Patrick's Hat Trick: Samuroids, Sightings, and... Justice League goes CONDITION AMBER?!?

By Patrick

Have you spent your week wondering if The Brave and the Bold #13 was any good? How about that issue of Justice League with that big "SIGHTINGS" banner and the menacing looking villains on the cover? And even though the countdown ended a month ago, we are all wondering if Final Crisis #1 can live up to the hype. Well, wonder no more true believer!

Click the link and the knowledge you seek shall be yours! (This knowledge does contain some spoilers, so consider yourself warned.)

BRAVE AND THE BOLD #13: Last month I complained that Jerry Ordway was no George Perez. But by no means is he a bad artist. Last issue just didn’t play to his strengths. This month, we have no such problem, as Jerry Ordway is one of, if not THE, definitive artist of Golden Age DC characters. And Mark Waid finds a really cool hook for this issue, comparing and contrasting at Batman and Jay Garrick as mentors. Who would have thought that two pages of Bruce Wayne and Jay Garrick in the Batcave talking about protégés would be such good reading? Also, it has bio-electric Ninja Samurai robots (AKA Samuroids) that are powered by a hybrid strain of bacteria. And all good fanboys and fangirls know that ninja robots rock! GRADE: B+ If you are a fan of the characters, you’ll really enjoy the issue, and there is enough meat there for the rest of you as well.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #21: We start off with the “trinity” getting together for a little secret meeting to discuss the happenings of the JLA and the DCU. Meanwhile, Hawkgirl and Red Arrow get taken down by Libra while trying to defeat The Human Flame. This book would have been a much better DC Universe #0 than the book they published a few weeks ago. Another thing I didn't quite get about the book: It had this big "Sightings" banner on the book, but I was not all that clear on what I was suppose to see. Grade: C+ If you want to get every beat of the coming crisis, or you are a Carlos Pacheco fan grab this, but otherwise, keep your three bucks in your pocket.

And that leads us to DC's "BIG BOOK" of the week...


FINAL CRISIS #1: Grant Morrision and JG Jones are out to give the DCU the ultimate bad day. And how does the bad day start? The skies are turning red…again. New Gods are being found dead… still. Villains are uniting under a common banner…again! A lot of the beats of this story felt like repeats from other storylines. These events have become so everyday in the DCU, how does the Justice League respond?





JUSTICE LEAGUE CONDITION AMBER! What the hell is that?! Are they going to go around looking for rocks with flies in them? Are they going out looking for missing children? If so, John Walsh will be so pleased. And I'm sure the Question will be happy to have some help, since one of the subplots seems to be her looking for missing super-powered kids.

Final Crisis is a great looking book, but like last week's Justice League, the story is missing some punch. I have faith in Grant Morrison's storytelling that this will end up being a heck of a read, but the first issue left me a little underwhelmed. But I will channel my inner Randy Jackson and say JG JONES could draw the phone book and it would still rock. GRADE: B- For a big event and the extra dollar in price, I want a bit more bang for my buck.

That's all I have today friends. Thanks for reading. Let me know if you like my title for my three pack of reviews, "Patrick's Hat Trick," if you think it sucks, or any other thought you'd like to share in the comments section. Thanks again!