Batman: Endgame Review

IWhile Convergence has already started, one of the most, if not the most popular DC comic book has just come to an end of a long awaited storyline featuring the Joker. I'm talking, of course, about Batman: Endgame, the six-part return of the man who laughs in Gotham City. I have just finished reading all the main storyline, and only one of not so many tie-ins, so let's get on with a spoiler-free review. Or at least a major-spoiler-free one.

From the cover on the first Endgame comic book, we can see Batman punching Cyborg, with the Justice League being unable to restraint the caped crusader, and Superman just watching. Part 2 has Superman on the cover, and then we don't get any more Justice League covers at all. This choice of covers screams "Well, you think a Batman-fights-the-Justice-League-by-himself storyline would be great? This is just the beginning, wait till you see how awesome the rest of our story will be". The action on the first issue is actually Batman fighting the Justice League, and it leads to the second issue where the fight with Superman is again, just the beginning. For this fight montage (which isn't actually a montage, just the action happening fast), Deadpool recommends the reader cranking "Five Minutes Alone" by Pantera.

There are also some extra pages at the end of each issue, telling us a tie-in story written by James Tynion IV. Tynion also wrote Batman Annual #3, which I read before Part 3 of Endgame. I can't say it's mandatory to read this or any other Endgame tie-in, but Batman Annual #3 is great and the ending of Endgame Part 2 offers a pause in the storyline where you can read it. Since we're talking about Tynion, the first pages of Endgame make clear that the storyline is taking place after Batman: Eternal, which he also wrote, but I personally haven't read and probably won't if my hands are full with other titles after Convergence; and hopefully the will. Again, Scott Snyder has the last word in Endgame, and perhaps letting Tynion in is another statement from DC: Did you like Batman Eternal? Just wait and see how awesome Snyder's run will be after I finish this storyline. The Tynion tie-in on the last pages of each issue gets a bit dull as it progresses, but the stories converge (pun intended) during the grand finale.

Let's go back to the Justice League for a moment; Part 2 of Endgame not only justifies why there are no other superheroes helping Batman while Gotham is a war zone, it also cements the fact that Joker believes he will succeed where the Justice League fails: Killing Batman.

Now, I've talked too much about the first two parts, but what about the rest of Endgame. We all know it's the return of the Joker, and that he has the ultimate plan to finally kill the Dark Knight. I'm afraid the storyline is so unique after Part 3, that I can't make a spoiler-free review, so just take my word for it being an awesome storyline and read it, while I just on my favorite part of a review: The plus and the minus.

+ Batman has a... Hulkbuster?

+ There is an owl in Bruce's place, meaning he has no fear of death and perhaps no weaknesses (owls prey on bats).

+ This is finally the real deal in Joker fights. He's not having fun, he's trying to end Batman.

+ There is a Tim Burton's Joker parade, with balloons and gas.

- Bruce performing a fastball special. (Grow up, man)

+ Dick performing a fastball special. (You can't grow up anyway)

+ The word you're looking for is... *SPOILER* (Don't visit @PsarasComics for the next few days if you don't want to get a spoiler, it's too great a moment not to tweet)

- Endgame is bound to become non-canon, because of Convergence. It doesn't fit well before Convergence, and it definitely doesn't fit after it. But perhaps this will be explained in the next issues.

+ The absence of other superheroes is explained, and so are the actions of other Gotham-based villains.

Green Lantern: Godhead

Green Lantern Godhead, a crossover between all the Lantern publications, is over. Despite it spanned over 17 issues (15 monthly, 1 one-shot and 1 annual), and also spawned three tie-ins (Infinity Man and the Forever People #4-6), it took less than three months for the whole story to be out on the shelves.
Reading it all at once, it just made me think it was a waste of time expanding a mediocre-to-moderate story over all those issues. Then again, at least three out of five Lantern titles are bound to cross over more often than so (namely Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps and Red Lanterns), which means many stories are going to expand this much for a while.

There were no flaws to be found in the story, but neither were any exciting moments, so I'm just going to make a pros-and-cons list for it because it took time to read it and it would be a waste of time not to.

Merry Christmas from Psaras Comics... or whatever

Thoughts on Superior Iron Man - #BeSuperior

I got my hands on Superior Iron Man #001 the first day it became available online, but I haven't read the issue until today. My thoughts on this new beginning are written bellow.

I really thought something was going really wrong with Marvel the last year. The Man Without Fear was becoming more of a "Daredevil: The animated series for pre-school children - The Comic Book" and Tony Stark was not eligible for the title of "The Smartest Pure-Human Alive", because he was supposed to be enhanced by alien technology inside his mother's wound (he was still second to Bruce Wayne, but that's another story).

1. Going into Superior Iron Man #001, we know Tony Stark is indeed a pure human, adopted by Howard A. Stark and his wife, Maria. We read on the prologue that after the fight with the Red Skull, a "more sinister Tony Stark evaded changing back", and we see on the first pages that he is back to alcohol drinking. Yet, he doesn't seem prone to alcoholism like every other time this has happened. Plus, he now has an all-new, symbiote-based armor, which is not actually a live organism, but it just works much like a symbiote. This could be not only an upgrade to the Extremis-based armors he could even store inside his bones and neural system, but also another proof that Tony Stark is now smarter and more of a master of himself than ever.

2. Daredevil is out to protect San Fransisco from the villain Tony Stark, and he is not a superhero from a children's TV show. Of course, it's not Bendis or Brubaker Daredevil, but it's way better than the current ongoing series. The story on Daredevil Vol.4 might be getting darker issue after issue, but the pencils and inks are still like a Saturday morning children's show. Tom Taylor needs many more pages to prove this story will be a good one (and I'm counting on him to do it), but Yildiray Cinar only needs one issue; this one.

3. Tony Stark has not become an anti-hero. He's a villain. A drug-lord. And he's much more of a threat to Daredevil (and the rest of the world) than Kingpin.

Superior Iron Man might become one of the best Marvel stories of the 21st century. For me, and not according to my earlier plans, this is the series I will read with every new issue, alongside the new Batman & Robin (and maybe Green Lantern after Godhead ends and I read it all at once). So, please God, don't let them be another clone/impostor/Skrull/Hush stories.

"I let them all feel perfection. Do you have any idea what they'll do to get that back? I want to watch."

- Tony Stark

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2014-2015 update

Hey all. I just wanted to update you on what is going to happen on PsarasComics until next summer. Well, first of all, I'm reading three ongoing series this year: Batman, Green Lantern and Daredevil, but I am also eager to check out new issues of Green Lantern Corps, Green Lantern: New Guardians and Batman '66.
After going back to Bendis' and Brubacker's Daredevil during the last months, the new issues are failing to pleasure me, so you won't be reading a lot about the Man Without Fear on PsarasComics for the months to come. On the other hand, the New 52 Green Lantern might be the best ongoing series DC has to offer at the moment. I have always despised crossovers, because you can't be sure if you want to read all the titles until they end, but the way Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, New Guardians, Red Lantern and now Sinestro are crossing paths once in a while is superb. And why did they discontinue the Gonzo series?
As for Batman... well, he is the goddamn Batman. I tried not to follow month-by-month, and all I got was reading 20-30 issues at once as soon as I went back.

And for a concise comic-book review: I bought Deadpool: Soul Hunter, collecting issues 7-12 from the Marvel NOW Deadpool series. I only did it because I remember those volumes were out for about $15, so I considered myself lucky to find it for 15€ (which is more than $15, but because of import fees, taxes etc, I rarely find comic volumes in prices that low). If you like Spawn and have a sense of Deadpool humor, go buy it. It's the closest we're going to get in a "What if Wade Wilson was Spawn" story. We were doing a lot of Deadpool-Spawn fan fiction with a classmate of mine in high school, so I enjoyed the story.

Until we meet again, folks!