Comic Book Moments of the Week for 8/3/2011

 

Beginnings, endings, and revelations abound in this version of Moments of the Week. The frightening beginning of Severed, the end of Superman and Secret Six, the climax of Flashpoint, and also that little news nugget about a new Spider-Man in Ultimate Fallout. More, as always, after the jump.

Batman: Arkham City #4

Catwoman stops by Arkham City to help out Batman, who was getting his butt handed to him by Hugo Strange's soldiers. Strange planned for every contingency for Batman entering the city, but didn't plan on Selina showing up. Cats are sneaky like that.

And some more foreshadowing at possible content in the game, as Poison Ivy is freed by Selina and makes the Central Gardens her territory. Maybe we'll run into her with Catwoman's part of the game this October.

Joker is still dying from his Titan overdose, and the poor doctor gets charbroiled. I kind of thought he would have literally shot the messenger.

Batman: Gates of Gotham #4

Flashback time, as Nicholas Gates tries to rally Alan Wayne to help expose that Thomas Kane's actions led to the death of his brother, but then...

Alan Wayne is a jerk. And so Nicholas takes matters into his own hands, using his diving suit to smash into Kane's home and choking his son to death.

Cassandra does her best to rally Dick out of his pondering. It also feels like Dick is somewhat alluding to his time under the cowl as coming to a close for the audience, which is so, so sad.

Flashpoint #4

Here we go, Atlantis and Themyscira duking it out in London Square, all because the two lovebirds are fighting. Wonder Woman was just jealous that Mera looked much better in the helmet than she did.

And Captain Thunder shows up with Barry and the other heroes, only getting in a tackle before Enchantress turns heel. I don't think we'll be seeing a real Captain Thunder/Wonder Woman fight because...

Billy Batson gets killed by an Amazon, and then Zoom stands over Barry saying it was his fault. Don't let these pages fool you, the whole issue was talking, and the fighting was non-existent.

Flashpoint Batman: Knight of Vengeance #3

In the Flashpoint universe crowbars don't exist, so Joker has to resort to a hammer. Thomas ultimately gets a hold of Martha and tells her that their son could be alive again, with changes happening on that dark night.

Batman and Joker kissing, that's wrong in any universe.

Well, he's not a killer like Thomas is, that has to count for something, right?

Heroes For Hire #10

Gargoyle and Paladin both get taken out by the Monster, the guy who was exposed to fear chemicals and caught int he middle of Thing's rampage last issue. He basically beat the two by showing them their greatest fears (Paladin's fear is running into a version of himself who is actually successful and more prepared than he is).

Secret Six #36

Penguin ratted out the Secret Six, who didn't see that coming? Huntress then leads pretty much every hero in the DCU to surround their Gotham hideout, which also happens to have a homeless family on the premises.

One of the interlude scenes between the Six pondering what to do, we see Scandal scored two Knockouts. Huntress then decides to go in and trade places with the family, but by the time she arrives both the Bat-family and the Super-family shows up, really putting the screws to the group.

Bane really should have some kids, he would be a great father. And of course Deadshot is a wise assassin.

And the team decides to just go up against all the heroes, using Venom. They knew they couldn't win, but then again the Secret Six never did. They get taken down, and that's the end of one of the best comics from any publisher in the past three years. A moment of silence, please.

Severed #1

While I have your attention, might I direct your dollars from Secret Six to the new series Severed? As you can see from the pages above, there is a creepy undercurrent that is a staple of Scott Snyder's works. Along with Scott Tuft and some great artwork by Attila Futaki, it tells the tale of a young boy in 1916 America who decides to become a hobo and travel across the country to find his drifter father. Running parallel to this story is Mr. Porter above, who just picked up a local boy from an orphanage to make as his apprentice. As you can see, Porter is a guy who will tell you he has crazy sharp teeth, and then will show them you by eating you. Never go into dark houses like that, folks.

Superman #714

And here we go, the final part of the much maligned Grounded story as well as the end of the current Superman series. Lisa Jennings above was a teacher who found a Kryptonian crystal that activated when Superman walked by, which then gave her all the memories of Superman and some of his powers. She was able to warp and distort Superman by making him even more depressed by making him hear and see different things on his walk across America. Chris Roberson does his best to erase much of Grounded, but issues #701 and #702 were still Superman's own doing. Long story short, Superman destroys the crystal and saves the day, and is back to his normal positive self.

I am going to miss the Super-Marriage so much. It's just such a fluid and fun relationship. Another moment of silence, please. Superman then starts the Superman Squad after this arc, of which Lisa joins and was one of the members Superman ran into earlier in the arc.

And there we have it folks, the final page of the modern era Superman title. It's good to see that Roberson mentioned Truth, Justice, and the American Way not once but twice this issue, both in positive ways. I really would have liked to see what Roberson could have done on the title without being saddled with JMS' story.

Thunderbolts #161

Just outside Chicago, Juggernaut leveled everything except the Thunderbolts thanks to Songbird. A really nice scene from Declan Shalvey with Songbird still singing to protect Mach V and herself.

Moonstone does her best to save Chicago, but at the last second the missile diverts itself into Lake Michigan. Why would a missile aim for a body of water?

Because it was actually filled with an miniature army of fish monster things that grow when exposed to fresh water! Just add water for hours of terrifying fun!

Ultimate Fallout #4

You've probably all heard the news about Ultimate Spider-Man since Tuesday, here is Miles Morales trying to stop a fight between the Kangaroo and one of crime buddies. Miles defeats him, but everyone agrees the suit is in terrible taste.

One of the more interesting things in terms of the direction of the Ultimate Universe this week is that Reed Richards escaped from the Negative Zone, only to create the ultimate version of the Future Foundation inside the Dome, a place that seems to be very similar to the World from Grant Morrison's New X-Men run.

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