Weekly Pick-Ups 1/29/14

These are starting to become a "post the week later" type of thing. But here it is anyways. Lots of high ratings for each of these, except for one.
And the Harley Quinn one is a bonus with a backstory. Deanpool's comic store didn't get the Night of the Living Deadpool issue the day he went to pick it up, so he bought the Harley Quinn one just to get 5 issues anyways. He then found the Deadpool issue the next day at a different comic store. Either way, Harley Quinn will be added in here for fun anyways.
These were quite lengthy, so read some or read all! Enjoy! Look out for spoilers in this one. Deanpool didn't put out as many warnings as usual. 

Guardians of the Galaxy #11.NOW- As expected, this issue still acts to set up the plotline for the “Trial of Jean Grey” story despite being the so-called “second installment.” But it does work well to provide more explanation as to why the Guardians get tied in at all.

Not as much of an action-filled issue as the last one (Weekly Pick-Ups), but we get a lot of humor and good times out of the dialogue courtesy of Bendis. Peter Quill is getting himself into trouble, Rocket Raccoon is being his snide self, and Gamora and Angela are out weapon shopping. Peter Quill aka Starlord is reminded that his father is still searching the galaxy for him despite having his armies looking for the missing Thanos. Now, he has resorted to bounty hunters, shape-shifting bounty hunters to be precise. Gamora and Angela come to his rescue when they see the “obvious” shape shifter attempting to abduct Quill. Inside the Guardians’ ship, Tony transmits a long-range message to the Guardians thanking them for their hospitality when he stayed with them (from the first couple issues). We see Rocket poke fun at Tony about his inability to use the advanced tech, which is supposed to be Tony’s specialty. All the dialogue that Rocket and Tony share, even before this issue, are always fun to read. It’s not often you see Tony Stark meet his match in advanced technology knowledge AND snide humor.

Meanwhile, the galactic council recognizes that the Jean Grey that has reappeared on Earth is in fact part of the original members who have traveled forward in time to the present. Even though she has not actually committed these crimes yet, the Shi’ar empire still want this younger Jean Grey to answer for the crimes committed by the Jean Grey that became the Dark Phoenix and obliterated 11 planets. However, since King J-Son (Peter Quill’s father) made it a law to leave Earth alone, the Shi’ar must break this agreement momentarily to embark on a covert operation to bring young Jean Grey in for the galactic tribunal. Another important thing to note from this galactic meeting is that they acknowledge the fact that there was a space-time continuum tremor (the same tremor that has brought Angela into this universe). Though, like the rest of the universe, don’t know what the cause of this tremor was. While the Galaxy of the Guardians will be dealing with this “Trial of Jean Grey” arc in the coming months, they still leave reminders of the lingering question as to how Angela ended up in this universe and what is this space-time continuum tremor’s source?

The Shi'ar informing the council they'll be going after young Jean Grey.

Too late again Guardians.

But how do the Guardians get involved? Rocket craftily intercepted a signal from the Badoon planet that Angela and Gamora ransacked in the issue before and programmed it to alert them if Earth ever came up in the signal. After learning that the Shi’ar were going after Jean Grey, Peter believed that it might be a ploy by his father to use as an excuse to come to Earth (despite his new law to leave Earth alone). Once they see that a Shi’ar ship enter the Earth’s atmosphere, the Guardians decide to intervene. But as we learned at the end of All-New X-Men 22.NOW, they were too late.

Nothing to complain about with the art. For an issue that mainly consisted of a lot of talking heads, there were great expressive drawings for the characters. Even Groot and Drax get some love. Enjoyable issue for what’s been a very enjoyable series, only downside is that it didn’t move the story forward much… or at all. 8/10 shape-shifting bounty hunters.

Flash #27- So after the standalone issue from the new creative team in Flash #26, it looks like Barry is getting himself a new story arc with the familiar Buccaleto.

Deanpool just likes how Flash is drawn to show his super-speed.

This story looks like the refresh that The Flash series has needed. While it’s been quite solid the last two years, the stories and the characters just started feeling old. Deanpool enjoyed when the Rogues started making their appearances and how those stories went, but the “Gorilla City” arc just felt a bit more dragged out than it had to be. “Reverse Flash” was an interesting twist for the New 52’s version but also felt that it was dragged out for five issues when the juice of that arc was in the end. It’s been a while since Deanpool read those though, so maybe he’s just been hungry for a good Flash story since the last 2 were standalones. But overall, it’s worth mentioning that the way all the stories (before like issue #25) really intertwined with each other made the series very fun to read. It really shows the planning and scheming that went into creating some of these storylines so that there was continuity throughout the series and a lot of “cause and effect” type of situations.

Now with this new storyline starting up, it really looks to dig into the history of Central City and Barry Allen’s history as well. While it’s sad the old creative team who gave us those great Flash stories earlier are moving to Detective Comics, it looks like he’ll be preparing for it by putting Barry through a darker, more mystery driven story. The art in this issue compliments this darker tone compared to what we’ve seen in the past when Flash took on his more “colorful” rogues (pun intended). There’s an arcane sense of isolation centered on the mystery of Central City’s history. Even the colors give an older, more classical feel to the series.

Chroma and Tar Pit appearance.

The story starts with The Flash stopping a diamond heist by the unusual partnership of Chroma and Tar Pit. When Tar Pit causes a giant hole in the ground of Central City, Barry uncovers 17 dead bodies attributed to an old serial killer, the Broome Hill Butcher. We then see Barry Allen at the crime scene with other members of the police forensics team. You don’t always see the unmasked hero being the one at the crime scene, but it’s Barry Allen’s nature to look at the clues and evidence from a forensic point of view first before solving the crime as his alter ego. Just another one of the many things Deanpool appreciated from this issue. Despite growing up in Broome Hill, Barry has no recollection of this serial killer and becomes very invested in the case. Unfortunately, Captain Frye wants Barry to stay out of it. Of course Barry won’t listen. Things get interesting when Barry pieces the timeline together… the killer was in his neighborhood around the same time that his mother died. Another thing they learned when Barry matched the timelines of the victims with coinciding missing persons reports is that at least 6 of the murders had to come from someone else since the killer has been locked up for the last 10 years. It should be noted that all the victims had the same wound to the head, thus they suspected a copycat killer.

Barry goes to his father with this newfound evidence to give his father some hope that he’s one step closer to possibly finding the “real” killer of Nora Allen. For some background info, Barry’s father was found guilty of murdering his wife but Barry has refused to believe that his father was the killer. Since then, Barry has lived under the guardianship of Captain Frye. Barry’s main motivation for becoming a forensic scientist was to one day prove his father’s innocence. Upon hearing this news, Barry’s father told his son to leave the matter alone.

Buy the issue to find out what
The Flash is running from!

Barry then goes on to interrogate Hollis Holden (the Broome Hill Butcher) to see if he knew about this copycat killer. Hollis seems shaken and spooked, muttering that Barry shouldn’t go looking for him. His fear leads to him even attempting to commit suicide, but c’mon, you can’t jump to your death faster than Barry can catch you. After a quick run-in with Girder, one of the prisoners, Barry gets the name Archibald Dylan out of Holden. Things pick up when Barry gives this evidence to the captain. Captain Frye continues to tell Barry to stay off the case and to stop trying to find new solutions to his mother’s killer. He even reveals that he and Barry’s mother had history, which obviously led to upsetting Barry. Later we see Flash digging up the grave of Archibald Darryl, motivated that a discovery could change everything in his life. But what he finds… is a bit unexpected, in a supernatural kind of way.

The series takes on more of a serious tone as Barry takes on a case that hits closer to home. Deanpool is glad to see Buccellato writing on Flash for the time being. He has this story arc off to a great start and gets a 8.5/10 Broome Hill butchers.

Night of the Living Deadpool #2- Deadpool continues his journey for survival in a zombie-filled world. Last time we saw Deadpool he was saved by a group of survivors hoping to use an injured military member as leverage to get out of the quarantine zone. The story picks up quickly as the group soon realizes that the zombie outbreak has broken through the quarantined barrier. Deadpool learns that this group is composed of a military member who lost the rest of his unit, two small kids who are brother and sister, and the driver named Granma because she reminded the kids of their own grandmother. After seeing that the military base was not a safe place to hide out, the group seeks out a new location to set up camp. Along the way, Deadpool pokes fun at the typical settings that are used for refuge in popular zombie movies/shows like Walking Dead, Zombieland, and Shaun of the Dead. Settings like amusement parks, prisons, farms, bars, malls, and others were made fun of in the typical fourth-wall bending style that Deadpool does best.

Mall, farm, woods, amusement park, bar, prison: ALL REJECTED! Good one Deadpool.

After criticizing that the first issue of this mini-series followed the zombie-story formula, this issue seems to break away from the formula and focus more on making it more unique to Deadpool. One of the best aspects of the current Deadpool series from Marvel Now is the combination of Deadpool’s antics with tragic situations. In this issue, we can see Deadpool growing a bit of attachments to the young kids in the group who look up to him as a hero. When finally settling on a spot to camp for the night, Deadpool generously offers his share of the food for the night to be given to the kids. It wasn’t too much to make readers see it as a drastic change of character but did shed some light to Deadpool’s morality.

The events that followed this one best describe what we mean. When the kids wander off into the cemetery nearby (yeah it probably wasn’t the best idea to set up camp near a graveyard during a zombie apocalypse), it becomes clear that the kids have fallen victims to the virus as well. Deadpool leaves us with a touching moment when he admits he almost considered this group a family. As said on IGN, “when Wade’s slapstick façade finally cracks for a few panels, it’s a nice payoff.” The issue ends with Deadpool looking for a new place to take a refuge and stumbles upon an isolated island that appears to be free of the virus outbreak. A group of elderly ladies show up who are just as interested in the virus-free city as well. The twist? They’re crazy killers.

After two issues, it’s not easy to picture how this mini-series will end in the next two issues. It seems more likely that Deadpool ends up last man standing in a zombie world. No hints to a source of the virus, no hints to it coming from some Umbrella-like corporation Resident Evil-style. But still a very fun, humorous read. The art is still very impressive with Deadpool being the only character in color. With the changing of setting from a metropolis to the outdoors, there’s more emphasis on the creative use of shading with the gray pallete. It’s light on the eyes while keeping the dark, zombie-esque theme. 8/10 zombie children.

Batman and Robin Annual #2- The main advertisement in the recent issues leading up to this Annual issue was the reunion of the original Dynamic Duo, Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson as Batman and Robin. Now with all that’s happening in “Forever Evil” and post-Damian’s death, it was already safe to assume that this must be an issue that tells a past story or something to that nature. And it is! It’s a telling of Dick’s first experience working under Batman. While stories of Bruce and Dick’s early escapades have been told before, this is the first telling of these two working together in the New 52 timeline.

The story starts several months in the past with Nightwing and Robin (Damian) sitting on a rooftop as Dick tells stories of his early days as Robin. This then leads to the stories “present time” with Bruce finding and old memento of Damian’s that was meant to be for Dick. After Bruce calls Dick in to see why Damian would’ve left something for him, Dick goes on to tell his story of his first days as Robin.

No Dick, just no.

He starts off saying his first day as Robin was the second longest day of his life. We next see him dragging along a typical school day as he suffers through each of his classes. As soon as he gets out he races home he’s excited as ever for his first outing with Batman as the Boy Wonder. He even comes up with his own suit based on what he wore when he was apart of the Flying Graysons. But Batman disapproves, thank God. That first suit was hideous. Right away we can see that Batman wasn’t going to make things easy for Dick. He’s very strict on Dick in the Batmobile, laying out precise rules to follow his orders exactly. He even reminds him that he’s more of spectator if anything. In the first mission of the day, Dick spectates from a distance as Batman takes on countless thugs. When one finally sways his way, Robin sees a chance to prove himself to Batman by taking out a single, isolated person. Wrong again. Robin’s first night ends quickly as Batman takes him home for improvising under his strict rules. Batman goes so far as to fire Dick as Robin. Robin goes through another long, seemingly endless day of school, dubbing this day the longest day of his life. That night he hopes that Bruce can forgive his actions from the night before and allow him to tag along for the night, claiming to have learned his lesson about breaking Batman’s rules. Dick even tried withholding information obtained from the thug he beat up as a type of bribery to help his case. Batman turns him down, saying to forget that night ever happened.

That awkward ride home when you know you're in trouble. We've all been through it.

The action kicks up when we learn that Robin didn’t give Batman ALL of the information. He decides to confront the real robbery while Batman is occupied with the distraction. We get to finally see Dick beat up some thugs with ease until Tusk joins the fight. Luckily, not even Dick can pull a fast one on Batman as he shows up on the scene just in time to save Robin. Tusk, like any competent villains, threatens to shoot Dick as a distraction to catch Batman off-guard and knocks him out. But because just shooting both of them isn’t the villain fashion, Tusk puts both Batman and Robin in his helicopter to toss them into the river. Dick sees this as his shining moment and there’s a great sequence in which he uses his Flying Grayson magic to take out all of the henchmen and Tusk of the helicopter. The only thing that remained of Tusk is one of his tusks. When Robin takes on of the guns in the helicopter to threaten the pilot, Batman tells him that would be a mistake even he wouldn’t forgive. This then leads into a light-hearted moment as Robin keenly deduces how Batman figured out his ruse.

Dick Grayson taking to the skies as Robin.

As much as this is a Dick/Bruce story, Deanpool really appreciated how it all tied back to celebrate Damian’s death. Dick goes on to mention that Tusk was one of the only villains to seek vengeance against Robin, as most were always more interested in having an out for Batman. But one day, Dick never heard from Tusk again. As Dick concludes his story telling, he opens the box that Damian left for him. In the box was Tusk’s tusk and a note saying,

"... let me know if you need my help taking down your bad guys." The issue ends with a cheers to Damian, as a winner and a champion. Even after his death, Damian is still leaving his mark on the Bat family and the readers. This story can be enjoyed by Dick/Bruce fans as much as Dick/Damian fans. If there's any downside at all to this issue, it's that Deanpool would've liked to see Batman and Robin in more a retro outfit since this story was meant to take place in the past. Yet, the creative team opted for a New 52 type of look for the older Robin and left Batman with his New 52 look as well. They're cool and all, just would've given even more of a reminiscent vibe to the story.

Quite the trio.

This is a great story for Dick Grayson and Batman fans. The eagerness and determination that Dick shows really sheds light on his character and his time as Robin. Dick is frequently looked at as the light to Batman’s darkness and that lightness is captured in the artwork of this annual issue. The story is told through Dick’s eyes as a spirited, enthusiastic teenager wanting to fight crime alongside the Dark Knight. Many newer readers probably recognize Damian as the brattier, spunkier Robin, but Dick shows he was just as hardheaded. But like the rest of them, they all meant well and simply want to prove themselves while earning Batman’s trust. It left the notion that perhaps this personality is almost essential to survive as a Robin under Batman’s watch. 9/10 Tusk tusks.
And almost seems fitting to be the final Pick of the Week for the month of January, which featured a lot of Batman and Robin posts. Check the archive to the left to see for yourself.

Green Lantern Corps Annual #2- This is Deanpool’s first New 52 Green Lantern Corps comic. The advertisement for this issue seemed interesting enough to get, with the cover showing a group of villains in the traditional Green Lantern Corps pose. Deanpool didn’t know much about the events leading up to this issue, and was actually hoping it would be a standalone as an annual. Regardless, it still seemed like it would be an issue of a bunch of Green Lanterns vs. a crazy number of villains. And while it’s not exactly a wrong guess… it was just way too cluttered in the storytelling and the art for this issue to really be enjoyable. All this, and the end if left unfinished meaning it will likely continue onto Green Lantern Corps’ next couple issues and/or the other Lantern titles. Then again, if they chose to finish the story all in this Annual issue, then it would’ve probably felt even more rushed and jumbled. The art was okay, there are some moments that look good on the page and others that didn’t appear to be given as much time and detail.

Yay, Hal Jordan and John Stewart star in this issue!

There were good moments within the issue, but they were all overshadowed by the confusing time jumps/flashbacks/"build-up to the present story" as the reader is forced to keep track of the timeline. With the jumbled timelines, it’s difficult to give a synopsis without sounding just as confusing as the issue so Deanpool will resort to the highlights. There are origins for the various Sciencell villains that are familiar to Green Lantern stories that have seemed to form an alliance. Each of these villain’s origin story takes place at different times and are all referred to relative to the present timeline. The “present” follows Hal Jordan on Mogo as he and other Green Lanterns attack this group of Sciencell villains. Meanwhile, in the recent past, Jon Stewart is with another group of Lanterns facing off against a massive Khund armada in the middle of space. The Lanterns are placed at a disadvantage when the Khund use technology based off Relic’s weapons, which essentially sucks the Lanterns of their power rendering them powerless in their regular form. For the third element of this story, we see (again when the story shifts to the past) that the Durlans, an alien shape-shifting race, are masterminds behind all the conflict, have made an arrangement to work with the Khund and are out to set up other alliances with others that oppose the Green Lanterns. After a couple more bad guy origins that get old after a while,  we get put back in the present as Hal Jordan inspects a crashed ship from the group of villains on Mogo, which turns out to have John Stewart and the rest of his Lantern crew inside. The question here, if you’re still somehow following, is how did they end up there if the last time they were seen the Khund were capturing them? In ANOTHER flashback, once again, the Sciencell prisoners (the group of villains) have declined the Durlan’s offer in their fight against the Lanterns and deemed that the Durlans can’t be trusted. Rather than siding with the Durlans, this group of Sciencell escapees decide to fight alongside the Lanterns. We learn from Stewart that this group escapees help John Stewart and his crew escape, which explains why/how John and his group ended up in the ship that Hal found them in. Finally things start to come full circle in all this nonsense.

Durlan's failed attempt to recruit the Sciencell group.

Hal looks a little too excited to see John in his underwear. Doesn't John know to wear clothes under the suit?!

"Enemy of my enemy is my friend."

Not done yet, but almost. We’re all in the present now. All the timelines and origins have converged. John insists that Hal accept the alliance with the Sciencell escapees, relating back to his days in Afghanistan where it’s better to be fighting with local warlords to take down the Taliban rather than fighting against both the warlords and the Taliban. Nice touch adding John’s background into the conversation. Hal doesn’t trust them, but still agrees. His only stipulation: each escapee is paired with a Lantern. Their first task, find a Durlan Green Lantern who was apart of a covert branch of the Corps.

Plus side: Seeing a re-introduction of villains that don’t have a power ring, some epic battles especially the space one with John Stewart, the inclusion of a lot characters that was expected for an Annual sized issue, when things do come together it feels like a good, intriguing story on a cosmic scale. Minus side: Too many jumps to and from the present or the time shifts not used to best tell the story, poor pacing, not every origin story was appealing, complex storytelling for the many pieces going on in this story that really took away from the reading experience. 6/10 villain origin flashbacks from Deanpool.

Harley Quinn #2- The bonus pick-up! Let's try to keep it short. This series continues to be a fun read. Harley Quinn continues being her mischievous yet psychotic self. The issue centers around Harley's effort to save a pound full of animals that will otherwise be euthanized if they are not adopted. After failing to legally adopt the countless animals, she decides to call her good friend Poison Ivy for help. Along the way, Harley encounters another assassin out to collect the bounty on Harley's head but is handled with ease and fed to Harley's new ravenous pets. Harley reveals that she's dealt with these bounty hunters frequently beyond the two we've seen in the first two issues. We also learn from Poison Ivy that the Harley's bounty is no secret to the villain/bounty hunter/bad guy underworld, yet neither Ivy nor Harley have learned who is behind it.

Freeing animals and fighting off bounty hunters. The read was as fun as it looks.

Sike.

In the beginning of the issue, it appears as if Harley is reunited with her longtime partner Mr. J (Joker), but it is merely a wax figure. For one thing, the Joker looked like the more popular version of his character in the purple suit and white face as opposed to the way he appeared in the "Death of the Family" event when he returned in Batman. Secondly, as readers we want to see Harley Quinn grow more as her own character rather than fall back to the relationship she had with the Joker. It was just a tease in good ol' Harley-style fun. Art continues to be just as playful and colorful as Harley's personality. Oh and there's a couple more intimate scenes shared between Harley and Poison Ivy that have people wondering if they're in some sort of relationship. It's not the first time that this theory has surfaced and the creative team certainly tip-toe around the idea, but it's not that big of a deal to Deanpool.

BFF's? Or more? Who cares? They're a fun duo to read.

The issue was a real page-turner that shows that this series can continue to have some worthy reads. And at a cover price of 2.99 when most of DC New 52 issues are around 3.99, it's not so heavy to be added in a pick up now and then to liven up your collection. 8/10 freed and non-euthanized animals.

Yeah, the reviews were a bit long for this one. Two of them were Annual-sized issues with a lot of content. But Deanpool hopes the pictures help make the read easier and more appealing. Let's wrap it up with a trademark closing picture. And it's quite hilarious! Everyone in the Guardians of the Galaxy is redrawn as Rocket Raccoon and Rocket gets redrawn as a human, one that looks like Wolverine actually. This Samnee variant is priceless!