trade paperback or hardcover comes out go pick it up.

Thanks for reading.

Peanuts #1 and Artifacts #13

One of my favorite comic strips from when I was a kid was Peanuts by Charles Schulz. Some of my favorite television cartoon specials were the Peanuts specials as well. So, for me seeing the Peanuts gang in print again with new stories is great. It's like finding an old friend on Facebook and realizing that you missed that person and used to have a lot of fun just hanging out together. The new Peanuts comic is a collection of short stripes written by different people and is being published by BOOM! Entertainment unders its children friendly imprint, kaboom!

Intermixed in the comic are new strips which are being collaborated on with the Charles Schulz foundation/family to ensure they are Peanuts worthy as well as classic strips from Schulz. The new strips I found to be as funny and delightful as the classic strips I remember. The couple of classic strips that were published in this first issue were much as I remembered the strips being. While I'm not a child anymore, I still enjoyed this comic for the delightful and humorous strips that it contained. It was also nice to see something for children that wasn't speckled with innuendo and things that lead our children to adult hood far too quick again.

I loved the first issue and will probably continue to pick up the series for the entertainment quality it brings as well as the childhood memories it invokes in me. I highly recommend this comic to anyone with small children who wants a lighthearted cartoon strip for them to read or to read to/with them. It's very family friendly and will probably even bring a smile to the children in all of you (us).


Artifacts #13
The final issue of what was originally the limited series re-defining the Top Cow Universe has come and gone, and while I enjoyed it, it was a bit of a let-down. The grand finale and defeat of the antagonist actually has him win but not win. The Survivor (or the Curator as most of us originally knew him) is missing from his end of the world plans as his goal of destroying the Top Cow Universe in order to remake his universe (the previous universe before the current universe) has been achieved, but alas the Darkness was able to stop him from making the journey into oblivion in order to remake the universe. Instead, three people make it into oblivion to remake the universe - Sara Pezzini (Witchblade), Jackie Estacado (The Darkness), and their daughter Hope (the survivor entity for the current universe). With no hope of rescuing the universe other than to sacrifice Hope to remake the universe, Witchblade does exactly that despite the protests of The Darkness.

The Top Cow Universe is reborn, but as is indicated by Tom Judge at the end of this issue, something is not quite right. Even Estacado knows it. This sets up the on-going Artifacts series as well as the new status quo for the Witchblade and Darkness ongoing series from Top Cow. What's not quite right, well, we get a brief view of it as we see where the 13 artifacts have ended up and realize that they are not all where they were before. Some are, but some aren't. Also, we are quickly shown that Jackie Estacado's life, which had previously been one of tragedy and sorrow is now the life he always wanted including having his childhood sweetheart, Jenny, as a wife and a duaghter named Hope with her.

While I recommend the series for the story and for the story to come, I just felt this was kind of a cop out to everything. I would have preferred seeing the universe remade by the survivor and watching a series where the protagonists are trying to figure out what's wrong that they can't quite place their fingers on or them having just stopped him in a more epic finale. At this point, there is of course, the very real possibility that he still exists out there somewhere to come back and try again despite The Darkness slaughtering the Curator at the end of the issue. Hopefully, the rest of the fans feel different about the ending - I haven't had a chance to read any reviews on it yet.

The other thing that has disappointed me with the conclusion of the original limited series (now, the first arc of the ongoing series) is that I think Top Cow has missed an opportunity to capitalize on expanding their line of books. While I appreciate this from a finanical perspective, I was hoping that we would finally get a new ongoing Cyberforce title and possibly even a few other ongoing series in the Top Cow Universe featuring Necromancer, Aphrodite, and any of the many other characters that appeared in this series. Instead, we are getting a single new series which I imagine will utilize a rotating roster of these characters depending on where the continuity is in the direction for the overall story of the Top Cow Universe, which I like, but there were just some characters I were really hoping would graduate to their own series again.

I still recommend the series, Ron Marz (writer) did an amazing job with these first 13 issues despite my let down, and I look forward to seeing his plans for the Top Cow Universe continuing forward in Artifacts now that he has left Witchblade. Check it out if you haven't already.

Thanks for reading!

Avengers X-Sanction #2 and Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist #2

So, I'm an Avengers junkie, hence the Avengers: X-Sanction limited series. I picked up the Flash Gordon limited series because I've liked what Dynamite did with The Bionic Man and other titles of old they've revamped in comic book form. Both books are worth a look at for different reasons.

Avengers: X-Sanction #2 continues the story started last month. Cable is alive once more and only has 24 hours to live before the techno-organic virus ravaging his body finally takes its toll and maybe finally claims his life. Before he returned to the current time in the Marvel Universe though, we learn that his old friend Blaquesmith has told him in a far flung future of total devastation that the Avengers killed his adopted daughter Hope (the so called mutant messiah having been the first mutant baby born after M-Day). Cable being the warrior and loving father he is, journeys to the current time to stop it from happening before he finally succumbs to the techno-organic virus. Yes, ultimately, this is a big hero vs. hero book so far with lots of fight scenes, but the things that have me reading are that first of all, I'm an Avengers fan, but second of all, as I recall, the last time we saw Blaquesmith, he wasn't the altruistic person everyone thought he was and he was also killed (by Cable IIRC).

This leads me to the question, can Blaquesmith be trusted and why does Cable trust him again if my memory is correct about the last time we saw Blaquesmith. Issue 2 drives home my belief that Blaquesmith is not to be trusted or just that the future point Cable saw is not the current time line. At the end of issue 2, Cable is fighting Red Hulk and reveals that Talbot has lost to Cable every time they've fought - Cable has checked all possible timelines for this fact apparently. The problem, as anyone familiar with the Red Hulk storylines knows, is that the Red Hulk is not Glenn Talbot but Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross. This indicates in a very stark (no pun intended considering Iron Man is the other Avenger captured in this issue by Calbe) way that Cable is not in the timeline of that future he saw or that he is being manipulated by someone. I'm looking forward to seeing how it all turns out in a couple more issues.

Jeph Loeb is writing this series and although I haven't liked a lot of the work he's done at Marvel since his departure from DC and complete shift into the Marvel stable, the writing on this series is spot on for what a fight between Cable and the Avengers should look like. Ed McGuinness's pencils are fantastic for portraying the imagery of a "war" between Cable and the Avengers. His take on the techno-organic portion of Cable is a little more brutal looking than past versions of Cable, but then the virus is supposed to be in its final stages for Cable, so it makes sense.


Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist is a fabulous series as it reimagines the classic sci-fi hero. The story is reminiscent of the campy Flash Gordon movie from 1980 but is far from that campiness. This is more the hero of the original Alex Raymond work from the 1930's and the comic is set firmly in that time as it should be. There is no re-imagining to a modern age, but a re-imagining for the modern reader looking back. Ming is seen not only as seeking to destroy the Earth in his attack on the planet, but is actually reminding his human pawn that he should bow to Ming's power and submit to him as originally agreed.

Being set in the 1930's, you might wander who would be willing to sell out the human race to an alien conqueror for power and the allowance to be the vassal to rule over the Earth in Ming's name. Writer, Eric Trautmann, draws from our own bloody history for this villain, and Adolf Hitler fits the role of this villain in the story perfectly. Other than that, your favorite characters are still here in the series, Flash Gordon, Dale Arden, Hans Zarkoff, Klytus, Aura, and all the princes of Mongo. The story is enhanced in a way that only makes it classic and more epic. Daniel Indro does the art for the series and his work captures the appearance of everyone in a way that there is no doubt who is who as they appear if you're familiar with the older works or event he movie from 1980.

Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist is an excellent comic from Dynamite Entertainment, and I highly recommend it. You'll be hooked from the first line of the first issue when Ming once again states, "Klytus, I'm bored."

Thanks for reading!

Swamp Thing #5 and Animal Man #5

Swamp Thing and Animal Man make up a portion of the darker side of the new DCU. Their mythos have been retold to make them a part of something greater than just being a couple of "odd" heroes. Swamp Thing is now defined as an avatar of the Green; a name for the web of life that connects all plants across the planet. Animal Man is defined as having a connection to the Red; a name for the web of life that connects all animals across the planet. Together they are headed into the battle to save the world against the other side of animal and plant life, a force known as the Rot representing the forces of disease and destruction, possibly even death.

Swamp Thing or Alec Holland, since currently Alec is not the Swamp Thing, has been moving towards a confrontation with the latest avatar of the Rot. The problem is that Alec remembers having been the Swamp Thing once before, but in truth it was just his formerly dead body being animated by the Green. In that previous incarnation, Alec had a relationship with a young lady named Abby; she was his true love. That wouldn't be so bad except Abby's family is the bloodline for the Rot's avatars and her brother has embraced his role as the latest avatar. Worse is that the Rot is still calling out for Abby. As this issue moves to its finish, it seems that Alec and Abby are going to win out against her brother William as Alec calls upon the Green to hold William fast in a tree. He and Abby then share a kiss as their relationship begins to bloom new with the now living Alec which leads to the conclusion where the Rot gains a foothold to corrupt the Green through the kiss.

Scott Snyder (writer) is truly weaving an awesome story in Swamp Thing, reminiscent of the old days of Swamp Thing within the Vertigo line of titles. While the series is not quite as adult oriented as much of the Vertigo line is today, it is definitely a dark read for more mature readers who aren't prone to the nightmares that could come from a slaughterhouse of dead animals being animated by the Rot. Yanick Paquette's artwork in Swamp Thing fits the title well. The darker imagery is perfect for the darker edge of this title. I had originally not intended to read the Swamp Thing at all, but Snyder and Paquette have trapped me with their impeccable combination of art and words as they weave what I think will be a classic Swamp Thing tale in the future.

Animal Man is fighting the Rot from the animal side while Swamp Thing is fighting it from the plant side. Buddy Baker (Animal Man) is being redefined with this relaunch much like Swamp Thing and is a darker title than I ever imagined for this character. Like Alec, Buddy's fight is made more problematic by a girl, in this case his daughter, Maxine, who is even more powerful in control of the Red than her father. While Buddy is connected to the Red and can borrow the abilities of animals, his daughter is destined to be the avatar of the Red. This makes her a valuable target for the Rot, who wants to corrupt Maxine and through her corrupt the Red.

The Rot has sent three hunters to face off against Buddy and his daughter, and they have been slowly losing ground to Animal Man and Maxine. Animal Man faces off against the last of the hunters in this issue while Maxine remains safely behind with her mother and a guardian from the Red. Animal Man is all but defeated when his daughter demonstrates her control over the Red to send several animals to rescue her dad. The rescue turns ugly though and gives the Rot a victory that leaves the guardian (in the form of a talking cat named Socks) stating that only the Swamp Thing can save them now. Too bad we already saw what's happening in that title this month too.

Jeff Lemire writes Animal Man and the story is well written given that it is re-defining Animal Man in a genre where he hasn't been before. Previously Animal Man was a B-list hero at best who often served as a fill-in for the Justice League. Now, he's firmly entrenched in the darker corners of the DCnU fighting against a power that can truly destroy the entire world. This is something we were more used to seeing with Vixen than Animal Man, but it's a pleasant and surprising believable turn for Animal Man with the writing of Lemire. Travel Foreman's artwork (with a little help from Steve Pugh this issue) creates some amazingly dark imagery in this book much like Paquette's in Swamp Thing. While I don't like the art style on the normal humans of the DCnU in the book, it is still well drawn for the imagery I believe the writer and the artists want to invoke. Again, I wouldn't let young ones prone to nightmares read this comic, but I do recommend it for those mature enough to recognize the imagery for the fiction it is.

Together these two series are rapidly heading for the new 52's second crossover (maybe first depending on if Teen Titans and Superboy get to their crossover first or not) and the obvious next step of the rebuilding of the DCU as the DCnU as characters outside the Justice League books start to meet and interact with each other to face threats together.

I am really enjoying these two series and recommend them to anyone who is a fan of comics with a darker edge or of Animal Man or Swamp Thing. So far, they are great reads and the story has been building well. Definitely two of the surprise hits of the DCnU.

Thanks for reading!

Superman #4

Well, long time, no blog. My apologies for that, I've been moving. I'm finally settled down into a new temporary place (my dad's house) until I can find an apartment to rent or something to buy.

Just to start again, I thought I'd talk briefly about Superman #4. I really did not plan on reading any of the new Superman titles with the New 52 relaunch on a regular basis. I'm not a big fan of Superman as I've said before. He's a hero that has grown so large in his title that really they is no way to give him a reasonable adversary without constantly upgrading old supervillains or creating new ones - in my opinion, this was the whole point in the creation of Doomsday back in the early '90s was to finally create a supervillain that could challenge the Man of Steel.

Grant Morrison's writing of Superman in Action Comics proved that DC had seen the same problem I had seen. And they seem to be trying to correct the issue somewhat in the Superman title as well, although Superman is as powerful in this version (which is set 5 years after the storyline currently going on in Action). Here, they seem to be trying to base the threats more in line with Superman and his own ret-continuity of the New 52. The current threat in the Superman title seems alien and as we learn in this most recent issue may have even been created by Superman himself, although he apparently doesn't remember doing so. The slow progress of Lex Luthor in the pages of Action Comics also shows that they intend to redefine why Lex Luthor may still be Superman's archenemy in the New 52.

I'm really enjoying reading this current stoyline in Superman simply because he is being forced to find ways to fight against his enemies other than sheer force, which we all know he can do. I keep thinking I will stop after one more issue, but to date, I continue to want to see what happens next in this storyline. There is no doubt in my mine that DC has seen the need to re-define Superman as a hero who has to deal with his inability to just beat everything up - he can't be a hero that defines himself by his strength because we all know he is the strongest hero in the DC Universe (other than possibly Captain Marvel (Shazam to neophytes) but that's a different story).

I look forward to the ending of this storyline and how DC will ultimately define Superman for the New 52.

Thanks for reading and sorry this one was brief and not quite a full review. Like I said, just returning to the blog and reacquaintaing myself with the habit again. :)