A Dirk Pitt Adventure: Pacific Vortex

This isn't the book that started it all publishing wise but it is the story that started it all chronologically.  The first of many Dirk Pitt adventures by Clive Cussler.  Dirk Pitt is a cross between Indiana Jones and James Bond in tone.  If you like adventure, history and action thrillers then this is the book series for you.  This book is a short quick read but introduces us to a slew of characters that you grow to love the more you read this series.  

The story starts off with the mysterious disappearance of vessel at sea this is how most of the Dirk Pitt adventures start off.  One of the great things about this book is that you don't actually meet the villain until you are more than halfway through the book.  The golden eyed villain is so close to a Bond Villain that it is laughable at some points but he is still terrifying as there is a mixture of Captain Nemo from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.  The characters are well put together in this series and very relatable.  You have the damsels in distress and the femme fatales who both fall for our hero.  The book not only introduces us to Dirk Pitt and the women in his life but to part of his ever faithful cast of supporting characters.  Al Giordino and Admiral Sandecker are two of the series mainstays who support Pitt in everything he does.  

The book also sheds light on the N.U.M.A. organization which is a real organization founded by Clive Cussler himself.  Knowing little tidbits like that add an air of credibility to the adventures of Pitt and Giordino.  The Pacific Vortex is similar to the Bermuda Triangle but it lead to a much more sinister end.  Another trait of this series is that Dirk and company are always taking on the corrupt wealthy untouchable villains around the world.  The more untouchable they feel the harder they fall.  If any of this sounds like fun to you then pick up this book and immerse yourself into an adventure.

Batman: The Man Who Laughs

This Batman story takes us back to the early days of the Dark Knights career in Gotham.  There are really two stories collected together in this collection.  The first of which is The Man Who Laughs this is one of the quintessential Joker stories.  The second is titled Made of Wood this is a story that teams-up Batman with the Green Lantern.

The Joker story is by far the main attraction of this book if you were disgusted by Scott Snyder's take on the Joker I would say you may want to shy away from this then.  As this title starts out as a serial killer who done it story that Captain Gordon is investigating.  This is considered to be Batman's first encounter with the Joker after the Red Hood at Ace Chemical.  Joker targets people in this story in his usual fashion with chemicals poisoning them and leaving them grinning and bug eyed.  Joker's introduction in this book is truly chilling I would love to see DC Animation take a stab at this story.  Joker leaves a cryptic message at the newly opened Arkham Asylum even though he hasn't been incarcerated there yet.  The Joker has set his sights on the rich men of Gotham City and to distract the police why he goes about his mission he arms prisoners who are set to be sent to Arkham Asylum.  This story shows Batman's skills as a detective as he starts trying to figure out who the Joker is and it takes him back to Ace Chemical and that fateful night against the Red Hood.  Batman confronts the Joker at the water reservoir.  This tale is directly referenced in Scott Snyder's work and the way the Joker acts in this story is very similar to that of Heath Ledger's portrayal of the character in The Dark Knight. 

The second story is a delight as it shows the history of Gotham City but the really selling point for the story is art by Tim Sale.  Made of Wood is a straight up serial killer murder mystery.  It is told primarily in present time with Jim Gordon taking a staring role as the retired police commissioner returning to the job to solve one last case.  This story while not as gripping as the first is a great detective story none the less.  The killer is nothing special in the story in fact you kind of feel sorry for them in the end.  The team-up between between the original Green Lantern, Alan Scott and Batman heroes from to different eras.  Working together to solve a case lost in between the cracks and forgotten for decades.  Overall if you are a fan of Joker or Tim Sale art this book is a must read.

Batman Vol. 10: Epilogue

This is the last volume of Scott Snyder's run on the main Batman title but not the end of his run on the character.  This collection is filled with little one shot stories setting up the next run.  The few issues in this book explore the relationship between Batman and Gotham City.  It also delves into part of his childhood and how Alfred motivated him to become the man he is at the end of this volume.  The annual issue ties in with the events of Arkham Manor and the Superheavy story-arc.  The Futures End one shot is part of this collection which ties in with that event.  The gem of this volume is the inclusion of the Batman: Rebirth issue where Scott Snyder hands over the reigns to Tom King.  in this volume readers get to see who Duke Thomas is about to become.  The issue is very Calendar Man heavy and has portrayed him as interesting villain.  I am interested to see where Tom King takes the Batman mythos as a whole.  There is no doubt that Scott Snyder has left his mark on Batman similar to the way Grant Morrison did just not as jarring.  It has been an enjoyable ride.

Batman Vol. 9: Bloom

The second volume of Jim Gordon as the caped crusader and continuing the Superheavy story-arc.  This ups the action after Mr. Bloom crashed Geri Powers party.  While Batman is attempting to find a way to stop Bloom, Bruce Wayne is looking to find out who he is.  There is a really well done seen where he is sitting on bench by this lake talking to a pale skinned man in a while suit.  This scene is so full of tension as you know in the back of your mind that it is the Joker.  

Mr. Bloom has tricked Gordon and taken him hostage as he is wreaking havoc on Gotham City.  This is almost worse than the War Games story-arc.  In the previous volume Mr. Bloom came off creepy and mysterious, all of that has been thrown out the window with this volume.  I think Snyder jumped the shark with him in this volume.  Bloom is doing just what the Joker did in Endgame arming or infecting the citizens of the city to fight for him.  

The real gem of this story is how Bruce Wayne becomes Batman again the dialog between him and Alfred is touching and amazing.  The idea that Bruce Wayne has to die to become Batman, is simple but well executed.  Also the fact the Julie Madison came down to the cave to be the person to press the button because Alfred couldn't sacrificing her own happiness it was truly touching is probably one of the best things Snyder has written.  

Batman the real Batman has returned to take down Bloom and rescue this city and he doesn't disappoint.  Bloom is taken down but I feel it is a cop out as we never find out who Bloom was but we do find out who created him Daryl Gutierrez who was the engineer for Jim Gordon's bunny-bat suit.  One the things I really liked about this two volume story-arc is that it was written in a very self aware style.  that Snyder knew how much hate he was going to get for doing this to Batman similar to the what Dan Slott did to Spider-Man over at Marvel.  This is the last main story of Scott Snyder's the next and final volume is an epilogue of sorts to the run as a whole and set up for what is to come with Rebirth.

Batman Vol. 8: Superheavy

Endgame has ended and the ending was quite shocking to say the least it was the most gruesome fight the Joker and Batman have ever had.  With that being said I feel that story-arc could have been executed better.  It seems like Scott Snyder has been chasing the great Batman scribes that came before him. writers like Frank Miller, Alan Moore, Jeph Loeb, Dennis O'Neil, Chuck Dixon and Grant Morrison.  I know there are others but these specific writers left a mark on the Batman mythos that others have not been able to.  Scott Snyder seems to be trying really hard to be counted among those writers, each of his story-arcs can be tied to one of the stories by those writers I have listed and this new arc is no different.  

Its starts off that Batman is gone since the Endgame event,  Snyder does do a lot of set for this volume and if you have been reading his run your used to this.  Powers International has swallowed up Wayne Enterprises through a take over.  I had to look up Powers International because I didn't know who they were it would be nice to have some more build-up when the writer makes some changes to Gotham City because the as Snyder has voice before along with other authors the city is a unique character to the Batman mythos.  Anyway Batman is gone and Powers International has taken it upon themselves to build a better Batman.  Geri Powers teaming with the GCPD is sanctioning a new Batman that works for them, is trained by them and answers to them.  The person they choose to take the mantel of Batman is Jim Gordon.  It sounds like a bad idea and fans have been very critical of this move.  Unlike the Knightfall saga where Jean-Paul Valley took over as Batman when Bruce Wayne was broken by Bane; Jim Gordon is very aware that this is a bad idea but he does it because he doesn't trust anyone else to do it.   But also like the Knightfall saga Jim's tenure as Batman is short lived and confined to the Superheavy story-arc.  

Batman has been replaced three different times in main continuity the first by Jean-Paul Valley, Dick Grayson and now Jim Gordon.  The only one that fans have loved was Dick Grayson because of the way it was executed and built up.  Jim Gordon's suit is very reminiscent of Robocop and makes me long for the days of the Jean-Paul Valley suit.  However Batman is not the only change to Batman mythos but also the villain who is Mr. Bloom is brand new.  Mr. Bloom started out as a very cool creepy and awesome villain for this whole first volume.  Could Mr. Bloom be the evolution of where we see Batman's rogues gallery going.  

It is revealed that even though Batman may have died at the end of Endgame, Bruce Wayne did not he just has amnesia.  This part of the story I loved the most because it is really well constructed and executed and it is a unique enough to work.  In the past Bruce Wayne has been framed for murder, replaced by Hush in the public spotlight and declared dead.  But until now he was never given a clean slate.  This isn't turning me away from Batman I'm to invested but I am taking a more critical stance on Snyder's choices during his run on the character.

  

Batman Vol. 7: Endgame

Scott Snyder has spent his entire run really delving into the psyche of the Joker & this story is no exception.  If Batman: Death of the Family was a look at the Joker's love for Batman this is a look at the Joker's hate for the Dark Knight.  Now this edition is by no means the definitive version of the story there is a Joker: Endgame edition that includes a few other tie ins to make it complete honestly that version is most likely an improvement but this is the one I read.  The story starts out with Joker having been gone for awhile but in reality he has been hiding in plain sight.  There are some really good & twisted acts the Joker pulls off in this story-arc.  The first is poisoning the Justice League & having them go after Bruce Wayne.  I really would have liked to see how the Joker got to all of them I think that was a missed opportunity that Snyder didn't capitalize on.  Joker's big reveal of who he was working at Arkham was brilliantly executed I would have liked to see play out for a longer period of time so that this is someone that Batman, the police, staff & the inmates of Gotham have interacted with for many issues before the reveal it would have made the reveal even more dramatic. 

The Joker's main weapon of choice in this book is a two pronged attack on the one hand he is using his chemical expertise to create a chemical to make everybody go mad.  I have to say it is nice to see Snyder take the Joker in this route in terms of giving him a weapon & making him a threat to Gotham as a whole that hasn't been done in a while.  Most of the stories that I can remember the Joker goes after individuals.  That is still the case in this story but the city has become his minions.  Greg Capullo's art is almost more compelling than Snyder's writing.  The showdown between the Joker & Jim Gordon is simply amazing it gave me chills just reading it.  Those two characters have so much shared history with what the Joker has done to torment Gordon it was just amazing to see.  Likewise with the reveal of patient zero being Joe Chill & Duke's family about to play the part of the Wayne's in Crime Alley while Batman watches is one of the most amazing set ups but I think it would have worked much better if it had been built up more.  The Court of Owls makes a brief return in this story but they have chosen not to interfere because they want to take over after Batman's defeat.  Joker's parade through Gotham City with the trophies from the Bat-Cave is awesome & a nice throwback to the 1980's Batman movie where Joker throws his own parade.  The final showdown between Joker & Batman is one of the most brutal outside of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns.  The brutality doesn't bother me its the fact that they made a reference to the Lazarus Pits in this story & it is central to curing the City but Ra's Al Ghul is no where to be seen in this story I would have liked to see the Clown Prince try to taken down Batman while also facing a threat from the Demon's Head for contaminating a Lazarus Pit.  Now that it is revealed that the Court of Owls also uses these pits for the Talons I hope so see them going head to head or teaming up with Ra's in the future.  I feel that this was one of the biggest lost opportunities with this story-arc & could have lead to so much more. 

There were several things that took me out of this story I think most of it falls in the editors lap but I think Snyder & Capullo can be blamed as well.  First off when the Joker appears in the Bat-Cave his face is messed up pretty bad but I have no idea when that happened because when we the reader saw him swimming his face was fine. The second was the switch between Bruce & Dick in the story it was vaguely foreshadowed but it was executed poorly & should have had a better effect on the outcome of the story than it did.  As I have said in the past Snyder wrote a great Dick Grayson Batman in Batman: The Black Mirror but he isn't as adept to writing Bruce Wayne Batman.  The back up story where the inmates of Arkham are telling their stories of who they think the Joker really is or I should say what he really is; it makes for an interesting side story but it doesn't feel right to make it part of DC Universe canon.  It just doesn't feel right that Batman's biggest bad should be the devil incarnate.  I could see it working as an Elseworlds story but for canon work this is really what took me out of the story I couldn't agree with this.  

There are several characters that should have died in this book & if Snyder wanted to truly shake up the Bat-world he could have killed off any or all of them but each one was kept alive in kind of a cop-out feel way.  Back to Jim Gordon in this story-arc I really think they could have killed him off in this & it probably should have happened.  I really don't see how he survived that interaction with the Joker.  Alfred goes head to head with the Joker & loses a hand for his trouble.  This is by far the most gruesome scene prior to the end of the arc.  I still don't understand why Joker left him alive.  The third death should have been Dick Grayson simply because of the switch which wasn't executed well as I stated before.  I understand why they didn't kill him off  because they tried to Forever Evil which compromised his secret identity as Nightwing.  I feel this would have been the right story to kill him in & it would have put another Robin under the Joker's crowbar.  Now if your upset with Dick Grayson getting the ax in the street battle you could have switched him with any of the supporting Bat-Family Batwing, Bluebird, Batgirl, Red Hood, Red Robin, Spoiler or Batwoman.  It wouldn't have mattered I think someone should have gotten the ax.  I know that would have been controversial & fans would be up in arms but it would have proved how high the stakes were.  Remember this is after the death of Damian Wayne & before Robin Rises event so there is no straight up Robin. 

I wish that there had been more substance to this story-arc than there was.  Batman is one of those rare comic book characters that benefits from having story-arcs that are more of the maxi-series than mini-series in terms of issues.  They need the build up to be fully effective.  This story felt rushed to hit all the right notes I feel it could have been longer to make it more effective.  I would have liked to see an epilogue issue of how they retrieved Bruce Wayne's body from the cave-in at the finale; done in a way that doesn't spoil the next arc.  That is another thing that I have noticed throughout this whole run & I didn't realize how much it bothers me until now Snyder doesn't transition between arc's he leaves them like they are individual books which is good but if you are trying to read an entire run there needs to be some connectivity.

Batman Vol. 6: Graveyard Shift

This collection is a mixed bag of single & double issue stories that Scott Snyder & friends put together.  Issue zero in this book really is connected to the Zero Year story-arc so I don’t understand why it wasn’t collected in those volumes particularly the first volume.  However that story is not as important it is the backup written by James Tynion IV that focuses on the first lighting of the Bat-Signal it showcases so many characters of the Bat-Family in there & how inspired they are by seeing the signal.  As a Batman fan I have a big problem with this in that it skews Jason Todd’s origin writers seem to forget that he was ever Robin & keep throwing references to him becoming Red Hood.  That they forget why he took the Red Hood persona in the first place, it was to psychologically mess with Batman due to his history with the Joker & what the Joker did to Jason Todd.  This is one of the biggest problems for me out of the New 52 era.  I also have issues with how they have treated Tim Drake but that is a discussion for another entry. 

The next story is the requiem issue for Robin R.I.P. which was the finally of Grant Morrison’s multi-year spanning Batman run through multiple titles.  This issue sees Batman deal with the loss of another Robin but this time it goes much deeper as Damien Wayne was his son.  This is also a very Harper Row centered story.  The following two issue arc is a Clayface story that is truly suspenseful.  I have come to realize that Snyder may not always write the best voice for Batman but for his rogues gallery he is spot on.  The backup’s to the Clayface story take on the mystical side of Gotham City.  It’s not a great story but it is nice to see Batman & Superman team-up.  The following single issue story is a Batman Eternal crossover that was written by Snyder & friends.  This crossover sees many things happen such as Jim Gordon be arrested, Catwoman becoming the Kingpin of crime in Gotham City & the return of Stephanie Brown as Spoiler. 

There are two more single issue stories one which sees Batman helping the staff of Arkham Asylum test out their new security system.  Batman comes face to face with one of the oldest inmates of Arkham.  She accuses Batman of changing the purpose of Arkham from a place of healing to a living hell.  The next story showcases that no criminal is above the law when it comes to crime & they are not below Batman’s radar.  Batman is on the hunt for a serial killer who is murdering Dr. Thompkins patients & burying them in potter’s field.  It is a great little story about Batman’s crusade on terror.

Batman Vol. 5: Zero Year, Dark City

The second half of Scott Snyder’s Batman origin story-arc is full of highs & lows.  There is a lot to like in this volume the first Batmobile for example is a prowler that is purple & yellow that can jump like the Tumbler from the Christopher Nolan movies & drive on the ceiling of the tunnel.  The villain that is introduced in this story is Dr. Death I can’t say l like him very much as he is a very outlandish villain for Batman to go up against in this early set story.  His motivations are that of a disgruntled employee whose experiment has gone horribly wrong.  He reminds of the Man-Bat in many ways but he is just a pawn to the real threat. Even though I don’t like Karl Hellfern as a villain I did a little research & he apparently is one of Batman’s early villains so kudos to Scott Snyder for including him for a new generation. 

It is during the first half of this collection that focuses on Dr. Death & his supposed plan one of his victims is Dr. Isley so it was nice to see Poison Ivy briefly before she goes all villain.  Along with seeing the first Batmobile we get to see the first Bat-boat & the Bat-blimp.  The big reveal at the end of the first half of this book is that Dr. Death is not the big bag but instead a pawn of the Riddler.  The Riddler is beginning to take center stage as Batman & Dr. Death have their final showdown.  One of the great things about this story is that the Riddler is able to best Batman throughout most of this story & the first half reads very much like a Batman story.  Batman crashes with the falling platform only to wake up to a whole new city.  This is where the first volume started. 

With the second half of this book the we are introduced to Duke Thomas who becomes a new ally for Batman later on in Snyder’s run.  The Riddler has transformed Gotham City into a Savage Land where nature is working to reclaim the city & parts of the city are flooded.  For me this is where Snyder appears to have jumped the shark with his story.  I understand how it is possible given the theft of Pamela Isley’s research but at the same time it feels very fanciful.  The Riddler is holding the city hostage while also waiting for a citizen of Gotham to rise up & be a hero for the people.  This entire scenario feels very old hat especially since it was part of the plot for the Dark Knight Rises.  Also it is never explained how the Riddler was able to get all of his equipment as he doesn’t seem to have any henchmen.

Batman faces off against the Riddler in a battle of wits multiple times in this book all are memorable but it is the last two that I am most enthralled with.  In their second encounter Batman is stalling for time which the Riddler seems to see through & pulls a Jabba the Hutt by dropping him into a lion pit.  After Batman dispatches of the lions in a cool & unorthodox way he is off to find the Riddler.  The final showdown for Batman & the Riddler takes place where Bruce Wayne first encountered Edward Nygma at the museum in front of the Sphinx.  The whole entrance of the Riddler coming out of the shadows clapping reminds me of the Joker clapping in The Dark Knight or the entrance of Silva in Skyfall.  The Riddler has one final game for Batman to play for the future of Gotham City.  This is straight out of the classic Batman stories of the past & the animated series.  A series of riddles & each misstep is detrimental to the safety of the city; it is simply chilling as Nygma explains the rules & says “rrrriddle me this, Batman.”  That came straight out of Batman: Forever for me with Jim Carry’s portray of the Riddler.  The giant penny makes a return in this story as well as the origin of the Bat-Signal to warn the fighter jets.  The Riddler has the mother of all failsafe mechanisms that Batman has to get around to save the city.

Again Snyder plays to his strengths which is character development & conversations I like those moments of just talking between Bruce Wayne & Alfred but also Bruce Wayne / Batman & Jim Gordon.  There is some great backstory here that is portrayed by all of the characters involved.  It is also great to see a younger Lucius Fox interacting with a young Bruce Wayne.  There is one splash page in this collection that hints at many other characters & their involvement in this event but their issues are not included in this story frankly I don’t see why they were even alluded to because this is primarily a Batman story.  There is a nice little back story about Harper Row & it is still not clear what Scott Snyder has planned for her.  

Again Greg Capullo shows us just why is the artist for this book every page is amazing there is a great single image of Batman performing a leap of faith from the blimp to the Riddler’s floating platform with is a reference to The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller.  Now what Batman origin story would be complete without touching on the death of Thomas & Martha Wayne.  Snyder does just that but he approaches it from the perspective of Bruce Wayne which puts a new spin on it & the potential trauma that it creates in him.  There are a lot of big reveals in this story as the Riddler is the first official inmate in Arkham.  But also that Bruce Wayne checked himself in there many years before because he could not cope with the loss of his parents & he was going through therapy to create a new personality for himself.  This is truly an amazing & terrifying aspect to introduce into the Batman mythos.  The end of this collection is truly touching & shows the great devotion Alfred has to protecting him when an old girlfriend comes back to Gotham to reconnect with Bruce.  As readers we see both scenarios of that meeting & it is the real one that pulls on our heartstrings. 

There is a lot to like in this story-arc as a whole the two volumes of Zero Year but for everything I like there is something I dislike.  For all of the characters involved there are a few decisions that they make that are either out of character for them or reckless in their execution.  For example Jim Gordon leaping off a building into a flooded subway stairwell Batman drinking gasoline & blowing flame at a lion while it looks cool it seems out of character for Batman.  The failsafe that the Riddler has is again another out of wreckless moment where Batman attaches it to himself to defibrillate himself to save the city.  In the end Snyder & Capullo have crafted a great story & I have no doubt that history will showcase them as one of the premiere creative teams to ever work on Batman but this is still not a tail for everyone.  If you love the Riddler as a villain then this is a must read.

Batman Vol. 4: Zero Year, Secret City

With this volume Scott Snyder's characterization of Bruce Wayne is starting to wane on me as a reader & a fan.  Scott Snyder is taking us back to the early days of the Batman in Gotham City.  The main antagonist in this story is the Red Hood Gang run by Red Hood One who any real Batman fan knows is the Joker.  This tale is very surreal when compared with Batman: The Man Who Laughs & Batman: The Killing Joke both of which touch on the origin of the Joker.  This book has made that tale a little more convoluted than it was previously.  Especially with the involvement of Bruce Wayne's uncle & Wayne Enterprises.  So the overall story I have some issues with but the little things are what truly make this book amazing & are where Snyder excels.

This is the early years of Batman so seeing an early version of Batman without a cape in cobbled together tactical gear on a dirt bike with purple gloves is awesome & a nice throwback to earlier stories.  There are some great bits of dialogue in this book one moment in particular is between Alfred & Bruce about how is conducting himself.  The real jem of this book is the introduction of Edward Nigma.  He starts out as a consultant for Philip Cain & Wayne Enterprises.  There is a nice exchange between him & Bruce Wayne in the museum before they ever meet in at their alter egos.  

The reveal of the origin of The Riddler was particularly impressive because it is plays off the way he was introduced in Batman Forever.  I am interested in seeing where this is going, however I feel that this is story-arc will not live up to the previous stories of Batman or the Joker's origin.  This book is not a replacement for Batman: Year One it is to be read in addition to that title.  Frank Miller's four part story-arc is still the definitive version of the origin of Batman. Hopefully part two raises the bar a little higher because I am expecting more from Scott Snyder.

Batman Vol. 3: Death of the Family

Scott Snyder is a true master of horror & he has made the Batman series t a truly horrifying tale that you almost don't want to read with the lights off.  This is perhaps Snyder's first misstep in that he didn't quite stick to the landing of this story-arc.  This was supposed to be his big Joker story & Scott Snyder mined the hell out of the archives for this tale.  However for all of the set up that we were given the pay off just wasn't there in the end or it was there but it was done in such a way that it went over the casual readers heads much like the ending of The Killing Joke by Alan Moore.

From the start this story is a punch to the gut with the Joker showing up at the Gotham City Police Station.  That entire scene is chilling & down right scary like the opening scene in the first book of the Song of Ice & Fire series.  The Joker in a room full of police officers & just snapping necks while the lights are out all the while Jim Gordon is trying to find him to shoot him.  Just like in the Dark Knight the Joker targets the mayor but it is only a diversion from who his real target is.  The story even goes back to the origin of the Joker that was crafted in The Man Who Laughs story-arc by Ed Brubaker.  As Batman tracks him down to Ace Chemical only to be tricked by Harley Quinn, while Joker strikes in Bruce Wayne's very home at Alfred.

During this entire story this interpretation of Joker is always one step ahead of Batman & his motivations read like he is obsessed with Batman in a romantic stalker type fashion.  Joker maneuvers the other players into position with ease  demonstrating why he truly is Batman's greatest rogue out of all of them.  His confrontation with Penguin is a great piece of writing.  Once the Joker makes it clear that he is coming after all of the Bat-Family that supports Batman, Bruce Wayne decides to tell the the story behind the giant Joker card in the Bat-Cave.  This is all leading up to the big show down between Joker & the Batman at Arkham Asylum where Joker has prepared everything.  The big reveal of what the Joker has done at the end would have been game changing & the most heinous thing he has ever done but it was an illusion the punch line of this story is that the Joker wants to take away the safety net around Batman to make the Bat-Family mistrust Batman himself.  To that end this was a successful story but it felt like a cop out compared to the build up that Snyder put into this story which was alluding to a more grisly ending.  The magical touch that really makes this story pop is Greg Capullo's art along with the rest of the art team on this book.  There is no doubt that the team of Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo is one of the greatest things to happen to DC.  They complement each other so well.  If you are a fan of Joker stories this is not one to pass up.

Batman Vol. 2: The City of Owls

The second half of Scott Snyder's opening Batman story-arc.  The Court of Owls has released their Talons on the city.  City officials are dying left & right, Alfred has sent out a call to all of the Bat-Family.  Wayne Manor itself is under attack as the Talons fight Bruce Wayne in its halls, on the roof & finally in the Bat-Cave.  Batman is able to shut down the Talons he then goes looking for the court itself only to find them all dead in a secret meeting room.  What really makes this story are the little tidbits of mythos that are thrown out from it. 

The first is that after the death of Thomas & Martha Wayne, Bruce went looking for the court.  He felt that the court was in some way responsible for their deaths.  However in all of his searching as a child he was never able to find them.  The the building in which he found the deceased court is the same building that he came up with as their headquarters when he was a child.  The second is the story about Mr. Freeze this is one of the creepiest stories in this book.  In just the annual issue Snyder has crafted an origin tale mixed with the discovery that Freeze unknowingly helped the Court of Owls.  Victor's origin is tragic & it shows just how homicidal he truly is.  The reveal of who Nora is also great.  I still believe that nothing will surpass Batman the Animated Series episode Heart of Ice but this was damn close.  The next story was told through flashbacks involving Alfred's father & Martha Wayne.  Martha was pregnant with a second child Bruce was about three at the time.  She was being threatened by an unknown group.  There was a car accident & the baby was lost.  Jarvis blames himself as he keeps receiving phone calls from this mysterious person.  Jarvis is writing his son to warn him not to come to this cursed city.  But a Talon has come for Jarvis kills him in a burning building.  That reveal also plays with the events that happen in the present.  Lincoln March who was running for Mayor of Gotham City.  Lincoln drops that bombshell that he is Bruce's long lost little brother.  He was taken to the children's orphanage that Martha Wayne funded after the accident.  He killed the court because they began to view him as a liability.  He supposedly dies in an exploding building.  But the damage is done through the reveal or is it.  Bruce does some research & there is evidence that doesn't add up but it is still inconclusive.  Only four other stories come to mind that shake the very core of Bruce Wayne's world,  Batman & Son, Hush, Under the Red Hood & R.I.P.  I like the potential for future stories.  If this was the only Batman story that Snyder was to write that would be enough but I have a feeling that for as long as Snyder is contracted to DC comics that he will have some influence on the Dark Knight.

Batman Vol. 1: The Court of the Owls

Scott Snyder is no stranger to the Dark Knight before the New 52 he wrote one of the all time favorite Batman tales in Batman: The Black Mirror.  I do think that the New 52 hurt Batman in terms of continuity the only series that came through unscathed was Green Lantern because that was Geoff Johns baby, but I digress.  Snyder's opening salvo with Batman in the New 52 is one of the great lessons of mining the material something that all writers are able to with Batman & friends easily.  In this case Snyder creates a new threat for Batman that is built into the very city itself & has an even richer history than Batman does.  The Court of Owls is one of the greatest Batman creations since the League of Shadows was created.  

The first seven issues of the series can be found in this first volume.  Bruce Wayne is trying to add a more modern look to Gotham by addressing some of the infrastructural problems of the city.  Gotham has always looked old fashioned compared to Metropolis.  Snyder builds a sense of suspense in his writing that Grant Morrison was unable to in his run on the character.  Snyder plays off the natural relationship between bats & owls.  Snyder's first story-arc is broken down into two volumes this first sees that court push Bruce Wayne to the limit.  Batman has underestimated the court he went searching for them after they tried to kill Bruce Wayne.  However the court was to crafty & Batman wakes up in an underground maze.  This maze is used to play with the court's victims before the Talon dispatches them.  Snyder has even crafted a very catchy rhyme to strike fear into the reader similar to Nightmare on Elm Street & other scary movies.  Batman finds a way to escape the maze after having a final showdown with the Talon.  There is a big reveal at the end of this volume that Dick Grayson was in line to be trained as one of the new Talons.  The court has a plan to demonstrate their power in Gotham & they release all of their Talons to take out Batman & the city's leaders.  Snyder makes the reader want more with the cliff hanger at the midway point of this story.

X-23: Target X

This book catches everybody up on what happens to Laura after she leaves the Facility.  Laura seeks out her aunt & cousin.  This book shows just how hard it is for her to fit in with normal people, especially at school.  The one person that she does seem to be able to open up to is her cousin Megan.They talk about everything from Laura's training & killing to Megan's abduction.  It turns out that Debbie Laura's aunt, her boyfriend also works for the Facility.  He became involved with a Debbie after the abduction of Megan in case X-23 ever returned to them.  He plans to use the trigger scent to make X-23 kill Megan & Debbie however this backfires & he becomes the first victim of the blood rage that X-23 is sent into.  Megan & Debbie run upstairs as Debbie still has the scent on her they hide in the bathroom with the shower on trying to wash the scent off meanwhile X-23 is coming through the door like a deranged serial killer.  She gets through the door just as they have washed the scent away it is a beautiful scene as you see Laura's eyes clear from that rage she was previously in.  A new character is introduced in this book who is ultimately a foil for X-23 she was her tormentor & handler at the Facility.  Kimura is another creation of the Facility someone to keep Laura in check it is never really explained what her powers are just that Laura can't hurt her, she has unbreakable skin.  Laura & her family escape blowing up the house in the process, she escorts her family to the Canadian border & then heads off to find the man who made all of this possible.  

X-23 tracks down Wolverine in New York but she can't get close to him cause he is surrounded by telepathic mutants.  Wolverine leaves & heads out to the New York / Canadian border he knows she is following even before she gets there.  X-23 has come to kill Wolverine.  The fight is quick but expertly portrayed as X-23 attempts to stop Logan's healing factor from working during the fight.  She wants to kill Wolverine & herself because they are weapons.  Wolverine has come to terms with this but is unwilling to let Laura kill herself.  Their fight is cut short by S.H.I.E.L.D. & Captain America.  Steve Rogers & Matt Murdock are interrogating Laura to find out how much she is accountable for.  Most of the story is told in flashbacks from this point.  Steve Rogers is unwavering in his belief that X-23 is guilty but Matt Murdock comes to view her as the victim.  It is only at the end of the story that Captain America puts her on a bus back to New York to go to Wolverine because he can help her have a normal life.  

This book takes place in between New X-Men by Grant Morrison & the House of M story-arc  This book has several great character moments.  It is really quite touching that Logan received a letter from Sarah Kinney about X-23 existence & he even tried to find her but he apparently didn't look to hard but he could have if he really wanted to.  Logan has always taken pity on girls who are orphaned or given a hard time in life.  Laura is Logan's spiritual & physical successor but only time will tell how he will treat her as a daughter.  The two girls who have that type of relationship with him are Kitty Pryde & Jubilee.  Currently Laura has taken up the mantel of Wolverine after Logan's apparent dearth but once he returns who knows what will happen.

X-23: Innocence Lost

I have loved X-23 since I saw her debut on X-Men: Evolution.  So I figured it was time I delved into her comic debut.  This book focuses on the origin of the character & is a really great introduction to her.  She barely says anything this entire book the real main character of the story is Doctor Sarah Kinney.  After reading Wolverine: Old Man Logan & then piling this on top makes Logan an even more emotional ride because this is an equally emotional story with a very tragic ending.

Sarah Kinney was brought into the facility to help recreate the Weapon X Program she is working alongside Zander Rice who is the son of David Rice one of the scientist who died when Wolverine escaped the original facility.  She runs into a road block in the original genetic code so instead of trying to recreate the Y chromosome she instead clones the X chromosome to create a female clone.  Zander does like her from the moment she is brought on board so he keeps challenging her.  It gets so bad that the only way she can prove that a female clone would be just as good as the original is to carry the clone to term herself.  So she becomes the surrogate mother to X-23.  But due to this situation Zander has started digging himself into a hole as well  since he started having an affair with his bosses wife.   Sarah became emotionally involved with X-23 because she gave birth to her & her niece was trying to connect with her.  Once her X Gene manifested they started sending her on missions as an assassin all over the world.  I would really like to see a story where she goes up against the Winter Soldier.  Zander leaves her for dead during a mission but she comes home anyway.  Sarah uses her to rescue her niece from a kidnapper which gives X-23 her first taste of heroism.  In the end Zander is trying to clean up the hole that he has been digging himself into all this time by sending X-23 to kill the facilities boss & family.  This would allow Zander to take over the project & run things the way he sees fit.  Zander sets plans in motion to get rid of Sarah Kinney while she is making plans of her own to have X-23 kill Zander & destroy the facility.   As X-23 is coming to meet Laura she smell the trigger scent on Sarah & kills her.  The whole books is quite a fast read & it pulls on the heart strings in just the right way.  In terms of her appearance on the page & on the screen I can honestly say that Mindy McCready aka Hit Girl has nothing on Laura Kinney aka X-23.

Wolverine: Old Man Logan

This is one of the best Wolverine stories ever written.  No scratch that this is one of the best alternate reality takes on the Marvel Universe.  After seeing Logan in theaters this is a refreshing read.  I really like this take on him as the old family man farmer who hasn't popped his claws in fifty years.  Logan takes a job that is offered to him by Clint Barton who comes on by looking for help.  Logan has to take the job to get money to pay the rent to the Hulk gang or else they will collect in other ways.  As they are traveling  Hawkeye & Logan talk about the war in which the villains rose up & took out all of the heroes.  Their travels take them all the way across the United States.  During their journey Wolverine finally tells how the villains broke him of his violent ways & it truly is horrifying.  The only other story to come as close is the Wolverine Goes to Hell story-arc by Jason Aaron.  His tale really brought the emotion.  Finally our heroes get to New Babylon which has replaced Washington DC.  When Logan finally does pop his claws it is so satisfying.  

The final showdown between Logan & Banner is not as spectacular as it could have been but it does echo their first meeting but it just doesn't live up to it.  The original Hulk vs. Wolverine fight is often imitated, referenced but never duplicated.  This is Unforgiven in comic form.  With this book Mark Millar has crafted a vision of the Marvel Universe that is filled with easter eggs left & right compared to House of M or Age of Ultron by Brian Michael Bendis this is a far superior read.  I haven't read the new Wolverine, Old Man Logan series that Marvel is putting out but this has certainly made me want to look into it.

Saga Vol. 7

It has been awhile since I've read Saga & without picking up volume 6 or looking back at my previous reviews of the other volumes; I just wasn't feeling as emotional about this one as I was supposed to.  I will definitely be rereading this series as a whole when it's finished.  This volume was only OK for me as there's a lot that happens in this collection.  There is a time jump of six months & the story takes place entirely on the comet of Phang.  This is by far the saddest entry into the series as several characters die but in some cases the deaths don't have the same amount of emotion as some of the characters who have been around for a while.  This collection has about the same amount of death as The Walking Dead.  

From here on (SPOILERS!) abound, Hazel & her extended family are coasting through space when they discover they are running out of fuel.  Petrichor who came with Hazel from the prison instead of grandma has sort of replaced her role in this family.  Their ship has to make an emergency refueling stop on Phang an inhabited comet flying through the blackness of space.  Phang is war torn & full of refugees in fact I would say that this is Brian K. Vaughan's cosmic version of Aleppo, Syria.  Phang is the birthplace of Sophie is still off with Gwendolyn & Lying Cat.  Lying Cat is still one of the greatest comic creations of the 21st century.  On Phang our family comes in contact with another family of small rodent like characters not as cute as Gus but just as likable.  Kurti & his family are a great addition to the book.  Throughout this book we see the extended family grow as Alana becomes a mother to all while she is going through her second pregnancy.  Petrichor warns Marko of these refugees that they have taken in saying that they are not what they appear.  All of this alludes to the fact that Kurti's family are religious fanatics who will go so far as to participate in suicide bombings against at least one side of the conflict.  Marko stands up for them saying that you can not judge a race based on the actions of a few.  Izabel & Hazel get into an argument which prompts Izabel to offer to help out Prince Robot IV.  Meanwhile The Will  with Sweet Boy tracks down Gwendolyn to get the band back together so they can continue hunting down Marko & Alana only to find out that his bounty hunter status has been revoked.  Izabel runs into a new bounty hunter The March she tries to run but they capture her & kill her, permanently. There is a really touching story where Hazel & Kurti are talking remembering Izabel,  Hazel tells this story about her past & the feather fairy it is really a touching story.  Gwendolyn goes on a mission for Wreath High Command to meet with a representative from Landfall.  Prince Robot IV gets high & comes close to crossing the line between raping Alana & committing suicide.  Right when The March finds Marko & Alana's tribe, Petrichor finds out why so many people have deserted Phang.  The showdown between The March & our group ends in Marko once again taking a life to save his family.  The Last issue of this collection sees the death of Sweet Boy & supposedly The Will by an unknown assassin.   Hazels family escapes Phang just as it is being destroyed but do to some turbulence Alana is knocked down & it is speculated that she has lost the baby boy she was carrying.  Kurti & his family refused to go with them preferring to remain on Phang believing that their faith will protect them from the time of trouble ahead; all were lost.

Saga is still one of the greatest series on the shelves right now I love how Brian K Vaughan is able to balance writing multiple books at the same time.  I haven't read Paper Girls yet but that he is currently writing along with this one.

Scalped Deluxe Ed. Book Five

The last book in the Scalped series is quite satisfying as an ending but at the same time I still had some problems with it.  The opening issue is a great reflection on how far the series has come since it was first started.  Bad Horse & Falls Down are looking for Catcher since he killed Gina & tried to kill both of them.  Meanwhile in the wake of Medicine Rock's heart attack Red Crow has been tearing down his own meth houses.  Wooster Karnow has wised up as a law man & is taking matters into his own hands.  All of these changes seem very organic in the way they are executed in this final book.  

The teaser at the end of the last volume doesn't lead anywhere since Belcourt doesn't wake up next to Catcher in the hospital but instead Catcher winds up in jail with Wade.  During a fire fight in which some meth dealers in Nebraska were trying to kill Shunka.  Wade gets hit with a stray bullet & as he is dying Catcher admits to killing Gina which leads to Wade & Catcher choking each other.  I really wish Catcher had died here but it was not to be.  Sheriff Karnow takes on a meth house by him self after all of his back up deserts him.  Nitz finally arrives but it to late Karnow after being shot multiple times tries to reason with one the criminals wearing a gas mask but get shot anyway.  As the gangs runs away it is revealed that the guy with the gas mask is Dino who the sheriff let off with a warning earlier in this collection.  Shunka & Bad Horse have their showdown that has been teased since the very beginning and it is great but it still proves that Shunka would have one if it hadn't been for the most unlikely person.  Red Crow shoots Shunka at which Dashiell turns the situation around & puts Red Crow under arrest  Meanwhile Catcher makes it to a field where he comes upon his old horse.  Upon recognizing him the horse attacks him & while about to stomp a mud hole in him Catcher shoots the horse & it collapses on him.  If the series had ended here it would have been fine but no this is only the halfway point of the story.  

Red Crow is in jail Nitz is happy as hell & Bad Horse is viewed as a hero Dashiell starts up a relationship with Maggie Medicine Rock who seems to be a good fit for him but I was really rooting for him & Carol since they have so much shared history.  Dino manipulates things behind the scenes with Red Crow's lawyer which leads to Lincoln being released & Dashiells reputation in ruins.  Dash is on the run from the F.B.I. while someone is killing the tribal council.  Diesel's body turns back up putting further evidence against Dash.  The final fight is in the closed casino between Dino's gang of former Red Crow employees & Red Crow.  It turns out that Catcher is still alive & that he is behind the tribal council murders.  Nitz finds out that Catcher is really the one who murdered the F.B.I. agents back in 1975.  So everybody is converging on the casino.  Dino flees with a lot of money making his full criminal transformation.  There is a whole Mexican standoff thing that happens between Red Crow, Bad Horse & Catcher.  Bad Horse shoots both, while Catcher is stumbling away Nitz runs in & tackles him into the fire where they both burn.  Dash carries Red Crow outside.  Red Crow makes him an offer but Dash refuses.  By the end of the story Falls Down is made sheriff of the reservation Maggie is elected leader of the the tribal council.  Carol has officially replace Granny Poor Bear as we witness Granny's funeral.  There is a new drug kingpin on the reservation in Dino.  Red Crow is living secluded outside of town just trying to get back to his roots & Dash is hitching a ride out of the reservation because he is still wanted for the murder of Diesel.  This is not a happy ending book but it does have definite closure.  If you liked 100 Bullets or Y the Last Man you will love this I haven't read D.M.Z. yet but I have a feeling it is in the same vein as these other titles.

Scalped Deluxe Ed. Book Four

This is the second to last collection as Scalped is starting two wind down.  This book feels much more like an anthology as it includes several side stories.  I absolutely love issue 35 which opens up this book it is a beautiful one & done story about Mance & Hazel.  Next up we learn about Carol’s past as she comes to the realization that she is pregnant with Dashiell Bad Horse’s child.  She winds up torching her house & going to live with Granny Poor Bear.  Granny helps get Carol off of drugs & by the end it looks like Carol is turning her life around.  Dashiell’s father Wade has returned to the reservation & he wants to see his son.  Everybody is always giving Wade a hard in this book & I understand that he really doesn’t stand up for himself but he is at least trying to make an effort & is his past with all of the characters is murkier than anyone can guess.

The Native American sweat lodge comes into play in this book a lot as it is used to ween Dash off of drugs & even for prayer or meditation.  Other side characters get their chance to shine as Wooster Karnow from Nebraska keeps reminiscing about how he used to be such a big shot & a war hero until he starts chasing down a guy wanted by the US Marshalls office.  This is issue was also quite amazing & is setting up something for the final book.  The other character who really get some page time is Nitz.  Agent Nitz has such a fall from grace when his superior comes in from Washington fires him for incompetence & getting his partner killed.  Nitz is in a drunken rage goes to confront Red Crow who basically has his men beat the crap out of him but not kill him.  Nitz trying to find a way to end it so he goes to a meth lab hoping that the tweaking junkies will kill him in a fire fight.  But do to his luck things don’t work out the way he was expecting them to.  The whole Unwanted storyline is about regrets & bad decisions. 

The next story-arc in this book is called You Gotta Sin to Get Saved.  This is a very Red Crow centered story.  Lincoln is coming up against a rival for chief of the tribe & his rival is the man who raised him.  As Red Crow is dealing with this new threat Dashiell & he have become quite close.  Meanwhile Dino Poor is developing a major crush on Carol that balances on the very edge of creepy.  The character that I have lost all respect for in this book is Catcher.  In this collection Catcher proves how messed up & sadistic he really is as he tries to kill Officer Falls Down & Dashiell Bad Horse.  I can’t wait for him to wake up in the last book & see who is in the same hospital room as him.  This series has gained a lot of respect from me as I have continued reading it but it is not an easy series to get into.  But once it has its hooks into you be prepared you are in for a wild ride.

Scalped Deluxe Ed. Book Three

A lot happens in this volume of Scalped with the High Lonesome storyline.  This introduces us to a con man by the name of Wesley Willeford & he has a secret that even he doesn’t know until he sees Dash Bad Horse; he knows that Dash works for the F.B.I.  Dash is going through his own problems throughout this entire volume in fact he comes real close to losing his grip on reality.  He has turned to drugs, sex & alcohol to just ease the pain & burden that he is living with every day.   Finally Dash does confess to Carol that he is working for the F.B.I.  As the world is closing in on him Dash sobers up pretty damn quick really just in time to talk Diesel into double crossing the F.B.I. & then double crossing Diesel on the evening that he is released from prison.  The justice that Dashiell Bad Horse rains down on him quite literally in fact is too extreme & doesn’t make me sympathize with him anymore than I already do. 

Officer Falls Down is piecing everything together rather quickly in the case of the murdered F.B.I. agents from 1975.  Lawrence Belcourt who sits in prison wrongly convicted of this crime knows who the real murderer is hell everybody that was there that day knows who it is.  It is finally revealed to us in this volume, it was Catcher.  By the end of this volume Falls Down knows that Catcher killed Gina Bad Horse but he doesn’t know why.  Reveals himself to Dashiell again after swearing on Gina’s grave that he will protect her son.  Catcher has this old sage presence in this series he just pops here & there in the story & reveals major plot points he is becoming one of the most enjoyable characters to read along with Granny Poor Bear only appears briefly in this book. 

The second half of this book is very Red Crow centric as Lincoln does something brash when he shoots Mr. Brass in the head while he is on the phone with Johnny Hmong.  This causes the Hmong’s to come down to the reservation in force.  They are expecting to have a war with Red Crow & his men right outside the police station.  However Red Crow changes the game & goes out to meet them himself unarmed.  The Hmongs don’t kill but instead beat him senseless as example.  While all of this is going on there is a witness on the loose that can either seal the fate of Lincoln Red Crow for murder to the F.B.I.  or Dashiell Bad Horse to Red Crow or the F.B.I. for drug use.  But in the end everything is good the witness is killed to protect Dashiell & Red Crow flies to the city to deliver some Godfather style retribution to Johnny Hmong & his gang which is quite satisfying to see.  This book was the halfway point for the series if you have made it this far there are only two books left.  

Scalped Deluxe Ed. Book Two

The second volume of Scalped comes at you the emotion from the get go.  Tragedy comes for everybody in this volume.  Gina Bad Horse is dead but no one knows who killed her.  Dashiell Bad Horse has a crisis of consciousness while he is trying to deal with the death of his own mother & the death of a teenage boy’s mother.  The teenage boy's name is Shelton, he has four brothers & sisters that he looks out for.  Shelton reminds Dashiell of his own troubled past as he tries to relate to the kid & reassure him that they will catch the guy who killed his mom.  In his grief Dashiell turns to Carol & picks up some more of her bad habits.  We do get to see some of her backstory & why she hates her dad so much.  Shelton dies while trying to get revenge for his mothers death. This leads to a confrontation between Dashiell & Diesel except now they both know that they are both undercover agents for the F.B.I.  

Lincoln Red Crow is probably the one character who has been affected the most by Gina’s murder.  He is starting to downward spiral in some of his decisions he is making.  Thanks to Red Crow's business deals with an Asian crime family the Hmongs, he is starting to lose control of his hold on the reservation.  The Hmongs have sent Mr. Brass a scary little man who works a lot like the Spanish Inquisition pain first & asking questions second.  By the end of this book Red Crow steps up & takes a stand against the cruelty that Mr. Brass is raining down on his people but some o the damage has already been done.

Granny Poor Bear is Dino's grandmother but she is respected by all of the characters that have interacted with her so far.  She prepares a soul pouch for Gina's soul & gives it to Lincoln Red Crow because of his history with her.  The book shows a lot of their history throughout this part of the story, Gina really plays a bigger part in flashbacks than in the present.  This responsibility that Granny has bestowed on Red Crow is a real driving force in this book & provides his character with a lot of conviction.  In the end however some old habits are just to hard to give up.  

Dino Poor Bear is the other great tragedy of this volume.  Dino fixes up his car with the money he was given but he gets pulled over for driving recklessly.  This one event leads to several bad decisions & bad situations that seem lucrative at the time.  All the while Dino keeps telling himself that he is trying to provide a better life for his daughter but in reality he is shackling her to life on this reservation.  Granny sees what is happening & she tries some tough love on him to make him see reason but in the end Dino will have to live with what he has lost as he is lying in a hospital bed at the end of this book.  

Franklin Falls Down makes his return in this book after recovering from being set up to be killed during a routine drug bust by Red Crow.  Falls Down is one tough character he is the one good cop on a police force of crooked cops his father was cop before him.  Red Crow comes to officer Falls Down with Gina Bad Horse's Murder Case because Red Crow wants it solved at all cost & he knows that Falls Down is the only cop he can trust to solve it.  F.B.I. Agent Nitz is back in all his glory he is glad that Gina is dead & like everybody else he believes that Red Crow had her killed.  The F.B.I. is portrayed in a very negative light in this series & I have a feeling that there is more to Agent Nitz than simple retribution for the deaths of two F.B.I. agents in the 1970s.  Catcher also returns in this book for one brief scene in which is is screaming that he can't wash off the blood it leads the readers to believe that he killed Gina.  To which I ask why did he do it?

Scalped Deluxe Ed. Book One

Jason Aaron can be a very polarizing writer you either like his writing or you don’t.  I have only read one title by him prior to this & that was Wolverine.  I like Jason Aaron’s style but this was a little hard to get into at first.  Scalped is not told in a linear fashion like 100 Bullets for example however that being said if you liked 100 Bullets you will like Scalped.  The art style is very similar in terms of color pallet but art in this book is grittier.  In 100 Bullets some of the characters were quite likable I have not found that to be the case in this book in fact by the end of this first volume I have only two characters that I like.  This book takes a lot of cues for Quentin Tarantino movies & forces the reader to piece things together.  This book is told through flashbacks, dreams, flash-forwards & different vantage points of the present.  It is truly amazing & confusing at the same time.  For example one of the main characters is killed off about half-way through this book but yet they are still heavily involved with the rest of the story in this volume because their death was revealed in a flash-forward.  I like the fact that this story takes place on a Native American Reservation for the Sioux Indians in South Dakota.  I love studying about Native American history however I am deeply saddened by the United States treatment of Native Americans even to this day.  It shows that America as a country has not learned its lesson.  Similar to that of the story even though this story is about a decade old it still rings true as taking place in the present.

Anyway there are several characters that we are introduced to in this opening volume the first is Catcher even though we don’t know it him at the time.  He shares a past with many of our main characters that is coming back to haunt them.  The second is Dashiell Bad Horse, he is supposed to be the protagonist of the story but I just can’t bring myself to like him.  From the very beginning he is more than what he seems but even the reveal of him working with the F.B.I. doesn’t make him any more likable in fact it gives off the opposite effect.  The next is Lincoln Red Crow who also has a lot of history with this reservation & a past with Catcher.  Red Crow is positioned to be the villain of the story but every time he appears a little more is revealed about him & he’s not as bad as everybody says he is.  Gina Bad Horse is one of the more relatable characters in the book simply because it is so hard to like her son Dashiell.  She also shares history with Red Crow & Catcher.  Carol Red Crow is a girl from Dashiell’s past & Lincoln’s daughter.  Agent Nitz is an F.B.I. agent with a grudge against the Native Americans.  That brings us to Dino Poor Bear who is just a teenage dad trying to create a better life for his daughter.  He dreams of leaving the reservation but something is always pulling him back in.  I really hope he survives this tale but I think that this is just beginning of what is set to be one long tragedy.  I look forward to reading the next volume in the series.  This is the series that put Jason Aaron on the map as a comic book writing & his career has just skyrocketed since.

New Avengers Vol. 5

Like the previous volume this story wraps up some loose ends of the New Avengers book that go all the way back to the start of this second series with the Heroic Age.  Luke Cage & Jessica Jones have decided that it is time to retire from the Avengers & focus on raising their child.  This last story arc is really a Dr. Strange story & the covers for the individual issues are quiet misleading.  The story does involve Brother Voodoo indirectly but he is not in this story.  This story is about how Stephen Strange once again becomes the Sorcerer Supreme for the Marvel Universe.  Just like in the first story where there was a lot of possession of different team members by a spirit that happens again in this story.  There is death in this book of several minor characters in this story one of which is quite shocking but the death that affected the Avengers team the most is the death of Victoria Hand.  Also just to take note of in this story for the sake of continuity Ms. Marvel has changed costumes & names at this stage of the game.  She now goes by Captain Marvel.  The story-arc also has several artists that bring this adventure to a close some is unique and cool while others seem childish.  I wouldn’t say any of the art is bad in this book but not all of it works within the story that it is attempting to tell.  This story is a great end-cap to Brian Michael Bendis’s run on the main Avengers titles.

Avengers Vol. 5

This is it the one of the final volumes of the Avengers written by Brian Michael Bendis. Bendis has been writing the Avengers since my reemergence into the the world of super-heroes; so for me this is a big deal.  There are two main stories in this volume the first of which is told through the annuals of both Avengers & New Avengers.  The events in those two issues takes right place before the Fear Itself event.  In which Wonder Man & his team of misfits take on the Avengers.  Wonder Man has been trying to prove for about half of Brian's run that the Avengers are a flawed concept this story-line comes to a head here.  The second story is a rescue mission to find a The Wasp.  She has been missing in action since Secret Invasion & thought to be dead.  She is very much alive & very tiny.  This story was amazing & quite well done all in all this is how you write the conclusion to a series.

New Avengers Vol. 4

The New Avengers collection that coincides with Avengers vs. X-Men event has a lot more heart than the main Avengers title.  Steve Rogers comes to Avengers Mansion to recruit all of the Avengers for multiple missions to combat the Phoenix Force.  Storm is immediately taken aback & leaves heading for Utopia.  Captain America goes to talk to Cyclops about the upcoming threat & about turning over Hope to the Avengers.  Wolverine knows this is going to back fire but the other refuse to believe it. The conflict ensues.  Next up is my favorite part of this collection it takes place in K'un-Lun during the time of Leonardo Da Vinci.  Master Yu Ti started having visions of the Phoenix Force making its way to earth.  Master Yu Ti had a vision of a red haired girl who possessed the power of the Iron Fist & the Phoenix Force.  He found a girl named Fongji  who was taken into the palace to begin training.  She received the power of the Iron Fist & the Phoenix, the dragon & the bird.  With this power she left earth.  This short story adds a great of amount of weight to Iron Fist as a character.  Hope is taken to K'un-Lun to begin training but she can not become the Iron Fist because Danny Rand already is.  However it is not Danny Rand who needs to train her it is the Spider.  Peter Parker shares the advice he lives by with hope & helps her see exactly what it means.  Captain America calls the Illuminati together in hopes of talking some reason to Namor.  Professor X has a breakdown of sorts in which he feels that he has failed & his life's work has been for naught.  Reed Richards says some very poignant things about how maybe Captain America is on the wrong side this time & that maybe that some good came from bad intentions.  After everybody leaves Namor shows up & the dialogue between Captain America & him is great it shows that Steve Rogers is one of the few people in the Marvel Universe that Namor respects.  The final part of this collection sees an Avengers prison transport attacked by the Purifiers while they are transporting Emma Frost.  The New Avengers rise up to the challenge & take out the threat.  After the Purifiers are neutralized Luke Cage walks off into the sunset.  This volume is more essential to the New Avengers title then Avengers vs. X-Men also it just feels like there is more life in this one.