Batgirl And The Birds Of Prey #10 - A Review

Black Canary has disappeared while trying to infiltrate the operation of a metahuman criminal trainer called Blackbird. Thankfully, Batgirl and Huntress have Nightwing and Green Arrow ready to lend a hand. And a good thing too! Because it seems that everyone's favorite "pretty bird" has fallen prey to Blackbird's mind-control powers!


Batgirl and The Birds Of Prey remains one of my favorite books and one of the most underrated books of the DC Rebirth line. Shawna and Julie Benson have truly captured the essence of the title characters and this issue proves their no slouches when it comes to writing Nightwing and Green Arrow. In fact, I dare say the brief moment of Ollie comforting Dinah when she finally breaks free of the mind control rings far truer romantically than most of the "love scenes" in Ollie's own title. Roge Antonio's artwork in this issue may be his strongest offering yet, his fluid style proving perfectly suited to depicting the epic superhero battle at the heart of this issue.

Final Analysis: 9 out of 10.

Detective Comics #952 - A Review

The League of Shadows is real! Led by the vicious Lady Shiva (who has also been revealed as Cassandra Cain's birth mother) , the group's ultimate goals are unknown. All that is known for sure is that they have caused Ra's Al Ghul hardship and that they have set their sights on Gotham and Batman!


Detective Comics #952 is a master-class study in how different artists and colorists can be used to enhance the mood of a story. The issue's opening flashback sequence - depicting a conversation between Shiva and Ra's - has an entirely different tone that the rest of the issue, which is more action-oriented. By having Fernando Blanco and John Rauch illustrate this opening sequence, it gives the story more power when we shift to the present-day, which is awesomely handled by Christian Duce and Alex Sinclair.

 The book's final three pages, which depict the aftermath of the battle between The Batman Family and The League of Shadows, sport a subtly different look thanks to the colors being handled by Allen Passalaqua.  The effect is indescribable beyond my simply saying that effect is breath-taking and that James Tyinon IV (easily the strongest voice among the Bat-Family writers at this time) is fortunate to have such fine artists bringing his wonderful words to life.

All-New Wolverine #10 - A Review

Laura and Gabby have taken Old Man Logan (i.e. an version of the original Wolverine from the bad future of an alternate universe) home for a bit of rest after their stressful encounter with Fin Fang Foom's stomach. Their afternoon will be made more interesting by the most unlucky burglars in the world. And somewhere else, the precognitive Inhuman called Ulysses has a vision of the future that concerns them all...



Thankfully, the Civil War II tie-in sections of this comic are mercifully brief and have no real impact on the action of this issue. This allows Tom Taylor to do what he does best with the rest of the issue - play with expectations, make the audience laugh and provide the occasional moment of charm. And how can you not be charmed by the idea of a Wolverine family that has a pet wolverine named Jonathan The Unstoppable? (They will write songs of his legend!)



Sadly, the artwork for this issue is a little uneven. I think the fault for this may lie with the two inkers, whose differing styles add moments of visual discord to the flow of the issue. The artwork doesn't look bad as such - the character designs and coloring are quite good - but there's just something off about some of the finished panels.

Adventures of Supergirl #8-13 - A Review

I hadn't reviewed the last few issues of Adventures of Supergirl because I wasn't quite sure how to go about it. Sterling Gates is a great writer but the story he was telling was ill-suited to the shorter format required of DC Comics' digital-first releases. Several issues featured little in the way of action and were largely devoted towards exposition. This made summation of individual comics difficult and they read far better in one sitting than they did in bimonthly installments.

That being said and having now read the whole of the final story arc, I am prepared to say this is easily the best Supergirl story told in any medium in years. The story - centering upon a villain called Facet - was thrilling and brilliantly tied-in to the earlier issues of the series in some surprising ways. Gates drew upon the full rich history of the Kryptonian culture and the DC Universe cosmos, further developing the setting while offering up some thrilling Easter Eggs for long-time fans.


This series was blessed with some great artists who utilized a variety of unique styles. I greatly enjoyed Cat Stagg work on Issue Ten, where he utilized a photo-realistic style that captured the look of the actors from the show. I also enjoyed Emma Vieceli's work on the final story arc, which I think looked even better than her recent work on Doctor Who. Hopefully this series will return along with Supergirl's second season but I think it would be better off as a monthly periodical rather than a weekly digital release.

Adventures of Supergirl #5 - A Review

Alien hacker Vril Dox has framed Winn for terrorism after Winn uncovered evidence of his alien nature. Supergirl has helped Winn escape capture but to clear his name they'll need the help of Rabiah Zinoman - a hacker who makes Winn look like an amateur. Unfortunately, Dox is hot on their trail... and he has James Olsen under his control!


Classic DC Comics fans could have a fun time with this book playing Spot The Reference. In this issue alone we find out Winn's login is SuperGirlInAction252 (a reference to the first comic featuring Kara Zor-El as a character) and Vril Dox is established as a native of the planet Yod (one of the three worlds cited as Brainiac's home-world). Thankfully for the rest of the Super-fans, Sterling Gates also writes a darn good action sequence and even manages to draw a neat parallel between real world hackers that use aliases, for good or ill, and superheroes/supervillains doing the same.


The artwork for this issue is a marked improvement over the last one. Indeed, Pop Mahn's may have presented us with the best pencil and ink work this series has seen so far! The story flows well from panel to panel and Kara looks like a young woman rather than an awkward teenager. The color art by John Rauch is also notable for its vibrancy.

Adventures of Supergirl #4 - A Review

It's just another manic Monday for Kara Danvers, rushing to get Cat Grant her morning latte and dealing with a robbery on the way to work. But things take a turn for the strange when a SWAT team shows up to arrest Winn Schott on charges of doxxing. It's a frame-up, of course, but Supergirl will have to move quickly before Winn is doubly framed on charges of terrorism!


Sterling Gates wrote a smart script for this issue. There's quite a few shout-outs to the classic Supergirl mythology, including a mention of Leesburg. And the reveal of this issue's villain is brilliantly played out and a nice play on a classic villain's name. The issue is spoiled only slightly by being fairly similar to last week's episode of Supergirl.


Would that the artwork equaled the story! Jonboy Meyers has done some good work in the past and individual moments of this comic look fantastic. Unfortunately, most of the art looks sloppy and rushed. What's worse, Meyers clearly recycles his artwork on two separate pages!