All Star Western Featuring Jonah Hex #21

All Star Western Featuring Jonah Hex #21 started out strong with Booster Gold getting himself and Hex sent through time.  I really wish Hex had the time to actually kill Booster since he has been nothing but an unfunny pain the entire time he has been in the comic.  But instead Hex gets dropped into the future at some point and ends up fighting Batwing.  Even though this is the “future” and people (especially) the heroes should know of Hex no one does.  Hex ends up in Arkham Asylum despite his skills and abilities, basically he was railroaded by the story and in typical lame comic book creators desire to not work hard while getting paid end up with this lame cliffhanger of Hex being helpless.  But I’m sure in the first pane of next month’s comic he will again be in control of the situation.  Lame.  The Stormwatch backup story was entertaining, but as I predicted (I think) suffers from being a story cut in two that was too short to fill the space.  This story would have been much more entertaining if shown in full and not broken up.  Anyway, Doctor 13 had a little too much garlic in his system and that killed the vampire queen.  Despite my complaints this was an entertaining story – good stuff.

Nightwing #18 Requiem

Nightwing #18 Requiem was good as far as the Death of Robin stories go.  Nightwing mourns the death of his friend and sort of bonds a bit with Batman.  Nightwing then using information from Batman, Nightwing goes after a villain the Dealer who is a guy whom sells items associated with supers.  The Dealer is selling a costume that was once worn by Dick Grayson’s father and used by the Joker in the Death of the Family story.  There is a short fight and we move on to the other story that could be interested.  The guy who killed Grayson’s parents is still alive! Either that or someone is going to be sorry for picking that old alias as a cover once Nightwing gets to him.

Batman Inc #8 R.I.P.

Batman Inc #8 where I seemed to have missed issue #7 and considering what happened in this issue it might be hard to find a copy.  The story starts out mid something riot like possibly related to the events in Death of the Family.  Robin and Nightwing are working to help Batman out of a jam.  There is a long and eventful fight with some banter between Robin and Nighwing I am not really sure why Robin took off the battle suit helmet but oh well.  I figure that since the end of the comic made the news this is not really a spoiler but just in case: Spoiler! Alert!  But for some plot based reason Robin dies he is killed by someone claiming to be his brother but that Robin called Father.  Considering that children trained as the Robin’s replacement have died and come back to life in the past the death of Robin (Damian Wayne Al ghul) is bound to be short lived.  At the very least Robins’ death is valid until the next plot point and a handy Lazarus Pit.  Do not get my sarcasm wrong this was a good climatic story.

Talon #5!!

Talon #5 (still not Batman)! Oh but wait we get to see the real Batman and Nightwing argue about the Court of Owls and the aftermath of the Death of the Family story line.  Then we get reminded that the super Talon serial killer is featured and he goes to kill random people living in Gotham for no reason and no police response despite structural damage to the building.  Then our hero and friends finds a way to sneak into the next impossible mission against the Court of Owls.  We end with a cliffhanger because this was just a boring filler issue.

Red Hood and the Outlaws! #17

Red Hood and the Outlaws #17 was more Death of the Family aftermath.  It was a very interesting recap and review of the Red Hoods life.  It was interesting to the interaction of the different characters, Arsenal, Starfire, Robin (ah Ghul), Alfred, Nightwing and Batman.  I was kind of surprised at the ending I did not expect a cliffhanger.  This makes me grateful I was not paying attention to the list of Death of the Family comics coming out next or the plot summaries.  This is first time in a number of issues of this mega story that I have been surprised.  Good comic.

Batman!!

Batman #17 Death of the Family and the big climax which to this old reviewer  is just another letdown as there was nothing really new in the end.  While the characters might or might not change really this Super Mega Story was just another piece of good publicity.  The story could have been grand and it would have been amazing if the Family had actually been harmed.  I thought maybe Batman’s solution to the Joker problem was going to work.  But it was a bluff at least when we see the aftermath.  This was the chance for the New52 the Batman writers to do something new and special and instead they just reset the story which is just a typical copout that chased me away from comic books in the first place.  I am very disappointed in this story, very disappointed. 

Nightwing!

Nightwing 16 Death of the Family was interesting and could have been good if not stuck in this filler mode for the Death of the Family mega story.  The layout of the comic itself was annoying with an entire section with the left page an advertisement and if we were lucky the right page had some of the comic displayed.  I don’t know maybe this issue will make sense when the story is over but otherwise it was just another “crossover” that was just filler.  I mean seriously how did the Joker have the time even in a year to set this all up?

Nightwing!

Nightwing #15 was not bad.  Though it did feel as if the Death of the Family story was just plopped into the middle of the current story line, I guess that is supposed to make it more real.  Not much else to say about this comic.

Death in the Family! (Batman Mega Cross-over)

Death in the Family – Batman 15 – Oh geeze, blah blah blah blah does the Joker ever shut up?  Not sure what is up with the extended Batfamily but they seem to be falling for the Joker’s plot.  I am starting to think a real review of the Death in the Family storyline will only be possible once it is done.

Death in the Family – Batgirl 15 – more of the Joker going Blah blah blah blah I have a plan.  Not really sure why Batgirl is just giving in and this story really does not feel connected to the main story beyond the bigwigs said, “Write a Death in the Family Story!”

Death in the Family – Suicide Squad 15 – the Joker just never stops talking his random crap.  Oh he has a plan!  While it is kind of interested to see Harley Quinn not be the total Joker Fan Girl and that she has some growth it is sad to see no change in the Joker.

Death in the Family – Batman and Robin 15 – The story started out entertaining enough, then the story stops so that the Joker can go blah blah blah blah.  I think I spotted a trend there with just use the Joker rambling as filler because well a story spread over all these comics is getting kind of thin.