Justice League #33 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (story), Doug Mahnke (pencils), Keith Champagne (inks), Andrew Dalhouse (colors)

The Story: Luthor and Caulder see who can out-mad scientist the other.

The Review: Thank heavens one title at least is spared the Futures End treatment this month. It’s aggravating having to read issue after issue of comics without any certainty that it even matters. It reminds me of when I used to create marketing presentations for products still in the R&D stage, always aware that at any moment the design could be dropped and all my work wasted, always torn between necessity and pointlessness.

Anyway, my point is Justice League offers a very much appreciated break from Futures End in addition to all the new tidbits of troubling information about Caulder. While he insists that his work with the Patrol and their ilk is noble, Luthor exposes past experiments, not only on the unfortunate Karma and Scorch, but on Celsius and Tempest (who went into hiding), a former “war veteran,”* the “Negative Twins” (indicating Larry’s only the latest product of Caulder’s Negative work), and even Caulder’s own ex-wife. Even more disturbing is the accusation that a virus Caulder once cured was one he introduced himself.

Grayson: Futures End #1 – Review

By: Tom King & Tim Seely (story), Stephen Mooney (art), Jeromy Cox (colors)

The Story: Dick tries his hand at political assassination and finds it doesn’t suit him.

The Review: As my first serving of the Futures End crossover, Action Comics left a bad taste in my mouth and a deep dread of what the rest of the month would bring. With its poor use of the five-year jump, its distant connection to the Event itself, its tenuous handling of the Superman mythos, the issue checked off every trademark of a forced tie-in. You could just as easily throw it away and it would make no difference to any storyline anywhere.

Thank goodness I read Grayson second. It’s not a cleverly finessed tie-in the way Daredevil‘s tie-in with Original Scene is, but at least it does everything Action Comics does not. And it starts with King-Seely’s decision to tell its story backward, a risky move that pays off by tying Dick’s (potential) future with his famous past. Tying it all together is the motif of a rope; it’s the visual that starts off the issue and upon which the issue ends, the beginning of Dick’s life as we know it as well as its conclusion. It’s a fitting symbol for a hero who’s always placed himself on the line.

Action Comics: Futures End #1 – Review

By: Sholly Fisch (story), Pascal Alixe & Vicente Cifuentes (art), Pete Pantazis (colors)

The Story: If Superman’s not going to use his powers, mind if I use it?

The Review: I wasn’t exactly thrilled to discover, shortly after giving up the glacial Futures End, that the entire DCU would be signing onto that nonsense in September. Not only does this expose all the titles to the same flash-forward confusion as its progenitor, it also doesn’t have the same value as previous September gimmicks like Villains Month or #0 issues. If anything, jumping these series five years into an uncertain future discourages new readers rather than attract them.

Imagine having only a minimal familiarity with the DCU, opening this issue, and seeing Superman out-of-costume, sporting a lumberjack’s beard, and planting crops in a barren piece of land in the African desert. There’s a possibility you’d intrigued enough to see what happens, but I suspect that most people would put the issue down, shaking their heads, and wondering what the hell is going on or when the next Marvel movie will come out.

Fairest #29 – Review

By: Mark Buckingham (story), Russ Braun (art), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: Some parties you want to be rescued from. This isn’t one of them.

The Review: Another one of those words critics and English majors tend to throw around a lot is “craft,” as in “There’s not much/a lot of craft in this work.” I’m not arrogant enough to come up with a definitive definition, but I’ll give you an idea of what I mean when I say “craft.” It’s the care, thought, time, and skill a person puts into their art. Craft alone doesn’t make great art; you need talent and inspiration for that. But without craft, you won’t produce anything worthwhile.

A foreboding sort of intro, I know. But I can’t help thinking about the distinct lack of craft in this issue, specifically where Meghan’s hillbilly uncle and cousin are concerned. You can appreciate Buckingham trying to subvert your archetypical wicked relatives—although this is probably the one series where he can get away with such formulaic characters—by showing Bobby and Joey aren’t as callous as they appear. But there’s nothing so subtle about these men’s changes; Reynard’s the one with the glamour, but he has nothing on their sudden, inexplicable transformation from cruel to excessively affectionate.

Dead Boy Detectives #8 – Review

By: Toby Litt (story), Mark Buckingham (layouts), Ryan Kelly (finishes), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: It’s hard to tell the difference between the living and the dead in a nursing home.

The Review: In my line of work, I see firsthand how often kids take their parents’ mistakes to heart, which is probably one of the saddest things you’ll ever see besides an invalid alone in the hospital or the mentally ill talking to themselves at a bus stop in the rain. So it’s not surprising to me that Charles would internalize his dad’s problems so much, to the point that his dad’s litany of horrible qualities results in his own self-loathing and a desire for a second death.

It takes a bit of adjustment to handle this sudden emotional weight that’s been thrust on the previously quirky Dead Boy Detectives, but it works. If nothing else, it provides a springboard for the Charles-Crystal relationship, as his melancholy spurs her to show the sweetest parts of her personality. “Charles, you say that ever since I met you, you’ve done nothing but put me in danger. But it’s all been so exciting—even the terrifying parts! …If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t know about Clementine. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t know about the Neitherlands. We need each other, Charles. …I wish I could give you a proper hug.”

Aquaman #34 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (story), Carlos Rodriguez (pencils), Bit (inks), Rain Beredo (colors)

The Story: Aquaman can talk to fish, but he can’t reason with them.

The Review: I’ve frequently remarked that lately, Mera has had the better storylines in this series, and I guess the implication is that Arthur has not. It stands to reason; while she spends the bulk of her time interacting with the supporting cast and exploring the physical and political landscape of Atlantis, her husband is swimming around and getting beaten up by various opponents. What you’re starting to realize is Aquaman has become one of the weaker parts of Aquaman.

That’s not a good situation when you have an issue that’s all about Arthur from start to finish, and more than half of it is devoted to round two of his match with Chimera. Things don’t go much better for him the second time around; Chimera keeps him on the defensive for most of the battle and only a bit of luck with a leaking petroleum truck gives Arthur the win. I say luck, and not quick thinking, because he clearly doesn’t have his head straight this issue. Considering how badly his telepathic summons worked against him last time, he only has himself to blame when his call of two sharks to his aid goes awry, leading to a scene right out of the end of Old Yeller:

“Break off!! Go!! …Stop—turn away—don’t make me fight you–! Don’t!! No…no!“*

Bodies #2 – Review

By: Si Spencer (story), Meghan Hetrick, Dean Ornston, Tula Lotay, Phil Winslade (art), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: Four detectives are better than one.

The Review: I speak from some experience when I say that when you have a lot of people working on the same project, no matter how different they may be from each other, there has to be some common ground for them to stand on or the project fails. In Bodies, the differences between our four detectives are even greater from the spans of time that lies between them, but there has to be some reason why these four were chosen, and the best way to discover it is to see what they have in common.

This issue makes that task easy by calling attention to something the last issue downplayed: each of our detectives live under the pressure of discrimination. Edmond muses how his closeted homosexuality may result in his imprisonment; Charles Whiteman changed his name (Karl Weissman) to escape from anti-Semitic barbs like the one thrown by Sean Mahoney, uncle of the man he interrogated; Shahara can’t freely discuss her Muslim faith with comrade/romantic interest Barber, much less the racist protestors bashing her car.

Superman #34 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (story), John Romita Jr. (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks), Laura Martin (colors)

The Story: Superman and Ulysses’ first official team-up may be their last.

The Review: I don’t often speculate as to how a story will go—partly because of my natural cautiousness and partly because I’m frequently wrong—but I’m about 99.99% sure that a big showdown between Neil (a.k.a. Ulysses) and Clark will ensue sooner or later. I base this on one theory only: you don’t create a direct Superman analogue without intending to match him up with the real thing. That’s just how things roll in superhero comics; it’s almost a waste otherwise.

So every issue, I’m looking for signs of where Neil and Clark’s relationship will go sour. It’s a difficult task because the two of them are as similar as they can get without actually being the same character from parallel universes. Both are gentle giants who believe deeply in peace and hope (and who don’t stand for threats to any of those things). Neil’s forgiveness of his parents for rocketing him away (and his dad for giving up on the search for him) is gratefully given and free from bitterness. Even Clark couldn’t have done better in that situation.

The Multiversity #1 – Review

By: Grant Morrison (story), Ivan Reis (pencils), Joe Prado (inks), Nei Ruffino (colors)

The Story: It’s the Superman-Captain Carrot team-up you’ve all been waiting for.

The Review: At least, it arrives, a project long-touted and already somewhat overhyped. It’s not just the Morrison name, although there’s certainly that; it’s also the fact that he’s working on a project so aligned to his talents and interests, one that sprawls not only over the DCU proper but the entire Multiverse as well. Any good DC fan is sure to be interested in how the Multiverse’s current structure looks now and how it may be used in the future.

Personally, I’m bummed that arbitrary limitation of 52 worlds remains in place, although Thunderer (Earth-7), one of the many featured heroes, refers to them as “fifty-two known worlds,” suggesting unknown ones may pop up later. But even with the cap in place, Morrison has a massive playground to run wild in, using each Earth to site different themes of heroes, almost all of them with a sly wink. Earth-23 is home to an all-black Justice League; Earth-36, where Red Racer and Power Torch (Flash and Green Lantern doppelgangers) are lovers; Earth-11, in which all our favorite characters’ genders are reversed.

Batman and Robin #34 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Patrick Gleason (pencils), Mick Gray (inks), John Kalisz (colors)

The Story: Another heartwarming Bat-family reunion.

The Review: The Super-family may have the reputation for being the brighter, friendlier gang of heroes, but it’s the Bat-family that’s gotten tighter over time. Part of that is the changes from the relaunch; the Supers are no longer on intimate terms while the Bats have preserved all their past history with each other. But I think the difference also comes from the fact that the Supers have less need of each other by virtue of their powers; to keep Gotham running, the Bats must rely on their collective strength.

So things haven’t been quite right since Death of the Family drove a wedge between Bruce and the others, one that he exacerbated in post-death of Damian grief. The reconciliation between him, Babs, Jason, and Tim—the three he hurt the most during that period—thus comes right on time, premised on an excellent promise on Bruce’s part: complete and utter truthfulness.

Fables #143 – Review

By: Bill Willingham (story), Mark Buckingham (pencils), Steve Leialoha & Andrew Pepoy (inks), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: Bigby threatens to bring down Fabletown, with neither huffing nor puffing.

The Review: One of the many ways I’m a little off in the head is the way I treat stories like people. On first acquaintance, I’m open-minded, relatively forgiving of small quirks and flaws, and cautious to make any hasty conclusions. If it rubs me the wrong way, my judgment can become scathing, and it can be quite difficult to return to my good graces. If I really take to one, my loyalty is steadfast; even if things don’t go well for a while, I’ll still be by its side.

To me, Fables is a bit like my clique of coworkers at a transition job after grad school. We met somewhat late in life and I’ll always remain a bit of an outsider, but we get along well and make each other’s lives that much more pleasant. When we part, it’ll be with regret and hugs, but not tears. This is all a roundabout way of saying that even though I haven’t known the Fables that long, I’m fond enough of them to be really grieved when bad things happen to them. And Willingham seems set to unleash quite a lot of bad things on many of them, even the most beloved.

Superman/Wonder Woman #11 – Review

By: Charles Soule (story), Thony Silas (art), Tomev Morey & Ulises Arreola (colors)

The Story: Who says couples can’t save the world together?

The Review: When Bruce succeeded in removing the Kryptonite from Earth’s atmosphere, allowing Clark to repress the Doomsday inside once more, I breathed a sigh of relief that perhaps we were finally over and done with that horribly one-dimensional monster. I admit it: I was naïve and not a little bit stupid. After all, repressed or not, Doomsday was still inside Clark; it had to make one last appearance sometime, and unfortunately, that time is now.

And just when things were getting pretty good in Doomed. As Bruce observes during a particularly low moment for our heroes, the forces of good have been reduced to seven individuals, who must face against all of Brainiac’s collective forces. That’s an exciting scenario for them to be in—or it would be if the solution wasn’t still lurking within the recesses of Clark’s mind/body/soul. I can’t tell you how depressed I was to see SuperDoom unleashed again, bigger, spikier, craggier than ever. You can already feel the storyline becoming monotonously mindless once more.

Justice League United #4 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (story), Mike McKone (art), Cam Smith (inks), Marcelo Maiolo (colors)

The Story: Nothing like opposing dimensional polarities to put a crimp in the marriage.

The Review: So we’ve come to Justice League United‘s fourth issue, and as some of you may know, that means it’s time to decide whether to stick to the series or leave it by the wayside. I’ll cut to the chase: I’m not buying it. JLU just doesn’t really stand out in a market that’s lately crowded with ambitious and unusual concepts. It’s pretty much how I feel about In ‘n’ Out: I like it fine, but there are new burgers in the neighborhood that I’m more excited to try.

On the most basic level, JLU‘s cast has little chemistry going for it. The situation’s a bit like the early days of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., in which the characters woodenly played their archetypical roles for months. Eventually, things clicked together, but what a drag while it lasted. That’s exactly the word you’d use to describe the character interaction in this issue: a drag. Lemire labors to inject tension into the issue; the problem is you can see the sweat involved.

Astro City #14 – Review

By: Kurt Busiek (story), Brent Eric Anderson (art), Alex Sinclair & Wendy Broome (colors)

The Story: Reform school for robots.

The Review: Much as I love the superhero genre, I recognize its limitations as much as anyone else does, and Astro City frequently helps me in this regard. By constantly abridging the superhero material to their essence—hero versus villain; punches, blasts, explosions; rubble and property damage; inevitable triumph of good over evil—Busiek reveals that the most interesting parts of a superhero story are the things that take place outside of it.

Busiek applies this approach so often in Astro City that it’d almost be formulaic if it didn’t yield such wildly different results each time. This issue, he explores the aftermath of a common feature of superhero battles we often take for granted: the wanton destruction of robots, giant or otherwise. In doing so, he takes something we would never give a second thought to and finds the emotional layers hidden underneath.

Green Arrow #34 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (story), Andrea Sorrentino (art), Marcelo Maiolo (colors)

The Story: How to slay a Dragon with a single arrow.

The Review: Not that I don’t appreciate a bit of moralizing in my comics, but I also prefer that it not be overt. As any of us who have ever encountered a born-again evangelist screaming at joggers and bicyclists in a park know, preachiness can be a real drag. Once we reach a certain age, that After School Special (A.S.S.) tendency to say outright the moral of the episode is boring and tiresome. We know what the lesson is; we just choose not to use it sometimes.

Lemire’s a family man and a bit of an innocent in his writing, so maybe he can’t help himself, but it’s nonetheless disappointing when he resorts to a final cliché between Dragon and Ollie. As Dragon has Ollie in dire straits, he crows, “[Y]ou’re not good enough anymore, Arrow.”

“Maybe, Dragon,” Ollie admits. “But you know the difference between you and me? I don’t’ have to do it alone.” And like clockwork, Ollie’s supporting players fly into action and Dragon is defeated by that most wonderful of things, teamwork. It’s the kind of thing you’d find endearing in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but embarrassingly corny here.

Action Comics #34 – Review

By: Greg Pak (story), Aaron Kuder & Scott Kolins (art), Wil Quintana (colors)

The Story: Brainstorms aren’t always good things and this one seems to prove it.

The Review: Recently, I’ve thought that if we could just move past the Doomsday stuff, Doomed might be a pretty decent storyline. I’m glad I stuck to my guns in saying there’s nothing further to develop with Doomsday, not even in the body of Superman, because that’s largely turned out to be the case. Obviously, it’s not terrific that it took an excruciating number of issues to make that clear, but the important thing is we’ve finally gotten past that.

The way I see it, the story of Doomed only truly started once Brainiac started flatlining everybody on the planet, sparing neither superhero or supervillain, yet keeping them all alive for purposes we can only speculate to. Doesn’t that sound a lot more interesting than “Superman infected by Doomsday virus”? Now we’re talking about a legitimate global disaster that requires a proportionate response, which is going to be hard to come by when the threat is actually bigger than the planet itself.

Action Comics Annual #3 – Review

By: Too many to list—check out the review.

The Story: Oh, now we’re going to clean up the atmosphere?

The Review: I expressed some annoyance with how Superman/Wonder Woman Annual #1 shifted the details of a major plot point—Batman’s dispersal of the kryptonite in the atmosphere—to a different annual altogether. I’m no less irritated going into the annual in question, which is not a great attitude to come from. I just don’t like the idea of forcing readers to buy all kinds of extraneous issues to keep apace with a story.

Anyway, once you set those feelings aside, this annual is about as decent as its sibling, and in the grand scheme of things, far more necessary. S/WWA #1 was really about Diana stalling Clark long enough for Bruce to do his work (and Steel’s potential crush on Lana); you can live without seeing that. Anyway, Pak does the courtesy of repeating the essentials for you: the arrival of Brainaic’s first wave of attack, the other heroes’ difficulty in dealing with it, and Brainiac’s big momma-ship pulling beside Earth at the end. You get all this and the most important happenings in the arc as well.

Earth Two #26 – Review

By: Tom Taylor (story), Nicola Scott (pencils), Trevor Scott (inks), Pete Pantazis (colors)

A good twist is hard to come by in superhero comics. We’ve seen so many of the same kinds over and over—the long-dead character suddenly revealed alive, a major superhero ends up dead or kills someone, someone we trusted turns traitor—that even when you’re surprised, you’re not particularly affected.* The other kind of twist we frequently encounter is the kind that drops out of a clear blue sky. There’s not much craft to it; it’s purely WTF-worthy (which is not a compliment, DC).

It’s rare to get a twist that’s simultaneously surprising and enjoyable, where you realize the clues have been there all along. Taylor pulls off exactly that in this issue, which would make it rec-worthy even if he had accomplished nothing else. Over the past few months, he managed to convince us that Clark had finally been broken into a murder machine, that any hope of him being an imposter was merely wishful thinking. [Spoiler alert!] The revelation that he is actually a Bizarro (“Me am…Superman.”) is not only a great twist, it’s one we could’ve seen coming had we put the hints together: the chains hooked to his crest, the cracks around his eyes.

Superman/Wonder Woman Annual #1 – Review

By: Too many to list—check out the review.

The Story: Superman returns.

The Review: About a month ago, I decided to stick to Doomed despite many misgivings about the storyline. It was a close call, however. Part of what kept me onboard was the resignation that the event was nearly over anyway. A few more issues, I could handle. Had I known the Doomed showrunners planned to add two annuals to the mix, I probably would have reconsidered my commitment. Annuals are costly things, and the thought of putting that much more money into Doomed was hard to take.

On the plus side, the annuals confirm that what we thought was a Doomsday story is actually a Brainiac one, which is an improvement, sort of. It seems somewhat repetitive to make the villain yet again the center of a major Superman story (the last time being one of Superman’s earliest big adventures); can’t they come up with someone else to challenge our hero? Must we always turn to the usual suspects? Shouldn’t there be at least a three year moratorium on a supervillain after he’s been featured in a major story arc?

Vertigo Quarterly: Magenta #1 – Review

By: Too many to list—or even to review. Just check out the issue.

The Story: You’ll be tickled pink by what you read.

The Review: I enjoyed the last quarterly just fine, but I couldn’t help being a little dismayed by the $7.99 price point. That’s a lot of money for a bunch of shorts, not all of which are gems. On the flipside, none of them sucked or anything, and for what is basically a collection of pieces by mostly unknown writers and artists, that’s pretty remarkable. You might say that what you’re really paying for is the dreams of some talented creators, for whom this might be an opening to a big break.

That just leaves the puzzle of the color themes for each quarterly. Cyan produced such a jumble of different pieces that it didn’t really seem to be much of a unifying theme at all. Magenta looks to be a very different story. There’s still plenty of variety in the stories generated in this issue, but certain patterns emerge, ones that just might have something to do with our psychological perception of magenta itself.

Fairest #28 – Review

By: Mark Buckingham (story), Russ Braun (art), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: Has Reynard found his rebound girl?

The Review: In what has to be a burst of psychological insight—or stating the obvious, you decide—I’ve realized why Reynard is so determined to make it with this human thing. The fact is he never needed a human body to succeed in anything; he was doing quite well without before he got his glamour. Being a handsome man is really only necessary for one thing: attracting the ladies. Small wonder that he thinks finding a woman to love is key to unlocking his potential as a man.

You might say it’s his final challenge, the last thing he needs to stand aside the likes of, say, Prince Charming. There’s really just one thing getting in his way: he’s not Prince Charming, which is to say that he doesn’t have Charming’s shameless addiction to conquest. His audacious move on Snow is driven by ignorance of human mores rather than lust, which makes his poor reception that much more pathetic. Reynard likes to be of service, but he won’t get that chance chasing after strong, independent women.

Dead Boy Detectives #7 – Review

By: Toby Litt (story), Mark Buckingham (layouts), Ryan Kelly (finishes), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: Even ghosts can have daddy issues.

The Review: We’ve had a lot of fun with the Dead Boy Detectives’ miscellaneous adventures, but now seems like the right time for us to grapple with more long-term material. I expect most of us are new to the characters, so we really know nothing about Charles and Edwin before they attended, died, and returned to St. Hilarion’s. If a ghost exists only because of unfinished business in its life, then it’s essential we learn more about that life, no?

It’s easy enough to see what was left unresolved with Charles’ untimely death: his feelings toward his father. We’ve seen hints that Charles’ dad wasn’t a very nice guy, but the nature of his cruelty is unclear, even after Charles recounts his boyhood memories of the man. Obviously, Charles’ dad was kind of a douche for receiving his son’s thoughtful, handmade gift with more thought to its flaws than delight, and the fact that he was constantly away isn’t great, either. But these seem like typical paternal failings, not the kinds of things that’d keep a long-dead boy attached to the world.

Swamp Thing #34 – Review

By: Charles Soule (story), Javier Pina (art), Matthew Wilson (colors)

The Story: There ain’t no plan like a Weeds plan.

The Review: In the superhero genre, where it’s common practice for writers to constantly recycle established characters, it’s rare to encounter new characters who are as rich or intriguing as the old ones. Soule has been on a streak in that regard. True, it’s not as if Swamp Thing had a whole host of characters to draw from, so he had incentive to create new ones. But these creations have become a crucial part of his run’s enjoyment, which is no small achievement in this biz.

It’s possibly to classify Soule’s characters as either heroes or villains, but all of them are somewhat more complicated than that. Wolf and Weeds may be antagonists as a consequence of plotting against Alec, but their grievances against him are legitimate. Alec may disclaim any responsibility for their fates, arguing that it’s they who failed to roll with the punches, but this ignores his role in delivering the blows. After unleashing them from the Green, he never did give much thought to their fates afterward. If he had, maybe he could’ve kept them fixed on what they have instead of what they had.

The Wake #10 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (story), Sean Murphy (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors)

The Story: It’s only near the end of the world that we learn the Scientologists were right all along.

The Review: As of last issue, we still had no idea what the hell was going on in this series. We didn’t know where the Mers came from or what they wanted, how Lee Archer managed to send a message to Leeward from the dead, and how she was planning to save the world. Snyder has left those ends wide open; needless to say, he has a lot
to explain in this issue, and it’s almost guaranteed there’ll still be points left unresolved at the end.

Much to his credit, however, Snyder manages to tie every vague vignette from every past issue together into a cohesive revelation that actually manages to be revelatory, astonishingly so. Of course, you’ll have to read between his metaphors (ladders and seeds feature heavily in this issue) to get the answers you seek, but at least they’re relatively straightforward and mostly satisfying. [Warning: major spoilers ahead! Read on at your own risk!]

Sinestro #4 – Review

By: Cullen Bunn (story), Rags Morales (art), Jason Wright (colors)

The Story: Why does it always have to be about Hal Jordan? Jordan, Jordan, Jordan!

The Review: Around the fourth issue of a new series is usually the point when I know whether it’s a keeper or on the road to being Dropped. I’m more than happy to give every title a fair shake, recognizing that there are such things as sleeper hits, but my time is also better spent seeking out worthy replacements than sticking to the stubbornly mediocre. Also, and this is no minor point, I am not made of money.

In better economic times or with a leaner choice of titles out there, I might have stuck with Sinestro for a while yet. I remember the hard, early days on this site (and I shudder to think that was nearly four years ago) when I covered the consistently underperforming Doom Patrol, R.E.B.E.L.S., Justice Society of America, and Legion of Super-Heroes for months on end, mostly because I had few other options to turn to (or so I thought). Now, if I set aside Sinestro, there are at least three possibilities to take its place.*