Patrick's Hat Trick: Don't You Know There's A Crisis Going On

by Patrick

Where have I been? Well, I've been off preparing my safe-house for the coming Skrull Invasion Final Crisis. And there are a lot of supplies you need for a safe-house. Bottled water. Canned Foods. And of course, reading materials. And by reading materials, I mean comics! Since I am getting ready for the Skrull Invasion Final Crisis, It might be good to read the comics leading into it. So this week we'll be digging into DC Universe: Last Will and Testament one shot, the first of the two part Superman Beyond 3D, and the second chapter of Geoff Johns' Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge. Let's get started, shall we?

DC UNIVERSE: Last Will and Testament: Brad Meltzer finds himself slumming in the comics world again, this time teamed with Adam & Joe Kubert. Why give it a super long and slightly awkward title? I'm guessing it's because calling it "Geo-Force special" wouldn't sell as many copies. The main story-line follows the one time outsider as he plots killing Deathstroke while the world is coming to an end. And while I say a Geo-force comic wouldn't sell, the Geo-force vs. Deathstroke story was actually pretty good, with a good twist or two along the way. Where this book loses it is every time it goes away from the Geo-force story-line. I'm guessing they didn't let Brad Meltzer read any of Final Crisis, because just every big dog of the DCU is shown nowhere near where they were in Final Crisis. Wally West isn't with Barry. Green Lantern isn't imprisoned. Neither is Batman. Clark isn't keeping his wife alive with his heat vision. And that it so completely ignores what is happening with those those characters is annoying. The Geo-Force story gets a B+, while the rest of the book gets an F. So I guess it averages out to an unsatisfying GRADE Of :C-


Final Crisis: Superman Beyond 3D #1: If you are picking this up hoping to see the Grant Morrison who is writing ALL STAR SUPERMAN, you'll be disappointed. But if you are looking for Final Crisis issue 3.5, this might be the book you are looking for. Superman enters the fray and teams up with other Supermen from other realities to find something to fight the Crisis. And along the way we get some hints of answers beginning to form. Some of the mysteries of the Final Crisis start to unravel here, and we even get to see a place we havn't seen since Grant's run on Animal Man. GRADE: B-. It's nice to see this crisis stuff is all heading somewhere after all.

Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge #2: And over here we have the fun corner of the Final Crisis. After telling Libra last issue, "Thanks for the invite, but we are not joining," Libra does the predictable thing and goes after them. Who he sent after them is pretty clever. And even more surprising is the perfectly logical reason Libra thinks he needs the Rouges on his team. Grade: A- Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins are making a great villain book, and I'm sorry we only have one more issue to go.

Well, that's all we have this week. I'll be back in a week or two if I can avoid the Skrulls Parademons. Take care.

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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!

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