A new villain! Or is she a hero? Victorious and her purpose is still up in the air, but she is most certainly a tool for one of Doctor Doom’s many schemes. This one saw her act as a lure for Galactus, most likely as some sort of display of power for Latveria, though he doesn’t exactly need it. It’s nice to see the team back in action together, though. It’s also much appreciated that they didn’t forget the history between Franklin Richards and Galactus, one of my favorite pairings from Marvel in many years.
This lead-up to Detective Comics #1000 is so fascinating. It’s such a strange mystery, with all of Batman’s past on display. His origin, being picked apart by a ruthless creature that knows his story as well as he, himself, knows it. It’s still unclear, but if I had to wager a guess, this is most likely a returning Clayface, who vanished to keep Cassandra safe after he was manipulated and turned into a weapon against Gotham City. Perhaps he blames Batman for all that’s happened to him? We’ll find out soon enough.
The Deathbringers have returned. But that’s the least important thing that happened this issue. Carter Hall slipped through time to a Krypton on the brink of destruction, meeting his past self, Catar-Ol, as he witnesses the death of his world. The realizations about Kal-El and Kara, and their past interactions with each other were beautiful in a way, connecting those characters in a way that feels fresh and new. One of the best things this book has done from the start is manipulate the past of the DC Universe in such effortless ways, and it’s fantastic.
That slight detour that Wonder Woman’s arc took us on has diverted back to the Otherkind, and it immediately picked up. The Otherkind are invading Earth and its realms at an alarming rate, taking root in the tales and whispered stories of the Magical World. Unknowingly, Man-Bat is helping spread the word, as he’s the odd man out in all of this. The rookie to the world of demons and evil… naive to its many nuances. The addition of S.H.A.D.E. and the numerous magical heroes and villains across the DC Universe is adding so much flavor to these books, and I love it.
As per usual, no one listened to Superman when the time was right, and now they’re all just realizing that, yes, Jor-El is a crazy person who has manipulated things for years in his own favor. I’m honestly a little sad about the Jonathan Kent time-skip thing because he was actually an endearing kid-hero, who was fun to read and actually believable in his wonder and amazement at everything. Hopefully the new Jonathan, albeit older and more serious is still a good read.
This was considerably better than the first issue, but only slightly. It took forever to get moving, and something about the story just doesn’t sit right with me. It feels off, and uninteresting for a Batman story. Even with The Batman Who Laughs, and The Grim Knight, two interesting parallel versions of Batman at its disposal, it uses them sparingly, going for spectacle and attempts at mystery. I’ll give it one more issue to wow me, and we’ll see what happens.
Gemini finally makes their move, manipulating Psych, who was manipulating Flash for Gemini. It sounds way more confusing than it really was. It’s interesting how these new Force Users are so adept at using their powers. They’re skilled in the way that Flash is skilled with the Speed Force, as if they’re meant to have these powers, and they’ve finally found their proper host. Now, in the next issue, it looks like we’ll get a full breakdown of the history of speed force, and these new forces themselves. That could change Flash comics forever, if it’s done well enough.
A bit of an anticlimactic ending to an otherwise fantastic arc, this did exactly what it needed to do. It put Ares down, while also putting him on a quest to find Athena and the other Gods, who seem to be scattered to the winds. Aphrodite is now with Diana, who seems lost in all the confusion of the Greek Pantheon ascending to the Earthly plain once again. I think that soon enough we’ll be heading back to Themyscira. With the Gods in the winds, perhaps the whole world will be heading to Themyscira soon enough?
