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Sanctuary Episode, "Sleepers" Mentions...San Diego Comic Con GEEK ON

San Diego Comic Con gets a great nod from the team at Sanctuary. I won't spoil it for you just pay attention at about 4-5 min in...

This is available online at Hulu and Scfi.

Enjoy!

Mattman's Weekly Batman Update

Hey,

We got three titles this week.

Batman# 691

Written by Judd Winick and Penciled by Mark Bagley

I am sad. This will be Judd Winick's last issue. That's right, they only gave him five issues. Now Batman will be written and illustrated by Tony Daniel, who is awesome but that doesn't mean I won't miss the fucktacularly awesome writing of Winick.

The issue picks up where the last left off, Two-Face has broken into the Batcave! Two-Face is wearing some odd-ball twisted version of a Batman costume. Just look at the image above. That's the crazy ass costume. But luckily he's not actually wearing that costume it's just Batman hallucinating due to drugs Two-Face had shot him with.

So a battle erupts: Two-Face versus Batman. All the while Two-Face is blabbing about how he knows that Dick is not the same Batman. Then another Batman shows up and shoots Batman with some darts. Dick pulls the darts out of his body goes crazy and savagely beats Two-Face, growling "I'm not like you Harvey, I can change  but... I STILL AM BATMAN!" Then Two-Face finally concedes "It..it is you..you son of a.."

It turns out that the other Batman that shot Dick was Alfred and he shot him with adrenaline. Then we cut to Two-Face being transported by cops to Blackgate Prison. The Police Transport is attacked and Two-Face is freed. It's a bunch of thugs lead by The Black Mask. Black Mask offers Two-Face a partnership. Two-Face turns him down.

I don't get the end because it begins with Dick and Alfred emptying out the Batcave. Are they going to create their own new Batcave? Or are they going to do away with having a Batcave altogether? I hope not that is the lamest thing I have ever heard of. Of course Christain Bale operated the whole last movie without a Batcave and he was still fuckawesome. Anyway, under the Jason Todd costume in the cave Dick discovers a flash drive and it contains info on his parents murders. Why was Bruce hiding this particular file? I guess we will have to wait to find our next issue.

Batgirl# 3

Written by Bryan Q. Miller and Penciled by Lee Garbett

Okay so as we discovered last issue the mastermind behind the drug thrill being given to kids at Batgirl's college is Scarecrow. So the issue begins with a battle between Batgirl and Scarecrow. of course he sprayed her with fear gas so she is totally seeing shit. She sees Robin (Tim Drake) telling her she wasn't good enough, she sees Spoiler her own former identity telling her she deserves to fail and finally she sees everyone her insecure little mind feels she has let down. She triumphs though and declares "I am Batgirl!" as she delivers the final blow to Scarecrow.

Apparently this was convincing enough to Orcale that Stephanie Brown deserves to be Batgirl. Together they take an oath in the Batcave in the exact same place that Dick and Bruce took an oath together when Dick was like 8 or something. Only this time Barbara is swearing to Stephanie that she will always have her at her side as Orcale in battle. She awards Stephanie a new Batgirl costume.

The issue ends with Batgirl in new uniform taking out some thugs.

Red Robin# 5

Written by Chris Yost and Penciled by Ramon Bachs

Honestly, this issue was kinda lame. Not much happens.

Last issue Tim and his companion Pru were severely injured by a dude named The Widower and other thugs. Tim wakes up in a stronghold of the League of Assassins. They have repaired his wounds. A man calling himself The White Ghost introduces himself and tells Tim that he was attacked by representatives of The Council of Spiders.

White Ghost brings Tam Fox into the room. Tam is Lucius Fox's daughter. She apparently came to Iraq looking for Tim. Tam got kidnapped by the League and brought to their stronghold. The White Ghost details to everyone that will listen that there is a war going on between the League of Assassins and The Council of Spiders. The Council has been killing a lot of the dudes from the League. They ask for Tim's help. He agrees.

At the end of the issue Tim reveals to Tam he plans to take both the League and the Council down.

Tune in next week. Same Bat-time, same Bat-Channel.
Mattman

Mattman's (Belated) Weekly Batman Update

Yeah, I know. I should have posted this last week but, it was a crazy week! Sorry I missed the ball on that one. So providing I post about this week's Batman titles in a timely manner you all may be treated to a second one of these later this week.

Batman and Robin #5

Written by Grant Morrison Penciled by Philip Tan

So it's official Jason Todd is the new Red Hood, well actually he was the last Red Hood, so really he's just returned to the role. But, no more wondering me and that's a relief.

The book picks up where the last left off. Batman and Robin are protecting the Penguin from The Red Hood and Scarlett. Jason Todd is recording the confrontation to show the Gotham media that Batman and Robin are unwilling to do what is necessary (i.e. kill villains). I find it funny that Batman and Robin are so willing to use their secret identity names out loud, when they can so easily be recorded and how they know exactly when they are not being recorded so they just speak freely. It's ridiculous if you think about it.

Whatever.

Jason taunts the new Robin telling him his job won't be a permanent one and that basically he's expendable. Red Hood goes on to justify his murder of drug-dealers by explaining that they won't be around to deal the drugs anymore and Batman complains because Jason just put a grip of bullets into some leads that would eventually take down some Mexican Drug-lord. Red Hood and Scarlett bounce without being caught.

At home Dick and Damian watch some Gotham news coverage debating the issue of murdering vigilantes. A Gotham pole shows that Gothamites prefer the punishment fit the crime and this gets Batman and Robin down in the dumps.

At home Red Hood and Scarlett debate their own actions. Jason says he has the courage to go where Batman never did and he is showing Gotham that Batman is obsolete like the I-Pod did to the Walkman, blah, blah.

But I think the coolest thing about the scene is discovering that post Final Crisis they have worked a small neuance back into DC continuity. When Jason Todd was first introduced in DC his hair was red. Bruce actually instructed Jason to have his hair dyed black to look more like Dick Grayson. After the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths they reintroduced Jason as always having black hair. When he removes his mask at home his hair is red with a gray streak (caused by the effects of the Lazarus Pit). He complains about how Batman made him conform to meet his standards and dying his hair was just one of the many things he was forced to do.

So remember that Drug-lord I mentioned earlier? Well, needless to say he gets pretty pissed that Red Hood is killing his employees so he sends his Alpha-Enforcer, Eduardo Flamingo.  Flamingo turns Gotham into a slaughterhouse looking for the Red Hood.

For the Red Hood his final act is to show up at a hospital where the Drug-lord Santos is in intensive care and kill him through his IV unit. Batman and Robin crash through the window in the nick of time into another scuffle with The Red Hood and Scarlett. Robin gets wounded by Scarlett and Batman gets shot right in the Kevlar chest by Red Hood. As Red Hood and Scarlett march away triumphant a sniper shoots directly into the Red Hood's helmet.

It is revealed (in the final panel) to be Flamingo, the bad ass mob enforcer on his chopper, holding a Sniper Rifle in one hand and a Whip in the other. FUCKAWESOME!

Tune in next week. Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!

Mattman

Mattman's Weekly Batman Update

Hello,

Man, comics are awesome. Paul Dini is writing the new Batman spin-off series Gotham City Sirens and it is FUCKAWESOME! The series portrays Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn as roommates in a post-original Batman Gotham and the adventures that follow. I’m telling you life doesn’t get any better than this. Issue 4 of the series came out this Wednesday.

Gotham City Sirens # 4

Writer Paul Dini Penciled by Guillem March

So Hush (the Batman villain other wise known as surgeon Tommy Elliot) got reconstructive surgery to look just like Bruce Wayne. i think I mentioned this in a previous post. Anyway, the issue starts out with Bruce Wayne (actually Hush) being seen out on the town with a plain clothes Harley Quinn. It’s clear that Hush plans upon gaining Harley’s trust to catch her at a weak point and kill her, forever scaring the name of Bruce Wayne with the public. Harley, it’s clear just thinks that if she can “date” Bruce Wayne she can be closer to loads of money.

When the media covers the two out on the town together it attracts the attention of none other than the Joker. The Joker is not amused and decides to once and for all kill Harley Quinn.

Catwoman and Ivy know that Bruce is really Hush so they know that Harley is in danger. Ivy begins to look around Gotham by communicating with all the city’s plants. I love that she can do that. They track down Harley and show up at roughly the same time the Joker does intent on killing Harley. It’s about a minute before this that Harley decides maybe Bruce it’s exactly what she’s looking for. With Dick, Tim and Dayman she’d be another “soccer mom” and that’s not her style.

A fight between the Joker’s thugs, Harley, Ivy, Catwoman and Hush breaks out underneath the Joker’s blimp. Catwoman attempts to take out Hush but the cops show so her and Ivy have to make off with Harley. Hush guns down the Joker blimp (an action he sees as permissible as Bruce Wayne, seeing as the media would dub him a hero).

The issue ends with the girls at home explaining to Harley how close she came to death and that Bruce Wayne isn’t Bruce Wayne and is in fact Hush. The girls also try to explain to Harley that Joker is bad news too, but of course Harley sees the Joker trying to kill her as Jealously. So if he’s Jealous that must mean he still loves her. It’s then that the Joker blows up their apartment.

The issue is to be continued.

Tune in next week. Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!

Mattman

Twilight Review

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or in Canada) for the last year or so, you’ve heard of Twilight. References to it are everywhere; Team Edward shirts, Team Jacob shirts, tween girls wrapping a line around the San Diego Convention Center that would make George Lucas jealous. Inevitably anyone familiar with the basic laws of physics knows that for every action, there is an equal or opposite reaction, and react vampire and Gothic lore fans did. For every dozen twilight fans there was another dozen self-proclaimed nerds shouting that the way vampires were portrayed in the books (probably more the movies but I’ll get to that) was “wrong”. I never personally understood this myself as vampires have been shown many different ways in many different forms of media. The Nosferatu of the original black and white classic film is about as far from Angel and Spike portrayed in Buffy the Vampire Slayer as the vampires from 30 Days of Night are from Edward Cullen of Twilight. Personally defending the books myself with arguments like this.

The one thing I seemed to share with self-proclaimed haters of the Twilight series was that neither of us had actually read the books or seen the movies. The books MUST be horrible, they HAVE to be for vampires to sparkle and be dreamboats who every girl aged ten to twelve seems to have fallen in love with. Wait though, aren’t Angel (and to a lesser extent Spike) complete dreamboats in the Buffy and Angel series? That’s when it struck me that not only was I being a hypocrite, but I was doing so while being completely ignorant to what I was bashing. That isn’t like me at all. When I attended the funeral services for a friend of mine who passed away recently, his girlfriend told an amusing anecdote about how Dan had read all the Twilight books just so he could make fun of the girls in Team Edward shirts from a more knowledgeable standpoint. That settled it.

I had to read Twilight and review it for myself.

Sure, it might be terrible, but it couldn’t be worse than other books I’ve read. The Silmarillion comes to mind. Heck, I’ve even read the Bible three times just so when people would ask me why I was an atheist in Temecula (the California bible belt) I could at least explain my point of view from a stance that wasn’t ignorant. Twilight couldn’t be much harder than those.

So here we go;

Told from the point of view of Isabella (Bella from now on) Swan. The book begins by following Bella from her move from Phoenix, Arizona to a perpetually rainy Forks Washington. Bella, for your money, could not, even with all the combined efforts of NASA, the US Military, and MIT, be more ordinary if she tried. The efforts Stephanie Meyer went to to make Bella the perfect character for any female human to identify with were so perfect it made me laugh out loud every time her exceptional levels of plainness slapped me in the face. She’s tall, but not too tall, has straight brown hair, is clumsy, poor at sports, becomes overwhelmed to the point of tears over almost any occasion, is a little smarter than everyone else in her class due to Phoenix’s superior school system in comparison to that of the one ruling over her Forks high school, and spends the entire book questioning why anyone would love or even be interested in her. Bella’s character for these reasons, as I’ve heard from male friends of mine, is a big reason why the entire series should be written off.  What’s so exceptional about her that anyone should care what happens to her, most of all the exceptional Edward (we’ll get to him in a bit). Though this is how the book identifies itself as being strictly for women (and gay men to a certain extent). There ISN’T anything exceptional about her, and somehow beyond ALL odds she manages to attract the attention of not only every boy in her school, but of the dreamiest male since Brad Pitt swaggered his way onto the set of Thelma and Louise.

Edward is introduced as a member of a family (the Cullens) who are beyond any regular measure of attractiveness and athleticism. Edward somehow can NOT keep his eyes off of her, and reacts ALMOST violently to Bella’s presence in his class. Bella can not understand the hatred this beautiful Edward has towards her with almost no excuse what-so-ever. Edward is the first archetype of the dime store romance novel introduced. Tall, chiseled from white stone, with high cheekbones and eyes that “smoulder” so often I thought about making “smouldering eyes” a drinking game (every time you read it, take a drink). Edward at one point saves Bella from being crushed by a car with his supernatural vampire abilities leaving Bella with a ton of questions about this superhero roman god in finely tailored clothing who attends high school. I also enjoyed the almost Superman/Clark Kent obvious secret identity thing here. No one notices of course when he stops a full sized van from crushing the perpetual Louis Lane that is Bella. Eventually Edward’s malice towards Bella fades into an attraction, and from there develops into a deep and intense love.  A love so deep and pure I couldn’t help but laugh and laugh and laugh at it’s ridiculousness. Again though, this is where the book shows that it isn’t written for me, it’s written for my girlfriend (oh dear god is this book ever written for my girlfriend).

While Edward and Bella’s relationship begins to blossom and they talk more often,  Bella meets a young boy named Jacob Black who unravels all the questions that Bella has of Edward with his tales of Native American folklore. Jacob Black would be the second dime store romance novel archetype. Why else would there be a well built Native American boy in the story? They don’t cover it in this story, but I can smell romantic tension from a few books away. Evidently what happened is the Cullens came to Washington long ago to hide from the sun, which comes out in Forks a total of seven days a year, and made a deal that they would not ever enter the Native’s reservation land in exchange for the natives not ever selling them out as being vampires (as harmless as they promised to be towards humans). Of course Bella is already far too in love with her picturesque Edward to even care that he’s a vampire. Then Edward takes Bella to a meadow and reveals much about himself, how and when he became a vampire, and to the chagrin of vampire fans everywhere that vampires don’t burst into flames when in contact with direct sunlight, but instead sparkle.

 

The translation via myth of course is that they hid from the sunlight because of bursting into flames, but evidently it was just that they would be highlighted because of their sparkly weakness. Actually the vampires in this story don’t really have ANY weaknesses. They’re unbelievably strong, much stronger than any vampire I’ve read about or seen previously.  They play baseball with each other only during thunderstorms to hide the boom of the bat [yes I know vampires playing baseball, I laughed too]. Edward is the fastest of of his family, which is saying a lot because at times they run fast enough to keep pace with a full speed Mercedes. Some of them even carry over minor mental abilities that are exaggerated in the process of being turned into a vampire. Edward can read minds, has a “sister” Alice that is prescient, and another “sibling” Jasper who has the ability to calm or excite people as he wishes.  According to Edward the only way to kill one of their kind is to tear them into pieces and burn the remains.

I use quotes around sibling and sister because this isn’t Edwards family per se, just his coven. A group of vampires that has sworn off human blood in favor of hunting only animals. That is where you also, though, discover Edward’s almost impossible attraction to the plain and hapless Bella. Evidently her blood is too tempting. It’s used to explain the avoidance when they first met after his almost outburst of violence at their first encounter. It’s Edward’s heroin if you will. Having been a vampire that has sworn off the blood of humans for so long, being around Bella is the ultimate temptation, like an alcoholic that eventually has to start attending New Years parties where champagne is served I guess. He’s always on the edge of giving into his animal instincts, but is unable to resist being near Bella, who always appears as a vision of beauty to him and smells irresistible.

It’s also revealed in the story that Bella is the only person Edward has ever met who has a mind that is completely unreadable. So while Edward can pry information from the mind of anyone around him, Bella gets to keep her thoughts a mystery from him. Why any woman would find this to be desirable is completely beyond me (it’s true, there really does need to be a sarcasm font).  The real action of the story is pretty anticlimactic. It happens when, while playing baseball, the Cullens run across a trio of vampires. One of the new vampires decides he’s going to hunt Bella and the family instigates him by protecting her. She flies back to Phoenix to hide but he follows her there and supposedly kidnaps her mother. Bella is lured away from Alice and Jasper (her protectors), just before Edward arrives, by the hostage scenario. Of course just as Bella is about to be killed the Cullens sweep in and save the day. At one point Bella is almost turned into a vampire, but with some careful blood consumption, Edward saves Bella, and proves his love for her by not drinking her bone dry, in one fell moment.

Bella admits to Edward during her recovery process that she wants badly to be a vampire so she can spend all of eternity with him (not for men), and he refuses because “oh boo hoo I’m a monster, I can’t damn you forever”. It’s pretty typical vampire fare to be honest. Then Edward takes Bella to prom, against her wishes, because of her aforementioned inherent clumsiness. Bella thinks she’s being turned into a vampire and disappointed to find out that it’s just Edward’s efforts to make sure that, in spite of his condition, she experiences as much of a normal human life as possible.

There you have it, the story of Twilight. Now for my impressions.

This book is pretty much exactly what I thought it would be. Though I had hoped that it would be written poorly, it’s actually well put together. It drags on in sections much in the same fashion as a Stephen King novel (though being fair I can NOT stand Stephen King because of this fact). Twilight is saccharine sweet, and is in no way shape or form meant for your average man, but couldn’t possibly be in any way shape or form be MORE for your average woman. It panders to the awkward teenage girl inside every woman which hopes that in spite of one’s overwhelming averageness, an extraordinary man will sweep in and add an element of excitement to their lives. I’ve read studies saying that every single demographic of women loses self confidence when hitting the age of puberty, and when you take this fact into account with how the character of Bella is structured, it’s almost nigh impossible to believe that this book could ever NOT be insanely popular. If this series continues in the vein that was started here with this first book, as I’ve said to friends and family before, this couldn’t be a larger boon to Buffy fans.

The parallels between Edward and Angel are almost too many to count. Yes, I understand Buffy is a much cooler character than Bella, but the steamy forbidden relationship between a high school girl and an ancient creature of the night who broods and is sexy can not be ignored here. I’m sorry to all my Buffy fan friends who have latched on to hating this book.  No, I didn’t personally enjoy the book myself, but it’s already too similar with the Joss Whedon series for you to be able to complain. A lot of people will escape into the sparkling vampires argument, but anyone who watched the Angel series knows they did away with the no sunlight at all thing pretty quickly there, which leaves Angel and Edward sort of in the same boat.

If there’s any reason to not like this book as a man, it’s because the romance of the situation is over the top and described from a female point of view that a lot of us will never understand. We’ve never been awkward teenage girls longing to be loved by someone who is completely above our station in life, but that didn’t stop a lot of us from enjoying Pretty in Pink. I’ve been arguing since comic-con that the vehicle that all of nerdkind has been waiting for to get girls into our culture has finally arrived and read this book in hope that I could maybe prove myself wrong, but as someone who considers himself a pretty big fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel series I can say without a doubt, you may not LIKE Twilight, but we certainly have no room at all to bash it.

Geek Out!

Wesley Strawther

Mattman's Weekly Batman Update

Hey Guys,

Not much has happened to me since the last update. I got the other 2 Joker teeth I was hunting down in Arkham Asylum in the Arkham West Map, honestly they were right under my nose. Now I just have to get the rest of the Challenge Levels completed.

Not much has happened in the Batman Universe either. Just the latest issue of Detective Comics. I really like what DC did with the Batman re-launch and Detective Comics as a title in general. The title of Detective now focuses on the new Batwoman Kate Kane. Batwoman was a character from the silver age that they later dropped in the late 70's. She was basically a girlfriend for Batman so it wouldn't appear that he and Robin were gay.

In the DC comics series 52 a few years back they introduced a new Batwoman into modern DC continuity. The new Batwoman Kate Kane is a vigilante in Gotham that works outside of the main Bat-Family. She is Jewish, a lesbian and is heir to the second wealthiest family in Gotham. The decision to focus on her as the star of Detective Comics is a refreshing and bold move and I welcome it.

This week:

Detective Comics# 857

Written By Greg Rucka and Penciled by J.H. Williams III

Did I mention that the art by Williams is beautiful? Because it is. Just look at it. The story is pretty solid too. It's really fun.

This issue is the end of a four-part story Elegy. In the story Batwoman has been battling with the new villain Alice. Alice is a beautiful goth version of the Lewis Carroll storybook character, just sinister in nature.

This issue begins with Batwoman discovering her father was kidnapped by Alice. Her father, a miltary man in retirement was able to pass a message to Batwoman that was in military code.  It communicated to her that Alice was planning to use chemicals to kill all of Gotham by air. This leads Batwoman to a military base where she is able to catch Alice just as she's leaving and her plane contains equipment to spray all of Gotham, confirming Batwoman's fears.

Batwoman manages to board leading to a final showdown between Batwoman and Alice, but not before Batwoman's father recognizes Alice as his other daughter Beth. In the final struggle Alice falls to her apparent death, just before she goes she tells Batwoman that she has "their" father's eyes.

I can't wait to see where they take this character next!

Tune in next week. Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!

Mattman

GeekRoundTable.com:Comic Con 40-years book release with founders of the Comic Con. Live Broadcast on Ustream.tv

Join Ned Cato Jr.,Chris and Mary Sturhan and the rest of the GeekRoundTable.com gang as they hang with the release of Comic-Con 40 years.

Mattman's Weekly Batman Update

Hello,

I know that I’ve been sucking about updates lately and last weeks post was my first in a long time, but this week I almost didn’t post AGAIN! What’s to blame? Batman: Arkham Asylum, that’s what. I finally got the game for my birthday last weekend and then truly didn’t start playing it until Wednesday. I finished it at 9pm Thursday and by 4am I had 239 of the 240 Riddler Challenges. I still can’t find 2 of the 10 teeth on Arkham West. Where are they!?! Where? Oh, Where?

Needless to say I was addicted. The game is flawless. It was everything I was dreaming a game about Batman (or any game for that matter) could be. Honestly, even when I was a small boy and I first played Batman for the NES in 1989 with it’s terrible game play and shitty graphics this was the game that I pictured in my head. Aside from my obvious bias towards this game it’s truly one of the best games I’ve ever played in life, hands down.

I could talk about the game for hours and might just do so in a future post. Perhaps a complete review? But on to this weeks Batman titles:

Batman and Robin# 4

Written by Grant Morrison and Penciled by Philip Tan

Trust me this title is well written. If you know anything about Grant Morrison then you know that. It sucks that Frank Quitely left the series but we will get by.

So I guess Red Hood is back. Again. Yeah, I know stupid. But it’s Grant Morrison so I’ll wait it out. Who is the new Red Hood? Who knows? The First Red Hood was the Joker and the second was Jason Todd. In the Battle for the Cowl story line that just wrapped up literally a few short months ago Jason Todd appeared to “die”. Of course he did just fall into water from a high altitude and even Richard Kimble survived that.

So who is he? I guess we’ll find out. He has shown up back on the scene with a new sidekick, Scarlett and the two of them are already making a name as murdering vigilantes. First they off a B-List Supervillain Lightning Bug, then they kill a Santo and some other villains that are having a “legitimate” business meeting with the Penguin. Batman and Robin show up in time to stop the Red Hood and Scarlett from killing the Penguin too. The Red Hood and Scarlett are video taping the whole thing and ask Batman if he is indeed aiding a “known felon”. The issue ends with Batman questioning the Red Hood if he is Jason Todd?

Batman: Streets of Gotham# 4

Written by Paul Dini and Penciled by Dustin Nguyen

This issue was a nice little self-contained tale. It was written by Paul Dini. How could it not be?

For those of you paying attention Tomas Elliot (a.k.a. Hush) had reconstructive surgery to look exactly like Bruce Wayne shortly before Bruce’s “death”. After Bruce “died” he began to go out of his way to attempt to blow the Wayne family fortune by donating billions to Gotham. Dick and Alfred got wise to his plan and have begun to keep him in check by having various DC Universe heroes babysit him. This way they can be in disguise as Wayne Enterprises Associates insuring that Tommy can only donate what is approved by Wayne Enterprises board of directors and that Bruce Wayne appears to be alive, throwing the trail off of anyone that would connect Bruce to Batman. This issue begins by showing  him being monitored by The Creeper in disguise.

Then it shifts focus to the tale of The Broker, an individual that makes his money by selling the city’s Supervillains thier locations for hideouts. It’s interesting when you can see that The Broker is actually bothered by the horrors that he has helped facilitate , but he chooses to turn a blind eye. After all it’s just business right?

The issue ends with Batman asking The Broker for information on his clients. The Broker chooses not to give them up, even after an intense beating from Batman.

Batgirl# 2

Written by Brian Q. Miller and Penciled by Lee Garbett

I know the cover to this issue is fucking awesome. Unfortunately, it’s not what Batgirl’s new uniform is going to look like. This is simply a snapshot of Barbra Gordon’s classic uniform. I know because at the end of this issue they have a picture of what the new Batgirl uniform will look like and it’s kinda disappointing, but still worlds better than the hand-me-down that Stephanie Brown inherited from Cassandra Cain, and has been wearing for the last two issues. That uniform just sucks.  But this is the preview of her new uniform and look:

But other than that disappointment the issue was really good. I found myself enjoying this read more than any other of this week.  I think it was the dynamic between Stephanie and Oracle. I love reading Oracle. I really like her in her current position. She has truly established herself as a powerful new character. I think this book is beginning to set up a working relationship between Oracle and the new Batgirl and I already love it.

The issue begins where the last left off with Oracle confronting Batgirl and trying to talk her out of taking up the mantle of Batgirl. Of course Stephanie ignores Barbara, but not after seriously thinking it over. Stephanie spends the rest of the issue fighting Drug-Dealers. Then when she attends a frat party at her new college she finds the punch has been spiked with a potent drug. 

The Drugs at the party are tied to the same Drug-Dealers that Batgirl has been fighting. Stephanie comes across this information with the reluctant help of Oracle. There is even a touching scene in the Batcave when Stephanie is admiring the uniforms in the cave and Barbara reminds her that those costumes aren’t something to aspire to, as they belonged to fallen heroes.

Anyways, the trail of the Drug-Dealers eventually leads to a cliffhanger splash page that reveals the mastermind behind it all is none other than: The Scarecrow!

 Tune in next week. Same Bat-time, same Bat-Channel.
Mattman

Fill Your Fingers – The ‘Free’ Lantern Ring Collection Set To Boost DC’s Sales In November

DC Comics is the King of Swag, giving away at past conventions, cool pins, posters , t-shirts and even rings!  But this summer DC went into the stratosphere with the Black Lantren ring give-away to promote the Blackest Night storyline, which has revitalized the Lantern titles.  They have taken the ring give-away to the Nth degree with a free give-away of eight rings from the storyline.  And after the insanity of the Lantern action figure give away at Comic-Con, this is a sweet gift to the fans.

The Black Lantern ring giveaway to kick off the Blackest Night event was an immense hit, with demand booming for these chunky stylish collectible black plastic finger wear, and a call for similar rings to match the different Lantern colors seen in the series went out. And DC listened.

So for every 25 copies of Doom Patrol #4, Booster Gold #26, R.E.B.E.L.S. #10, Outsiders ‘24 and  your retailer orders, they can order a bag of fifty Sinestro rings, Agent Orange rings, Indigo Tribe rings and Star Sapphire rings respectively.

And for every 50 copies of Justice League of America#39, Blackest Night #5 and Adventure Comics #4 sees you with a bag of fifty Red Lantern rings, Green Lantern rings and Blue Lantern rings, also respectively.

Each ring will ship every two weeks, Yellow on November 4th, Orange on November 18th, Red on December 2nd, Green on December 16th, Blue on December 30th (well, December 23rd now, I guess, thanks to Comic Book-Free Day), Indigo on January 13th and Violet on January 27th.

Expect some kind of charge however. Retailers have to order large numbers of comic books, often ones that usually don’t sell too well, in order to qualify for the rings. Some retailers may pass that cost on, or ask you to buy the comic in question. Which will probably be a Blackest Night tie in anyway. So it’s not really a hardship…

Just don’t go in expecting some kind of Free Comic Ring Day. And expect some very odd looking chart statistics for the month of November. R.E.B.E.L.S. in the Top Ten? Could happen. People love these rings.  And after the insanity of the Lantern action figure give away at Comic-Con, this is a sweet gift to the fans.

GeekRoundTable at Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore

 

Geek RoundTable is going to be recording 2 shows at the Emperor of Geek bookstores in San Diego, Ca, Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore !  For years MG books is the place you go to get your geek book fix.  They are not a comic book store, but a locally run bookstore where the employee love and read the books they sell, take that Borders! We will be celebrating the sale of Comic-Con's 40th book release.  To all our local fans please stop by say hello, and pick up a book, buy the Comic-Con 40th book get it signed by the shakers and movers of the Number One convention in America.  The first show will be a Comic-Con Best of recap and the @:00 pm show will focus on the Comic-Con book event.

  Time: Sunday, September 20, 2009 2:00 p.m.
Location: Mysterious Galaxy
Title of Event: Comic-Con: 40 Years of Artists, Writers, Fans, and Friends

Comic-Con International has grown from its early days as "San Diego's Golden State Comic-Con" in 1970 to its present incarnation as San Diego Comic-Con International, a massive celebration of popular culture, with a focus on comic art, films, and science fiction, as well as all the new media and sub-genres that have evolved in the past four decades. Whether you have attended the annual convention (back in the days when it had 300 attendees, or more recently, when you were one of more than 125,000 attendees), or been curious about it, but never ventured to the convention center, Comic-Con: 40 Years of Artists, Writers, Fans & Friends is for you. Co-authors Gary Sassaman (Director of Print and Publications) and Jackie Estrada (Eisner Awards Administrator) will be joined by President John Rogers, Secretary Mary Sturhann, Treasurer Mark Yturralde, VP of Events Robin Donlan, VP of Operations William Pittman, and several other vital contributors both to the convention and the book on Sunday, September 20, at 2:00 PM. This is your chance to find out more about the history of the convention, what goes on behind the scenes, and how much hard work goes into throwing an annual party for 125,000 of one's closest friends. Check out Geek Roundtable for podcasts from the event. 

	Mysterious Galaxy Books 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd. Suite #302 San Diego, CA 92111 Tel: 858.268.4747

Mysterious Galaxy Books
7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
Suite #302
San Diego, CA 92111
Tel: 858.268.4747