Action #881: In this issue, Supergirl, Flamebird and Nightwing try to sort out some interpersonal issues while avoiding the various human organizations ready to enforce the general ban against Kryptonians. It doesn't help that a lot of people think they killed Mon-El as well. Honestly, this issue didn't do much for me and it didn't seem like much happened. Kara is angry that Flamebird is a religious nut who allowed her father to get killed by Reactron way back in issue whatever of one the Super titles dealing with New Krypton. I should probably reread this one and see if there's anything worth saying, but I'm not. I'm not loving the Flamebird and Nightwing thing thus far. I'd say Action has been my least favorite Super title since Superman split for New Krypton. I'll keep buying it though if only to keep up on what's happening with the larger story arc. That shouldn't surprise anyone. I bought all 52 issues of Trinity, which if I'm recalling correctly, was about three wet turds in a paper sandwich bag and some other stuff I didn't care about. So see, I'll pretty much buy anything.

Batgirl #2: By now we all know who the new Batgirl is: Stephanie Brown (aka Spoiler and one-time she-Robin). She's decided to take up the job after Cassandra Cain inexplicably quit. Barbara Gordon--formerly Batgirl before Joker crippled they shit out of her, now Oracle--has some issues with Stephanie taking on this role. She was also pissed off when Huntress was pretending to be Batgirl during No Man's Land, though I can understand that. Huntress sucks. Anyway, Barbara can't decide if she's being reasonable or not with respect to Batgirl-Stephanie, but she manages to help her anyway. She also tells Stephanie to give it up. Maybe she's developing that whole "I'm a dick, do it my way or else" attitude that Bruce had (has).

There's a mystery to be solved about some street drugs, though the last panel reveals the bag guy (Scarecrow). All in all, I didn't think it was a bad read and I'm looking forward to more issues of this. I'm willing to keep buying for now. Oh, and I guess I should say there's no doubt that Stephanie is going to be Batgirl since there's plenty of images online and in current issues of the new Batgirl suit. Oh, and it's an ongoing title. And the column at the back of most recent DC comics says as much.

Batman and Robin #4: Batman and Robin is one of my favorites. Let's get this out of the way. I like Grant Morrison's writing. Suck it if you don't. This one picks up where the last one left off, with the Red Hood and Scarlet making their crime-killing appearances. Their confrontation with the Lighting Bug was well done and decidedly different from Batman and Robin's style. They kill the guy and film it all using what appears to be an iPhone while mocking him. The scenes with Red Hood and Scarlet in their lair talking about Scarlet's new face was pretty good too, as was their big attack on the bad guys' meeting. Oh yeah, Red Hood is probably Jason Todd, but I don't think that is a surprise to anyone. At least, Batman thinks it is and I thought so at the end of last issue. Who are you to argue with me and Batman?

The main thing that disappointed me about this issue was that Quitely wasn't doing the art. I think I mentioned before that I enjoy they way his pencils compliment Morrison's writing here. If I didn't, I meant to. Phillip Tan's work isn't bad. Actually, it's good, but it has a different feel and gives the story a different atmosphere in contrast to issues 1-3. There's two more of this arc to go. I vaguely remember reading that the next three won't be Quitely either. Oh well. I'm still enjoying it and looking forward to the next issues.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #4: I'm still on the fence with this book. We're four issues in now and it doesn't seem like anything is really happening. This issue, as a single story, wasn't bad but it wasn't great either. I'm not terribly interested in how villains purchase hideouts. Zsasz purchases a hideout and is kidnapping children for something or other. Given that it's Zsasz and the location he purchases is a slaughterhouse, I'm guessing he's planning on creating some kind of kid-killing factory or an arena to watch kids kill and be killed or maybe a youth center. I don't know. What ever he's planning, it's guaranteed to involving killing, kids and this building. Eventually Batman will have to do something about this, but I suspect we'll have another issue or two before something interesting occurs. Maybe #5 will deal with Gotham's proctologist to the villains. I can't wait to hear about Black Mask's colonoscopy results.

Blackest Night #3: We're only at issue #3? Damn. I was really looking forward to Blackest Night. I'll admit it. I let the hype get to me. I'm starting to feel disappointed though. In this issue, there's a bunch of fighting between various heros and the nearly unstoppable Black Lanterns. They taunt the heros and try to elicit an emotional response in order to rip the heros' hearts out, thus raising the Black Lanterns' power levels and, apparently, creating more Black power rings. Eventually, the Indigo Lanterns show up because of Ray Palmer's compassion and use Hal Jordan's will power somehow to destroy the Black Lanterns. Then Indigo-1, leader of the compassionate collective, explains the whole emotional spectrum and its relation to the beginning of the universe. She also mentions that Hal can team up with the other Power Rangers and form Voltron and then defeat the Black Lanterns with the White Light of the Force, or something like that. That doesn't seem to interest Hal that much, but he does get excited to hear Carol Ferris is a Star Sapphire and decides to bail on his friends. This upsets Barry Allen, the resurrected Flash, because...he's jealous? I don't know. Oh yeah. The Flash says they need his Green Lantern power, because he paid attention to that part where Indigo-1 said he can team up with another color of ring and destroy Black Lanterns during her lecture. Hal, who didn't pay attention because he was thinking about Carol Ferris and possibly her Star Sapphine outfit, tells them to call Alan Scott or some other light wielding, Earth-bound superhero. I guess Hal forgets that none of their powers, including Alan Scott's Green Lantern ring, actually operate on will power like those of the GLC. So basically he tells his buddies, "Yeah, go die. I have space stuff and Carol to do." Then Hal Jordan and Barry Allen have a meaningful heart-to-heart that brings the issue to a grinding, irritating halt. The other people just stand around, possibly feeling compassionate or maybe a little fearful that Hal and Barry are going to make out. I think someone dies of boredom, possibly everyone, because Black Lanterns start attacking again. The best part of the issue is Black Lantern Firestorm using the dude half of living Firestorm to turn the female half of Firestorm into table salt, thus unleashing a new wave of Black Lanterns stored conveniently at JLA headquarters. Oh. There may have been a song-and-dance routine in there somewhere lead by Black Lantern Martian Manhunter. I don't remember exactly, but there's of people and action in some of these panels.

In next issue I predict a bunch of huge battles between Black Lanterns and other non-Black Lantern people. Writer Geoff Johns is all about the big, huge, crazy battles. See the Sinestro Corp War and Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds. Not that there's anything wrong with this necessarily. But Blackest Night just isn't doing it for me yet. Of course, I'll keep reading because I do like John's work and I like Green Lantern. I'm hoping this doesn't end up sucking. Thus far, I think Final Crisis was way better.

Final Crisis Aftermath: Escape #5 (of 6): Speaking of Final Crisis, I've been reading the Aftermath books. I can't wait for Escape to end. I have no idea about what's going on other than Nemesis is caught in some sort of Groundhog Day like experience where he keeps having to do things over and over again. And, he's confused. I'm confused too. I think everyone is confused. There's only one more issue left to explain this mess and I'm pretty sure the big reveal at the end is that Nemesis shot JR and then quit heroing to spend his time posting Rule 34 Wonder Woman demotivators on 4chan.

The Outsiders #22: I'm getting bored writing this post. Maybe I'll harness my boredom to create a gray power battery and start a Gray Lantern Corp that wields a dim,g ray light against various enemies. Oh. I'm supposed to be writing about Outsiders. This isn't a bad issue. It's fairly decent and moves along the Outsiders' mission of rounding up escaped Arkham bad guys. In this issue, Geo-force and Metamorpho deal with Clayface. They beat him. That's about it. It's a decent comic book story but nothing to write a blog post about, so I'm ending this here. Oh yeah. I was hoping this book would focus more on Alfred and his role running this crew now that Bruce is gone. Oh well.

Well, that's everything I bought. Next week I'm getting:

Blackest Night: Superman #2, Conan the Cimmerian #14, Detective #857, FC Aftermath: Dance #5, Power Girl #5, Supergirl #45, Superman: Secret Origins #1, and Superman/Batman #64.

And maybe I'll pick up some Ultimate Avengers.