HAWKMAN FOUND #1 DC COMICS
Well DC really hit the nail on the head with this title. (Sarcasm!) This little one-shot provides us with the backstory on Carter Hall’s exploits in the Dark Multiverse. The problem is that it’s not all that interesting and rather confusing. Be ready as spoilers are about to begin. So apparently, because Carter Hall , much like Bruce Wayne, can’t leave well enough alone ends up in the Dark Multiverse. Here he is trapped in a nightmare where he and his past lives (I spotted a version of Nighthawk and the Silent Knight) and are dragged one by one to a spaceship that is seemingly run by ManHawks never to return. This version of Hawkman has the balls to fight back. But like the old saying states, he who wins shall lose. While I am glad to see Carter in a more traditional version of the Hawkman costume, this book does very little to move the Dark Nights storyline forward and since the big reveal was done at the end of the last issue of Dark Nights, we already know how this chapter is going to end. The next time I’m at a Justice League reunion, I’m going to Three Stooges head knock Wayne and Hall’s heads together. Nosey Buttinskis! I give it 6 out of 10 Grahams.
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #21 DC COMICS
This delightful little break in the action show why the Ray is still one of the bright spots (See what I did there?!!) in the DC Universe. His powers might put him in with the big boys but mentally he’s total blue collar. Steve Orlando’s conversations between the all new Aztek and Ray are a thing of beauty. If you need a change of pace in your comic reading habits, this will do the trick. I give it 8 out of 10 Grahams.
DOOMSDAY CLOCK #2 DC COMICS
Well, it had to happen sometime. The next big thing storyline has finally gotten going before the last next big thing has finished. Where were the Continuity Cops on this one. We are still waiting for the aftermath of the Dark Nights/Metal story and now Ozymandias and fake Rorschach show up?! WTF?! That being said however, Doomsday Clock is a book of moments. Making me feel a little like Dr. Manhattan, I read through this book just skimming and filtering though the day to day story but stopping at the Big Picture moments. (Example: Escaping the doomed Watchmen world, blah,blah, blah … OWL SHIP CRASHES THROUGH BAT SIGNAL!) And of course Geoff Johns knows how to end on a cliffhanger. And does anyone else see a little of the X-men in Lex Luthor’s campaign? I thought I lived through that already during the 1986 Legends mini-series. Oh well. I keep teetering between a 6 and an 8. A 6 because the people involved are some of the best and I expect more from them but an 8 because I realize that they have to make the book readable for the masses. Pancakes! It gets the 8 because of pancakes! Read the book, you’ll see what I mean. I give it an 8 out of 10 Grahams.