Teen Titans #95

How the Mighty Fall

JT Krul Writer
Nicola Scott Penciller
Doug Hazlewood Inker
Jason Wright Colorist
Carlos M. Mangual Letterer
Scott & Hazlewood with Wright Cover
Rickey Purdin Asst. Editor
Rachel Gluckstern Editor

Our cover shows Ravager kissing Superboy, but Superboy is clearly not into it. And the mysterious shadow/colorful designs all over Ravager indicate some foul magic is at play here. Plus, if you remember how Rose got replaced by a demon last issue, then you know for sure that this isn't the real Rose. It's a rather strange cover, in that I'm not sure why such a small moment in the story is getting this much attention. Of course, this reminds me of that preview page Krul gave us when he took over, which showed Conner kissing a different girl, much to Cassie's sorrow. I don't think this is what he what he had in mind back then, but with the fast-approaching Flashpoint, this is probably as close as we're going to get to see that scene.

Our story picks up with Wonder Girl struggling, but failing to escape from Rankor's prison. As he mockingly explains to her, the nine chambers flanking his throne drain the prisoners' energy, fueling his efforts to restore his true form. Even though Cassie has experience with the Greek gods and countless other monsters, she finds she's completely powerless against this Hindu demon. But help is on the way, in the form of Kid Flash. Bart has quickly found Cassie, her mom, Ravager, Red Robin, and Kiran's parents, but instead of going back to tell the others, like Beast Boy told him, Bart stupidly tries to free everybody himself.

Bart fights his way past a couple of demons, and when Cassie sees him, she weakly asks him to save her mom first. But Bart chooses Cassie first, attempting to vibrate through the chambers. However, Bart finds some kind of magic preventing this, and Rankor mocks Kid Flash, before vomiting up a massive swarm of locusts. Bart's unable to blow the bugs away, and realizes that he made a major mistake by not listening to Beast Boy.

Bart also spots the real Ravager being held captive, realizing that the Ravager with the others is an imposter. But it's too late for him to do anything about that, as the swarming locusts also somehow drain his energy. So the best Bart can do is try to send some kind of signal out to his team. He grabs a torch and races around the area, creating the biggest fire he can, before the bugs finally cover every inch of his body and hold him in place.

Elsewhere, Beast Boy has finally decided to turn into a bloodhound to properly track the missing people. He complains that the demons are able to mix their scents with the Titans', but he's confident he has a lock on Cassie. Gar complements Kiran on being so composed in light of her parents' disappearance, and she casually brushes it off as change being the only constant in life. Kiran is, however, upset by Raven's treatment of her. So now it's Gar's turn to brush something off, as he blames Raven's behavior on their breakup.

The demon posing as Ravager hungrily gazes at Superboy's body, saying aloud that her lord will gladly feast on his power. Superboy, who has super hearing, didn't quite catch that, and the demon tries to cover up her weird behavior by acting afraid. Superboy's a bit confused by this, but he does want to help, allowing the demon to hold him close. The demon suddenly kisses Superboy, then hastily runs away when Superboy recoils in shock. Superboy chases after her and tries to console the fake Rose, believing she's just having a nervous breakdown in this demon realm.

But it turns out the demon led Conner into an ambush, where he's attacked by another demon with six arms. Superboy tries to protect the fake Rose, but she also attacks him from behind. In no time flat, the two demons have the Boy of Steel completely subdued. The other Titans finally catch up, and Solstice immediately attacks the demon impersonating Ravager. Raven idiotically scolds Solstice for attacking a teammate, until Solstice points out that the fake Ravager was obviously a demon.

Beast Boy turns into a bear to free Superboy from the grasp of the six-armed demon, and he tells Raven to get Superboy to safety. Solstice helps Beast Boy fight the six-armed demon, but that leaves the shape-shifting demon to turn into Raven to mock her. It just takes a couple of words about darkness and pain to trigger another Raven meltdown, but this time, instead of unleashing a powerful blast, she just faints harmlessly. The six-armed demon smacks Solstice and Beast Boy with Superboy's unconscious body, which buys him enough time to teleport away with the other demon, Raven and Superboy. Beast Boy and Solstice are left behind, sadly realizing that everyone else is gone.

With the addition of Kid Flash, Superboy and Raven, Rankor's chambers are now filled, and he announces to his demons that this will give him enough power to break free of this realm and take over the real world. All the chambers glow red, and the prisoners inside are electrocuted painfully. We then see that each chamber is on top of a large head, which is on top of an even larger body with 10 arms. And Rankor is sitting on the very top of this massive 10-headed, 10-armed beast, declaring himself restored.




I hate this story. I hate demons. And I really hate it when my characters act stupidly out of character and are portrayed as incredibly weak and stupid. Setting the Raven/Wyld arc aside, you'd think Bart would know by now that nobody can take on these demons alone. And he's more than experienced enough to know what to do in a situation like this. He's not a terribly proud person, and I don't think he's acting irrationally because of love or anything like that. He was briefly infatuated with Solstice a couple of issues ago, but he hasn't said anything about that since. It all came down to Krul looking for a way to capture the whole team and leave Beast Boy and Solstice to save the day. But Krul's execution was sloppy. Absolutely nothing involving Raven makes sense here. And why should I get excited for Solstice's big moment? I still don't know anything about her!

Next time, we'll hasten the arrival of Flashpoint with The Flash #12.

Adventure Comics #526

Mosaic

Paul Levitz Writer
Jeffrey May Penciller
Philip May Inker
John J. Hill Letterer
Hi-Fi Colorist
Darren Shan Assistant Editor
Brian Cunningham Editor

Our cover by Phil Jimenez features a handful of characters I'm not familiar with. I do recognize Duplicate Girl on the bottom, but the three on top are new for me. But that doesn't matter, though, because they're all involved in the main story we're going to be skipping. All in all, I think this is a rather odd cover. It's very ... red. And not very exciting.

Our backup story features Jenni Ognats, Bart's cousin, slowly and painstakingly putting together a beautiful mosaic of thousands of tiny, colorful rocks. She's only about halfway done, so it's tough to tell what exactly the mosaic is depicting. What we can see now is a center of a couple of trees surrounded by geometric shapes and lots of lightning bolts. Although Jenni has super-speed, she is choosing to create this work of art in real time, sitting in a hut by the edge of Lake Tana, Ethiopia.

Night Girl pays Jenni a visit, commenting on how odd it is to see her moving so slowly. Jenni merely says she's pacing herself these days. Night Girl asks XS if she'd like to come to the Legion Academy, which initially insults Jenni, who is literally hopping mad, reminding Night Girl that she already was a Legionnaire. Night Girl clarifies, saying she wants Jenni to help train the new recruits. Jenni says that's a better offer, but it's still not appealing, as she abruptly rushes out the door.

As Jenni races across the lake, she kicks herself for being so hasty, and admits it might actually have been fun at the academy. But she tells herself the "family business" she's conducting is more important. Jenni runs to the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, considering it the birthplace of both sides of her family. She plans to make this gorge the center of her mosaic, and then build outward to the spots the Allen and Ognats ancestors came from. She finds a small turquoise rock, but when she picks it up, she's suddenly assaulted with confusing images of her past and future.

After the images subside, Jenni notes that energy felt like the Speed Force, the Time Barrier, and the ugliest soul she could ever imagine. But, instead of investigating further, Jenni tells herself she got what she came for, and heads back to finish her mosaic slowly, leaving the Legion to deal with whatever threats are out there.




Well, that was ... something? I'm really not sure what to make of this, and based on the handful of reviews I read that came out on the time, nobody else could figure this one out, either. The best guesses some people had back in 2011, was that Jenni's visions had something to do with Flashpoint. But beyond that, I don't understand Jenni's motivations behind building this mosaic. When we last saw Jenni, Bart was trying to convince her to come back to the 21st century with him. But she refused, saying she wanted to stay in the future and look for any relatives she might have here. Apparently that search has turned into a half-hearted archeology dig? I don't get it. We never got a clear answer as to what happened to Jenni's dad or Bart's mom, and this issue only muddies things more. Yeah, we got a bunch of caption boxes revealing Jenni's thoughts, but all her words were oblique clichés that failed to explain her actions or goals. I think this story may have been a victim of Levitz trying too hard to set up some grand mystery, but not giving the reader enough information to make it interesting, let alone actually having enough time to get around to solving said mystery. Like I keep saying, Flashpoint is breathing down our necks, which means that long-form stories like this are going to be harshly cut off halfway through.

Next time, we'll head back to Teen Titans #95.

The Flash #11

Case Two: The Road to Flashpoint Part Three

Storytellers: Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins
Colors: Michael Atiyeh
Letters: Sal Cipriano
Cover: Francis Manapul w/Brian Buccellato
Variant Cover: Scott Kolins w/Michael Atiyeh
Assistant Editor: Darren Shan
Editor: Brian Cunningham

Our cover shows Barry turning into a skeleton, while Bart, Jay and Wally can only run by helplessly. This is reminiscent of Barry's famous death scene in Crisis on Infinite Earths, but it only marginally ties in to this issue's story. And as great as it is to see the four Flashes running together, that also doesn't happen in this issue. Although we will actually see all these characters, which is something, but I'm kind of craving having them all together in uniform.

Our variant cover is a closeup of Hot Pursuit, with Barry's angry face reflected in the helmet visor. Barry's face is slightly distorted, but I guess it should be on a reflected surface. This is a fine cover that gives us a peak at Kolins trying to draw in Manapul's style. He's not entirely successful at it, and I'm actually torn on his attempt. On one hand, I always appreciate it when a fill-in artist has a very similar style to the main artist. On the other hand, I think established artists, such as Kolins, shouldn't spend their time mimicking other artists. On the other hand, I'm not a big fan of Kolins' more famous, light style ... so ... I don't know.

Our story begins the morning after the discovery of another victim of rapid aging and a young witness. Barry and Patty have returned to the Central City Police Department, seemingly having worked through the night. The boy they found is being tended to by child services, and although he seems alright, he isn't speaking to anyone. Barry and Patty check on the boy, and Patty tells Barry to try to talk to him. But the boy suddenly jumps up from his chair and throws his arms around Patty's waist. Patty does not want to get involved, but Barry says the boy can see the kindness in her eyes — like he can. So Patty decides to take the boy to the cafeteria to get him something to eat.

We then cut to a children's playground, where a little girl has also fallen victim to the rapid aging attacks. Hot Pursuit is crouching over her body, complaining about his fuel running low and how he still needs to find the time anomaly. A couple of police cars arrive on the scene, and Hot Pursuit quickly takes off, telling the officers that they couldn't comprehend his mission.

Back in the lab, Barry tells Forrest the tire tracks they saw at last night's crime scene belong to the same biker that drove across the lab and blew out the windows. Barry's not ready to say if the biker is actually connected to the murders, beyond merely being at the crime scene. Forrest asks who the biker is, and before Barry can answer, he gets an urgent text from Iris, telling him to come home immediately. So Barry immediately sprints home, not even bothering to put on his Flash uniform. But when he walks through the front door, he finds Iris, Jay, Wally and Bart sitting in a semicircle. And Iris announces that this is an intervention.

Iris makes Barry sit down, and he initially thinks this is a joke, but Iris takes his hand and begins talking about how much they all love him. She says Bart told them what happened, and Barry thinks she's referring to Hot Pursuit. Iris says they aren't worried about time-traveling doppelgängers and rogues. What they are worried about is how Barry didn't attend the family picnic because of Bart. Barry says that's not why he wasn't there, so Iris urges him to explain himself to Bart. But Barry resists, saying he doesn't want to do this right now and would rather work on the case of the culprit stealing decades of life from people.

Jay jumps on Barry's word choice, saying he's now stealing life from himself. He talks about the isolation all speedsters often feel, and how happy he was when Barry found someone to run home to — Iris. Iris urges Wally to speak up, and he talks about how before he new the Flash's secret identity, he didn't hope Barry Allen was the Flash, he hoped the Flash was Barry Allen. Wally says Barry taught him how precious every second was, and now it saddens him to see how Barry's somehow forgotten that.

Iris asks Bart if he has anything to say, and after a long silence, Bart sullenly says, "No." So Iris again urges Barry to talk to him. Barry tries, but once again he falls back to his lame, vague excuses, saying he's "struggling with some stuff." Bart immediately sees through this pathetic attempt and tells Barry to not waste his time now, since he hasn't wasted any time with him yet. Barry tries to apologize, but Bart stands up, telling his grandpa that he's supposed to be the person he learns from and looks up to. He asks why Barry can't just be that, and he hastily runs out the front door. Wally offers to go after Bart, but Barry says he needs to do it.

Bart has thrown on his Kid Flash uniform as he angrily roams the streets. Suddenly, he's ambushed from behind by Hot Pursuit, who apologizes for what he's about to do. He drags Bart by his wrist and throws him against a wall and condenses his Cosmic Motorcycle into a baton and promises to make this quick — even for Bart. But before Hot Pursuit can strike, Barry steps in front of him, sternly telling his doppelgänger to stop.

Meanwhile, Patty has decided to start analyzing the victims' blood while the boy witness takes a nap. She discovers an odd trace of electrical energy that appears to be the same found in the tire tracks left at the second crime scene. But she tells herself to stop, saying she left Central City for a reason, and that reason is married.

We cut back to our speedster heroes, and Barry is now literally holding Hot Pursuit back. Hot Pursuit claims Bart is the time anomaly he's been tracking, but Barry refuses to believe this. Somehow, Hot Pursuit manages to get his hand free and hit Bart with a blast from his baton, saying Bart needs to go back to the future for the safety of the timeline.

As Bart writhes in pain, Patty is surprised to see the witness boy is already up from his nap. She kneels down and tries to talk to him, and the boy finally speaks, saying, "Shut up." His eyes flicker with red lightning, and he says it was trickier than he thought to steal years from other and unlock additional powers in the Negative Speed Force. He says it's time to grow up, and as the red lightning surrounds his body, he transforms into the Reverse-Flash. Once he's back to his proper age, Eobard Thawne announces he has some history to unwind.




This is a pretty cool, terrifying power of Eobard's. I'm just sad that we only have one more issue to explore this idea before Flashpoint hits. This has been a fun story. Hot Pursuit turned out to be a red herring, but still dangerous, nonetheless. Of course, it's hard to blame him for believing that sending Bart back to the future will fix the timeline. I was also happy to see the Flash family starting to get serious with Barry. Sadly, but realistically, none of them really understand what Barry's problem is, and Barry, himself, is unable to adequately explain himself. Sometimes, that's just how depression works. Sometimes, a group intervention ends up just being a lot of empty, flowery words before somebody finally storms off. I don't know if Johns actually intended the intervention to be so hollow, but that's how it ended up. Some progress was made, yes, but the root of Barry's problem remains untouched. As well as the full extent of his actions. None of our heroes realize how close Barry is to cheating on his wife with Patty, which is a truly troubling prospect.

I do wish Max would have been at the intervention, too. Even though he's not particularly close to Barry, he is very close to Bart. And Bart's distress was the main catalyst of this intervention, and no one has more experience at consoling Bart than Max Mercury. This is another example of Johns' inability to work with the Flash family. He went through all that work to bring everybody back in Rebirth, but here we are, on the eve of Flashpoint, and this crucial moment has Max and Jesse as no-shows, and Jay and Wally impotently reduced to sitting around telling vapid stories. At least Bart is doing something. And I do appreciate him for not sugar-coating his feelings. Yeah, he's a bit clumsy at this, but he's coming closer to snapping Barry out of this funk than anyone else.

I also need to complain about the art once again. Or, more specifically, the fashion choices. At the big family picnic, Manapul put Bart in a rather sharp-looking colored shirt. As strange as it is to say, I was happy to see him wearing some nice clothes for once — we rarely see him out of his Kid Flash uniform anymore. But in this issue, Kolins put Bart back in his awful baggy hockey jersey he was last wearing in 2003. It's now 2011, and baggy isn't the style anymore. Poor Bart.

Next time, we'll take a very quick look at Bart's cousin, Jenni Ognats, in Adventure Comics #526.

Teen Titans #94

The Power of Myth

J.T. Krul Writer
Nicola Scott Penciller
Doug Hazlewood Inker
Jason Wright Colorist
Carlos M. Mangual Letterer
Scott & Hazlewood with Wright Cover
Rickey Purdin Asst. Editor
Rachel Gluckstern Editor

Our cover shows our team battling the big, fat, ugly demon (apparently named Viradha), who started beating up Wonder Girl at the end of last issue. I guess for a fight against a big, fat, ugly demon, this cover is alright. Superboy looks pretty bad, but that's typical for Scott. Red Robin and Raven are notably absent, and Wonder Girl's inclusion kind of contradicts the story. She was kidnapped last issue, and everybody's trying to save her ... so really, none of the others should be on the cover, and it should just be Wonder Girl. Meh. At this point, who cares? We're just stalling until Flashpoint.

Our story begins with Solstice briefly recapping the legendary Hindu epic, Ramayana, which tells the story of the god Vishnu being reincarnated as a man named Rama and defeating the demon Rankor. And based on that quick glimpse of the demon they battled, Solstice believes this legend has somehow come to life, and Wonder Girl (and her parents) have been taken to the realm of demons. As she talks, we get a shot of Wonder Girl fighting, and losing to the demon Viradha.

Bart tells Kiran he doesn't think her theory is too far-fetched, referencing their own history with strange encounters. But he also does theorize that Wonder Girl could have been taken through a dimensional portal, merely teleported away, or taken somewhere through time. Ravager asks Tim's opinion, who can only say he hopes this isn't time travel as he examines the area of Cassie's disappearance. Bart quietly asks Kon if he thinks Tim is brooding more than usual, but Kon thinks he's just looking for clues, or his new mask just makes him look grumpier.

Kon asks Rose what she thinks, but all she does is complain about how boys overthink things too much. Beast Boy can tell Raven has been quieter than usual since they landed in Pakistan, but when he reaches out to her, she only melodramatically complains about her burden — her curse. Tim silently blames himself for not insisting that Helena Sandsmark stay back at the camp, and he even thinks he should have paired up Titans differently on their scouting expedition.

Tim eventually finds a clue — the word Rama etched into the stone. He confirms with Solstice a part of the legend, where Rama built a bridge of floating stones to reach the demon's island. Kiran is impressed that an American is familiar with Hindu mythology. And somehow, someway, Tim uses this stone to teleport the Teen Titans to the realm of demons.

Bart immediately finds Wonder Girl's lasso, and rather obviously notes that she wouldn't ever leave it behind. Ravager finds an enormous footprint and speculates (correctly) that the demons here are even bigger and badder than they one they've already faced. Superboy flies up to get a better look at the area, but is only able to see miles of wilderness obscured by dark clouds. Tim picks up Cassie's trail leading deeper into the forest, and Bart offers to run ahead and find her. Tim holds him back, saying they don't know anything about this realm, and they can't afford to risk losing another teammate. Bart, who apparently learned nothing from rescuing Raven from the Wyld, angrily reiterates the obvious: "She's in trouble."

Tim's cooler head prevails, and everybody begins trekking through the forest, unable to prevent themselves from drawing parallels from the Ramayana and their current situation. Ravager even goes so far as to say Solstice is their "Rama." Kiran rejects this, saying she's no hero and certainly not a god. So Ravager turns to Superboy, calling him the "alpha dog" of the team. Kiran, however, offers up Beast Boy as a potential candidate, saying his green skin reminds her of Rama's blue skin in the legend. Raven does not participate in this conversation, choosing to hang in the back and mope. Bart is moping, too, once again complaining to Tim that he could have covered this entire forest in a few seconds. Tim insists it's too dangerous, and right on cue, our team is ambushed by a pack of demon dogs.

Tim quickly learns that the demons are vulnerable between the eyes, but Bart, who's taking on three demons at once, boasts about his attacks of quantity over quality. Everyone seems to be handling the demons fairly well, except for Raven, who has a complete meltdown. She panics, and runs away, forcing Beast Boy to turn into a gorilla and try to save her. Solstice also jumps in to help, but that only makes matters worse, for some reason. Raven's been complaining about Kiran's emotions this whole time, and now it's too much for her, culminating in a massive psychic blast that knocks everybody down.

All the demons retreat, dragging away Red Robin while everyone slowly gets back to their feet. Ravager also was separated from the group, and is beaten by a demon that transforms into a duplicate of her. The fake Ravager then joins up with the others, and Beast Boy tries (in vain) to comfort Raven, calling this area the "Disneyland for demons" that is undoubtedly bringing out the evil within her. Raven uncharacteristically lashes out at Gar, saying, "Just leave me alone. You're so good at that these days."

Bart asks what they're going to do, and Gar says they need to keep an eye on Raven to make sure she doesn't hurt herself or anyone else. Bart clarifies his question, saying Tim is gone and they're nowhere closer to finding Cassie than when they first got here. So Beast Boy naturally falls into the leadership role, telling Bart to conduct a 300-mile search, but not to try to take on any demons himself. Meanwhile, the rest of them will continue heading south, since Tim had them going that direction. Bart loves this plan, and immediately takes off.

We then see Tim and Rose being dragged to cages positioned alongside the throne of Rankor. Cassie and Helena are in two of these cages, but it's unclear if Kiran's parents are here, as well. Rankor refers to the cages as chambers, saying the vessels inside them will feed his hunger and open the way to the world beyond.




This is what I was afraid of. A repeat of the meandering Wyld kidnapping story. There are a couple of little differences, but the main beats are exhaustingly the same. Instead of following up on old storylines Krul introduced, or explaining where Solstice got her powers from, we're splitting up the team and tormenting everybody with boring arguments about how there's no time to lose, yet it's too dangerous to split up. And we've traded out Beast Boy's obsessive worrying about Raven for Raven's incredibly annoying meltdown. And I'm sorry that your demon side is "acting up" Raven, but let's not forget that you were the one who broke up with Beast Boy and has continually been pushing him away. And despite that, he keeps reaching out to you. Over and over again. So you don't get to yell at him for leaving you alone.

The Wyld storyline suffered from an overly convoluted method to transport our team to the other dimension. This story went to the other extreme in that regard. Our team suddenly, somehow teleported to a realm of demons without any explanation offered or requiring seemingly any effort on their part. Why can't we have a happy medium between those two extremes?

I'm really frustrated by Bart's stupidity here. When he read the entire San Francisco public library, he undoubtedly must have come across the Ramayana. So how come Tim is the only one who knows anything about this classic myth? I was frustrated when Geoff Johns made Bart an insufferable know-it-all, but it's been quite a while since we've seen that side of Bart. All I'm asking for is a couple of lines to indicate that he's familiar with the story. And maybe it wouldn't kill Krul to mention rescuing Raven from the Wyld? Like Bart could tell Tim the benefits and drawbacks they had with their strategy from that mission. But what do I know?

Next time, we'll head back to The Flash #11.

The Flash #10

Case Two: The Road to Flashpoint Part Two

Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Francis Manapul
Colorist: Brian Buccellato
Letterer: Sal Cipriano
Cover: Manapul and Buccellato
Variant Cover: Ed Benes and Rob Hunter w/Buccellato
Assistant Editor: Darren Shan
Editor: Brian Cunningham

Our cover shows Barry, Bart and even Wally chasing after the futuristic biker who has claimed to be Barry Allen. It is a nice cover — you know how much I love Manapul — but I do have one complaint: the inclusion of Wally West. He doesn't even appear in this issue, let alone do anything of significance in the story as a whole. Because, you know, Johns could never figure out what to do with Wally once he brought Barry back. Equally frustrating is that this cover was used as the cover of the Road to Flashpoint trade paperback, falsely giving the implication that Wally would actually be involved.

The variant cover wasn't included with the digital version of this comic on DC Universe, but it was thrown in the back pages of my trade paperback. It's kind of remarkable — I've never seen a variant cover that was this similar to the main cover. All Benes did was take away Bart and Wally, but otherwise left us with the exact same pose. It's fine, I guess, but I would have preferred something different — even if wasn't necessarily related to the main story. Variant covers are the place to experiment and explore.

Our story picks up right where we left off last issue, with Barry confronting "Biker Barry" on a pier. The doppelgänger reiterates that he is Barry Allen, saying he goes by the hero name Hot Pursuit, the fastest man alive. As he speaks, he pushes a button on his motorcycle, which condenses it into essentially a policeman's baton. He explains that his nephew, Wally, helped him build his Cosmic Motorcycle, which channels the Speed Force. Hot Pursuit seems a little envious that Barry doesn't need a vehicle or special uniform to move at super-speed, and he uses his Cosmic Motorcycle to somehow confirm that Barry is indeed the generator of the Speed Force.

Hot Pursuit says he isn't from the future, but a parallel Earth — one of 52 worlds that comprise the multiverse. But Barry's Earth, the Earth we know and love, is the keystone to all other worlds, and if something happens to it, the other 51 worlds would all be affected. Hot Pursuit repeats his mission: to prevent the single greatest time anomaly to threaten reality. Suddenly, Bart Allen shows up, grabs the baton from Hot Pursuit, and says he hopes his grandpa isn't naive enough to actually believe Hot Pursuit's story.

Barry seems a bit annoyed by his grandson's uninvited presence, so Bart tells him how worried Iris was when he didn't show up at the picnic. Barry gives Bart the same lame excuse he gave Iris — that he was working on a murder case. Bart asks if this guy pretending to be Barry is the prime suspect. Hot Pursuit asks Bart who he is, which Bart takes as confirmation of his theory. He says the real Barry Allen would be able to recognize Kid Flash. Hot Pursuit says Bart is too young to be Wally West, so he somehow takes control of his Cosmic Motorcycle (even though Bart is balancing it on his finger) and it identifies Bartholomew Allen from the 31st century, providing a brief glimpse of his time growing up in virtual reality.

Hot Pursuit seems disturbed by the fact that Bart is a time traveler, so Barry clarifies, saying Bart's his descendant from the future, genetically linked to the Speed Force, and he came back to this era to learn how to use his powers. Bart corrects Barry, saying he came back here because the future is lame (and he's basically right — he doesn't really need help controlling his powers anymore). Hot Pursuit warns Bart, though, that since he's from the future, he'll be more vulnerable to the impending "timestorm" and could vanish from reality when history unravels.

Barry asks how this is going to happen, and Hot Pursuit isn't quite able to give a satisfactory answer. What he knows is that his Cosmic Motorcycle can sense temporal disruptions, and this upcoming one actually blew his bike's circuits. When he fixed the bike, Hot Pursuit was able to learn the impending chronal catastrophe is either coming directly from the Speed Force or someone manipulating the Speed Force. Barry asks how he can help, and Bart interjects, asking how they can help. Hot Pursuit coldly says, "By staying out of my way." He turns his baton back into a motorcycle and zooms off, leaving an angry Barry and Bart behind. And before Bart can even finish his question, Barry leaves him in the dust, too.

(I love Manapul's use of Bart's hair in that sequence.) Anyway, Barry catches up to Hot Pursuit and chastises him for being rude. Hot Pursuit explains that he was merely informing Barry of his presence as a courtesy, and there's no need for him to get involved. Barry points out that Hot Pursuit wasn't being very courteous when he blew up the windows of his lab, and Hot Pursuit says that some sacrifices have to be made and that getting fuel for his cycle comes with a price. He then pushes a button, which creates an electrical field around himself, knocking Barry down. Hot Pursuit vows to find whoever's threatening history and eliminate them, as he takes off once more.

Bart finally catches up to Barry, who says that Hot Pursuit's motorcycle actually pulled some of the Speed Force out of him. Bart says a "friend" wouldn't do that, let alone cause all the damage in the streets that Hot Pursuit is leaving behind. He says they need to do something, but Barry says he needs to take care of this alone, telling Bart to go home. Bart protests, telling his grandpa that he needs a reality check if he's so ready to believe Hot Pursuit's story. So Barry shows off a hair follicle that he snatched from Hot Pursuit, explaining he'll run a DNA test on it to see if at least the doppelgänger part of the story is true.

Kid Flash offers to come along for the DNA test, but Flash again refuses. When Bart asks what he can do to help, Barry bluntly says, "Nothing. I can handle this." Bart begins to become angry, saying they probably don't need a DNA test, since Barry is sounding exactly like Hot Pursuit. He then becomes saddened by a sudden realization, asking if Barry ditched the picnic because of him. Barry says that's not true, lamely using work as an excuse. Bart points out that he's always working whenever he's around. Barry insists this isn't about Bart, so Bart asks him point blank: "Why won't you spend time with us?" When Barry fails to answer him, Bart says, "I bet you wish I never came back here!" Barry continues with the weak, half-hearted excuses, until Bart finally runs away in anger. Barry chooses not to follow his grandson, pausing for a moment in the middle of the road to realize he's messed up.

Barry sadly returns to the crime lab that night, where his computer confirms a 100% match between Hot Pursuit's hair and his own DNA. Suddenly, his old friend Patty Spivot arrives. She explains that she happened to be visiting her mother in Keystone City when she got his message, and since she (and the rest of the world) believed Barry was in witness protection for the past few years, she decided to stop by and say hello. Of course, this "hello" is a tearful hug that seems to last just a bit on the long side for a married man like Barry (in my opinion).

After the hug, Barry gets down to business, telling her all about the Elongated Kid's death. But Patty refuses to help him, saying she moved to Blue Valley, Nebraska, to get away from murders. As Barry pleads with her, Director Singh calls him with another case. Patty can't refuse Barry's puppy-dog eyes forever, so she agrees to visit the scene with him, give her opinion, then leave.

Singh and Forrest are both happy to see their old coworker again, and Forrest comments on how suspicious it is for Barry to have been alone with Patty in the lab this late at night. Barry angrily tells Forrest to keep quiet, and they examine the body. It appears to be a 100-year-old man, but according to the ID in his wallet, he's actually a 31-year-old Air Force pilot. Barry says this confirms they're dealing with someone capable of stealing time, and he asks if there are any tire marks on the scene. Patty's the one who finds the marks, although there's only one wheel, indicating a motorcycle had been here. The police hear a noise and quickly discover a frightened boy, about 8 years old, hiding among some crates. And Barry realizes that this boy is a witness.




Finally! At long last, Bart was able to contribute to a Flash story in a meaningful way! And I'm so glad that he was here, telling Barry to his face, what a big jerk he's being. Yeah, Bart's abrupt departure was a little immature, but in his defense, he wasn't getting anywhere with Barry anyway. Just a long string of B.S. excuses. However, Bart was only half-right: Barry's not just avoiding Bart, he's avoiding his whole family. And as Forrest observed, something is definitely going on between Barry and Patty. As for the rest of the story? We got a bit more standing around and talking than I would have liked, but otherwise it's still pretty good. If nothing else, we were treated to another comic of beautiful art providing lots of great shots of Bart, which makes it a winner in my book.

Next time, we'll return to Teen Titans #94.

Teen Titans #93

Step into the Light

J.T. Krul – Writer
Nicola Scott – Penciller
Doug Hazlewood – Inker
Sal Cipriano – Letterer
Jason Wright – Colorist
Scott & Hazlewood with Wright – Cover
Rickey Purdin – Assistant Editor
Rachel Gluckstern – Editor

Our cover features our new character Krul has slowly been building up, Kiran, who already has the hero name of Solstice. The bright light in the center creates some nice shadows across everyone's faces, but I don't quite understand why everyone is so grim, while Solstice looks rather happy. I'm also let down by the bland background and the conspicuous absence of Red Robin, who did officially rejoin the team last issue.

Our story opens with the reveal that Tim Drake didn't just rejoin the team, but he has also taken command of it. Tim acknowledges that Beast Boy could and probably should be the leader, but it seems like he prefers to just be a "mentor" for now. Anyway, Robin calls everybody together in the morning to strike a dramatic pose in front of the statue of the Teen Titans founders before loading up in the T-jet to take off on their first mission with him officially back as the leader.

Instead of hunting down the real Calculator like he promised last issue, or even investigating who turned an entire high school into feral creatures, Tim has decided to fly the entire team out to Pakistan to look for Kiran's missing parents. Apparently, their assistant Helena was actually Cassie's mom, Helena Sandsmark, and she called Cassie after the second day of Vijay and Rani's disappearance. Ravager complains that bringing along the whole team is overkill for this, but Tim, seeking to build on the family idea, says they should always stick together. Cassie, however, is annoyed by Rose's comment, and says aloud that she wishes she had stayed behind. In addition to this tension, Tim is also upset by the awkwardness between Gar and Raven, and Cassie and Kon.

Our team eventually reaches Pakistan, landing at Mohenjo-Daro, the ancient Indus Valley civilization. Helena is a bit surprised to see Cassie brought along all the Titans, and she doesn't recognize Robin in his new mask. Tim corrects Cassie, saying his name is Red Robin now, and Gar reminisces on how he actually put out a press release to announce his name change from Beast Boy to Changeling (and back again). He then suggests that Tim add a couple of Rs to his costume to help people out, and I wish he didn't give DC that idea, because that is exactly what they ended up doing.

Anyway, Solstice makes a dramatic entrance, flying down from above to meet the Titans. Bart is instantly awestruck by her, and even Raven is captivated by the light exuding from her — both literal and emotional. Cassie gives Kiran a hug, telling the others that they had previously met during a recent Wonder Girl one-shot comic. She formally introduces Kiran to the team, and Bart suddenly becomes very awkward and shy, letting out a small "... hi." accompanied with a little hand wave.

Tim immediately gets down to business, asking if there was any sign of struggle at the scene of Kiran's parents' disappearance. Kiran says there wasn't, and all they left behind was their lantern. Helena adds that although Vijay and Rani were spontaneous, they've never gone off for extended periods of time like this before. Kiran pulls out a recent photo of herself with her parents and goes to hand it to Tim, but Rose has picked up on Bart's instant infatuation and decides to toy with him. She whispers to Bart about not letting the "Dark Squire" steal the limelight and to use this chance to make an impression. Bart completely falls for the bait and rips the photograph out of Kiran's hand and immediately takes off, leaving Rose to laugh about how easy that bit of manipulation was.

As Bart weaves through the maze-like ruins, his mind runs through a whole gamut of emotions. He hopes he can get Kiran to like him — even though he's not exactly sure what her name is — but he realizes that treating a search for her missing parents like a blind date isn't the best look. However, he can't help himself from hoping he might be able to keep the picture in his hand, or, better yet, get a new picture of him and Kiran.

While Bart explores, Gar checks in on Conner, who's been "awfully quiet" on this mission. Conner complains that Cassie's mom has been giving him the stink eye ever since they landed. Gar points out that even though Conner believes his breakup with Cassie was mutual, breakups are never that tidy, and families always take sides — even when there aren't any. Bart then returns from his 100-mile radius sweep, reporting he didn't find anything. Tim believes there could be some traps or hidden passages in the ruins — even though Kiran scoffs at the notion — and he suggests they split up into groups for a more thorough examination. Bart is insulted that he's paired up with Ravager, who takes delight in showing him "how the professionals work."

Cassie advises her mom to head back to the camp, but she believes she'll be safe in the company of Wonder Girl and Raven. Beast Boy is with Solstice, and Tim put himself with Kon, who quickly seizes on the opportunity to question Tim's leadership once they're alone. Kon suggests deferring to Cassie from time to time, saying she actually did a good job of leading the team while Robin was away, and this abrupt change is probably hard on her. Tim reveals that Cassie asked him to be leader, and he's surprised she didn't tell Kon that. (And I am flabbergasted that she didn't make at least a formal announcement to the whole team! A vote would be ideal, but seriously — what kind of anarchic leadership system is this?)

Tim and Kon's awkward conversation is abruptly cut off by the discovery of what appears to be an old woman, but is actually a hideous demon creature. The demon grabs Tim by the throat, and when Kon tries to save him, she backhands Superboy through at least five walls before he finally comes to a stop at Bart's feet. Ravager asks Kid Flash how he missed this demon on his search, and he admits he doesn't know, but suggests they take her down, then figure out the rest later.

Bart begins punching the ugly demon's face, joking that he hopes her rash isn't contagious and how glad he is to be wearing gloves. This attack does succeed in freeing Tim, but it fails to do any damage to the demon, who manages to catch Bart's right arm and break his wrist. Ravager swings at the demon with her sword, but the demon catches the blade and smacks Rose across the face with the hilt.

Luckily, this fight has created enough noise to attract the attention of the rest of our teammates. Beast Boy is first to arrive, swooping in as a bird before turning into a rhinoceros and bashing the demon. But once again, the demon proves stronger than our heroes, actually snapping Gar's rhino horn. Finally, Solstice provides an attack the demon doesn't like — a huge blast of light that sends her running away through the ruins.

Before anyone can catch up, the demon encounters Helena and grabs her wrist. Raven takes hold of the demon's arm, but immediately lets go in pain, saying she couldn't handle that much evil and this creature is as pure a demon as her father, Trigon. Cassie tries to pull her mom away from the demon, but the demon says she'll gladly take the mother and daughter away with her. And before anyone can react, the demon teleports away with Cassie and Helena.

Superboy seems to be the most upset by Cassie's abduction, and he demands to know what's going on. Solstice is the only one with a clue, and she explains that the creature was a demon called Tataka. Bart asks what that even means (apparently he didn't read any Indian mythology books in the San Francisco library), and Tim coldly responds that it means that Wonder Girl is in trouble. And we see that Wonder Girl has been taken to some kind of forest, where an even larger and uglier demon immediately attacks her.




If there's one thing I've been consistent on with this blog, it's that I do not like stories about demons. Not even the great Peter David could find a way to use demons in a way that I felt made sense in a world of superheroes. So that loud groan you heard was me realizing I've fallen into another story with an inexplicably powerful demon with incredibly vague powers and motivations. Not even Raven, our resident demon expert, can accomplish anything against Tataka, because she's apparently "too evil." But, naturally, the new girl is the only one equipped to deal with this threat. I am genuinely thrilled to see more diversity on this team, but I wish Solstice didn't bring along this whole demon mess with her in such a clichéd way. And as for her powers? Hopefully we'll get to that at some point. But with Krul's habit of dropping plot lines, I wouldn't be surprised if that backstory became another unresolved, lingering thread of this series.

It was simultaneously adorable and annoying to watch Bart instantly become stricken by Solstice. Yes, his nervousness and jealousness was cute, and it did bring a smile to my face. But at the same time, it almost felt out of character for Bart. Sadly, the only reason I say "almost" is because Bart's character really hasn't been well-defined since he was brought back to life. Does he remember being an adult and actually ... you know ... having sex with a girl before? Because if that was the case, then I think he'd be able to play off his infatuation a little cooler. Or maybe the hormones in his teenage body just got the best of him, despite his adult memories? Who knows? Krul is randomly giving us very quick glimpses into Bart's mind that unfortunately aren't answering any of my big questions.

Next time, we'll return to the Road to Flashpoint in The Flash #10.

Superman #709

Grounded Part Seven

J. Michael Straczynski & Chris Roberson Writers
Eddy Barrows & Allan Goldman Pencillers
J.P. Mayer & Júlio Ferreira Inkers
Rod Reis Colorist
John J. Hill Letterer
John Cassady & David Baron Cover
Kenneth Rocafort Variant Cover
Wil Moss Associate Editor
Matt Idelson Editor
Superman created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster

Our cover shows Superman continuing his long, slow and boring walk across America, as the Flash happily zips past him on a starry night. It's actually not a bad cover. I enjoy the bemused look on Superman's face and Barry's dorky little salute. Barry does look a little chunky, though, but otherwise everything about this image is fine.

There are times I love Kenneth Rocafort's art, and there are times I can't stand it. This is one of the times where I love it. It's a simple, yet dynamic look of Superman flying over a city with a handful of passersby gaping up at him. The only downside to this cover is it conveys a much more exciting tale than the one we do get.

The Grounded storyline is kind of a derided one among many Superman fans. It involved Superman walking — not flying — across America, trying to visit as many states as possible, all part of some strange attempt to "reconnect" to the world or something like that. Anyway, today's story brings Superman to Boulder, Colorado, where he encounters an out-of-control Barry Allen. The Flash is unable to slow down to a normal speed, and is not only spouting off random Kryptonian history factoids in the original language, but is also bizarrely decorating the town and its people to look like ancient Krypton.

Superman eventually manages to catch Barry and sees he's wearing a Kryptonian headband. Once he pulls it off, Barry explains that he discovered the headband at the bottom of a crater in the Sonora Desert. And like a complete idiot, Barry placed the band on his head without conducting any kind of tests. The headband flooded Barry's mind with the complete history of Krypton, feeding him too much information to process. He did, however, manage to eventually find Superman after crisscrossing North America five times. And he communicated the only way he could — with chunks of historic text and imagery.

The two heroes head into a diner to talk, where the TVs are broadcasting the Superboy/Kid Flash race. Barry predicts Bart's going to win, saying if he keeps at it, Bart will one day be faster than him. Superman naturally pulls for Superboy, saying Conner's really coming into his own. The two then have a very lengthy and boring discussion about the nature of morality and honesty, prompting Clark to tell a story about him sharing a detention period with Lex Luthor in high school.

As they leave the diner, Barry glances at the TV once more, noting how odd it is to have a teenage grandson when he doesn't even have a son yet. This leads to another conversation about the nature of legacy, and Barry admits he was initially overwhelmed by all the other speedsters out there. But now he takes comfort in that thought — that no matter what, there will always be a Flash to fight for justice.

Before Barry leaves, Superman asks him one last question. Back when he started this meandering walk across America, he asked Barry what he sees when runs across the country and Barry said at the time all he saw was a blur. This was a very disturbing thought for Superman at the time and a major motivation for this journey of self-reflection. But when reminded of this comment, Barry laughs, saying he was joking at the time. He explains that he can think at the speed of light and perceive events that last less than an attosecond. In other words, when he runs across the country, he sees everything and everyone. He tells Superman that things do get better, then takes off, leaving Superman to happily walk toward Utah.




There were so many creators involved in this comic, it almost felt like the right hand didn't know what the left was doing. For example, Superman explicitly does not order any food at the diner, but in some panels he has a hamburger. In other panels, he doesn't. But more frustrating than that was the sense that none of these writers or editors had read Flash: Rebirth, because Superman acts like this is the first time he's interacted with Barry since he came back. He keeps making comments about how he always wondered who's faster. And Barry has to point out that he allowed Superman to catch him. If anybody who worked on this comic actually read Rebirth, they would have known that when Barry doesn't want to be caught, he can easily leave Superman in the dust.

But I was appreciative to see that collage of speedsters including John Fox and XS. And  I do like when comics reference concurrent events in other books. However, I would have preferred an ending where Barry encouraged Clark to join him at the finish line to unite with family and friends to cheer on Kid Flash and Superboy. Of course, something weird is going on with Superman's family — his own wife, Lois, won't even answer his calls. And we've seen how strained Barry's relationship is with his family in his own series. But then again, it's not like this series really understands Barry's personality, either. First of all, why would he have made such a flippant joke about only seeing a blur to a clearly distressed and depressed Superman? Secondly, why would this intelligent, careful crime lab scientist randomly put a piece of alien technology on his head before running any kind of tests on it? That bit of stupidity is a contradiction of everything we know about Barry Allen.

Next time, we'll return to Teen Titans #93.

Superboy #5

The Superboy/Kid Flash Race!

Jeff Lemire Writer
Pier Gallo Artist
Jamie Grant Colorist
John J. Hill Letterer
Eddy Barrows, J.P. Mayer & Grant Cover
Francis Manapul Variant Cover
Wil Moss Assoc. Editor
Matt Idelson Editor

Our cover shows a 35-year-old Superboy courageously racing Kid Flash. I know this is Superboy's book, but did we really need to fill this cover up with his abnormally large and veiny bicep and neck? Couldn't we make Bart just a little bigger? I mean, this is the first Superboy/Kid Flash race ever (Superboy did race Impulse once, way back in his Ravers days), so let's give Bart a little more love! I will say I do like the optimistic, bright tone of this cover. Our heroes are out having fun in the sunshine, and I do appreciate that. But the bland cover and the tiny, freckled Bart, really hurts.

I love Francis Manapul, and I like how he drew Bart, here, but this cover really doesn't work as well for me. Superboy's face is odd and distracting. And the muted colors give this a rather somber feeling, which doesn't match up with the main tone of this race. It's supposed to be a joyful occasion. Also, Manapul kind of spoiled the ending with the inclusion of Krypto here.

Without getting bogged down in the day-to-day minutiae of Conner's home life in Smallville, let's just start our story at the beginning of the race. Our story takes place right after Conner broke up with Cassie, but before the Teen Titans went on their adventure with Tim Drake. So when the team shows up, we have Beast Boy, Raven, Ravager and Damian Wayne. Notably absent is Wonder Girl, much to Superboy's dismay.

Bart is happily signing autographs before the race, and Kon asks him if he should be stretching, instead. Bart says Kon's the one who should be stretching, and jokingly hopes that Kon's black T-shirt is aerodynamic. Pete Ross is the master of ceremonies, and he gets everybody in position, announcing that with the help of the Justice League Watchtower, this race will be broadcast on TV around the world. He also says the race has already raised half a million dollars for Smallville farmers who had their crops destroyed by Parasite. As Bart and Kon take their mark, Beast Boy whispers to Bart that he should go easy on Superboy. But Kon says, "I heard that, Garth!" Which is weird, because Beast Boy's full name if Garfield.

Anyway, the race begins, with Bart and Kon following the complicated route Mr. Terrific laid out for them in order to draw out the race as much as possible. The route has our racers zigzagging across the globe several times, but luckily Bart and Kon were able to memorize the map in less than 30 seconds.  Also, in the spirit of keeping things interesting, our heroes are more than happy to stop for a few detours along the way. They prevent a bank robbery in London, capture King Shark in Hawaii, save a falling window washer in Toronto and battle the Royal Flush gang in France. And Superboy's faithful dog, Krypto, is following along behind the racers, trying his best to keep up.

Sounds fun, right? Well, Superboy's heart really isn't in the race, and Bart can tell. So he makes Kon take a breather at the top of an Egyptian pyramid and talk about what's on his mind. Bart starts off by saying Cassie really wanted to come to the race, but she got too busy with Titans stuff back at the tower. Kon tells Bart he doesn't have to lie for Cassie, saying he knows she chose not to come because it's been too weird between them since their breakup. Kon admits that he's not used to this post-relationship phase yet, but says it always felt like something was pulling them apart whenever they were together.

Bart insists they were the dream couple, having what everybody wants to have, and he predicts they'll get back together again. Kon says it won't work this time, so Bart jokes about how Cassie is way out of Kon's league, and that he might go her himself. Kon says that Bart's a dead man if he so much as takes a light speed glance at Cassie. So Bart consoles Kon by pointing out that he still has Krypto to keep him company. Kon thanks Bart for being himself, which prompts Bart to resume the race, urging S.B. to not get "super-sentimental" on him. Kon follows him down the pyramid, saying, "In your dreams, short stuff!"

So our two racers continue their tour past all the world's famous landmarks, with news reporters from every country commenting on the race. Bart and Kon have kept things close so far, which has led to some to speculate that Kid Flash is merely toying with Superboy. Bart seems to prove this theory by asking Kon if he should start trying, now that they're approaching the finish line in Smallville. Kon jokes that Bart's mouth is the only thing faster than him, but he suddenly comes to a complete stop at the sight of the Phantom Stranger standing by Lori Luthor's house.

Bart stops when he sees Kon's stopped and asks him what's wrong. The Phantom Stranger is nowhere in sight, leading Bart to initially believe that Kon is losing it. When he sees how serious Kon is, Bart promises to help him figure it out later, but reminds him that there's a big crowd waiting for them to finish this race right now. So the two friends continue the last stretch of the race, once again staying neck-and-neck right up to the last second. Pete Ross is at the finish line with a megaphone, saying, "And the winner is ... KRYPTO?!" It's unclear if Krypto actually did cross the line first, or if his appearance surprised Ross into blurting out his name. In either case, Krypto is officially crowned the winner of the race. Bart can't believe it, but his fellow Titans take great delight in Bart's pain.

Superboy tells his friends and Raven about the Phantom Stranger. Raven says this means evil can't be far behind. But whatever the reason was, we'll never find out, as this was Bart's last appearance in this Superboy series before Flashpoint.




This was a pretty fun story. It would have been more fun with better art, and if it wasn't weighed down by so much of the melodramatic, convoluted continuity of this series. Much like J.T. Krul on Teen Titans, Jeff Lemire had big, long-term plans for this series that got cut short by Flashpoint. Anyway, I was happy to see that this race followed the same formula of most of the classic Flash/Superman races of the past. As Barry said in Rebirth, "Those were for charity." Which means that he intentionally kept things close to be entertaining. And I'd like to think that was Bart's plan all along, and that he was just acting upset by the stunning Krypto victory. Because, at the end of the day, this whole thing was for Superboy and his community. And everything Bart did, including that little heart-to-heart, was all about cheering up Kon.

Next time, we'll find out why Superman and the Flash weren't able to attend the race in Superman #709.

Brightest Day #21

Mars Attacks

Writers: Geoff Johns & Peter J. Tomasi
Artists: Patrick Gleason, Ivan Reis & Joe Prado
Inkers: Mark Irwin, Keith Champagne, Norm Rapmund, & Christian Alamy
Color: Aspen MLT's Peter Steigerwald & Nathan Eyring
Cover: Gary Frank & Nathan Eyring
Variant Cover: Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, & Rod Reis
Letterer: Rob Clark Jr.
Associate. Editor: Rex Ogle
Editors: Adam Schlagman and Eddie Berganza

Our cover shows Martian Manhunter on fire against a white background. It's a striking image, although I do have to say that since fire is J'onn's weakness, he seems to be lit on fire a lot more often than any other hero in the DC Universe. Anyway, I'm a big fan of Gary Frank's style, and I am pleased with this cover.

Our variant cover doesn't do much for me, though. It shows Martian Manhunter battling an evil female Martian named D'Kay, who had apparently impersonated J'onn's wife for a while. I don't really know, and I certainly don't care, since none of that plot line involves Bart Allen. Anyway, the execution of this cover is fine, but I guess the bland red background kind of bores me. I know, it's weird how I like white backgrounds but not red backgrounds, but there you go.

Our story opens with the Atom investigating the apparent deaths of Hawkman and Hawkgirl at the Stonechat Museum in St. Roch. He's reporting his findings to the Flash, who is working with the JLA, JSA and Teen Titans to help clean up a beach in Miami after an Aquaman/Black Manta fight, in which Aquaman also apparently died. But what's perplexing our heroes is that the evidence indicates that their friends are being killed by the very force that brought them back in the first place — the White Lantern.

The rest of the story details J'onn's fight against D'Kay, wherein he sacrifices himself to kill her, but then is resurrected once again as a White Lantern, but then something weird happens to him with Deadman at the end. I don't know. It doesn't make any sense, and it doesn't affect anything else going on in Bart's world. So we'll just move on.




The credits on this comic listed some really big names — some of my favorite creators at DC — but this was still a comic-by-committee, which I very rarely can tolerate. The whole Brightest Day event managed to be even more bloated and convoluted than Blackest Night, and it makes for a very frustrating read, especially when one realizes how the fast-approaching Flashpoint will render this story void.

But I will say I was happy to see our Titans, ever so briefly, actually engaging in some cleanup work for a change. Superboy is tending to a small boy, and Bart is in three places at once, handing out blankets to wounded bystanders. That's something we often overlook in these stories, but whenever there's a big super villain battle, there will be casualties. There will be injured people that need to be loaded up in ambulances, dead people to place in body bags, destroyed trees and buildings that need to be cleared away. And I think it's nice to see our heroes deal with that reality every once in a while.

Ironically, even though I hate Brightest Day, I am kind of sad that we didn't get a crossover with the Teen Titans series. When J.T. Krul took over the book, he promised to bring in the new Aqualad somehow. Brightest Day #20 was the perfect opportunity to do so, but Krul missed his chance. And we never got to see what he had planned for that character and the Teen Titans.

Next time, we'll do something a bit more light-hearted with Superboy #5.

The Flash #9

Case Two: The Road to Flashpoint Part One

Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Francis Manapul
Colorist: Brian Buccellatto
Letterer: Sal Cipriano
Cover: Manapul and Buccellato
Variant Cover: Tyler Kirkham, Batt, and Nei Ruffino
Editors: Adam Schlagman & Eddie Berganza

It may be a month late, but The Flash also joined in on the white background, big logo cover gimmick. And I don't mean to use the word gimmick in a derogatory sense, I've liked all the covers in this style we've reviewed here. And this one is another winner — partly because I'm such a huge fan of Manapul and Buccellato. In fact, it's fair to say that it was their artwork that got me interested in the Flash in the first place, which in turn got me interested in Impulse.

Sadly, I can't say the same for our variant cover. It's not terribly bad by any means, and I do appreciate the attempt at finding something new by having the Flash run along the side of a building like that. But ultimately Barry looks like an out-of-control maniac, which is not a good look for him.

Our story begins in the middle of the night in Central City. A blue lightning bolt suddenly appears in midair, opening up a portal for a masked man riding a futuristic motorcycle. After causing a bit of property damage with his dramatic entrance, the man speeds down the road, saying he needs to find Barry Allen. We cut ahead to the next morning, where Barry is called into work even though it's a Saturday. Iris is upset Barry has to work, and reminds him to not be late to their picnic at 1 o'clock.

However, Barry's already running late today, having stopped off at the zoo to battle a gorilla wearing some sort of helmet (possibly Grodd, but not necessarily). Barry, of course, chooses to tell his boss, Director Singh, that he just missed the bus. Singh isn't too interested in Barry's excuses and he leads him out to their case, the scene of a dead old man wearing a purple superhero outfit. Barry isn't able to find any signs of struggle on the corpse, and his colleague, James Forrest, suggests that the victim simply died of old age, seeing as how he appears to be 90 years old. Barry can't find any ID on the victim, so he takes his fingerprints.

Apparently, this case kept Barry working right up to the time of the picnic, which is the first gathering of the Flash family since the parade at the end of Rebirth. Max Mercury is working the grill, while Jay Garrick is helping Irey fly a kite, and Wally and Bart are tossing a football around. Linda asks Jai to help set the table, but he complains that he's busy with his video game and that Irey should do it since she's faster. Bart asks Iris if Barry is coming, and Wally points out how Barry never used to miss a family picnic. Iris reminds him that Barry never was on time, either, but as they talk, Barry calls Iris with bad news.

Barry tells Iris that he suspects foul play in this new case and that he's going to put in overtime at the lab this weekend. Iris points out that Barry could have run over to the picnic to tell her this in person, and she asks why he's avoiding his family. Barry admits he's still pretty rattled by the mirror the Rogues shattered last week that showed his mom still alive in the present day — a glimpse at the life he should have, had the Reverse-Flash not killed her and framed Barry's dad, who apparently died in his prison cell. Barry says his parents should be there at the picnic, and Iris agrees, but she also says that Barry should be there, too. Iris reminds Barry of what it was like when they all thought he was dead, but they still had picnics with the family they had. She tells Barry he's not responsible for his mom's death, but Barry refuses to accept that, pointing out that Thawne only killed her because of what Barry grew up to be.

This awkward conversation is interrupted by Forrest finding a match of the victim's fingerprints — a 16-year-old boy named Ethan Kramer, who had just begun a career as the Elongated Kid. Barry is naturally shocked by this revelation, but he confirms that the victim's corpse still is rather rubbery and stretchy. He hypothesizes that young Ethan could have sought his superpowers the same way the original Elongated Man, Ralph Dibny, did, by drinking gingold. The substance is poisonous for most people, but it grants stretching powers to a select few. Barry speculates that the gingold may have triggered some kind of rapid aging in Ethan's body, and he wishes he had his old blood analyst, Patty Spivot, to work on this case.

A Detective Grubbs then chews out Barry for reopening one of his old cases and forcing him to do a lot more paperwork. Barry boldly points out that he proved that Grubbs and his partner had forced a confession out of an innocent young man, but this only makes Grubbs angrier, who ominously implies that Barry is making a lot of enemies on the police force. When Barry gets back to the office, he leaves a phone message to Patty Spivot, asking her to come help him on this case. Suddenly, our futuristic biker drives across Barry's office window, shattering the glass, before taking off down the street.

Barry turns into the Flash and chases the biker down, finally getting him to stop at the edge of a pier. The biker identifies himself as a cop, but Barry recently had a bad experience with cops from the 25th century, so he's not too keen to trust this one. So the biker removes his helmet, revealing a face that looks just like Barry's. He says his name is also Barry Allen, and he's here to save history from the single greatest time anomaly to ever threaten reality.




This is actually a fun series. Even though it pains me that Geoff Johns shoved Wally, Bart and the rest of the Flash family aside to start fresh with Barry. But I absolutely love the art, and the story is actually kind of intriguing. Sadly, Bart only made a token appearance along with the others. Yes, we know Max is alive and well, but we don't know if Bart is living with him or Jay or is completely full-time at Titans Tower. But, frankly, none of that matters because Flashpoint is right around the corner. Despite that one heartwarming story of the speedsters comforting Barry in the middle of the night, he has fallen back into depression and guilt, which is quite understandable. As much as we want our heroes to constantly rise above such emotions, sometimes they can't. And things will only get worse before it gets better.

Next time, we'll take the smallest of looks at Blackest Night's followup in Brightest Day #21.

Teen Titans #92

On the Shoulders of Titans Part II

J.T. Krul – Writer
Georges Jeanty – Penciller
Rob Hunter – Inker
Jason Wright – Colorist
Sal Cipriano – Letterer
Ricky Purdin – Assistant Editor
Rachel Gluckstern – Editor
Nicola Scott & Doug Hazlewood w/Wright – Cover
Special thanks to Fabian Nicieza!

Our cover is almost the perfect example of what to do for a crossover. The guest of honor is placed front and center, with the regular cast heroically posed behind him. The only real knock here is Raven is conspicuously absent, but otherwise this is a pretty decent cover. Yeah, the background is quite bland, but that's OK because I'm just excited to see Tim actually working with his old friends again.

Our story picks up in Istanbul, with the Teen Titans battling an army of Calculator robots in front of a nightclub. Most of the civilians have fled away, and the half-dozen robots we saw previously has suddenly multiplied into several dozen. As Tim and Damian fight side-by-side, we see both of them feel a bit awkward and resentful to be working together with the Teen Titans. For everyone else, though, it's just business as usual.

Superboy has taken to tossing robots high up in the air as they explode, and Damian prepares another android for him, ordering the "Clone Boy" to take care of it. Kon asks Tim how he puts up with the "little snot" and Tim says he actually tries to avoid him as much as possible. Kon says he refuses to call Damian Robin, since Tim will always be his Robin. Tim mockingly says that Kon will always be his Clone Boy, so Kon suggests trading both of them in for Batgirl.

Wonder Girl suggests they gather up all the robots into one big pile to help further protect the bystanders, but Raven worries about the gigantic explosion the bombs will create. However, Kid Flash is easily able to contain the blast. The real Calculator, meanwhile, is watching all this from his monitor room. He's not too surprised to see the Teen Titans are destroying his creations, and he is filled with hatred at the sight of Wonder Girl, as he blames her for the death of his son, Marvin.

Our heroes enter the nightclub and are a little surprised that nobody noticed the massive explosion that was just outside the building. Tim has tracked the robot's signals to somewhere beneath the club, but Raven is unable to isolate the Calculator's emotional signal because there's too many people around them. So Superboy simply blasts open a hole in the ground with his heat vision. All the partygoers flee the nightclub, and Wonder Girl helps Superboy tear open the reinforced door protecting Calculator's hideout.

The Calculator, however, smugly says his middle name is "Contingency," as he unleashes several more robots, much larger and stronger than the other models. Tim urges his teammates to find the robots' weak points, and Damian naturally mocks that suggestion. Ravager notes that Damian seems to be ramping up his snark factor for his brother, which prompts Damian and Tim to simultaneously say they're not brothers. But the two Robins do manage to work together to take one of the robots down.

Wonder Girl, however, is trapped in one of the robot's tentacle arms and brought forward to the Calculator's monitors. He shows her videos of how he kidnapped and tortured Kid Eternity in a vain attempt to be reunited with Marvin. After Kid Eternity's powers were drained, Calculator killed him. Wonder Girl becomes enraged by this news and manages to break free from the robot, but is promptly blasted from behind by another robot with heat vision. The rest of heroes are quickly becoming wrapped up in the tentacle arms, and Tim points out that if they take out the Calculator, they'll be able to stop all the androids. Damian is able to get one hand free and toss a batarang at the Calculator's computer, instantly shutting down the robots.

Cassie immediately grabs the Calculator, intent on avenging the death of Kid Eternity. Ravager and Damian encourage her to kill the villain, but Tim convinces her not to. So Cassie tosses the man aside, and weeps in Raven's arms, saying she's failed so many times. Damian helps the Calculator up and shocks everybody by stabbing him in the gut with his batarang. But everyone is even more shocked to see that the Calculator was also a robot, a fact that even surprises the Calculator bot himself. Damian boasts to Tim that he isn't the only detective around here and that he knew this truth all along. The Calculator begins shouting that he's a real person, and Cassie says he isn't, but she hopes he can feel pain as she pushes him onto his damaged computer, creating a small electrical explosion. And Cassie seems to have gotten her wish, as the Calculator does scream quite a bit as he's destroyed.

Wonder Girl then asks Tim why he stopped her if he knew it was a robot all along. Tim tells her that she didn't know that, and he didn't want her to think she had actually killed a real person. Kon asks how it didn't it was an android, and Tim can only speculate that it was programmed to be delusional, much like the real Calculator. Kon offers to completely melt it down, but Tim wants to keep it, saying they might be able to use it to track down the real Calculator. Kon notes Tim's use of the word "we," and Bart jumps in, too, with, "What do you say, Tim? Titans together?" But Damian interrupts this touching moment by asking to be taken back to Gotham. He complains that these "fools" get in his way too much, then adds that they still have a Robin.

So the Titans do drop Damian off in Gotham, but Tim tries to convince him one last time to stay. But Damian says it's rather obvious who they prefer to have around. Tim notes that Damian doesn't exactly make it easy for people to get along with him, but Damian scoffs at the notion of jumping through Tim's hoops, adding that he thought the whole point of the Titans was to be yourself. Tim concedes that in Damian's case, he could probably try to be a little less like himself. Damian says he did try, and takes off into the night.

When he reunites with Batman, Dick observes some pleasant changes in Damian from his short stint as a Teen Titan. Damian's more patient, less violent, and even picked up a few new moves. But Dick doesn't say any of this to Damian, only that he's sorry his time with the team was a bust. Damian says it's not Dick's fault, adding that he's already got one friend here in Gotham and that's more than enough for him.




I'm glad that Krul is going back to almost forgotten moments and characters like Marvin and Kid Eternity. Anytime a Titan dies, that should have powerful, lasting consequences on the team for a long time afterward. However, I do kind of wish he would take some time to address all the dangling plot threads from Felicia D. Henderson's run. Yes, I know it sucked, but I still would like to know what happened to Blue Beetle, Miss Martian, Static Shock and the rest.

Anyway, this story wasn't too bad, enough if it was a bit rushed, and all our heroes suddenly became incredibly incompetent against those robots. And the whole bit with the Calculator being a robot was slightly lame, as neither Tim nor Damian explained how they actually knew he was a robot. It was a rather contrived setup to give us a "shocking" moment with Damian and an "emotional" moment with Cassie wanting to kill a man. And let's not forget about the rather dismal art to this issue. Half the time Superboy looked like a 60-year-old former boxer who had his nose smashed in one too many times.

OK, so there were a lot of problems with this issue. But the main takeaway was Tim' return to the team! Yes, he has a kind of lame costume now (although his mask is more practical) and an even lamer name, Red Robin (I'll never accept that), but he is back! And I actually liked Damian's hasty decision to quit. He is still just a kid, after all, and it makes sense for him to become jealous of the love Tim is receiving that he clearly is not. Sure, these Titans aren't bad guys and they'd eventually learn to work with Damian. But he's not ready for that yet, so he's retreated back to the comfort of home.

Next time, we'll finally check in on the whole Flash family (albeit briefly) in The Flash #9.

Red Robin #20

The Rabbit Hole [Interlude]: On the Shoulders of Titans

Fabian Nicieza – Writer
Marcus To – Penciller
Ray McCarthy – Inker
Guy Major – Colors
Sal Cipriano – Letters
To, McCarthy, and Brian Buccellato – Cover
Rachel Gluckstern & Sean Ryan – Editors
Michael Marts – Batman Group Editor
Batman created by Bob Kane
Special thanks to J.T. Krul!

Our cover shows Tim battling Catman — and getting his butt kicked. I love Marcus To's style, and I will say this is a well-drawn cover. However, I wish we actually had the Teen Titans on the cover besides that small note. Of course, that's kind of my main complaint with this issue. All the Teen Titans fans who came over here just for the crossover had to endure an unrelated Catman fight in the first half of the comic before the Titans finally show up. I don't think that's the most effective way to stage a crossover, but that's just me.

Our story opens in the middle of a long, convoluted arc involving the villains' communications grid, the ünternet, a Russian oligarch named Viktor Mikalek, and the Catman. Long story short, after being chased by Tim for a while, Catman gets him off his trail by sending the Calculator after Tim's latest girlfriend, Tam. (Yeah, Tim and Tam.) The Calculator actually fires a rocket launcher at Tam's dormitory, but luckily Tam was out drinking with her sorority sisters. Unluckily, the Calculator got away. So Tim heads back to his computer to analyze his evidence.

Tim has several screens of his closest allies around his main monitor, showing Batgirl, Batman and the Teen Titans. (Sadly, these are just images of recent covers, not original art by Marcus To. For the Titans, it's the variant cover for issue #91. I mean, how did Tim even get a picture of the Titans posing together so neatly like that?) Anyway, Tim rightly believes it to be rather strange that the Calculator himself would be firing rocket launchers at colleges. His facial recognition software finds a 94% match between the shooter and the Calculator, so Tim decides to run a worldwide search of all faces with a 94% match. To Tim's horror, the computer finds 147 matches across the world, meaning the Calculator has an army of robots that look like him. Realizing he needs help on this mission, but not wanting Bruce or Dick to take charge, Tim calls his old team. And that brings us to the ending of Teen Titans #91.

Although Tim did call in some of his old friends to help him fight off Ra's al Ghul's ninjas not to long ago, he didn't really interact with them that much. In fact, it's likely that Tim hasn't actually had a proper conversation with Conner or Bart since they were brought back to life. Understandably, Tim is incredibly nervous when he goes out to meet the T-jet the next morning. And when the Titans arrive, Cassie, Conner and Bart solemnly walk off the jet with stoic, almost angry faces. Tim awkwardly says hi to Cass and silently wishes that someone would smile. Suddenly, Cassie, Conner and Bart wrap Tim up in a big hug, while Beast Boy cries out, "Psyche!"

Tim realizes Beast Boy put the old Young Justice members up to this, but he's actually grateful for the ruse. In fact, this reunion has Tim in such good spirits, he's even happy to see Rose again. Raven comments on how tired Tim looks, and he admits he's exhausted. At which point Damian chimes in, suggesting it's time for Tim to retire and make way for the "real Robin." Tim jokes that he's surprised the Titans haven't killed Damian yet, and Conner says they were just waiting for his approval.

So Tim hops on the jet and explains that with the help of Oracle and Cyborg, he's tracked the Calculator's robots' signal to a single server nest in Istanbul. Even if the real Calculator isn't there, Tim believes that's where he's controlling his activities from and wants to shut it down. Kon asks Tim what their strategy is, and Tim starts to answer, but worries that he's stepping on Cassie's toes as team leader. But Cassie lets Tim lay out the strategy, so he explains that the Calculator could easily recognize any of them out of costume, except for one new hero he hasn't encountered yet. Everybody looks at Damian, and Bart sadly says, "Wait ... does that mean what I think it means ... ?" Damian mocks Bart for having neurons that don't move as quickly as his feet.

When our heroes reach Istanbul, everybody stays hidden in the jet, while Damian explores the streets in civilian clothes. Tim has patched into the city's traffic cams, so they can essentially see everything Damian sees. Kon says he missed working with Tim being the man with the plan. Bart adds that he just missed having a plan, period, before hastily tacking on an apology to Cassie. Tim also apologizes to her, but she once again graciously concedes control on this mission to him.

Damian eventually does pass the Calculator, or one of his robots, on the street, and after spending the day in surveillance, our heroes finally pinpoint the server nest to the basement of a popular nightclub. So the team heads out into the night, with Beast Boy employing the best disguise as a spider (although he is distracted by some of the pretty girls waiting outside the club). Damian naturally makes the first move, leaping off a window ledge to knock the head off a Calculator robot. Everybody gathers around the robot and Bart notices its eyes are still blinking. Kon notes the blinking seems to be keeping time, which Damian realizes means it's a bomb. Bart quickly pulls Damian away from the robot, while Superboy slams it into the wall and shields everybody from the blast. And to Tim's dismay, he notes there are at least half a dozen more Calculator robots among the crowd surrounding them, and it's going to be pretty difficult to protect the people from these bombs.




Bart and Conner were brought back to life almost two years before this comic. Two years! That's a long, long time to wait for this beautiful reunion of the Young Justice founders. But we finally got it, and Marcus To executed it perfectly. Bart didn't just hug Tim, he leaped into the air to wrap his arms around Tim and Kon. It was glorious. And Guy Major earns a lot of points for actually giving Bart brown hair — but then he loses some points for giving him blue eyes. Oh well, we can't win them all! Anyway, I wish we had this art team on the Teen Titans. I'm sorry, Nicola Scott, but To's got you beat.

This story itself, though, was rather odd. Besides taking way too long to bring in the guests of honor, the actual mission they've been tasked with is quite strange and random. Why does the Calculator have an army of robots that look just like him? And why are there so many of these robots congregated in one city? That's practically begging someone to shut down your operations. And I guess it's kind of a trap, with the robots loaded with explosives, but still. I would have preferred this grand reunion to have preceded the Ra's al Ghul fight. Now there's a villain worthy of teaming up for.

To be continued in Teen Titans #92!