El Blanco Gigante’s Pull List Pile up
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Batman #14 Story: Scott Snyder |
| The Joker wants Batman’s undivided attention and gets it by recreating their first meeting together, just this time he’s made a few deadly changes. All I can say about this issue is WOW. Snyder writes one dangerous Joker. Putting aside his creepy wearing his detached face, we have a calculating, murderous man who’s still in control of himself even though he seems to be whirling out into a madman’s maelstrom. Joker kidnaps Alfred leaving behind a cassette tape for Batman. On it we hear Joker telling Bruce Wayne that he’s borrowed Alfred for a special celebration that he’s planning. We also find out that the Joker has blinded Alfred with ammonia. Batman figures out that Gordon is next, thinking he gets there in time to warn Gordon, to convince him to let Batman put him in a safehouse. Not only does Gordon flat out refuse, Batman is too late, the Joker has somehow slipped a heavy dose of a blood thinner to Gordon causing him to hemorrhage like an Ebola victim. There is one portion of this exchange that I’m not exactly clear as to what’s happening. Batman is trying to convince Gordon to leave with him, while Gordon has his back to Batman, Batman looks like he’s holding some sort of gun to Gordon but it’s gone as soon as Gordon starts to hemorrhage.
Once Bats gets Gordon to safety and stabilized he tells Nightwing that the Joker is redoing the early encounters with Batman but in new ways. Batman deduces that the Joker is repeating their original meeting at the aqueduct where he was going to poison Gotham’s water supply. Batman send Nightwing to the aqueduct while he goes out to the bridge to meet the Joker. There the Joker explains to Batman how everything is going to go down this time. He’s already poisoned the water, he’s blown the aqueduct this time—with Nightwing in it and he’s killed these people that were living in this new condo complex that was built nearby. Clearly getting in Batman’s head he snares him in wire that’s connected to chattering teeth. It’s during this moment that he tells Batman that not only does he know who he is—he knows who all the secret identities of the Bat-family. As I said this is a great issue, Capullo’s art meshes perfectly with the insanity of the Joker. I highly recommend buying this issue. I give Batman #14, 5 Magnificos! out of 5
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Great Pacific #1 Story: Joe Harris |
| One man’s trash is another man’s treasure…or so I’ve heard. Great Pacific is the tale of a young CEO of a multi-billion dollar company left to him by his father. Unfortunately Chas Worthington III doesn’t plan to follow in his fathers cold blooded foot steps. Chas has developed a way to clean up the industrial waste that has been plaguing the planet. He can turn oil spills into water vapor and is looking to turn this tech onto other hydrocarbons—like the tons of plastic a float in the ocean. This isn’t going to pass the board of directors as they all loath him. So, Chas fakes his own death and embezzles a bit of money and tech from his company in order to put his tech to use.
Very interesting take on the “Green Movement.” Chas sees this as not only a chance to clean things up but, also as a chance to turn an enormous profit. Sadly in the vein of, “Who Killed the Electric Car?” no one sees the long term benefits of this. The art of Martín Morazzo is fantastic and Joe Harris wrote of solid story. I look forward to picking up future issues as this has definitely earned a spot on my pull list. I give Great Pacific #1, 4 Magnificos! out of 5
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Batgirl #14 Story: Gail Simone |
| Batgirl’s mother has been attack and kidnapped by the Joker. A maniacal person calls her on the phone, someone who knows she’s Batgirl. This person warns her that two thugs are going to break in her apartment and attack her. All the while he’s demanding she calm down and make a sandwich. Barely keeping herself in check Barbara defeats the goons and heads off to meet the Joker. Coming face to reattached face with the Joker, Barbara realizes that it was her crazy brother who sent her to save their mother. Joker has other plans as he presents Barbara with her mother’s severed ring finger complete with engagement ring still attached. Will Barbara say yes to be his Jokery bride? As usual, Gail Simone delivers a exciting story. Ed Benes’ art was good to, there were some panels I thought looked a bit on the rushed side but over all this was a solid addition to the Death of the Family story arc.
I give Batgirl #14, 4 Magnificos! out of 5
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Hoax Hunters #5 Story: Tim Seeley & Michael Moreci |
| This issue of Hoax Hunters was a self contained back story. It’s a take on the Jersey Devil legend, though it’s starts in 1967 with the birth of the Jersey Devil as opposed to it being born in 1735 and makes no mention of Mother Leeds. Anyway, The Jersey Devil is living under the porch of an orphanage in a fenced in portion. There are kids outside playing tag. One of the girls runs to the fenced in spot and “tags” the devil as it. Years later we’re in college years and there’s been murders happening, specifically to the grown children of this orphanage. Lauren (the girl who “tagged” the devil) and her friend Nicki decide to relax at a motel to get away from all the stress of their friends. For some reason they’re under surveillance by two guys, the one guy has his sleeping son in the back of the surveillance car. The devil shows up, and chases Lauren into the woods, she trips and just when you expect the devil to kill her, he simply grabs her leg and says, “Tag, you’re it” and runs off. We find out the man that was watching the girls works for the Hoax Hunters and he offers Lauren a job. Flashing to the present we see the son is actually a current member of the Hoax Hunters and Lauren still has the Jersey Devil in some sort of glass case. I’m not exactly sure what is going on in this — basically because I feel like there were some missing pages with the transition to the present time. The art was great and the story in general was fun even though the ending was a little foggy for me.
I give Hoax Hunters #5, 3 Magnificos out of 5
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Saga #7 Story: Brian K. Vaughn |
| As with the other issues of Saga this one is heavily narrated by the offspring of Alana and Marko. The first few pages we get a glimpse of Marko’s upbringing and the prejudices that stand between the people of Landfall and Wreath. It’s at that point that we jump to the present and Marko introduces Alana to his parents. Sadly the instance before the introductions Marko’s parents banished their spirit babysitter to some far off planetoid which Marko quickly goes after. He’s followed by his mother leaving Alana alone on the ship with Marko’s father. From this point not a lot happens. Marko and his mother have a bit of a heart to heart and Alana finds out from Marko’s father that he’s dying—the father is, not Marko. The father then places a sleep spell on Alana and takes baby Hazel meanwhile on the planetoid Marko and his mother are hiding from a giant with a distended scrotum. Good times.
It was a good issue, solid story telling from Vaughn and great art from Staples. Anything groundbreaking happen? No, but it’s still worth the read. I give Saga #7, 3 Magnificos! out of 5 |
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