Batman: The Dark Knight #3

Title: Batman: The Dark Knight
Issue: 3
Date: December 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Paul Jenkins, David Finch
Penciler: David Finch
Inker: Richard Friend
Colorist: Jeromy Cox
Letterer: Sal Cipriano
Editor: Mike Marts, Rickey Purdin
Cover: David Finch, Richard Friend, Alex Sinclair

After the mess that was the third issue of Detective Comics (see my review here), it was nice to see this title heading in the right direction.

Nothing profound here, but a lot of fun, even if it required a bit of "stunt booking" to achieve it.

We get started with a hulked-up (drugged-up, really) Joker and the White Rabbit. But things are not exactly as they appear, and the Batman's quick bit of on-the-fly detective work in the midst of the ensuing fight is one of the little touches that makes this amusing.

We go immediately to a high-powered guest star from the Justice League, who lends a hand in classic 70s-style team-up fashion. It's a nice nostalgic bit that makes reasonable sense and reminds the reader that there is a whole DC Universe out there. The guest star gets written out in somewhat over-arbitrary fashion later, but I still enjoyed it.

I'm also starting to warm to White Rabbit as a villain now that we're seeing her in action a bit more. Still not thrilled with the Playboy Bunny costume, but at least her actions are starting to make a bit more sense.

Also starting to grow on me: new romantic interest Jaina Hudson. Might just be a matter of personal taste, but she's one of the few women in comics that gets a "Wow, she is really beautiful!" reaction from me. Her scene with Bruce Wayne was mostly just more flirting, but I did like the detail that a text from Alfred did NOT result in Bruce abruptly calling off the date. Nice little bit of cliche breaking.

Ends with a bit more thickening of the plot and a little bit of crossover with the events of Birds of Prey. Oh, and a preview of The Ray, which was just kinda there.

Rating: 7/10

Detective Comics #3

Title: Detective Comics
Issue: 3
Date: January 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Tony Salvador Daniel
Penciler: Tony Salvador Daniel
Inker: Sandu Florea
Colorist: Tomeu Morey
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Katie Kubert, Janelle Asselin, Mike Marts
Cover: Tony Salvador Daniel, Tomeu Morey

The Batman has to do battle with Dollmaker's "family" while fighting the effects of a paralyzing drug, and that's just the start of things in an issue that was pretty heavy on violence and mayhem.

Unfortunately, it's all a bit too much, and writer/artist Tony Salvador Daniel resorts to bad cliches like cannibal serial killers and evil kids all while ratcheting up the violence including a purposeless beatdown/torture session by the Batman on one of Dollmaker's surgically-altered minions that went on for two pages. And of course, another Gotham cop killed. Just put them in red Star Trek uniforms and be done with it, already.

Jim Gordon is pretty much the only bright spot in this. He's a captive of the Dollmaker and actually displays some reasonable intelligence as he deals with his situation.

We end pretty much back where we started, with the Batman brawling with more surgically altered minions and the promise of more "shocking" medical horrors to come.

I'll be shocked if I end up reading much more of this title the way things are going.

Rating; 4/10

Action Comics #3

So, of course, after a weekend of running bonus reviews to get back on track toward 365 in 2012, I get hit with a stomach flu and a major malware problem simultaneously. I'm recovering, and so is my PC. So onward with the reviews!

Title: Action Comics
Issue: 3
Date: January 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Grant Morrison
Penciler: Rags Morales, Gene Ha
Inker: Rick Bryant, Gene Ha
Colorist: Brad Anderson, Art Lyon
Letterer: Patrick Brosseau
Editor: Wil Moss, Matt Idelson
Cover: Rags Morales, Brad Anderson

The third issue of the new Action Comics gives us our first look at Krypton, focusing on the destruction (well, shrinking, I suppose) of Kandor, rather than the fate of the planet Krypton itself. The scene give a few interesting new insights, including a link to some of the current villains in the main timeline, but it's also presented as something of a confusing jumble of telepathic chatter that detracts more than it enlightens.

Things get better when we get back to Clark Kent, who gets in some great lines ("You need to be the cop you wanted to be when you were a kid."), while making classic amateur superhero blunders, and questioning his own path in the face of an onslaught of bad press from corrupt media tycoon Glen Glenmorgan (doing his very best J. Jonah Jameson; all we needed was "Superman: Threat or Menace?" on the cover of the Planet).

Most awesome detail in this issue? A glimpse inside Clark's perfectly organized sock drawer! Ha!

The ending brings the issue full circle with the origin of Metallo and a robotic invasion all connected back to Kandor.

Everything worked but the opening scene.

Rating: 7/10

Healed #2

Weekend of bonus reviews continues. I got this one at New York Comic Con.

Title: Healed
Issue: #2
Date: 2010
Publisher: Homeless Comics
Writer: George O'Connor
Artist: S. Griffin
Editor: Tracy O'Connor

Second issue of this story of the world suddenly cured of all diseases.

The opening segment is a stand-alone story about an alcoholic who was dying of liver disease before the Healing, and how he squanders his second chance at life.

From there, the book turns to some of its ongoing plotlines as pharmaceutical executive Donna Gibbs begins her investigation into the Healing... and how to undo it. Meanwhile, the government is considering a pretty extreme response to what has happened.

I would have liked to see this develop a bit more before the mass-murdering government conspiracy gets started, just because it seemed like it was a bit rushed. The series is doing a nice job of showing how the event affects individuals. It needs more time to show how the Healing has affected society as a whole in order for the reader to see what has some leaders so panicked.

Still, this story continues to do a good job of finding new angles to approach the initial scenario.

Rating: 6/10

Birds of Prey #3

Last bonus review for tonight.

Title: Birds of Prey
Issue: 3
Date: January 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Duane Swierczynski
Artist: Jesus Saiz
Colorist: June Chung
Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual
Editor: Janelle Asselin, Bobbie Chase, Katie Kubert
Cover: Jesus Saiz, Nei Ruffino

Canary has invited Poison Ivy to join the team. That goes over about as well as could be expected, complete with all manner of pot-calling-kettle-black as trained assassins Starling and Katana suddenly get uptight because Ivy is "a terrorist and a killer". Which she has the audacity to just flat out deny! The inevitable fight-the-make-up follows, and in all of the grudging acceptance of Ivy by the rest of the team that follows, we don't get a single clue as to why Ivy would actually want any part of this.

We quickly move on to the clue-gathering portion of this issue's activities, which is made easier by the fact that the bad guys happened to leave a slip of paper with the names of their next two living-bomb assassin/victims in their abandoned hideout. Not exactly Batman-level detective skills needed here.

So the team mounts an "operation" on a train, and it very quickly goes badly as we finally get the rather contrived outcome of some odd moments in the main fight scene back in issue #1. At least there is some continuity here, folks, because not much else in this issue made any sense.

Writer Duane Swierczynski had to jump through some fairly ridiculous hoops to get to it, but the ending cliffhanger is really good. Sparrow continues to be entertaining. Otherwise, though, I had a too hard a time getting through the logical flaws to enjoy this one all that much.

Rating: 5.5/10

Wonder Woman #3

Title: Wonder Woman
Issue: 3
Date: January 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Brian Azzarello
Artist: Cliff Chiang
Colorist: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Chris Conroy, Matt Idelson
Cover: Cliff Chiang

In the aftermath of Stife's arrival on Paradise Island, old wounds are opened, and old lies are finally uncovered.

This is the reboot of Wonder Woman's origin, and the new origin itself isn't particularly surprising. It's the most obvious backstory once the original (sculpted out of clay) tale proves false.

What is really great here is the rivalries, jealousies, and mixed loyalties of the Amazons, a simmering on the surface with Strife more than willing to stir the pot. Strife's position as a (minor and annoying) goddess leaves the Amazons pretty much unable to force her to leave, so she sticks around like the ill-mannered relative who is obliged to be invited to all family functions. The best one can do is to ignore her (actually, that would be a cool thing to see them try) and put up with her continuous insults and provocations.

Forced to confront the truth of their past, Diana's relationship with Hippolyta is stressed to the breaking point, while Amazon warrior Aleka falls into the role of Diana's childhood bully. I particularly loved the use of "Clay" as the derisive nickname for Diana.

Azzarello has the intensity turned way up and loads the issue with good character interactions and confrontations that should have lasting impact on Diana and her relationship with Paradise Island and the Amazons.

Rating: 8/10

Batman #3

Title: Batman
Issue: 3
Date: January 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Scott Snyder
Penciler: Greg Capullo
Inker: Jonathan Glapion
Colorist: FCO
Letterer: Richard Starkings, Comicraft's Jimmy Betancourt
Editor: Katie Kubert, Harvey Richards, Mike Marts
Cover: Greg Capullo, FCO

The Batman begins to uncover the secrets of the Court of Owls, and their generations-old conspiracy to control Gotham.

This was a good issue for plot-thickening, both in terms of developing the backstory of the Owls and their connection to the Wayne family, and also in terms of developing some of the current post-New-52 Gotham underworld.

The actual gimmick of the hidden lairs of the Court (based on the idea that owls use the nests of other birds) was a bit implausible, but made for a fun revelation. There wasn't much action in this issue, but writer Snyder kept the pacing fast and I didn't find myself wishing for more fight scenes.

Rating: 6.5/10

The Strain #1

Special $1 introductory issue released a few weeks ago.

Title: The Strain
Issue: 1
Date: 2011
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Guillermo Del Toro, Chuck Hogan, David Lapham
Artist: Mike Huddleston
Letterer: Clem Robins
Colorist: Dan Jackson
Editor: Jim Gibbons, Sierra Hahn

Comic adaptation of the first novel of a trilogy by film director Guillermo Del Toro and writer Chuck Hogan. David Lapham adapts the story to script.

The opening flashback is standard vampire fare, with a young boy in Romania in 1927 hearing a local legend from his grandmother.

Flash forward to the present and there's a plane quarantined on the tarmac at JFK with all communication cut off and a bioterrorism response team en route. CDC doctor Ephraim Goodweather finds all but three passengers dead in an incident that apparently lasted only six minutes.

All of this is a reasonable prologue for what seems to be a full-scale vampire apocalypse. Like the investigators themselves, I'm left trying to figure out how things transpired on the plane, and it makes for a pretty engaging mystery.

Doctor Goodweather comes off as rather generic as main characters go. The other main character, Abraham Setrakian, seems a bit more interesting, but the present-time version of him just gets a tease in the last two pages.

This issue did a nice job of setting the scene, but other than the opening flashback, there the story felt like it was all setup and no depth. The arrival by plane was a nice variant on the events of Dracula, but the really interesting aspects that will distinguish this from other vampire stories are not yet apparent.

Rating: 6/10

Today Is Snowed-In Catch Up Day!

First real snowstorm of the winter here on Cape Cod, and I will be trying to catch up on missed reviews today! I'll be posting as many reviews as I can all day in between catching up on some work from the day job and occasional treks out to shovel.

Hope everyone who's in the winter weather today is keeping safe and warm, with a nice stack of comics to read!

Batman And Robin #2

One of the leftover #2's that I originally hadn't planned to buy. Probably should have stuck with that plan.

Title: Batman And Robin
Issue: 2
Date: December 2011
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Peter J Tomasi
Penciler: Patrick Gleason
Inker: Mick Gray
Colorist: John Kalisz
Letterer: Patrick Brosseau
Editor: Harvey Richards, Katie Kubert
Cover: Patrick Gleason, Mick Gray, John Kalisz

Welcome to the world of Damian Wayne, where common sense is the most uncommon trait of all. You know, given that Damian Wayne's problem is that he was trained from in-utero to be the perfect killing machine, one would think that the solution would be to have him in art therapy or something, or at least to, you know, not continually take him into violent situations.

Apparently, this is not quite so obvious to the Batman.

There are only two ways this mess can end. Either Damian becomes a full-fledged villain, and the Batman looks stupid for putting up with him this whole time, or Damian really does turn into a good guy, in which case the readers still won't like him because this series has spent so much time making him unlikable.

I suppose that he could also meet a horrible demise, as Robins are wont to do, but that is probably asking too much.

And while I'm on the subject of logical plot development or lack thereof, does it seem a bit odd to give a villain the (dumb) name of "Nobody" and then reveal his identity in the second issue? Nobody, as it turns out is somebody after all!

In between Bruce bemoaning Damian's scarred soul and the big reveal of Nobody, there's, well, not much. A generic action scene followed by the revelation that Damian engages in cruelty to animals. Wonderful. That's really going to make us care about him. Not.

Can we have Tim Drake back now? Please?

Rating: 3.5/10

Nightwing #3

Done with my Arisia reviews. Back to the New 52.

Title: Nightwing
Issue: 3
Date: January 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Kyle Higgins
Penciler: Eddy Barrows, Eduardo Pansica
Inker: JP Mayer, Paulo Siqueira, Eber Ferreira
Colorist: Rod Reis, Allan Passalaqua
Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual
Editor: Katie Kubert, Bobbie Chase
Cover: Eddie Barrows, Rod Reis

Dick Grayson confronts his past as he investigates the murder of Mr. Haly, the owner of Haly's Circus. Actually, I should say that he's the former owner of Haly's circus. The current owner is, well, Dick Grayson.

This had some really great development of Grayson's backstory, including a fun opening flashback scene, plus plenty of insights and intrigue.

A shift of scene to Chicago has Nightwing confronting a former friend turned crime boss. The ensuing battle included an extended psychic attack sequence of the "face-your-fears" variety that went on for about five tedious pages (one would have been plenty) before Nightwing at least manages to salvage a satisfying resolution out of the scene.

That in turn leads to a really good scene between Dick and Raya, so it's not a complete waste.

Still, five pages? At least Saiko was kept to a minimum.

Hoping for more circus intrigue next issue. And maybe a better villain?

Rating: 6.5/10

Revenge of the Nature Imps

My third Arisia find.

Title: Revenge of the Nature Imps
Date: 2009
Publisher: Mystic Sheep Studios
Writer: Kimberly Long-Ewing
Photography: Kimberly Long-Ewing
Models: Jane Washburn

This is an unusual one: A photo comic made from color photos of handcrafted imp and faerie models (by Jane Washburn of Blackbird Marmalade Creations). The book is put together in squarebound digest-sized format and it's a tie-in with the Urban Fey webcomic.

This story concerns a group of nature imps out to make mischief for the creators of the webcomic. Apparently Oberyn is less than amused with the fey secrets that are being given out. Fortunately for the cartoonists, their dwelling is protected by a horde of electricity imps that are rather territorial, plus two border collies that are, well, border collies.

When the direct assault fails, the imps take on a quest to seek out Baba Yaga and her walking hut in order to secure a magical potion.

The photos are great, but their small size in this print edition doesn't fully do them justice. The story is amusing, with plenty of funny moments in the dialogue, although readers will probably have more of a connection if they read the webcomic first.

That being said, this is a very unusual and original project, and a fun alternative take on fantasy illustration.

Rating: 7/10

Inky Stories #1

My second review from Arisia! My wife was on a minicomics panel and she got this mini from the creator, who was a fellow panelist.

Title: Inky Stories
Issue: #1
Date: Fall 2011
Publisher: Rotten Kid Press
Writer: Dave Marshall
Artist: Dave Marshall

Dave Marshall's comic short stories are published online at inkystories.com, and this half-sized b/w minicomic collects a sampling of them in print format.

The minicomic opens with an amusing EC Comics style introduction, assuring the reader that the purpose of these stories is to show that crime does not pay.

The main story in the first issue is "Bottle of Red", the artist's tribute to The Godfather, presenting a scene from the classic film with the perspective shifted to innocent bystanders. There's a ton of attention to detail in the scene, which also includes some clever references to the comic book industry in the 1940s.

From there, the book moves on to four quick backup stories including a bit of absurdity from the point of view of a snowflake, a tribute/parody piece based on the classic Marvel Comics monster Fin Fang Foom, a tiny glimpse of a moment in a relationship played out on a rooftop, and a childhood memoir of the artist getting into mischief on a field trip.

All of the stories are brief, but all are full of quirks, clever bits of detail, and unexpected twists.

Rating: 7.5/10

The Divide

I'm currently attending Arisia 2012 with my company, Dandelion Studios. As is traditional, I'll be reviewing comics I obtained at the convention. This book is a promotional minicomic freebie previewing an upcoming apocalyptic film.

Title: The Divide
Date: 2011
Writer: James Flames
Artist: James Flames
Publisher: Anchor Bay Films

The upcoming film, The Divide, tells the story of a group of New Yorkers locked in a fallout shelter after a nuclear attack.

This full color promotional minicomic presents "Wendy", a prelude story involving a young girl caught up in apocalyptic disaster. The comic is mostly wordless, and does a nice job of portraying the characters by way of the artwork. There are no wordy explanations here, and this seems particularly effective since the reader is getting a child's perspective.

This is a nice introduction that approaches the film from an angle that the trailer can't really cover. It's just a taste of the larger plot, but it's an effective glimpse.

Rating: 7.5/10

Static Shock #3

Title: Static Shock
Issue: 3
Date: January 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Scott McDaniel, John Rozum
Penciler: Scott McDaniel
Inker: Andy Owens
Colorist: Guy Major
Letterer: Dezi Sienty
Editor: Harvey Richards
Cover: Khary Randolph, Emilio Lopez

This issue is almost all action, and it continues to be classic superhero fun. Static's battles are interesting, and there is a variety of villains that he's facing off against, all with their own agendas and subplots.

I'm continuing to enjoy the portrayal of Virgil Hawkins. He's a great mix of youthful confidence with inexperience, and he's really likable as a result. He doesn't sink into angst the way some teen characters seem to, and his intelligence comes through along with his courage.

I did think that some of the high school scenes in which Virgil tries to infiltrate the local gang culture seemed a bit contrived. These supposed gangbangers are awful quick to accept a newcomer they know nothing about. But I was willing to accept it for the sake of story pacing and keeping things light and fun, which has been a strength of this book since the first issue.

I got the news today that Static Shock has been canceled as of issue #8, and that's a disappointment to me. Out of 52 new titles, this was one of the best for just plain fun (the others I put in that category are Action Comics and Superman). In fact, in my opinion, Static Shock has been a more satisfying read than probably about 45 of the New 52. It's even more disappointing that of the six canceled titles, two of them featured African American lead characters (this one and Mr. Terrific, which I have not read). Hopefully the remaining five issues of Static Shock will bring the story to a satisfying end point. I intend to stick with this title to the end.

Rating: 7.5/10

Life With Archie #16

Picked this one up at Barnes & Noble tonight.

Title: Life With Archie
Date: February, 2012
Publisher: Archie Comics
Writer: Paul Kupperberg
Penciler: Fernando Ruiz, Pat Kennedy, Tim Kennedy
Inker: Al Milgrom, Bob Smith
Letterer: Jack Morelli
Colorist: Glenn Whitmore
Cover: Fernando Ruiz, Bob Smith, Glenn Whitmore

The first gay marriage in the history of Archie Comics is really two marriages, thanks to the unique format of this book. Life With Archie contains two stories set in parallel, but distinct universes, one with Archie married to Veronica and one with him married to Betty.

The format allows a variety of interaction and subplots and the whole magazine-sized book manages a high degree of complexity without being inaccessible to a new reader. There are even some hints of some subtle supernatural or fantastical forces working in the background amid all of the soap opera drama between the adult versions of the Riverdale gang.

And spanning the whole thing as a single plot is the story of Kevin being wounded while serving as a US soldier in the Middle East, and eventually falling in love with a physical therapist who helps him to recover from his injuries. The action scenes are good, and the romance is handled in a way that feels real and makes sense.

I came into this with high hopes for the kind of positive story on gay marriage that we need to see more of across the spectrum of media. The handling of the marriage was excellent. The rest of the book was just as good.

Rating: 9/10

Suicide Squad #2

Back to the reviews and back to the New 52. I still have a few stray #2's to deal with here.

Title: Suicide Squad
Issue: 2
Date: December 2011
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Adam Glass
Artist: Frederico Dallocchio, Andrei Bressan
Colorist: Val Staples
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Sean Mackiewicz, Pat McCallum

We open the show with the squad dropped into a darkened domed stadium that is apparently under military quarantine. They've got a woman to find. She's got "the package" and it's up to the Squad to secure it by "any means necessary". It's all very macho, with hints of mayhem in the background. Weirdly, the front page "introduce the team" sequence (from Deadshot's POV: "Amateur, hero, wild card, and cookoo for cocoa puffs"; that last one would be Harley) actually skips over one team member. I realize that the idea here is that no one is safe, but that seems a little bit too obvious. Sure enough, mister-no-introduction gets redshirted before we're done.

As for the scenario? Well, if you were told that a mysterious virus had been let loose in a stadium, what would be the least interesting and most overdone story you could think of? If you said zombies, then there might be room for you on the DC Comics writing staff!

So the action turns quickly into something that had the feel of a zombie apocalypse video game complete with a pregnant woman transformed into a tentacled "boss". There was a fair amount of gross-out and alleged "shocks" including the surprise twist that was essentially given away on the first page.

The story also continued the DCU's escalation of mass violence. An entire stadium full of people are massacred here, and the government will just cover it up. Yup, just another day in the DC Universe. I would say that this runs the risk of desensitizing the audience to violence, but the stupidity of the plot already had me not caring.

Remarkably, the ending scenario actually does provide the possibility that the next issue could be better than this one, due entirely to Deadshot being forced into a very unusual role. I actually bought the third issue of this mess (by accident; I had planned to stop after my first look at the "new" Amanda Waller), so I'll actually be reviewing that one to see if it's any better than this. Which actually shouldn't be too difficult, you would think.

Rating: 3/10

2011 Recap

I decided to take a week's vacation from reviewing after the end of the year. Before I get rolling again with the reviews, it's time to look back.

First areminder of my goals and how I did on them:

1) Write a review every day.

Not quite. Still, given everything else I'm involved in, I did pretty well. I had 321 entries in 2011, but 45 were not reviews (30 were part of the 30-Day Comic Challenge meme, and the remaining 15 were recap/stats posts, convention announcements, etc. So that makes 276 reviews, which is 89 short of a comic a day, and that give me something to shoot for in 2012 (and I missed yesterday, so I'm already behind!).

2) Reduce my pile of unread comics.

I did, indeed, accomplish this, but not nearly as much as I had hoped. I can mostly blame DC Comics for that. I've had a lot of fun jumping on board the New 52, and I feel it adds to the relevance of this blog. I go through phases as far as reading current mainstream comics goes, so I'm not sure how many of these titles I'll be sticking with for the long term, but for the moment I'm definitely going to be continuing to follow at least some of the new DC comics. I'll be trying harder to balance that with reading from my backstock as I move into 2012.

Statistics Time! Let's start with the best and worst from each month of 2012!

January

Best: Amelia Rules: When the Past is a Present (9.5) (!)

Worst: The Avengers #1 (4)

February

Best: American Born Chinese (8.5)

Worst: Captain Universe/X-23 #1 (3)

March

Best: A Beautiful Young Nymph Going To Bed (8.5)

Worst: 2099 Limited (4)

April

Best (Tie): Bisclavret (8.5), XKCD Volume 0 (8.5)

Worst (Tie): Detective Comics Annual #11 (5.5), Mercy Sparx: Under New Management #1 Free Comic Book Day Edition (5.5)

May

Best: With the Light Volume 2 (9)

Worst: War of the Supermen #0 (4.5)

June

Best (Tie): MAMP Vol. 2 #6 (8), MAMP Vol. 6 #5 (8), Locke & Key: Free Comic Book Day Edition (8)

Worst: Iron Man: Legacy of Doom #1 (3)

July

Best: Transfusion (8)

Worst: Fear Itself Sketchbook (4)

August

Best: Whiteout: Free Comic Book Day Edition (8.5)

Worst: Wildstorm: Free Convention Exclusive 2009 (3)

September

Best (Tie): Healed #3 (8.5), Girl Genius Volume 2: Agatha Heterodyne and the Airship City (8.5)

Worst: Green Arrow Industries #1 (2.5)

October

Best (Tie): Batwoman #1 (8), Salt Water Taffy 1: The Legend of Old Salty (8), Aquaman #1 (8), Hot Tea Cold Water #3 (8)

Worst (Tie): Suicide Squad #1 (3), All Star Western #1 (3)

November

Best: Healed #1 (7.5)

Worst: Justice League Dark #2 (4)

December

Best: Meridian City Preview Edition (8.5)

Worst: Catwoman #2 (2.5)

Best of the Year: Amelia Rules: When the Past is a Present (9.5)

Worst of the Year (Tie): Catwoman #2 (2.5), Green Arrow Industries #1 (2.5)

Most Reviewed Company: DC Comics (73)

Most Reviewed Title: Plastic Farm (19)

Highest Average Title With At Least 3 Reviews: Sky Pirates of Valendor (7.50)

Lowest Average Title With At Least 3 Reviews: Detective Comics (6.33)

Most Fun I Had Reviewing Comics This Year: Reviewing a smurf comic in smurf dialect, and my rhyming review of the first issue of Demon Knights!

Biggest Disappointments of the Year: After strong debuts, the second issues of Justice League: Dark and Catwoman were just horrible.

Favorite Discoveries: Some awesome comics that I probably would not have read if not for this column! Go read these!

The Way It Crumbles
Lai Wan
Kitty Hawk: The Sting of Defeat
Moses And Bean
Plastic Farm
Bisclavret
Locke & Key
MAMP
Whiteout
Satisfactory Comics
Static Shock
Salt Water Taffy
Batwoman
Healed
Meridian City

I hope you have all had a great 2011, and that you will make a resolution in the new year to read and support comics!