Injustice: Gods Among Us #25 (July 3, 2013)

Tags

Batwoman, Black Canary, Black Lightning, Bruno Redondo, Captain Atom, Catwoman, David Lopez, Green Arrow, Huntress, Injustice Captain Atom, Jheremy Raapack, Lex Luthor, Santi Casas of Ikari Studio, Superman, Tom Taylor, Wes Abbott, Wonder Woman

>>>>>>>>>>SPOILERS<<<<<<<<<
(You’ve been warned)

“Chapter Twenty-Five”

• Writer: Tom Taylor
• Artist: Bruno Redondo
• Colors: David Lopez and Santi Casas of Ikari Studio
• Letters: Wes Abbott
• Cover Artist: Jheremy Raapack

This story opens by showing the juxtaposition between the Watchtower and the Batcave.  Superman is talking to Wonder Woman in the Watchtower while Catwoman is talking to Batman in the Batcave.  The world is celebrating, praising Superman for thwarting the alien invasion in the previous issue.

Wonder Woman says, “You saved so many lives,” to Superman.  Batman says to Catwoman, “He took so many lives.”  Superman himself says, “So many were lost.”  Three varying opinions right there.  But however you slice it, Superman killed a lot of people in Injustice: Gods Among Us #24.  And by “people” I mean Kalibak and an invading horde of parademons.  Superman says it isn’t enough, that more wars will happen.  He needs more allies.  Lex Luthor assures him he will have them.

In the Batcave, Batman calls a meeting (he seems to do a lot of that).  Assembled are Catwoman, Black Lightning, Batwoman, Huntress, Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Captain Atom.  Batman holds steady with his “no killing” philosophy, but Huntress points out it was a war.  Superman killed the enemy but saved millions of lives.  Huntress defends Superman’s actions, saying Batman and his friends would be dead if not for Superman (indeed, in the previous issue Green Arrow and Black Canary were just about to bite it when Supes did his whatever-the-hell-he-did that killed all the parademons).

Huntress chides, “Being sanctimonious and arrogant doesn’t make you right, Bruce!”  For this she gets the Batman Glare ™.  She slipped up and called him Bruce in front of people!  She realizes her mistake too late.

Huntress tells Bats where to stick it, that she doesn’t want to fight Superman when she agrees with him.  Catwoman stops her from leaving, saying that she doesn’t have all the facts.  Batman reveals that Superman and Lex Luthor are working on a way to enhance people into super beings.  He is building an army.  Black Lightning asks how Batman got this info.  Huntress says if Bats expects them to follow him into war they need to know they can trust him.  So Batman removes his cowl.

Hell breaks loose then, when Superman cultists attack the citizens of Gotham (in and around Crime Alley).  Batman sends Captain Atom ahead as he is the fastest.

This Superman cult has been taking on criminals in Gotham since Superman killed the Joker.  It is just as Captain Atom is about to start quantum blasting the riff-raff when the Batcrew shows up.  They trade witty comments with the zealots before they start cracking heads.  These guys are no match for the Bat guys.  But Batman and his boys are halted by the sudden arrival of Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern.

The Super friends tell the Bat crew to back down and they will handle this.  Batman and Superman face each other down, but Catwoman tells Bats now is not the time.  The Bat crew sheepishly walk away.

I don’t know what this is building to.  The ultimate showdown, I guess.  I really like these takes on classic DC characters.  Tom Taylor is weaving this together really well.  Although they shake up the art team constantly, none of them have let me down so far.  I got the demo for the video game on my X-Box 360.  It is pretty cool (Captain Atom appears not to be a playable character, though).  The comic is pretty awesome, though, and is one on DC’s best titles right now in my opinion.  I give this issue an A+.

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Injustice: Gods Among Us #21 (June 4, 2013)

Tags

Alejandro Sanchez, Batman, Black Lightning, Captain Atom, Catwoman, Cyborg, David Lopez, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Huntress, Injustice Captain Atom, Lex Luthor, Mico Suayan, Neil Googe, Robin, Santi Casas of Ikari Studio, Shazam, Superman, Tom Taylor, Wes Abbott, Wonder Woman

>>>>>>>>>>SPOILERS<<<<<<<<<
(You’ve been warned)

“Chapter Twenty-One”

• Writer: Tom Taylor
• Artist: Neil Googe
• Colors: Alejandro Sanchez
• Letters: Wes Abbott
• Cover Artist: Mico Suayan, David Lopez, and Santi Casas of Ikari Studio

Captain Atom’s role in this amounts to a cameo.

The story opens with Hawkgirl in a foreign country capturing a dictator while he is riding in a convertible.  She swoops down and snatches him right out of his seat.  A short distance away, Batman and Catwoman are watching.  Via headset mic, Batman orders Captain Atom into action.  Cap swoops in and snatches the dictator out of Hawkgirl’s hands.

Hawkgirl is then shot out of the sky by Black Lightning and knocked out cold by Huntress.

In Mogadishu, Wonder Woman takes out a despotic general, killing him.  When one of the women witnessing this tells her another man will replace him and it will never stop, Wonder Woman forces the soldiers to drop their weapons and the women to pick them up.  She vows to return, telling them she will not leave them to this life, and that what happens now is up to them.  As she flies away, the women open fire on the now-unarmed soldiers.

She rejoins Flash, Green Lantern, Robin, Superman, Cyborg, Green Lantern, Shazam, and Lex Luthor up in the Watchtower (Luthor was recovered from the wreckage of Metropolis in Injustice: Gods Among Us #20.  He had been secreted to a secret bunker by a female speedster who was killed with the rest of the city.).  When Flash tells her Captain Atom took Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman suspects the U.S. Military.  Luthor says it was Batman, and he knows so because Batman wasn’t spotted at the scene.  He warns Superman that he needs more people and he knows how to get them.

In the Batcave, Batman tells Catwoman he only needs Hawkgirl for one week (Hawkgirl is in a holding cell in the cave).  When Catwoman warns that the Justice League will come looking for her, he assures her they won’t.  Back up in the Watchtower, just as Flash is barking at Luthor that they have to find her, Hawkgirl appears in the Watchtower.  Batman tells Catwoman her team-mates won’t even be looking for her.

I’m still majorly digging this story and jonesing to play this game.  No new video games are in my budget for now, sadly.  While I prefer Jeremy Raapack’s art over Neil Googe, Googe is good.  But Tom Taylor has me on the edge of my seat!  Injustice: Gods Among Us #21 is an A.

Crisis on Infinite Earths #6 (September 1985)

Tags

Alexander Luthor, Anti-Monitor, Aquagirl, Aqualad, Aquaman, Azrael, Black Canary, Black Condor, Black Manta, Blok, Blue Beetle, Brainiac, Bronze Age Captain Atom, Captain Atom, Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., Changeling, Dawnstar, Deathbolt, Doctor Light, Doll Man, Dolphin, Green Lantern, Harbinger, Hawkman, Human Bomb, Johnny Quick, Judomaster, Katana, Kole, Lex Luthor, Lori Lemaris, Martian Manhunter, Mary Marvel, Nightshade, Northwind, Ocean Master, Pariah, Peacemaker, Per Degaton, Phantom Lady, Power Girl, Psycho-Pirate, Star Sapphire, Starfire, Steel, Supergirl, Teen Titans, The Atom, The Flash, The Question, The Ray, Thunderbolt, Uncle Sam, Wildcat, Wonder Woman

“3 Earths! 3 Deaths!”

• Writer: Marv Wolfman
• Pencils: George Pérez
• Inks: Jerry Ordway
• Colors: Anthony Tollin
• Letters: John Costanza

Crisis on Infinite Earths was a 12-part maxi-series and crossover event, produced by DC Comics in 1985 to simplify their 50-year-old continuity.  The series was written by Marv Wolfman and illustrated primarily by George Pérez. The series did away with the old “multiverse” in the DC Universe, and featured the deaths of some DC mainstays (like the Barry Allen Flash). It was ambitious, gigantic, and a huge whopping mess that I personally have never been able to fully wrap my head around.

At this point in the story, Azrael, Flash of Earth-2, Blok, Katana, and J’onn J’onzz (Martian Manhunter) materialize on Earth-4 before an anti-matter curtain in the American Midwest.  Captain Atom blasts Azrael, but is not fully in control of himself.

The Blue Beetle and the Question realize that they are being forced to attack the other heroes, but are unable to stop.  Katana, Blok, and J’onn J’onzz end up in a stalemate with the Blue Beetle, Judomaster, and Question.  Harbinger, existing simultaneously in Earths S, X, and 4, suddenly draws their universes away from the anti-matter and pulls them through her focused image.  Back at the lair of the Anti-Monitor, the Psycho Pirate suffers feedback from losing control over the people of those three Earths.  Harbinger manages to link Earths S, X, and 4 with the merging Earths 1 and 2.  Doing so, she ceases to exist as Harbinger, reverting to the identity of Lyla.

Not much to say about this one.  It was epic.  Cap only appeared on one panel of one page.  But I really like the way George Pérez drew him.  He’s the most down-to-Earth “humanistic” looking Captain Atom I’ve seen up to this point.  Because Marv Wolfman’s task was so sweeping and huge, I give an A for story and definitely an A for art.