Weekly Pick-Ups 2/05/14

There were 11 comics reviewed this past week. Apologies for lagging longer than a full week, but there were some great books this week that deserved a lot of love in their reviews. Don't forget to also check the Marvel Now #1 issues at the link at the bottom. Enjoy the reviews!

UPDATE: Experimenting with some possible spoiler images without using photoshop.

Here's your SPOILER warning. (Deanpool should consider making an image for this)

Forever Evil #5

What we've been waiting for!

The 5th out of 7 issues for this now 5 month long DC event. When we last left off, Power Ring and his group of villains were crashing the party where Batman and Catwoman had an awkward encounter with Lex and his Injustice League at a Wayne Tech facility. Oh and Sinestro showed up too due to Batman using the yellow power ring. But now in this 5th issue we finally get some action and fight! It took them 4 issues of build up but now we finally get our first real showdown with Lex's group of villains + Batman and Catwoman vs the Crime Syndicate's group of villains As advertised, and expected, Batman must make an unlikely alliance with Lex and his crew to fight off the likes of Giganta, Shadow Thief, Copperhead, and Deathstroke. Meanwhile, Sinestro gives Power Ring a beating, seemingly taking out all his anger towards Hal Jordan toward this Green Lantern doppleganger.

Though it's strange, Deanpool found himself rooting for both Sinestro and Power Ring. He wanted to see Sinestro beat the crap out of one of the member's of the Crime Syndicate, arguably the weakest member. But Sinestro's rage and evil nature toward Power Ring wasn't easy to support either. He's a yellow lantern, his power stems from fear. Harold Jordan as Power Ring is a wimp, full of fear. Wasn't really much of a match up. We already learned Power Ring's origins in past issues and how the ring uses Harold Jordan as a host like a symbiote would. It consumes him and causes him pain, causes him to be afraid. After Sinestro ruthlessly overpowered Power Ring, and after Power Ring's worthy attempt to fight back, he cut the arm off of Harold... separating him from the ring so he could finally be at peace. But that still didn't stop Sinestro from killing him. Woot! One member of the Crime Syndicate down, seven more to go! There's a catch though. Just like a Green Lantern's ring finds a new host when a Lantern dies, this Power Ring is now on the search for a new host. If it's bound to picking someone from this Earth-1 universe, it could become a real game-changer for Forever Evil or even post-Forever Evil. But this isn't like a typical Green Lantern ring. It's practically a curse. It could make a good person evil, or possibly make an evil villain even stronger if it can unlock its true potential. Let's be real, Harold wasn't an example of using the ring to its fullest potential. He was too scared to use it.

Sinestro was just ruthless on Power Ring. We loved it, but we didn't. But it was still awesome.

Back with Batman and Lex. You have your couple panels where they both discuss mid-battle that they don't trust each other. Then subsequently save each other's butts. Though it comes to a point when Deathstroke has Lex Luthor at gunpoint. But we all know Slade Wilson is all about the money, all about the job. He explains he's only on the Crime Syndicate's payroll because he knows they're the superior party that will be able to pay him more than enough for his services. The clever Lex explains to Deathstroke that if the Syndicate successfully conquer the world and rid it of all its heroes, there would be no need for bounty hunters anymore. No need for the hunt, no need for people like Deathstroke in their new world. Deathstroke's a smart man, he switched sides, proving his loyalty by shooting Copperhead in his copper head. Two deaths in one issue, things must be escalating. The rest of the Injustice League capitalize on this opportunity and knock out the rest of Syndicate's villains. Of course, Deathstroke still expects to be paid handsomely by Lex at the end of all this, but Deanpool is more than excited to be rooting for Deathstroke in the coming issues.

John's small interactions
between the villains make
this group so fascinating.

When all the action settles, it's now time to come up with the next plan of attack. Sinestro's business on Earth is done, he was simply responding to Batman's activation of a yellow ring. Like the rest of us readers, he ponders on how great of a yellow lantern Batman could've been if he'd embraced the yellow ring's powers that he craves and fears. Sinestro pointed out that Batman didn't truly accept the ring, and thus allowed Power Ring to overpower him and destroy the ring. Anyways, Lex once again recruits another powerhouse to his team. He recognizes that Sinestro is arguably the most powerful villain amongst them and knows he'll need all the help he can get when taking on the Crime Syndicate. Plus, he already has taken out one of them on his own. Lex appeals to Sinestro's ego and desire to be a better Lantern and better protector than Hal Jordan. Let it be known, Hal Jordan wasn't caught up in any of this "Trinity War" stuff as he was dealing with other Green Lantern duties. Sinestro sees this as an opportunity to outshine Hal Jordan by rescuing the Earth from the evil Syndicate. The events following were both funny and important for the upcoming chapters.

Batman wants to take lead of this HIGHLY unlikely group that now features: Lex, Batman, Catwoman, Deathstroke, Black Manta, Captain Cold, Black Adam, Bizarro, and now Sinestro. Instead of taking on the Crime Syndicate head on first, his first priority is to rescue Nightwing... who everyone in the room knows is Dick Grayson thanks to the Syndicate. There's an awesome panel of 5 of the Lex's heavy hitters looking down at Batman, knowing he's in no position to call the shots. Batman may be emotionally invested due to Dick Grayson being in danger, but luckily Catwoman is there to be the voice of reason, telling him he's outnumbered, overpowered and should follow their lead for this one. It's not often we see Batman struggle to maintain order and control in any group he's apart of. We can probably assume Batman will make a power move at the opportune moment, but it'll be interesting to see how he works with this group.

As exciting as this issue was, the top two images (which both share one page)
are probably the best scenes out of the whole issue. 

The last thing that should be touched upon, Ultraman and Superwoman are seen raiding Bruce's Bat-Cave for Bruce's hidden stash of kryptonite. It's obvious that Ultraman has grown weaker and was betting on Bruce's stash to give him some strength as it's likely the last bit of kryptonite left on Earth. As a reminder, Ultraman snorts kryptonite for power. Yeah he's almost the opposite of Superman in everyway except in appearance. Owlman shows up, to everyone's surprise. While Ultraman and Superwoman accuse him of spying, he replies he is simply there to gain information as to why Bruce Wayne gains so much motivation and drive from his parents. Somehow Owlman becomes an even more interesting character. It's already clear he has his own agenda in mind that's different from Ultraman's, and Deanpool is finding it harder to see him as a full-on supervillain. He feels a connection toward Dick Grayson and is the only reason Dick is still alive up to this point, and now is observing the Bat-Cave to learn more about Bruce Wayne's character. What's he trying to do? One more thing, the Crime Syndicate all meet up after learning about the death of Power Ring. In the closing pages, they look off into the horizon as some weird red light appears. Ultraman hints that it is a sign that the "creature" that drove them out of their world, Earth-3, may have found its way to this one. There's still no sign, hint, or clue as to who/what this creature is... but there's no doubt it will be a big game changer if it has the Crime Syndicate's boots shaking.

Attention Justice League: The Crime Sydnicate is afraid of red lightning.

Art continues to be fantastic. The artistic talents are on full display as we get a blend of fighting scenes and dramatic talking scenes. We find ourselves intrigued with this group of villains and it's sad to expect to only see them as a somewhat cohesive team for likely only one more issue. The interaction between these villains continue deliver some of the most interesting moments as Johns realy puts the spotlight on making these villains be just as compelling as the heroes. With only two issues left, Forever Evil is finally picking up a lot of speed and likely to have its big climax at the end of the next issue. This is a good sign for the crossovers like Justice League and Justice League of America as those are likely to pick up the pace to keep up with this event. Can't wait to see what happens next or see who dies next?! Death tracker: Power Ring, Copperhead. Not like anyone will miss Copperhead. 9/10 Injustice League members, literally!

Batman Black and White #6

The last installment of Batman: Black and White. And it ends on a pretty good note. 5 stories, can't say all 5 of them were superb, but there were 2 that Deanpool would like to talk about.

The first one, Clay, follows Dick Grayson early in his career as Robin. Old-school story with old-school costumes. Return of Robin in the underwear tights and Batman with underwear over the tights. Funny how Deanpool was complaining about the lack of this old-school feel in the Batman Annual #2 last week. We get it here now! Anyways, Robin and his alter ego, Dick Grayson, are both going through a hard time. Dick is getting bullied in school for attending a fancy, private school that Bruce can pay for despite his circus upbringing. As Robin, the police are looking at him as if he's too young, too small, too inexperienced to be tagging along fighting crime alongside Batman.

The mission for this story is to take on Clayface, not much of a surprise with the title, who has taken over one of Gotham's theatre. For some background info: Clayface's alter ego was an actor before the whole Clayface incident. Clayface goes on about how he used to be an applauded actor as his character is always looking for praise and approval, he essentially acts as physical resemblance of this constant theme of acceptance. When Batman and Robin confront Clayface in combat, Batman gets knocked down after attempting his usual strategy against Clayface. This is where Robin gets to shine. He mentions that one must not always depend on other's approval as it leaves you open to others also bringing you down. Robin, on the other hand, relies on his own belief in himself. He singlehandedly brings Clayface to pieces and delivers the head to Officer Gordon. A nice, short story about believing in yourself and to not let others bring you down courtesy of Robin aka Dick Grayson.

Lots of interesting Dick Grayson stories recently. A very relatable and likeable character for readers of all ages.

And how often do we see Batman offer his cape?!

The other story that really stuck with Deanpool was "She Lies At Midnite." It opens with Catwoman laying in a hospital bed and Batman reveals to the reader that she is crippled. To many readers, and to Batman, it's a familiar scene that reminds us of what happened to Barbara Gordon. You can bet it definitely struck a nerve in the Dark Knight. Long story short, Batman lets his emotional shield down and goes into a rage on the gang members he believes are responsible. He meets up with another police member, Slam Bradley, who's also known to be very close with Selina Kyle aka Catwoman. Turns out it was all a ruse by Catwoman to have Batman and Bradley to do the heavy lifting/dealing out the punishment, while she sneaks into the gang's hideouts and to rob them. It's almost expected from Catwoman, even Batman should've known better. He knows that she knows how much the Barbara Gordon incident affected him. But she does make a point: if she simply asked Batman for help taking care of these bad guys (for the record, her beef with these guys were that they were trafficking young Russian girls, so it's not random), he would've simply put it at the bottom of the list as he focused on higher priority cases such as Joker, Two-Face, or whoever else from Batman's list of rogues. Now this, Batman cannot deny. He lets out his anger on the wall next to Catwoman, but never lays a hand on her. The "honorable" Catwoman knows she still got caught and knows she must be turned in. Then probably the funniest scene in the whole issue comes up when Batman and Catwoman are seen in the Batmobile, Catwoman is handcuffed and obviously on her way to GCPD. She asks Batman if they can ice cream on the way... and Batman agrees.

It's classic, it's funny, and it really sheds some light on the weird relationship that Batman and Catwoman have on each other. But it also really does a good job of portraying Catwoman. We love her despite her antics, much like Batman. In the beginning of the issue, Batman is describing Catwoman with words like "beautiful" and what not. Plus the emotional outburst he unleashed on each of the gang members. It's clear that he has feelings about her, and even states "if only one of them would change, we could share a life together." They know each other so well, they know how the other thinks. Catwoman knew how to get Batman to help, Batman knew exactly where Catwoman would be. Also, how about some applause for the title "She Lies At Midnite." While we're led to believe it refers to Selina Kyle lying on the hospital bed that night, it's actually alluding to her lying and putting on this performance in Batman's face. It's these type of clever, mini-stories that Deanpool expects and enjoy from the Black and White series. Told within a few pages, not too short, not too long.

This image = Batman & Catwoman's relationship.

The other stories were just okay to Deanpool. One dealt with Bruce's love life and how he can seem to find the right balance between his life as Batman and Bruce Wayne. Or that Bruce is more of an act/alter ego and Batman is the real life he lives for. It's nice short story, but perhaps it being told from one of the girl's perspective (Ms. Price) didn't leave as a good of an impression. Though it was fun to see this group of girl's gossip about Bruce Wayne as some mysterious playboy, when as a reader we see his Batman persona as much more interesting. Another one was told from the point of view of a low-life criminal who kept finding himself on the wrong side of Batman's fists. Again, the other POV probably took away from truly enjoying the story, but it was a clever telling that the only way to avoid Batman's wrath is to die... at least for this character. Don't know why he couldn't just stop being a criminal, but it also shows his progression from low-level crimes to larger illegal acts like getting tied in with Joker. Cleverly told story from a criminal character's point of view, just not Deanpool's favorite. Now the worst story in Deanpool's mind was one called "Hiding in Plain Sight." It had a really old-school, Golden Age feel to it, drawings and dialogue and all. But it was just way too lengthy, too wordy, and too much for a story that wasn't that good. It was just plain disappointing. Would've loved to see another story, or more pages for the other stories. The only positive from this story was seeing more of the detective side of Batman. But as mentioned, it was very old-school detective work.

Just some shots from each of the other stories. One of the best features of these Black and White issues is the diversity of the artwork for each story. Everyone has a preference on drawing the Dark Knight.

So sad to see the last of these issues for this series, they really are a nice change of pace after reading seemingly endless storylines that last multiple issues in other comic series. Plus the different artwork and entertaining short stories. Deanpool would have to say that the first half of these issues had some of the better stories, but if you were to get a trade paperback that is bound to come out in the coming months containing all these issues and stories, he'd highly recommend it for all Batman fans. This final issue gets a 8/10 Bruce Wayne girlfriends because the guy has had that much times like 100.

Iron Man #21

The prologues are a handy tool for comic issues. They briefly recap what happened in previous issues or give necessary background on the current story arc. It also acts as a clever way to introduce ideas that haven't been addressed yet. In this issue, we're reminded of Tony's Troy plan to make cities with built-in defenses to ensure the survival of humanity. But we're also introduced to the idea that Tony may be avoiding the situation of his brother's existence and his parents not being his biological ones by working on this Troy project instead. That it's a distraction. Oh if you still don't know about Tony's brother, sorry we've left it for spoilers long enough, now it just feels like it's common knowledge four months into it. But yeah, even in the beginning of the issue, Arno presents the idea of looking for Tony's biological parents but Tony brushes it off to focus on the current issues. Which do take precedence in this case. Mandarin rings have been placing bombs throughout Mandarin City, the first to undergo Tony's project. But Tony has placed his focus on hunting down Abigail, who has the Incinerator ring. Oh, just for a side note, apparently Tony has a giant space platform type thing. Almost like his own watchtower.

A majority of the middle section of the issue is devoted to Abigail Burns explaining her growing interest in Mandarin City. While this part seemed boring to Deanpool at first, it did prove useful to develop Abigail into a more dynamic character. Rather than merely being a radical activist driven on taking down Tony Stark, she begins to soften up a bit after observing the new and improved Mandarin City. She feels that the city is beginning to have potential for a better future, but the only problem is that she doesn't trust Tony Stark being the organizer behind it. She becomes torn when it comes to destroying the city and looks to her ring to inform her for reasons why it should be torn down. We learn later that this self-doubt plays a role later in the issue. She then meets up with the two other rings we've been exposed to thus far: the Remaker and new Inhuman, Victor (from Iron Man #20.INH). However this is the first time we see the man with the Remaker's ring. We also get a bit of background from him: he inherited Mandarin City after Mandarin died, he wanted to rebuild the city for himself in his own vision. Sounds like the proper motivation to be against Tony Stark, the lone criteria to Mandarin ring's host. He is also revealed as the one who is planting bombs throughout the city, and plans to use an even bigger one to nuke the city in order start a new one.

Three out of ten Mandarin rings accounted for now. Who are the hosts of the other seven?!

Phoenix and Lex Luthor
appearance. Oh wait,
just kidding.

Abigail is against the idea of harming innocent civilians and comes to the realization that the "necessary will" that the rings sought out was simply one that would seek vengeance on Tony Stark. Nothing to do with an individual's character or personality. She changes sides and turns on the Remaker, but he is still able to launch his nuke. During all of this, Tony actually is present in a stealth Iron Man suit. However, his position is compromised when all of the Mandarin rings go into combat mode. His first priority is to destroy the nuke since it's projected to hit the center of the city, which also happens to be where Arno is set up. The Inhuman Victor keeps Tony from interfering with nuke, leaving it up to the Iron Man drones sent by Arno. But it seems that it is too late. We see Arno launch a program before the nuke hits, but it ultimately does hit the building.

It's unclear if Arno got out (though Deanpool is betting that last program was an escape plan), but it's a definite cliff-hanger that leaves readers wondering if Arno's first story arc as a character ends up being his last. Or what about Abigail Burns? Has she officially jumped ship to Tony's side or will she simply take herself out of the equation? Only one issue left for this story arc, but it doesn't seem like the Mandarin ring story will end in more issue. Might turn out to be like the "Origin of Tony Stark" arc and actually take up two separate, but connected, arcs. Speaking of that origin arc, how long will Tony be in denial about his parents? Anyways, the art continues to be good as it has been for the last few issues. Overall the issue focused on more dialogue other than the last few pages. With all this ring talk, Deanpool sometimes believes he's reading a Green Lantern story. 7.5/10 Green Lant... Mandarin rings.

New Avengers #14

Same story,
different players.

This issue made Deanpool pull a double take. The first couple pages start off almost identically to the previous issue. Reed Richards talking about how everything dies and he accepts it blah blah. But he's speaking to another alternate version of the Illuminati. This time featuring: Dr. Doom, Yellow Jacket, Male and Female Captain Britain, Iron Man, Emma Frost, Black Panther, and Reed Richards. Deanpool loves seeing these alternate versions, imagining how these members came together or who'd they replace in regards to the group that we follow. But this issue almost follows the exact same formula that we saw in the previous issue when we saw an alternate Illuminati group: the team goes to the incursion point, cue the classic incursion picture, and then they see another Earth crashing towards theirs.

Classic "incursion point" picture.

And as always, a group of beings come toward their Earth seemingly attacking all its defenders. They don't appear to be the same Black Priests right away, but it has been revealed that there are other beings interested in controlling multiple Earth's just like the Black Priests. In this alternate universe, the incursion point occurs on a mutant homeland. Thus we see the Illuminati and mutants both fighting off "Sidera Maris, the forerunners of Mapmakers." Essentially they are pawns that pave the way for their real masters, or the really bad dudes. These Mapmakers begin attacking the heroes, reshaping their DNA to give them the best tactical advantage against them. The Illuminati heroes don't back down and attack these Mapmakers. At this point, the artwork gets really chaotic, and not necessarily in a good way. While it does give a sense of disorder and madness, it looks more confusing than appealing. Most of the art pertaining to the heroes and mutants looked rather muddy and emotionless. The Mapmakers and other aliens are drawn well and interestingly, but not so much the human figures. Anyway, it's expected that we see the same fate that the alternate Illuminati in the previous issue suffered, but a satisfying surprise comes when Dr. Doom actually manages to dismantle one and destroy it. According to one of the Mapmakers, this one was actually one of the oldest ones among them. Okay, this particular moment was drawn well too, but it's really the only exception. However, like the rest of his comrades, Dr. Doom is violently killed. Using the technology that Richards built to observe other multiverses, we see that the actual Illuminati group is closely examining this event. Reed Richards seems traumatized from this particular event, seeing his good friend, and long time villain, Victor von Doom killed in action. Wonder if this will take a toll to his psyche, or make him question his abilities in preparing a defense against this type of invasion.

Hard not to grow attached to these alternate groups, despite knowing they're going to die.

Meanwhile, we learn more of Dr. Strange's personal venture in some spirit world. He's still in his meditation state, unknowing of anything going on with the rest of the Illuminati, but he's in his own search for power to prepare against a future incursion. We see him in some dark, strange spirit underworld. Full of demons and fiendish looking characters. As evil as it all looked, Deanpool admits that this part was drawn well. We learn that the particular location is called the "Sinner's Market." Strange inquires where he could acquire enough power to move worlds, understanding the magnitude of power that beings like the Black Priests may present. When presented to the person, or being or whatever it is, that can grant him this power, it comes at a price. 1/5 of his soul for 1/5 of a God's power. By the end of the issue, we see Dr. Strange barter all of his soul for ALL the power of a God.

Sorcerer Supreme is about to reach an all-new level of supreme.

For an issue that appeared to nothing more than a repeat of the previous issue, it turned out to be that and more. We learn from this observed multiverse that there are multiple beings that look to conquer multiple Earths and all are seemingly invincible. Though we do see one fall at the hands of Dr. Doom. Dr. Strange, on the other hand, has now acquired the power of a God, but will his arrangement come back to haunt him? Absolute power corrupts absolutely... Very interesting to see where the series will go next as it inches its way through this current arc. Though, let's hope we don't spend another issue watching another alternate reality. They've been fun to read in the last 2 issues, but it gets repetitive and we get the point. They all inevitably die. Let's see the Illuminati group we pay to read about take some action now, other than Dr. Strange doing his thing in the spirit world. 7.5/10 Sidera Maris because it's cool to say. 

Batman: Joker’s Daughter #1 (One-Shot)

There was so much hype around the Joker's Daughter character during DC's Villain's month. Too bad that's all it was... hype. Her Villain's month issue turned out to be as dysfunctional as her character. A whole lot of hype for a not as interesting character. So Deanpool was pretty skeptical about getting this One-Shot. But surprisingly, it seemed to address every problem Deanpool had with the origin issue.

First off, the villain's origin issue was just all over the place. We couldn't get an idea of what her purpose was other than that she finds Joker's face--not mask, actual face-- and puts it on. She then goes on to take over Gotham's Underground, branding the face's of men, and whatever else happened that Deanpool can't exactly remember. No real origin, can't really understand her purpose, all we got was a sick, twisted character. How does this issue fix that? Well believe it or not, it sticks to these same points. Okay let's just go into the summary.

She starts off on a search for her "real father," the Joker. She really believes and adopts the story that the mask was meant to find her, and she would be the perfect daughter to the Joker. There was a brilliant analogy on IGN to Smeagol in The Ring to Duela Dent with Joker's face. She has become obsessed with mask and this persona that she has created. In her search, she attempts to trick Batman into doing the dirty work for her but Batman saw right through the ruse and brings her to the place where Joker was last seen. His intention was to get her to realize that her antics need to come to an end after seeing where the Joker was assumed to die. She attempts to fight him, but Batman was hesitant to beat on a child. Instead he cleverly lures her out to where he can capture her and turn her into the police. Batman also brings up the idea that the mask is corrupting the person (Duela), influencing her to be who she wants to be when she wears it. <--Keep this idea in mind as we go through the rest of issue.

Quite the contrary.

Now, this chick is messed up in the head so she ignored the pain of getting herself out of handcuffs and manages to escape from the police. After seriously injuring, but not killing, the police officers she goes to Arkham Asylum to turn herself in. Just a couple minor details, the cops who were supposed to take her in kept mentioning how she may look like the Joker, but is just a kid and can't be anywhere as evil as the Joker. Also, she couldn't find it in herself to kill the two officers despite violently injuring them. Kinda makes you doubt if she really can be anything like the Joker, who wouldn't hesitate to kill someone if he needed to. However, at the asylum we see her kill one of the orderlies. This particular one was present during Joker's "Death in the Family" run where Joker took over Arkham Asylum and criticized Joker's Daughter for being nothing more than a bad impersonator of the real madman. He goes so far as to say that she is a fake and that even the Joker wouldn't accept her, but likely kill her too. Yeah, well she showed him by taking a chunk out of his side and killing him. Way to be a hero guy, you survive the Joker just to die at the hands (or staff we should say) of Joker's Daughter.

A real interesting revelation comes when she is exploring the rest of Arkham. If you've read Batman Annual #2 some months ago, you'll remember the Anchoress, the first inmate at Arkham Asylum. She believes that the asylum truly was meant to be a place of healing and recovery before it turned into a jailhouse for Batman's darker villains. When the two run into each other, Anchoress (and the readers) get a glimpse of Joker's Daughter "true origin." It is revealed that it is all just a ruse. A mask under masks. Anchoress accuses her of being a fake and a liar. We see through flashbacks that Joker's Daughter, or Duela, has taken up fake histories and fake personalities of other girls. She steals the grief and tragedies from others and sew them into her own back story. It's unclear if this girl even know who she truly is. Interesting to see an Anchoress appearance, but Deanpool guesses it could've been expected since this issue is written by Marguerite Bennett, who also wrote that Annual issue. But more importantly this uncovers why Duela/Joker's Daughter/whatever we should call her now would take up this persona of being Joker's Daughter. It's in her nature, like an actress, to adopt whatever character she sees fit. She admits to having a normal life, a common one with loving parents. She had to find tragic backgrounds and make them her own. This mask brings a whole new persona that she has put it upon herself to assume. Pretty on point with what Batman figured earlier as well.

A look into the different tragedies she uses to forge her own fake background.

She actually finishes the issue creepier
than how she she started it.

The last major part of this story consists of Joker's Daughter visiting the Dollmaker to permanently sew the Joker's face onto her own. It's really creepy, and the artists don't hold back in showing the grotesque features of her face. She even takes Joker's blood and infuses it within her own veins. If you haven't accepted yet, by this point it's clear that she is crazy, twisted, and sick. The Dollmaker does manage to shed even more light on her personality though. He mentions that she would corrupt any philosophy, that she is merely a character looking to kill in the name of something bigger than herself. This idea gets revisited in the closing pages when she has her own little internal monologue. After a whole issue's worth of criticism and condemnation, she admits that a normal, ordinary life wasn't enough for her. She wanted an audience, glory, adoration, a story of her own. Well the Joker is one of the biggest legends in Gotham, the perfect candidate for a backstory to assume. If there's any quote that can sum up her corrupted mindset it's "...Wouldn't it be better to serve as a prophet in Hell." as opposed to continuing to lead an average, everyday life. She accepts her new face like a crown with the ambition of becoming the new face (or old face if you think about it) of evil for Gotham. It's almost a fitting that a girl who would put on a face she found in the sewers to be someone seemingly without her own identity. A pathological liar who believes she's living her own lies. Now the twist, because we readers love twists. The story ends with a her finding a note saying, "Hello Beautiful" hinting that it is from the Joker, but importantly that the Joker still exists.

To address the Joker's existence, Joker's Daughter left a similar note with similar handwriting for Batman in the beginning of the issue to trick him into searching for the Joker. Her note said "Miss Me?" but it could be possible that she had written this one as well and her cat just happened to find it. Also when she attacked Batman she shouted "Hello Beautiful." Not discouraging the idea that Joker may still be alive because Deanpool definitely wants him to make a future appearance again. But if there's anything to take away from this issue it's that Joker's Daughter is insane and Deanpool wouldn't put it past her to "forget" about a note that she wrote herself if it helps keep her delusion alive that Joker is out there somewhere waiting to accept her in open arms. Hey with Harley Quinn going solo it would actually be cool to see. But not all things are as they appear with Joker's Daughter.

Note on the left from Joker's Daughter to Batman. Note on the right from a mystery person.

You be the judge: Is it really from Joker? Joker's Daughter? Or is her cat messing with her, jk.

The art is as disturbing as her character. Lot of dark settings: asylum, caves, sewers, etc so the darker palette seems to match her personality. Not to mention how she disturbingly keeps referring to Joker as "Daddy." Overall it was a surprisingly good read if you don't mind the eerie, psychotic tone to it. All the criticisms from Batman, Anchoress, the police, workers at the asylum, and the Dollmaker all seem to echo the sentiments of everyone who read the Villain's Month one-shot issue of her. She really did seem nothing more than a character looking for a reason to kill with a mysterious origin that wasn't addressed. Well now she's a character with multiple fake histories that mask her own who is adopting Joker's face as a new role to become the new evil of Gotham. Now she comes off just as dangerous and demented as the Joker, if not more so. As much as we got some questions answered, even more are raised by the end of this issue. We know she's expected to appear in the upcoming weekly series Batman Eternal but now she's going into it a much more interesting character that can potentially cause a lot of havoc for the Bat characters. Deanpool hopes her character rises in popularity so that her Villain's Month 3D issue rises in value, and this shows some promise for that! This issue may not hold the same monetary value as the 3D Joker's Daughter issue, but the one-shot definitely delivers a lot more content worth reading. 9/10 3D cover issues because they're due to release again in the near future.

Detective Comics #28

It's surprising that Deanpool actually continued this story in Detective Comics. Picking up where things left off in the previous installment, we see Batman in an asylum being treated by Scarecrow, Dr. Freeze, Merry-Maker, Professor Pyg, and Harley Quinn. Definitely an interesting medical staff. If you read Detective Comics #27 you'd know that this is also some alternate delusion where the inmates have taken over Arkham Asylum. Everyone else in Gotham is under the same mass delusion that they are all living in a perfect world. Batman, however, has deduced that it has all been a delusion. Again, we see certain panels alternate between the bright-looking illusion of Gotham and the dark reality. A lot of the beginning of the issue recaps what happened in the previous issue to bring readers up to speed. It's still not clear what Scarecrow plans to do with Batman, but he doesn't bother unmasking him or even taking off his suit. Only thing he took away was the utility belt. Smart, but there's more than enough tech in the Batsuit for Bruce to get himself out. We get our second reference to the Batman Annual #2 this week (first was Joker's Daughter above) as Batman reminds readers of how he was hired to test the security of Arkham Asylum by attempting to break out himself. So he has all the experience he needs to break out of Arkham. Along the way, Batman encounters some B-list (more like C-list) Bat villains: Zsasz, Flamingo, and Nocturna. Funny that Professor Pyg and Flamingo show appear after Deanpool finishes reading Batman and Robin: Batman Reborn.

Oh the possibilities of 
Batman and Catbird.

Batman comes to the conclusion that Scarecrow's delusion allows people to see what they want to see and that they reject anything undesirable. Sometimes in a violent manner. There's an example of this through a flashback when Catbird (who we see is this utopic version of Catwoman and Batman's sidekick) visits Batman at the asylum. Batman refers to her as Catwoman and she violently reacts, full of rage. In this flashback, Catbird also informs Batman that if he doesn't conform then Scarecrow will resort to more surgical measures... likely killing Batman. But more importantly it gave Batman a literal deadline. Back in the present time, Batman discovers Scarecrow's lab in the asylum and is able to analyze the toxins used. He learns that this toxin produces maximum contentment, which is unlike Scarecrow who usually specializes in fear. Batman attempts to come up with an antidote, forming an unlikely alliance with Poison Ivy. From the first issue, we saw Poison Ivy running around Gotham pleading to everyone that everything is a lie. It's obvious now that she was referring to the mass delusion that everyone was suffering from. But still Batman infers that she has a natural resistance to the toxins, which is how she avoids Scarecrow's delusions. She kisses him for saving her, but for once this is actually to Batman's advantage as he also gains immunity to the toxins for the time being as well.

Most intense fear
imaginable.

 After consulting with Ivy, Batman learns Scarecrow's real plans: by creating an environment where he takes away people's everyday, petty fears, he can then subject them to the most intense fear imaginable. Eh, it sounds okay, but whatever can't ask much from Scarecrow. This connects to the recent suicides, which at first sounded improbable in a utopia environment. The suicides were a result of the experiments that Scarecrow performed, but they don't remember him performing them. The haunting images lead to them committing suicide. Again, not the greatest story from Scarecrow, but it does tie everything together in the second issue of this 3 issue arc. Batman and Ivy successfully come up with an antidote, and also come up with a separate sedative to use in the asylum to put everyone to sleep, making their escape easier. Batman's immune with Ivy thanks to Ivy's kiss. Killer Croc is the only not affected right away, due to the toxins taking longer to get to his reptilian brain according to Batman. He eventually goes down with some enforcing from Batman and Ivy. Sounds weird to say that. When they get outside, Scarecrow is awaiting them with a surprise... his own Fear Family! Consisting of the Bat characters that were tied in to this event: Birds of Prey, Batwing, and Batgirl. They are seen wearing the the trademark Scarecrow mask with the glowing eyes and all.

The Gothopia arc wraps up in the next Detective Comics issue. We see how all the pieces come together from this issue, leaving the last issue to deal with Batman confronting this Fear Family along with Scarecrow and getting the antidote out to the city of Gotham. Catbird wasn't one of the ones under Scarecrow's influence, so it's likely that she'll be play a role in helping out Batman after given the antidote. Or in Deanpool's dreams, share a kiss with Poison Ivy to get momentary immunity. Also how will Poison Ivy help out? She could potentially even the odds if Catwoman can get cured to help too. As the story unfolded, it's looking more like a weaker story than Deanpool originally anticipated. Maybe if it was given more issues to give a more elaborative story line. The most interesting aspect of the "Gothopia" idea was the whole idealistic false Gotham that we got in its first chapter, but we're quickly brought back to the real world. Nothing wrong with this second installment, just seems like a subpar storyline in general. Some even had problems with Batman overly explaining his plan along the way. Deanpool didn't think it took away from the story, he actually expects it more in a comic series with the word "Detective" in it. He wants to see the thought process of the detective. Deanpool understands there needs to be a good balance and careful economy to Batman's dialogue/monologue, but believes it's more fitting to see more of his thinking process in the Detective Comics series. Read more Batman for more Bat-surprises. Because we didn't mention much on the art, we'll just quickly note that it was pretty solid. Most of the setting is in dark halls and rooms of Arkham that looked to be captured quite well. And the New 52 Poison Ivy look continues to be favored by Deanpool, and drawn less cartoony as it was in Harley Quinn.  7.5/10 Poison Ivy kisses.

All-New Invaders #2
This and X-Factor are probably the only "All-New" series that debuted in January that Deanpool will collect issue to issue. A couple others will be explored via TPB if at all. But the Golden-Age history and interesting group members really grabbed Deanpool's attention in the first issue. With the Winter Soldier movie coming up in April, it's nice to get new reads on adventures with Captain America and Bucky aka Winter Soldier. Throw in the "original" Human Torch, an older character that's new to Deanpool that is very likeable and Namor, a legendary Marvel hero that everyone loves to hate. And it makes for an interesting series. Still has a lot to prove, but Deanpool sees it as one worth getting for now.
Deanpool's predictions, and likely everyone else's prediction as well, was correct. The issue starts with Winter Soldier on a solo mission that was interrupted by the Kree as they attacked him in order to get information on a weapon. They hit him with some type of memory gun where he relives the same memory as Jim Hammond (original Human Torch) in the previous issue that he just happened to "forget about" too. He immediately consults his good friend Captain America and determines that they'll be after Jim next. This where we catch up with the end of the first issue as the two come to the aid of their old friend against Tanalth the Pursuer.

Together, they fight her off, but to no avail. The only reason she ceased attacking was because she learned that the Kree have extracted the information they needed from the captured Namor (also revealed in the previous issue).  The rest of the issue reveals to readers, and in this case Captain America, what the weapon is and how this is all tied into the Golden Age story that was referred to in the first issue, this shared memory that Jim and Bucky both had no memory of. It also explains why Cap wasn't present in the flashback, which subsequently explains why the Kree weren't after him.

Reference to the same memory
as we saw in the first issue.

The two explain that it was one of the few missions that Captain America didn't take part in as he was out dealing with Red Skull or some other villain. Jim notes that his sidekick Toro wasn't there either due to appendicitis. Which left Namor, then Bucky now Winter Soldier,  and Jim to handle this mission. They were joined with a fourth member, Major Liberty, who could take in the power from previous American Revolutionary soldiers, but we all saw him die in the last issue. We learn that the weapon is a device that is used to control gods, and in this case Strucker (yes, that's the villain's name) used it to control the Hela, Norse Goddess of Death. The group barely manages to stop Strucker.

The pact that led to this mess.

Realizing that the weapon can't be controlled by any man, they secretly break the weapon up between Namor and Jim and hide it somewhere, not disclosing the location to each other. They even go as far as to have their memories wiped by the original Vision, thus explaining how they had no recollection of the weapon or that memory. Captain America agrees that some secrets need to be kept, but doesn't agree with them doing such a thing without first informing someone else like him. The issue ends with Captain America declaring that their next step is to rescue Namor from Kree.

What? There was an original Vision that was an alien, not an android?

The series is slowly coming together well. The group's purpose for reuniting ties in with their history and now they're off to take on the Kree. Not exactly Hydra or Nazis, but the gang is back together. Can't wait to see who they "invade" next after this whole Kree story. Just seems so generic: bad guys want a powerful device to do bad guy things. Then again, sounds fitting for an old-school team. 7/10 memory guns because without them we wouldn't have the last two issues.




Wait there's more! The four #1 issues came out this past week from Marvel Now and you can find reviews on all of them here...
Wolverine #1, Ms. Marvel #1, Punisher #1, Loki: Agent of Asgard #1

Deanpool's ratings for each were as follows:
Wolverine #1- 7/10
Ms. Marvel #1- 8.5/10
Punisher #1- 8/10
Loki: Agent of Asgard #1- 9/10

For the first time, we have a three-way tie for the highest scores: Loki, Joker's Daughter, and Forever Evil. After some debate, Deanpool went ahead and chose Forever Evil #5 as the Pick of the Week. Expect another lengthy Weekly Pick-Ups again next week, lots of stuff coming out again! Thanks for reading!

At least she didn't ask for ice cream?