Animal Man #12

"Rotworld: Prologue Part One"

Script Jeff Lemire and Scott Snyder
Art Steve Pugh
Colors Lovern Kindzierski
Letters Jared K. Fletcher
Assistant Editor Kate Stewart
Editor Joey Cavalieri

The cover is by Steve Pugh with Yanick Paquette and colored by Nathan Fairbairn. It's a typical cover you'd expect to see on a trade paperback or a poster, but it doesn't really do anything for me. And that might mostly be because I'm not a fan of Pugh's art. While it works perfectly for this story, I personally find it a bit off-putting. The kid taking pictures of the monsters with his phone was pretty funny, though.

The Rotworld story arc is a very long crossover between Animal Man and Swamp Thing. The Flash only makes a couple of cameos in a few Animal Man issues, but he's not really there, putting this story arc under my Passive Appearances category. Barry Allen himself does not show up in the flesh to do anything, but we see a couple of images of him and alternate (zombie) versions of the Flash. So what I'm basically saying is that I don't need to worry about when these stories happened chronologically. I do have to give a fair warning that I am not a fan of Animal Man. I guess he used to be kind of a goofy character, but then got revamped into this horror genre. I don't like to read horror comics — I prefer lighter, funner stories. Hopefully I'll be able to put aside my bias and see this story for what it is.

So our story begins in Louisiana with the Baker family. The dad, Buddy, is the Animal Man, who has the power to mimic the abilities of nearby animals. His son, Cliff, is sick, so he, his wife, Ellen, and his daughter, Maxine, venture into the swamp to seek help from the Swamp Thing himself.

They find Swamp Thing at a dark pool/portal that is surrounded by dead animals. Swamp Thing doesn't see why he should help them, so they tell their story and explain everything. Apparently the entire world is governed by three main forces: the Red, all animal life; the Green, all plant life; and the Rot, death and decay. Swamp Thing is the avatar of the Green, and while Buddy can tap into the Red, his daughter is the avatar. The avatar of the Rot is a man named Arcane, and he apparently is growing out of control and seeking to take over the world of the living, threatening the balance of all life.

Animal Man and his family had previously battled the Rot, and Cliff became infected in the fight. Therefore, Animal Man approached Swamp Thing to ask for his help, not just to heal his son, but to take the fight to the Rot to stop it once and for all. Maxine then sees visions of the future in the black pool. She is shown an apocalyptic world where the Rot has taken over and killed all the heroes, including the Flash.

Swamp Thing agrees to help them, and he and Animal Man leap into the pool. But something goes wrong. Cliff has no become full-on possessed by the Rot, and grotesque zombie animals emerge from the pool to attack Buddy's family.

The Good:

Perfect prologue. I didn't know anything about Animal Man before this issue, and it explained everything perfectly. Yes, there was a lot of exposition, but it held my interest. Maybe those who had read the previous 11 issues of Animal Man would've been bored, but it works for those like me, who are coming in for the start of a big crossover event. After reading this issue, I now feel completely caught up to speed on who this hero is and what this big conflict is going to entail. If I felt so inclined, I could keep on reading the whole Rotworld story right from here and not miss a beat.

Haunting image of Flash. Very rarely will I enjoy a one-panel cameo of the Flash, but this one really worked for me. Out of all the dead heroes they could have shown in the vision, they only chose the Flash, and I think that was entirely intentional. The Flash is the symbol of hope in the Justice League, and the most unthinkable one to die. Superman has Kryptonite, Batman's just a man, and all the others seem to have logical weaknesses that could conceivably take them down. But the Flash? It would have to be something incredibly powerful to beat him. And once he dies, that really spells doom and gloom for the state of the world. One of my favorite Justice League cartoons was an alternate timeline where the Flash was killed by Lex Luthor, setting up a chain of events that turned the League into the Justice Lords. Yes, the Flash is that important.

The Bad:

Unsettling art. This art is not by any means bad art. It is very well done and is absolutely perfect for this horror story. I, however, cannot stand it. I don't like particularly graphic and grotesque images. I understand that's the point here, but I don't need to see people's spines getting ripped out of there bodies. Jeff Lemire and Scott Snyder know how to write a good comic book, and they've put together a great horror story that really did scare me a bit. But I guess this comic is just a bit too scary for me. If you're interested in horror and the supernatural, and you can stomach violent, grotesque images, then I would highly recommend this story for you. I don't fall under that category, but I have to acknowledge a good comic book when I see one, and this is an excellent comic.

Final score: 6 out of 10

Next time: Animal Man #13

Superman #17

"Fury at World's End"

Scott Lobdell Writer
Kenneth Rocafort Artist
Blond Colorist
Rob Leigh Letterer
Darren Shan and Anthony Marques Assistant Editors
Eddie Berganza Editor
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

This is an appealing Rocafort cover and it shows an exciting scene: Superman and his allies battling the large and mysterious Oracle in space. Except that doesn't happen in this story. Only Superman meets the Oracle, and Dr. Veritas only makes a one-panel, completely meaningless cameo in this issue. Plus, this Oracle is much, much smaller than the Oracle shown inside. I know they had to do this cover months ahead of time, and I realize that the story is never set in stone and constantly  evolving, I just wish they would've adjusted this cover to better match the finished story. They've done it before, especially in this H'el on Earth storyline.

Our story starts with Superman flying through space after receiving a mighty punch from H'el in Supergirl #17. The Man of Steel suddenly collides with (or is caught by) something very large and mysterious.

Superman tries to comunicate with the Oracle, but is only given a series of confusing images related to the destruction of Krypton. Superman asks if this means H'el will succeed, but the Oracle merely fades away. Superman then flies back to Earth, passing the Justice League headquarters, where Batman, Flash and Cyborg assure him they'll take care of the natural disasters while he battles H'el.

Supergirl has now joined Wonder Woman in the fight against H'el, and they give Superboy enough time to tear down the Star Chamber. But it turns out that H'el wanted him to do this, since the chamber's only purpose was to fuel his ship, which is now ready to take him back in time. Superman then shows up and starts punching H'el so hard that even Batman (who's up in the Watchtower) can feel the blows in the back of his teeth.

More temporal portals (or "time shards" as Superboy calls them) start to appear, and Superboy tries to use his powers to close them. Supergirl, meanwhile, finds the shard of Kryptonite and conceals it. H'el eventually gets Superman off him and prepares to enter his ship. Supergirl then approaches him, apologizes, and asks to go with him. H'el forgives her, and when she gets close enough, she thrusts the Kryptonite into his chest.

H'el then falls backward through a temporal portal and disappears. Because he was keeping all the portals open psionically, everything goes back to normal once he's gone. Superman then rushes the poisoned Supergirl to his medical center in the Fortress of Solitude, while the Oracle continues to observe from afar. The Oracle is tempted to express joy, but it knows that Superman's actions today will exact an unspeakable toll on the omniverse itself.

Epilogue. Some twelve years before the destruction of Krypton, a young Jor-El wanders off from a school field trip and finds H'el in a cave, with the Kryptonite still in his chest.

The Good:

The art. As always, Kenneth Rocafort's art is incredibly enjoyable, and really makes the issue. I love his version of all these characters, and his unique page layouts work perfectly with this sci-fi story. He also did a great job showing character's emotions. It looked like H'el was going to weep tears of joy when Supergirl said she wanted to come with him. All in all, this was a great comic book to look at.

Supergirl's redemption. This whole storyline was mostly about her. She was tricked and mislead right from the beginning. H'el turned her teenage girl emotions against her, and she became a powerful antagonist. But she gradually developed some doubts, and bit by bit, she finally realized that what H'el was doing was wrong. It wasn't a sudden reversal of attitude, but a slow, realistic change — there was even some doubt about what she would do at the end of Supergirl #17. And then she received a very satisfying conclusion to her story arc by putting her own life on the line to stop H'el. Very nice.

The Bad:

Little to no Flash. Supergirl #17 only had one panel for the Flash, but I let that one pass because he was saving the entire city of Tokyo in it. But here, the Flash's only panel just showed his head complaining about all the natural disasters. Perhaps he was perturbed by Cyborg inexplicably joining Batman in the Watchtower, leaving him to protect the planet by himself. If Rocafort could have changed that one panel to show Flash running and saving somebody, then I wouldn't have penalized this issue.

Superman's too powerful punches. I was happy when Superman started laying into H'el — it was more than deserved — but I didn't like how Scott Lobdell described the impact of his punches. He said they could be felt by Dr. Veritas near the center of the Earth, and in the farthest edges of our atmosphere, where Batman says he felt the punches in the back of his teeth. That is too much for me. If somebody in a satellite can feel something happening on Earth, then that force would have to destroy Earth, right? Or at least cause permanent, irreparable damage. I also hated the dialogue in the Watchtower scene. After complaining about his rattling teeth, Batman asks Cyborg what's happening, to which Cyborg replies: "I doubt you'd believe it if I told you!" What? Batman wouldn't believe that Superman was punching H'el real hard? If anything, Batman should have known what was going on before Cyborg told him.

Unsatisfying conclusion. This issue was advertised as the epic conclusion of a major crossover. As such, it should have at least answered a few of our questions. I know we'll see H'el and the Oracle again, but couldn't we have at least got some definitive proof of who he is. He claimed to be a Kryptonian and a student of Jor-El's, but serious doubt was cast on his story. And what was with the backwards S on his chest, which disappeared and reappeared quite randomly through the storyline? And please, please, what is the Oracle? He was teased and alluded to for so long, then he finally shows up only to give Superman a couple of vague, uninformative images, and then he reappears at the end only to reassure us that this "happy" ending is actually setting things up to be even more worse down the road. According to the mysterious Oracle, Superman's actions here are going to threaten not just the planet or the universe, but the omniverse. Why can't we ever have a happy ending? Everything in DC these days just points to something worse and more awful in the future.

All in all, H'el on Earth was a pretty fun crossover. From what I read, only one issue felt unnecessary, which was unfortunately the most expensive one. I was happy that the Superman family was able to come together for a big story, and I was happy the Flash could be involved for a little bit. Even though his role quickly became periphery, I enjoyed having an excuse to keep reading this story through the end. Sadly, the weakest thing about the H'el on Earth was its conclusion. There was no sense of resolution to it — just an end to the fighting. Superman #17 by itself is not a bad issue, but when it's billed as the conclusion to a major story arc, I expect it to be a little more conclusive — like The Flash #17.

Final score: 4 out of 10

Next time: I'll take a quick detour into the Passive Appearance list, and show you the Zombie Flash in the horrific Rotworld future of Animal Man #12.

Supergirl #17

"Girl vs. Goddess"

Mike Johnson Writer
Mahmud Asrar Artist
Dave McCaig Colorist
Rob Leigh Letterer
Wil Moss Editor
Matt Idelson Group Editor

The cover is by Asrar and McCaig. It's fun to come from Supergirl's point of view, and the action is exciting and indicative of the inside story, but I have to admit — I've seen a lot of better-drawn Wonder Womans. She really just did not look very good here. Too skinny in some places, too bulgy in others. And what was with the green background? I never got the impression that the Fortress of Solitude and the Star Chamber were green. I do, however, know that this was not the solicited cover, so they probably had to throw this together more quickly than they would have liked.

Above the Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic Circle, teenager Kara Zor-El really just wants to go home. But Superboy is on his way to dismantle the Star Chamber, and Wonder Woman is standing in Supergirl's way. Kara normally wouldn't want to get into a fight, but she's already fought the Flash and Superboy, and has vowed to do whatever it takes to save Krypton.

As Supergirl and Wonder Woman engage in battle, the Oracle has arrived at Earth, and like Galactus, is watching over the destruction caused by the Star Chamber. Time is out of flux, causing some instances to repeat themselves, as observed by Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen in the Daily Planet in Metropolis. From the Justice League Watchtower, Batman is overseeing rescue efforts carried out by the Flash and Cyborg. Batman tells Flash that Tokyo will be underwater in seven minutes, but the fastest man alive only needs 30 seconds to save the large city.

When then get a lot of fight scenes. They are pretty good, but the Flash isn't there, so I'll be brief. Superman fights H'el, but H'el eventually punches the Man of Steel out into space. Supergirl and Wonder Woman have a very fun and satisfying fight. Although Supergirl may be stronger and faster, Wonder Woman is smarter and more experienced. She eventually manages to get her lasso of truth around Supergirl, which forces her to confront the lies she's been telling herself. Kara is still not completely convinced, so she breaks off the fight to confront H'el. He doesn't give her satisfying answers, and ultimately gives her an ultimatum: Earth or Krypton.

The Good:

Supergirl vs. Wonder Woman. This is a fight that needs to happen every now and then, and I felt it was given proper justice in this issue. I especially liked how they explained that despite Supergirl's superior power skills, Wonder Woman has the edge thanks to a lifetime of combat training and experience. And I loved the unique use of the lasso of truth. I remember the old Justice League cartoons shied away from that aspect, probably because the writers weren't sure what to do with it. But as we see here and in Flashpoint, the ability to make someone speak (or see) the truth is a very handy skill.

The Bad:

Well, we only got one panel of the Flash, but I really enjoyed it. This is what I wanted in Superboy #17. Show me the rescue efforts, don't just tell me about them. So while I don't recommend this book to Flash fans because of this one panel, I do recommend that all comic book fans check out this issue. If not just for the big girl fight, then for the exciting penultimate chapter of H'el on Earth.

Final score: 6 out of 10

Next: Superman #17 — The epic conclusion of H'el on Earth

Superboy #17

"Lost Cause!"

Tom DeFalco • Writer
R.B. Silva • Penciller
Rob Lean • Inker
Richard and Tanya Horie • Colorists
Travis Lanham • Letterer
Chris Conroy • Editor

The cover is by R.B. Silva with Java Tartaglia, and there is something off about it, which I think has to do with the coloring. For whatever reason, it looks like Superboy is about 100 feet in front of the Herald. If they're supposed to be fighting, then why does the Herald look so far away? Plus, these two really don't fight in the story. They have a somewhat contentious confrontation, but I wouldn't go as far as to call it a fight. Also, I didn't really like Superboy's face here. He kinda looks constipated. All in all, an extremely disappointing cover for Superboy's final chapter in the H'el on Earth storyline.

Our story begins at a NASA research facility at John F. Kennedy Space Center, where scientists are observing the effects of H'el activating his Star Chamber. Solar flares are extending millions of miles beyond their usual diameters and global temperatures are rising, playing havoc with weather patterns. One scientist even says they're facing a catastrophe of biblical proportions. They know something is going on at the North Pole, but they're not exactly sure what.

Just outside the Fortress of Solitude, Superman tells the others they need to find a way to destroy the Star Chamber, but Flash then calls them from the satellite headquarters of the Justice League, the Watchtower. Although he's been removed from the battle with H'el, Flash has taken an active role in monitoring the widespread destruction being caused on Earth, and he requests Batman and Cyborg to join him in protecting what remains of the planet they have.

Batman actually agrees with Flash, and he and Cyborg leave Superman, Superboy and Wonder Woman to take down H'el and Supergirl. Supergirl, meanwhile, is happy to see the shard of Kryptonite is doing its job of directing the sun's energy into the Star Chamber's fuel cells, but she's worried about what effect this will have on the sun. H'el again assures her that everything will be alright, and he leaves her to take care of one final task.

H'el teleports in front of our heroes and says he can't leave Earth knowing the clone — the abomination of Superboy died wearing the family armor of the house of El. He takes the armor off him and sends the boy flying away. He then puts the armor back on Superman to grant him one last dignity before his death. Wonder Woman tries to help, but Superman sends her to protect Superboy.

Superboy is severely weakened after losing the armor, but he gathers the strength to fly toward the Star Chamber. On his way, he meets the Herald, who tells him that if he survives, he could come to shape the destinies of world without number. The Herald then leaves and has a "conversation" with the Oracle, and he mentions five anomalies on the world that could disrupt the delicate cosmic balance. An editor's note reminds us that he originally blew his horn in Superman #1. So I picked it up for fun, and the main story revolves around Superman fighting a fire monster, but there is one random page that shows the Herald blowing his horn in the Himalayas. An editor's note from there sends us to Stormwatch, but in hindsight, that was probably an overly-ambitious error. I haven't read everything, but it seems like the Herald and Oracle have played no part in the story in Stormwatch.

We cut back to Superboy, who is having to dodge a lot of mini-black holes that have begun to appear as the Star Chamber opens up the time stream. Supergirl then shows up to stop him, and she openly speaks of how she hates him for being a clone. An editor's note sends us to Superboy #0, in which we learn the villain Harvest has somehow learned of a Kryptonian legend of servant clones rising up in rebellion against their makers. Harvest implanted images of this in Superboy's subconscious to give him deep-seeded feelings of animosity toward heroes and Superman in particular. The clone uprising supposedly occurred hundreds of years before Kara was born, so it is likely that she grew up hearing scary stories of the evil clones. She know believes that Superboy is trying to stop her because like the clones before him, he hates Krypton.

Supergirl then proceeds to beat the living snot out of Superboy, and he tells her that H'el is destroying the solar system. Supergirl refuses to believe him, but she does begin to doubt a little bit. However, it seems these conflicting feelings only make her angrier, and she probably would have killed Superboy had Wonder Woman not showed up just then. This provides Superboy the opportunity to gather himself together and make one last courageous run at the Star Chamber.

The Good:

The story. Tom DeFalco and R.B. Silva have a great weakness for telling instead of showing, and this issue had that problem, too. Instead of giving us scientists telling us about the Earth's problems, they could have shown us that. We also had a whole page of Superboy lying on the ground with a lot of different captions telling us how beat up he was and how hard it was for him to stand. I think they could've done a couple of small panels of him rising to his feet, falling, then getting back up and trying again. However, despite this problem, the story was still very exciting. We're building up toward the final climax, and it was great. Supergirl beat the crap out of Superboy, which was logical and probably deserved, and seeds were sown for a great Supergirl-Wonder Woman fight and the climatic H'el-Superman fight. This issue accomplished its main goal of making me want to immediately read the next issue.

Editor's notes. This issue sent me back to pick up two more issues, which actually weren't that bad. Superman #1 didn't add anything to the story, but Superboy #0 did explain a lot of Kryptonian culture and help us to see where Kara was coming from. Comics are more accessible than ever today thanks to Comixology, and more editors should be taking advantage of this by referring to more past and current issues. There always is the risk they'll refer to a non-applicable issue, like Stormwatch, but I prefer erring on the side of more references rather than less. I like to be reminded that all these characters inhabit the same universe and that something that happened a year and a half ago could have implications on what's happening today.

The Bad:

Little to no Flash. I was happy to see him start to do something again instead of just appearing in flashbacks, but I wish we could have seen a little bit of him actually saving some people on the planet Earth. This goes back to the whole show vs. tell thing. Having someone sit at a computer screen is an efficient way to tell the story, but a more engaging way would have been to have him communicating with the Justice League while he's redirecting a tidal wave or something like that.

Unnecessary tricks and vagueness. My biggest problem of this issue was having Superman and Superboy return to their main costumes. H'el did give an OK explanation for why he did this, but I couldn't help feeling that the creators simply wanted the characters to end this crossover in their proper outfits. But I don't think they needed to do that at all. I love Superman's T-shirt and jeans look, and I really don't care for Superboy's black-and-red Tron suit. I also never felt one ounce of concern for Superboy's safety once the armor was removed. The other unnecessary plot point was the meeting with the Herald. He spoke so vaguely that he essentially said absolutely nothing, eating up pages that could have shown the destruction of Earth. I know the goal here was to pique our curiosity and keep coming back next month to hopefully learn these mysterious secrets, but I think they went a little overboard with the Herald and Oracle here. Just save them for the final chapter of the story and build the tension through other areas.

The art. In this issue, Silva decided to try to emulate Kenneth Rocafort's style of nontraditional page layouts and sharp, angular panels surrounded by small colored boxes. It didn't work here. Only Rocafort can do what Rocafort does, and even then, he sometimes fails. That style requires an architect-level of precision that Silva simply lacks. I sympathize with the desire to makes all the books in this story look similar, especially for the collected trade, but if you can't pull something off, then don't do it. I was also incredibly disappointed with the Oracle here. In Superman, the Oracle looked intimidating and impressive. Here, he was downright laughable. It looked like he was made of ice and the three orbs on his chest did not resemble the mini-galaxies he had in past issues.

On a whole, this comic book had a lot of potential. The basic story was incredible and exciting — all the elements were there — just the execution was lacking. A few simple changes would have made this a standout comic. But it ends up just below average.

Final score: 4 out of 10

Next time: Supergirl #17

Superman #16

"A Fistful of Sticks!"

Scott Lobdell Writer
Kenneth Rocafort Artist
Sunny Gho and Blond Colorists
Rob Leigh Letterer
Darren Shan Assistant Editor
Eddie Berganza Editor
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

I really like this cover by Rocafort and Gho. Yes, it only has three characters, but they all look great and the cover doesn't feel crowded at all. I'm also happy that they're depicting an action scene that actually happens in the book, and they didn't rely on using Batman.

The story begins with H'el and Supergirl making their final preparations on the Star Chamber. While they work, H'el tells her of how he was Krypton's first astronaut in centuries and was a student and friend of Jor-El's.

H'el said that thousands of people came out to see him embark on his mission to save their doomed planet. Kara, though, has no memories of such a public event. H'el theorizes that she sustained some memory loss on her trip to Earth, then they share a romantic (if slightly creepy) kiss as they prepare to return to Krypton. Their moment is ruined by the arrival of the Justice League, and Supergirl still can't figure out why they want to stop them. H'el briefly recounts the League's efforts (mainly for the readers who hadn't read everything).

The Flash is still on the Watchtower after H'el teleported him there, so I'm going to be pretty brief with the rest of the action. Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Cyborg and Superboy continue to fight their way past a bunch of alien monsters and get closer and closer to H'el. H'el eventually decides he's had enough, and he teleports the whole Fortress of Solitude away from the heroes and activates the Star Chamber.

A massive green blast of light erupts from the Chamber, and it is seen by Dr. Veritas, Lex Luthor, and the big red-orange alien, the Herald. The Herald (at least that's what I'm calling him) blows his horn for the second time in the history of this planet to summon his master. He prays the world will survive the experience of the Oracle among them. In the far reaches of space, the Oracle awakens and unintentionally destroys an innocent ship that happened to be investigating it. The Oracle then prepares to fulfill its sacred trust of bearing witness to the end of a world.

The Good:

The art. I just love how Rocafort draws all these characters. Superboy looks like a boy; Superman looks like a man; Wonder Woman is beautiful and powerful; and this is probably my favorite look for Cyborg — he's a collection of machines and equipment stacked on top of itself. Even the minor characters like the dinosaur aliens at the end looked great. And Rocafort's unique page-layout and panel design is still fun and fresh for me. Whenever I hear people complain that all the art in DC comics is the same and generic, I wonder if they've given Rocafort's work a good look (as well as Francis Manapul's and Brian Buccellato's).

The story. Everything is coming together nicely for the finale. I liked how we got an extended origin story for H'el, but then that story immediately fell under a lot of doubt. And while Supergirl is still steadfastly following H'el, she is beginning to develop a few doubts of her own. The Oracle is extremely vague, yet still intriguing, and this issue builds a lot of anticipation for the final chapter.

The Bad:

No Flash. Again, just a quick one-panel flashback for him. I know he had that great fight with Supergirl, and I loved it, but I just wish Flash could have been doing a little bit more in this H'el on Earth story.

Final score: 6 out of 10

Next time: Superboy #17

Superboy Annual #1

"Lost Horizons!"

Tom DeFalco Writer
• Pages 1-5, 18-26: Yvel Guichet Pencils, Jonas Trindade Inks, Java Tartaglia Colors
• Pages 6-7, 27, 37, 38: Iban Coello Pencils, Rob Lean Inks, Richards and Tanya Horie Colors
• Pages 8-17: Tom Derenick Artist and David Curiel Colors
• Pages 28-36: Julius Gopez Artist and Nathan Eyring Color
Travis Lanham Letterer
Chris Conroy Editor
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

The cover is by Yvel Guichet, Jonas Trindade and Java Tartaglia. I don't think it's a very good cover. It more or less shows action that happens in this issue, and Superman looks pretty good, but Superboy just looks off. He doesn't look like he's in any real danger, just mildly annoyed. Of course, I imagine they had to quickly draw this cover, as the solicited cover and story were completely different.

This issue represents everything that is wrong with DC's Annual books. I liked that this issue was included with the H'el on Earth storyline, but that was a late decision. Ideally, DC should have planned that out six months in advance. The result was a story that kind of barely fits into H'el on Earth, but doesn't really progress anything because it couldn't. But the biggest problem with this Annual is DC's insistence that Annuals should be extra long so they can charge more for them. But this extra page count necessitated a lot of extra artists, some with widely different styles, resulting in a non-cohesive comic book well below the industry standards. So, to sum up, DC gave us a rather unnecessary story with poor quality art and demanded that we pay more for it because it included extra pages that we didn't want and the story didn't need. Tactics like this are driving readers away. But then DC sees declining sales numbers and tries more big "events" that pretty much do this — bad stories with bad art and too high a price tag — and the downward spiral continues. So having said all that, I hope you'll understand why I'm rather terse with this review.

The story picks right up where Superboy #16 ended. Superman had been blasted by a machine that sends its victims through an endless loop of pocket dimensions, and Superboy decided to dive in to save him. They first arrive in a dimension where everything looks like it was painted by Salvador Dali, and Superman isn't too happy to see Superboy there, who admittedly has no plan to rescue him.

Superboy then recaps what's been happening in the past few issues for those who missed it. We see H'el psionically dissecting Superboy, then Superman saving him and giving him his armor, then the two of them teaming up with the Justice League to take down H'el.

Superman and Superboy then get transported to a couple of different worlds and have to fight a bunch of different monsters, all the while getting in some quality bonding time. To make a long story short, they eventually figure out that they're staying on one planet the whole time that is simply changing its environment. Superboy figures out how to communicate with the planet through his telekinetic powers, and finds the planet is being manipulated by a couple of evil people named Blastor and Lasara, who are somehow trapped on this planet and need Superboy's powers to free them.

They fight for a bit, and ultimately Superboy tricks them by helping the planet teleport the two bad guys to an uninhabited galaxy at the far edge of the universe. Superboy then gets the planet to send him and Superman back to the Fortress of Solitude, where they find out they've only been gone for 2 minutes and 13 seconds, even though it felt like hours. However, those extra two minutes were all H'el and Supergirl needed to complete the Star Chamber.

The Good:

Superman/Superboy dynamic. I genuinely enjoyed the interactions between these two. Superman got sick of Superboy acting so snarky and sarcastic, and Superboy constantly felt like Superman was lecturing him. They eventually learned to appreciate each other and figured out how to work well together. It was really nice to see this, I just wish it could have happened in a better story.

The Bad:

No Flash. He only shows up in one flashback panel, and his costume is all wrong. Look at it again — his lightning bolt is going in the wrong direction! Come on people! That's a simple fix!

Uninspiring story. You could have completely eliminated this issue and the H'el on Earth story would have been completely fine without it. Just change the ending of Superboy #16 so Superman doesn't get zapped to another dimension and everything else could happen the exact same way. Instead, we went through a very long and boring adventure story with lackluster villains. Even their names were lazy: Blastor, who used concussive blasts, and Lasara, who used a laser lash. And then there was the visually dull climax of Superboy saving the day by concentrating so hard he got a bloody nose. Wow! I've never seen that before! Seriously, why is it that every single psychic comic book character gets a bloody nose when they really strain themselves? Is that the only visual effect anybody can think of with mental powers?

Inconsistent art. Had this book been done by just one or two different art teams, I probably would've been OK with it. But we got four different teams with four completely different styles, which made the reading experience quite jarring. You shouldn't turn the page and feel like the printer made a mistake by putting in pages from a different book. My favorite artist in this issue was Tom Derenick, but everybody else left me flat.

I imagine this must have been a rather frustrating book to work on. It sure was frustrating and disappointing to read. It makes me want to scream at DC: "Stop doing stuff like this! You're losing readers because of awful strategies like this!" But as long as they think it works, they'll keep doing it.

Final score: 3 out of 10

Next time: Superman #16

Supergirl #16

"Fast & Faster"

Mike Johnson Writer
Mahmud Asrar Artist
Dave McCaig Colorist
Rob Leigh Letterer
Wil Moss Editor

The cover is by Mahmud Asrar and Dave McCaig. It's an exciting enough image and it shows you exactly what's going on inside, but something just feels off. I think it's the mouths. Asrar is not a bad artist by any means, but I don't much care for his style. I can't help thinking that there are a couple of artists out there who could draw the exact same image in the exact same poses, and I'd enjoy it a lot more. I guess it's just a personal taste thing.

The story begins at some point in the past when H'el first crash-landed his spaceship in the Himalayas. He collapses on the snow and we see a bloody, backward Superman "S" on his chest. He's discovered by the big red-orange alien, who prepares to tell his master of H'el's arrival.

Now, in the Fortress of Solitude at the Arctic Circle, while Superman leads the Justice League in an attack on H'el in another part of the Fortress, the Flash breaks in to rescue Supergirl. He's finally vibrated through the Kryptonian wall, and doesn't feel like vibrating through anything else ever again. But just as soon as he can pick himself back up, he's attacked by Supergirl.

Supergirl doesn't necessarily want to fight the Flash, but she feels this is the only way to save her home planet. Flash quickly slides out of her grip and dodges a few blasts of her heat vision to tell her that Superman has given him two instructions: get Kara out of the Fortress and don't let her beat him to a pulp. Flash then knocks Supergirl down with a min-vortex and tries to tell her that H'el is using her, but Superman knows the truth. Like any good teenager, Kara demands to know how Superman could possibly know the truth, and she begins to attack Flash at super speed. She initially has a hard time keeping up with him, but then she realizes that Flash is avoiding hitting her — something she isn't above doing. Supergirl grabs the Flash's earpieces and tries to slam his head through her knee, but he vibrated at the last second to avoid a major injury.

Seeing they're past the point of talking, Flash grabs Supergirl and tries to vibrate her through the Fortress wall, but they instead end up in Superman's zoo, which happens to be filled with very large and dangerous creatures. They start running away and looking for a way out, but Flash gets caught by a couple of big bat-owl things. Supergirl saves him and they find their way back to the Fortress, only for Flash to be attacked by Krypto. Kara is excited to see the dog has survived, and starts to play with it, giving the Flash the chance to sneak into Superman's armory to find "the land resort."

Flash returns with a weapon designed to scramble Kryptonian biology. He knocks Supergirl down with a blast from it and explains that this weapon is powered by kinetic energy, making it the perfect weapon for him. Suddenly, the weapon is taken apart psychically by H'el, who then teleports the Scarlet Speedster to the Watchtower. He tells Supergirl the Star Chamber is almost finished and with her around, he'll never be alone again.

On the other side of the Milky Way Galaxy, an innocent ship stumbles upon the impossible, the Oracle — a massively monstrous and mysterious being.

The Good:

Flash vs. Supergirl. DC comics have been around for more than 75 years, and during that time, we've seen just about everything it feels like. One common idea is pitting hero against hero. As much as we like to see them team up, we really like to see them fight each other. There've been tons of hero-on-hero fights, but this issue gave me one I've never seen or thought of before. Flash has never really had a reason to fight Supergirl, but now that he has, I'm really glad it happened. The two heroes were evenly matched, and the fight itself was quite enjoyable. I'm also happy that both of them were able to save face after this. Most of the time, these hero fights end up twisting or changing a character's motivations, but no such act occurred here. Flash still acted like Flash, and Supergirl proved she still is a hero deep down, but caught in a dire situation. She's also a teenage girl, and certainly acted like one here.

The Bad:

I wasn't a big fan of the art, but it wasn't bad or off-putting by any means. So I really don't have any complaints about this issue, which is actually the Flash's biggest guest appearance since Captain Atom #3. Sadly, his role in the H'el on Earth story is basically over now. He'll make quick guest appearances throughout the end of the story, but he won't do anything significant, which is a shame.

Final score: 6 out of 10

Next time: Superboy Annual #1