Check out my first attempt at video-blogging as I take on both Top Cow’s Impaler Trade and brand-new issue #1. Bottom line? If you love blood, guts, good stories and grisly art, Impaler is for you.

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No, we’re not talking about stealing Rorschach’s mask … though that’s cool, too.

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MKVDCU is a perfect example of why Midway is on the endangered publishers list. It takes a vaguely intriguing concept and executes it with such mediocrity that even the team behind the upcoming Chun-Li film would be ashamed. Then, to make matters worse, Midway attempts to take their notoriously M-rated series and water it down for a broader, more family-friendly audience. The gimmick of violence was all Mortal Kombat ever had going for it, and now the fatalities have been reduced to little more than Tom and Jerry drollery.
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Yeah, yeah, enough with the puns, I got it.

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Hello again GEN readers! It’s Jill a.k.a. The Nerdy Bird back with another installment of DoubleDCoverage.  With only one more week of comics in 2008 it’s time to start looking ahead. There’s going to be a lot of changes happening in the DCU over the next year, not just with the characters but the titles themselves as well. Lots of books are finishing their runs soon but there are definite plans for several new books this year as well, one of which came out last week. I’m sad to say I might have to start cutting back on my pull list due to financial reasons (I hope the rumored price increase is false) but I’ll still be bringing you all the main action DC has to offer in my column every two weeks. Have a great New Years Eve everyone! Now, on to business. Check out what you’ve missed the last two weeks….

December 17,  2008:

BATGIRL #6 (OF 6)

I was a bit underwhelmed by this mini-series but it had an ending that plays largely into the Batman universe. Cassandra has been planning to kill her father David Cain for a long time now. She’s finally gets her chance and of course they fight. Besides what he did to her all those years it’s what he didn’t do to her that angers her the most. He never let her be a child, to play with toys or read books.  She wanted a real family, a real father. When he’s hanging by his fingertips on the edge of a building her conscience won’t let her kill him but that doesn’t mean she has to pull him up to save him either. She has a last second change of heart as he finally loses his grip but luckily for her there was another ledge close below where Batman and Robin were waiting. Batman is proud of her and tells her he’d like to start adoption proceedings, something he says he should have done a long time ago. She finally gets a family, just in time for Bruce to disappear.

BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #14

Alfred finally lays the law down with Nightwing and Batgirl. The two have been at each others throats for a while now and finding out she was putting together a network to replace Batman was the last straw for Nightwing.  He’s angry because he doesn’t think Batman would have approved but Alfred says it has his blessing if it allows the legacy to continue. Dick admits Bruce adopting Cassandra didn’t sit well with him and apologizes for not giving her a fair chance. They both agree the network is a good idea but that it’s better managed by Nightwing. The Riddler guest stars in his own wacky version of Clue while a menacing shadowy figure appears getting whipped and told he’s not worthy. He also spies on Nightwing and Batgirl, talks with some monks and says the Suit of Sorrows is beckoning him. Azrael anyone? A Batman and the Outsiders Special is up next with a new team member.

BIRDS OF PREY #125

Black Canary and Oracle are on vacation in Las Vegas (though for some reason the cover says Europe). Of course their vacations involve stealing cars and taking out the bad guys. Babs is focusing on taking down the Syndicate one member at a time instead of dealing with her recent run-in with the Joker but Dinah knows her too well to let her off the hook about it. While they temps the Caretaker with a beautiful car the rest of the team heads to his sick collection room to free his victims. Along the way we find out the nature of Infinity’s powers. She says she can read residual memory in the brain of a corpse as long as it’s intact but that she has to make physical contact. Huntress asked where her phasing ability originated and she told her it was due to a curse, not science.  Oracle is left cursing her wheelchair for the only reason the Joker was able to escape.

DCU HOLIDAY SPECIAL 2008 

I always look forward to the DC Holiday Specials. We get classic and brand new holiday tales in this one. Matt Cherniss and Peter Johnson write an amazing switcheroo story that will really make you think twice about where Santa came from. DC Senior VP Dan Didio has Aquaman starring in a Nativity and Detective Comics’ Dustin Nguyen makes “Good King Wenceslas” look very…well, good! His work here makes me think he’d be a great choice to draw an arc of Fables. Gotham feels hopeful for a change, with a little help, in “A Day Without Sirens” and Tiny Titans helmsmen Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani take a shot writing some larger Titans The only miss for me this issue was “Christmas with the Beetles” although the highlight comes from former Blue Beetle artist Rafael Albuquerque and writer Amanda McMurray. They lead Huntress in a touching story that really shows Helena’s talent as a teacher and tells a valuable lesson that fits year-round. “The Night Before Christmas” has the Teen Titans in NYC for what feels like the only in continuity tale in the bunch. Bombshell is still having trouble adjusting to her new “family” and Miss Martian surprises Red Devil with not only her brief appearance but also a kiss. “Party Animal” is the real comic relief of the issue with a holiday party at the JLA satellite crashed by Shaggyman. Finally the female Dr. Light who made her reappearance in the last issue of Justice League brings light to Metropolis after a run-in with some villains showing us her moniker will associated with hope.

MANHUNTER #37

I thought I missed an issue. The last arc ended and it looked to be setting up something very specific for this one only I was completely wrong as this issue picks up about 15 years into Kate’s future. I’m not entirely sure what happened, the DC site says this arc is called “Matters of Choice” and would seem to dictate where I thought this arc was originally going but instead it’s “Some Years Later.” This could be a direct result of the series being canceled, having to make last minute changes and them never editing the summary. Regardless this was one of the most enjoyable issues of Manhunter I’ve ever read. Kate is still a superhero, she’s got a boyfriend who’s 15 years younger than she is, her son Ramsey has just decided to join the good fight with a group of “Legacy kids” and witness protectee Dylan is also hanging around. He’s still with Cameron and now creating tech for costumes apparently. Speaking of costumes, Ramsey’s boyfriend Justin could use a little help with his. As in wearing something besides just a pair of tighty-whities, although his power is to grow larger so maybe they weren’t so tight to begin with. In a brief look into other aspects of the DCU future we get to see Obsidian as part of this new super team as well as his daughter, Jade. That is, if all of this actually comes to be. Villain Nellie Lovett was seen this issue trying to steal the razor of Sweeney Todd. Instead Kate hands it over to Bones, who she’s working for again, only to have Lovett show up and him get possessed by Sweeney Todd.

ROBIN #181 

Anarky  is terrorizing Gotham while Tim sits in the Batcave badly burned from an explosion trying to figure out the best way to create order out of chaos. Spoiler is still operating on orders Batman left for her, to make Robin better and able to take over in his absence by  making him work things out differently. Robin has Jason Bard working to get dirt on the two dirty detectives, Cavallo and Wise, who just had all charges dropped against them. Tim also seems to be channeling Bruce, neglecting his burns and rejecting medication from Alfred, because something still doesn’t fit. This doesn’t feel like Anarky to him and he’s absolutely right to think so. Turns out the General (Ulysses Hadrian Armstrong) has been impersonating Anarky but also holding the real Anarky (Lonnie Machin) captive after disabling him somehow. Robin does find this out but not before he strikes again and this time Spoiler gets the brunt of the explosion. Tim allows Anarky to have his fun all the while knowing he’s playing right into his hands because all this time he’s been figuring out how to make the chaos work for him. When it is time to fight he steps into the Red Robin costume instead because of his massive injuries. It will be interesting to see how these events shape Tim for the upcoming Battle for the Cowl series.

SUPERGIRL #36 

In the last part of the New Krypton storyline that took place in Action Comics #872 we saw Supergirl’s father Zor-El shot through the chest with a large energy beam by Reactron. She gets a chance to say goodbye and hear him say he’s proud of her but it’s really hard to believe they’ve killed him off so quickly after bringing him back. There’s a page of art with no dialogue that’s very reminiscent of Supergirl’s death in the original Crisis with Superman holding her body. Here’s she’s crying out while holding his body but I feel we don’t get enough of a true emotional response from her.  Superman and one of the Kandor guards, Thara, try to figure out what went wrong when Alura finds her husband dead. Alura does the worst thing possibly at his funeral by suggesting violence against the humans for his death. She blames Superman and her daughter as well saying it wouldn’t have happened if they both did a better job as superheroes. After running off, Supergirl runs into the obvious Kandorian, though still masked, Superwoman who wants to be friends. We finally get a flash of what Nightwing and Flamebird did after finding Alura’s security team (and Zod’s followers) trying to invade the Fortress back in Number 4 (or is this a separate incident) of the interconnecting story (Action Comics #871). The team had blueprints of the White House.

TANGENT: SUPERMAN’S REIGN #10 (OF 12)

Batman guilts Lola Dent, Earth Tangent Superman’s ex, into aiding them in taking down her former husband before he takes over New Earth. She’s the only one who can help seeing as how she’s gifted with his exact powers. Back on New Earth, Superman and the others managed to survive the nuke TS set off in the middle of the ocean. The heroes trapped on Tangent team up to create a portal back to NE bringing Lola with them. TS has taken the world leaders to the Fortress of Solitude of all places. He’s also recruited an army consisting of NE villains to aid him in his self-proclaimed war. The History Lesson this time around focuses on the Spectre. On Tangent he’s Tyler Pike a teenaged science whiz who bombarded himself with neutrinos making him able to become intangible. He was a thief before he joined the Secret Six. Tangent Guy Gardner has finally had enough of playing the teacher and shows his true colors. He’s Tangent Clayface. And rather ugly if I do say so myself.

TERRA #4 (OF 4)

The Terra mini-series wraps up a bit too quickly and simply for my tastes but it was a fun ride and a nice introduction to the new character. Seeking help for his decapitated girlfriend Veronica, Faulkner drills his way to Terra’s home Strata. When her head accidentally falls in some lava wiping her face clear off he blames Geo-Force and is done listening to reason. Terra takes him down but feels sorry for him and takes what’s left of Veronica’s head to her friend Aurla who explains what changed Faulkner. The glowing lake is actually the lifeblood of something called the Astronaut God. It was an alien being that died long ago but who’s corpse drifted in the universe long before the creation of Strata or humans.  Turns out his corpse falling to Earth is what killed the dinosaurs to long ago. His DNA and a computer record of his life were preserved for the people of Strata to find much later after they evolved inside of his dead (and rather large) body. Aurla thinks she might be able to clone Veronica but they decide to hold Faulkner in a cell and do what they can for him. She also tells GF she must remove the memory of Strata from his mind but before they do he tells Terra he approves of her using his sisters codename. You’d think that would be the end of the issue but instead the last several pages are used to bring Power Girl back so her and Terra can become friends. The scenes are really amusing, from trying on clothes to eating sushi, but you can tell Connor and Palmiotti can’t wait to start their PG series.

TRINITY #29 

Alfred and the Trinity associates reveal themselves to the primitive village in Happy Harbor after preventing the start of a war with a nearby tribe. Members of the village explain their gods are named Atmahn, Kellel and Dinanna and invite the associates on a pilgrimage to bear tribute to them. Tarot asks Charity to do a tarot reading for her and they both realize she must give herself to the Dark Trinity  to spare the JSI from spreading itself too thin to protect her. Before she allows the Dreambound to take her, she gives Charity her cards. Luthor and the other scientists are doing the best they can to help the JSI even though Commander Hall is hellbent on saving lives rather than figuring out what T.V.M. is doing with the creation energy he’s been collecting. Green Arrow and the League are trying to prevent one major villain from escaping prison while all the chaos continues but fails when Commander Hall teleports everyone to Metropolis to help. The big bad that escapes? Brainiac. Emphasis on the brain. Tomorrow Woman pulls herself back together, literally, and is able to close the reality rift in Metropolis only to have more pop up all over the world. The two halves of the story seem to be getting closer together as we are now more than halfway through this year long series.

December 24,  2008:

BATMAN #683

I can’t believe I’m actually going to say this but, this issue actually made sense to me. It was a breath of fresh air too. Now that things are falling into place it makes me with the timeline of Batman and Final Crisis had coincided better but such is life. We continue the journey into Bruce’s past as the Lump continues to steal his memories and implant himself in new, false memories. We see Talia and Ra’s real actions briefly and Bruce being conned by Catwoman in a false memory but Batman proves his reputation right and starts fighting back. When Darkseid’s followers realize this they force Lump to up the power as Batman relives the Joker killing Jason Todd and shooting Barbara, some of his worst memories. The Batmen clones start freaking out inside their test tubes as Bane once again breaks Batman’s back and he consoles Tim after his fathers murder. Awesomely he uses the Lumps power against him and gives him all the horrible memories he has and then some which begins killing the clones. Darkseid’s followers panic and shoot Lump but Batman gives him once last jolt. We see Thogal, Damien and Zur En Arrh then finally get a glimpse of what happened after the helicopter crash. He talks about “Batman’s last case,” it’s revealed to be solving the murder of Orion and that brings us up to date to the start of Final Crisis. Alfred reveals the whereabouts of Batman remain unknown. FC #6 will be the Dark Knight’s “last adventure.”

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #20

The last issue began the new arc with a bang but this time around it feels a little thin. Character moments are brief and jumpy with not much explanation. The Guardians are trying to determine whether the stories Cora has written about worlds destroyed by the Purge are history or legends. On Kahlo, Hal and Orlan are still investigating the destruction of Kymera when they find a lone survivor. He’s a Prootian who hid inside a secretion of protective matter, native to his species, to tell of the “Eater of Life.” He finds this odd seeing as how it’s an old wives tale in his culture about god punishing the sinful. Phantom Stranger talks with Orlan’s wife Marika back at their home. He believes the Belamort would not affect him and is proved very wrong when it attacks him from behind without warning and puts him under it’s dreamlike state. Hal encounters similar behavior in the Belamort Forest and races back to Orlan’s house to find PS unconscious and Marika dead. Again his ring’s power starts to drain and finds Orlan has been adapted by the Eater of Life. He’s been using his Lantern ring as he wishes without the restraints of the Guardians rules. He believes he is setting free those he’s murdered. The Prootian is also sought out by the Eater of Life who kills him because he was overlooked earlier. Back on Earth at Arcadia hospital Cora’s condition has worsened causing Dr. Treves to ask his superior, Mr. Harman, if he can move her to a more appropriate facility. This Harman is apparently a very important person, he’s giving a keynote speech and not only denies Dr. Treves’ request but orders the entire facility, children, doctors and staff, to be killed.

THE FLASH #247

By now we all know that Geoff Johns is doing Flash Rebirth. In the meantime poor Wally West has been left to flail in the wind. I was actually enjoying this arc, which I knew to be his last for now, until they completely rushed and, in my opinion, botched the ending of it here. They made all this fuss about Wally asking the Spectre to help Linda last issue, he does, the Spectre says no and that’s that. Ok…? Zatanna and Raven team up to bring her back from the brink but she’s still in bad shape. Roy then has to break the news to Wally that Queen Bee took his kids and with his powers slowly seeping away he’s on the clock to find them. She’s been passing herself off as Linda and running tests on the kids powers to channel the speed force into a weapon.  She even has Iris kill one of her hive. A few extra Titans show up to help and they all head to where Queen Bee is holding the kids. With Iris’ help directing the speed force Wally miraculously and instantaneously gets his powers back to full strength while QB’s new weapon backfires and causes her to lose vibrational control of herself. And then…Linda is on her feet and they go back to being a family. Huh?! It was just a little too neat for me. Sure Iris is traumatized and Jai seems to be waiting for a battle but that’s really it? They go on vacation together. No, really.

RANN/THANAGAR: HOLY WAR #8 (OF 8 )

I wasn’t particularly enjoying this series but it wasn’t terrible and I only have a few problems with this final issue. Everyone teams up for what they think it too easy a fight so you’d expect something would happen to prove them wrong. It doesn’t. It is that easy. And it’s even easier when Starman comes back to assist them. Lady Styx’s ship falls to the planet and she walks out immediately in search of sustenance. Sardath, who had been convinced of her authority as the ultimate god, freaks out when he sees her and dismisses his beliefs. That’s all he had to do? SEE her?! “Oh I’m sorry God, you’re ugly, I’m not gonna believe in you anymore.” Give me a break. Synnar the Demiurge orders Deacon Dark to leave as the Thanagarians retreat promising this is not the end for him and that his power will only grow. The highlight of the issue is the Weird overloading himself with energy to cause him to explode with the power of “a trainload of nuclear bombs.” Just as he’s about to go boom, Adam zeta beams him literally  inside Synnar where he can do the most harm. He, of course, “dies” and the Aberrant Six we’ve been hearing about the entire mini-series are still in the dark about their role. Hell, we don’t even know who all of them are. The Demiurge continues to narrate how he must keep increasing power because there is still one more powerful he must face in time. Rann is completely destroyed by the blast yet the Weird seems to survive only to be the new host for the Demiurge although this may not be what he expected. Oh and remember Adam telling Sardath about Plan X ? That stood for exodus. They took everyone off Rann and transported them to Thrownworld. Starman, now having no people left to rule over, accepts the new inhabitants and proclaims his planet New Rann. Adam is nice enough to send Bizarro back to his home world and discusses with the rest of the Space team how they’re all going to lie and say all the Rannians were killed in the explosion, including Adam. He even tells Hawkman not to inform the JLA or JSA about this little scheme to keep the Rannians safe.

REIGN IN HELL #6

There’s still a lot of fighting going on in hell but this time around the fights actually mean something. Doctor Fate faces Lady Blaze and as if she wasn’t ugly enough, he rips most of the flesh from her bones and leaves her kinda juicy looking. She heads back to her brother Lord Satanus for help and he lets her in on a secret. He’s got a plan to use DMN, the drug that transformed humans into demons, to do the exact opposite in hell. He makes a public announcement calling out Neron to fight which he accepts. Neron beats Satanus to a pulp but just before he’s about to end it Satanus pulls out his wild card. He says Neron is just the sum of demonic entities consumed over millennia, therefore when he triggers the reversed DMN by using the word Shazam (don’t know the significance of that yet) Neron loses all the demons that have been powering him this entire time. Completely helpless, Satanus easily rips his head from his body and claims hell as his own. Zatanna battles dirty with Lobo after he killed her father Zatara. She makes him bleed and, for a second time this issue, he gets the skin ripped off his chest. Zatanna doesn’t have it in her to kill him and leaves him frozen while her, Sargon and Ibis make an escape. Lobo swears this isn’t over. Does Z have a villain set up for her upcoming series?  The backup story continues Doctor Occults journey with Yellow Peri and Rose. The travel to Err and find the Linda Danvers Supergirl there as a Fallen Angel. She holds a bible and says she was recruited by Lilith but ran away. She insists she can help. Rose, still insisting she wants to stay in hell and fight, leads them towards Purgatory where they will be safe but she can not enter.

SUPERMAN/SUPERGIRL: MAELSTROM #4 (OF 5)

Supergirl has the right idea for a change and begs the aliens who poisoned Superman to help him instead of trying to beat them up.  They give her an antidote without saying a word and she even gets them to stop dismantling their ship just by saying please. While Kal was passed out she also took the initiative and found a way to repair their ship with schematics Batman apparently kept onboard. Back on Earth the Female Furies and Maelstrom have finally arrived and demand to see Superman. When he doesn’t show up the start breaking stuff and throwing people around. Of course Lois and Jimmy are around to be taken  hostage as well. Back on the alien planet Kara must fight a giant flying octopus in order to feed her and Kal. Over “dinner” they have awkward conversations about boys and what Aquaman eats. They finally decide it’s time to head back home and agree to spend more quality time together. Next issue is the last and the showdown with Maelstrom and the Furies.

TRINITY #30

The Trinity associates join the primitive culture on their pilgrimage while hearing their history told each night by members of the community. They speak of their creator in a very biblical fashion and Alfred surmises Krona was the one responsible through means of the cosmic egg. The villagers worked constantly to prove themselves to their god but were left in despair when they realized they were nothing but tools when Krona disappeared. It was then they found hope in the Trinity who taught them new meaning.  In the second half of the story, the villains collected by the Dreambound are hiding out in the mountains when they discover a traitor in their midst. Space Ranger from the League had hidden his identity just long enough to sneak another operative in they wouldn’t notice. Ray Palmer. Through him Brainwave, back at the JLI headquarters, views the Dark Trinity’s plans. They speak about manipulating reality by  finding representatives of the Tarot in each of the villains, with a few still to be found. The Tarot is just one way to look at it but it all comes down to patterns and the Commander Hall realizes he’s been trying to form an opposing force to fit the same roles but with good guys. Only he’s got more people to find than the Dark Trinity does. It’s a good thing Charity shows up offering her help.

VIGILANTE #1

I picked up this new series with low expectations and they were met. Although, to be fair, I went into this issue about this version of the character introduced in Nightwing last year with an open mind. I wanted to give it a chance but my instincts were right this time around, there was nothing interesting, exciting, new or different about Vigilante’s start. Here’s the gist. Vigilante is operating out of New York City right now in hopes of taking out some mobsters and revealing a good guy meta who may be turning bad. There’s also some talk about the Election bombings which may or may not harken back to the DC Universe Decisions mini-series from a couple months ago in which Jericho was revealed as the perpetrator. He’s still working with his computer/tech buddy JJ who finally refers to him as Dorian. We also see him without his mask for the first time as he goes undercover ala Bruce Wayne’s Matches Malone as a wholly less fun sounding, Joe Flynn, to work for Tobias Whale. If you remember,  Vigilante’s story in Nightwing got cut short and was supposed to pick up in Nightwing just a few months later. That never happened so it sorta wraps up here with Eddie Huang and Liu murdered and Vigilante noticing a Checkmate login on Eddie’s computer.  And that’s pretty much that. Vigilante gets himself arrested as Joe Flynn and sent to Stryker’s to work from the inside. 

WONDER WOMAN #27

Donna and Cassie here about the massacre at the mall and get there as fast as they can to help. They’re both barely holding it together but Donna reminds her they are Amazons and will only grieve once their duty is done. Wonder Woman is barely conscious as Tom Tresser (Nemesis) tries to get her down from where she’s been strung up by Genocide. They’re about to leave him behind to get her to Themyscira when he informs them he’s technically now an Amazon too after his meeting with Hippolyta. Zeus heads to the side of the now fading Athena who insists their time is up and makes him promise to save her Amazons. With the help of Hermes they call out to the amnesiac Amazons living in the world to come home to rest. The peace he is offering to them is the peace of the grave. Meanwhile Genocide is still killing everything in site as she heads back to the Secret Society headquarters in Gotham. Morrow is still scared to death of her and Faust won’t touch her. She tells Morrow to make WW’s lasso part of her. The Crime Doctor does just that, weaving it around her bones, so when she heads off to the Department of Metahuman affairs she’s even more dangerous. She’s killing all of Diana’s coworkers and in the panic Director Steel kills one of his own thinking he was an Amazon spy. It seems Genocide has been sent to find another of WW’s foes, Doctor Psycho. The Justice League shows up but quickly find out she’s too much for them to handle. WW insists on going back to help them as she admits to Tom the lasso is capable of much more than she’s led them to believe.

So, what did YOU think? What are you excited about and what could you live without?

So, after a serious legal battle, a judge in Los Angeles has ruled that Fox actually owns the distribution rights to Watchmen.  This may seriously inhibit Warner Bros.’ plans for the March 2009 release of the film. Read the full story

Help our hero out by nominating him for the Streamy Awards!

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Catch an exclusive interview sneak peak with the writer and artist of an upcoming new title from FSM comics.

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The Darkness presents the stand-alone issue, Lobrok’s Hand.

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My first cosplay endeavors are right in time for the holidays. Read the full story