Hello again GEN readers! It’s Jill a.k.a. The Nerdy Bird back with this week’s installment of DoubleDCoverage. What’s this? Double-D on a Tuesday? Yup, new year, new rule. I’ve decided you’ll now get your dose of DC reviews the day before you go to the comic shop. That way you’ll have time to decide if you’d like to follow my recommendations. Sound good?

Ok, this week was a doozy. HUGE freaking stuff went down in Blackest Night, just in time for it to take a month off of course. Plus, Tim Drake finally learns how to satisfy me. Ew, get your mind out of the gutter. Besides, there’s only room for one comic character in my fantasies and his name begins with “B” and ends with “–ayne.” Reviews for Blackest Night #6 and Red Robin #8 are ahead. Also, check out my star ratings for my other pulls from last week!

BLACKEST NIGHT #6

Way to end the year with a bang Geoff Johns! Blackest Night #6 was the only new book to be released two weeks ago and it would have been really annoying to make the trip to my local comic shop for just a so-so issue. Thankfully, the trip was not in vain.

When last we saw our heroes, the Black Lantern rings had taken over several key players who had once been dead but subsequently resurrected. “Oh crap” would be a bit of an understatement as Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Arrow were forced to switch teams. To prevent two more from being taken, Barry Allen grabs Hal Jordan and makes a run for it – two seconds into the future to be exact. It was enough to cause the BL rings to malfunction and lose their targets. Meanwhile, Mera and Ray Palmer are checking out the rings on a microscopic level with Ray’s ex-wife in tow. Deadman lends an assist by possessing Jean and allowing them to exit directly into the larger battle.

The battle is actually looking pretty bad for anyone who’s not a Black Lantern. The Corps are grossly outnumbered and don’t have enough of the entire spectrum gathered which they’ll need to defeat Nekron. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Ganthet replicates Hal’s ring and dubs himself the newest member of the Green Lantern Corps. He also uses secret Guardian powers to replicate all the other color Corps’ rings with which to deputize new members of each for twenty-four hours. What happens in the next few pages is drama at it’s best – the rings fly off in a blur to the most worthy individual on Earth. Some don’t have far to go. Barry is granted the Blue light and Ray, the Indigo. Johns made two of the most brilliant choices for Orange and Yellow. Lex Luthor and the Scarecrow respectively. The last two rings went to two surprising individuals. Mera is made a Red Lantern and Wonder Woman gets changed from a Black Lantern to a Star Sapphire.

I was blown away by this issue. Literally blown. I was on the edge of my seat those last few pages, anticipating who would be made a temporary Lantern and watching as the entire scene was cinematically delivered. Ivan Reis is a madman In a good way. I’m beyond impressed with his consistent hands. Besides the epic plot Johns also came through with some great character moments, especially for his favorites. I was disappointed in one aspect of this issue though. The ability to create Black Lanterns out of resurrected characters was major and we didn’t get much in the way of fleshing that out this time around. For example, why weren’t ALL resurrected characters changed? Unfortunately this mini skips one month before it’s penultimate issue so we’ll have to wait even longer to find out. I sense a Red Lantern ring headed my way. Oh wait, I already have one.

RED ROBIN #8

I’ve been highly critical of Tim Drake’s (Tim Wayne) decent into pseudo-madness. He’s been on a journey all over the world to find proof that Bruce Wayne is alive but his I-know-something-you-don’t-know attitude with everyone who asks him about it was wearing thin. For this admitted arachnophobe, the introduction of the Council of Spiders did not sit well either. Surprisingly, the last installment of the second arc of this new series was altogether brilliant. Lack of Bruce-is-alive-proof notwithstanding.

Council member The Wanderer believes she’s killed Ra’s Al Ghul with her deadly touch when really it was a body double. Tim must let her believe that while he figures out how to escape the Cradle and keep Tam Fox alive. The odds are really against him with seven spider-like killers surrounding him but Tim goes to work just like Bruce himself would have. Who’s the immediate threat, which have what resources and who’s the strongest are questions he analyzes in mere seconds. Even Ra’s, watching from afar, knows Tim has already won this fight. Tam, with absolutely no training, was his biggest obstacle. She runs when Tim tells her to run but still gets caught by one of the Council members. Pru shows up unexpectedly and saves her then joins the fight along with the White Ghost.

Tim has never been so thankful for his full-coverage Red Robin suit when he must go one-on-one with Wanderer. The slightest touch on bare skin and you’re dead. He puts her down for just long enough to finish what he started – destroying the League of Assassins. From his computer access at the Cradle he overloads everything they have worldwide, including the building they’re in. Several of the Council, Tim, Tam and Pru (who is not as mute as we previously thought) are shown to have made it safely out. Ra’s is not as pissed off as Tim would like him to be but promises an eye for an eye. He’s going after Wayne Enterprises in retaliation. Everyone’s heading back to Gotham.

Bravo Chris Yost, this was a fantastic issue. Gone was the extremely angst-ridden Tim from previous issues and back was the boy trained by Bruce Wayne. In the issue Ra’s says. “Tim Drake is not Bruce Wayne. He isn’t Grayson or even Damian. Drake is different.” That’s true but he’s also never seemed more deserving of the cowl than right now. I still must hark on the fact that Tim says once again, “Batman is alive,” yet eight issues in we’ve only seen one you-can-barely-call-it piece of proof to that effect. I know the return of Batman is mostly being plotted elsewhere but it would be nice for Tim to be able to show more for his efforts. Though, if the series can keep up this level of satisfaction I won’t mind just watching Tim Drake be Tim Wayne.

BLACKEST NIGHT: WONDER WOMAN #2 (OF 3) – BL Wonder Woman is real, the kiss was not. Freaking illusions. That kiss is going down in history anyway.

JSA ALL-STARS #2 – I’m not even gonna start with the boobs. Was a Liberty Bell/Hourman second feature really necessary? Come to think of it, that artificial intelligence chick isn’t either.

SUICIDE SQUAD #67 – Basically just another issue of Secret Six but awesome nonetheless.

SUPERMAN: WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON #11 (OF 12) – One more issue to go. It’s not looking promising that this mini-series will deliver anything noteworthy in the end.

My pull list for this week:

ACTION COMICS #885
ADVENTURE COMICS #6
BATGIRL #6
BATMAN #695
BOOSTER GOLD #28
CATWOMAN #83 (Resurrected title, one issue only!)
POWER OF SHAZAM #48 (Resurrected title, one issue only!)
SECRET SIX #17

Which two should I review for DoubleDCoverage #42?

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