Writer: John Rogers
Artists: Raphael Albuquerque & David Baldeon

Blue Beetle falls into a lull this month, after a great issue last month.   The Teen Titans guest star this issue and their mission is to make sure a satellite launches into space.  Yawn.  Lobo shows up to stop the launch, hired by the Reach, the creators of the Beetle's scarab, here to conquer the world.  There's a fight with Lobo, and some teenage banter.  Beetle's buddy Paco is checking out Wonder Girl and Supergirl, which makes for some nice moments.  At the end, Robin tells Beetle that he needs some fight training and to stop by the Tower to get some, basically inviting him to appear in issue #50 and the ones thereafter. 

I used to praise Raphael Albuquerque for being a good artist that was one time every month, but I guess every artist needs a break sometimes as David Baldeon illustrates half the issue.  Baldeon's style is similar enough to Albuquerque's so that the transition is not that jarring, but Baldeon is just too smooth compared to Raphael Albuquerque slightly jagged style.  There are some nice moments here with Beetle interacting with the Teen Titans, but not enough to merit a purchase or move along the Reach storyline that has been building.  The last couple of issues have been one and done stories, but still had some dimension that added to the Reach storyline, except for this one.  I hope that next issue returns Blue Beetle to his fine form.  C-

Writer: Kurt Busiek
Artist: Walt Simonson

Just like Wolverine this week, this one-shot story is worth hard-earned money.  At 36 pages, this story is really cool and fun.  Superman gets corrupted in a dream by a demon from Krypton's hell, and imagines what the world would be like if he took over, and eventually takes over hell himself.  If you're not reading Superman regularly, you can still read this issue.  It has nothing to do with the Camelot Falls arc that is going on from time to time in this book, it's just a fun dark Superman story in honor of the 666 number.  Walt Simonson does the art for this issue, and it looks great, at least for this dark story. 

There are some great moments in this book.  From Superman finally dealing with Brainiac and Lex Luthor the way he wishes he could, to Superman killing Jimmy Olsen and Perry White.  This ain't your daddy's Superman.  It's these Dark Superman moments that make the book worth buying.  This is DARK Superman, not the wannabe from Superman III, so don't be thinking about that when I say Dark Superman.  It feels like Kurt Busiek needs to let loose and do more done in one Superman stories, since his arcs haven't really done much for me yet.  Walt Simonson's art is great to look at, and this is my first exposure to him.  It's really jagged, similar to Adam Kubert over in Action Comics (but Simonson's book is out).  Go get this book, it's a great story, and really takes the 666 number and runs with it, more than Batman 666 ever did (in my opinion).  B+

Writer: Mark Waid
Artists: George Perez & Scott Koblish

 The first arc of Brave and the Bold is over, and it left something to be desired.  While each of the first five issues was fun to see all of the characters interacting and moved the plot along, the final issue where all the characters come together to defeat the villains falls a little flat. The first and third issues were great excercises in fun team-ups, and what I want to see from this title continually.  Based on this first arc, I think Mark Waid should write shorter arcs, maybe 2-3 issues long.  It's not a bad ending, everything comes together, but the journey here didn't really start until the fourth issue.  The Lords of Luck make their grand move to take over the universe and all of time using the Book of Destiny, and it's up to Batman, Hal Jordan, Supergirl, and Adam Strange to stop them.  With an appearance from the Challengers of the Unknown in a somewhat contrived plot device, they fight to stop the Luck Lords. 

George Perez does his usual great job on art here, so no complaints.  With names like Mark Waid and George Perez, this book should be selling like gangbusters, but it's not.  People always say that they want more single issues, and if this book went the way of Detective Comics under Paul Dini, it might sell more copies, giving people what they think they want.  Waid hasn't failed to put in any less characters by rotating the team-ups, but we could have more exposure to characters like Blue Beetle, Firestorm, and Booster Gold with smaller arcs or one and done issues.  I like this book, I like the team, and the way that it manages to usually tell a fun team-up story and have a larger plot in the background, so I will keep picking it up.  The minute Perez leaves though, I will re-consider, as I think many fans will.  I hope Perez will stay on the book for a good run (24-36) issues, as it seems like he's made for this thing after drawing Crisis on Infinite Earths anyway.  This issue is fun, and you can probably read it by itself without the other five issues, but you get more out of it by reading the rest.  Which might be how this book is intended to be.  Damn.  B 

Writer: Brad Meltzer
Artists: Ed Benes, Eric Wight, & Sandra Hope

With this issue, Brad Meltzer leaves Justice League, and it seems all too soon, and almost wasted.  Trully, he only wrote one JLA arc, being the first one and then two one-shot stories.  I'm not counting the JLA/JSA crossover as a Meltzer Justice League story since Geoff Johns co-wrote it, and it didn't do much to develop this new team.  I wish Meltzer was not counting those 3 issues as part of his self-allotted 13 issue run (Don't forget about #0), because this team still feels like it is not a team yet.  Sure they have new headquarters, and all the members in place, but it feels to me, like this team is still 12 individuals.  Meltzer needs to write one more adventure for comics history to call this team his.  In reality, it might be called McDuffie's team since he is taking over the book.

This issue focuses on monitor duty and is a series of scenes about each character, except the trinity.  Red Tornado is getting less human, Hawkgirl and Red Arrow are flirting, and Vixen is trying to get her powers back.  As a character piece, it's a good issue, but as the last issue of a high-profile run, it falls flat. I was expecting Meltzer to go out on a bang, but it seems his bang was back in issue 10 with Wally West returning.  Can't Meltzer write a good, one-and-done JLA adventure?  Some would point to last issue, but technically, it only concerned two characters.  I really hope that Meltzer returns to this team in a year or two after he writes his next novel.  Meltzer's run here is like baking a cake, and then not decorating it with icing, he's leaving McDuffie to do that for him.  At that point, it's no longer Meltzer's cake.  Don't get me started on how they are going to collect this book, with only two issues after the crossover, and the zero issue which didn't make it into the first collection, where it fit nicely when you read the series 0-7.  Benes does the usual great job on art here, by now I'm used to his muscles and boobs approach.  It's a good thing these characters wear costumes, otherwise I wouldn't be able to tell Hawkgirl and Black Canaray apart other than their hair.  As an issue, I give it a B, but as a run a C.

Writers: Geoff Johns & John Katz
Artists: Dan Jurgens & Norm Rapmund 

This issue is a return to form for Booster Gold.  He's back to the way he was in the beginning of 52, a headline grabbing hero looking for the big time.  He calls the Justice League after taking down the Royal Flush Gang by himself (which as Batman says, is not worthy of a League emergency) and tries to gain membership.  Batman gives him one week to be a hero, without all the grandstanding, and at the end of the week he will be evaluated, and if the evaluation is positive, they'll flip a coin.  You think they want him in the League?  Booster agrees, but before he can really do anything of merit, Rip Hunter shows up and tells Booster that he needs his help to fix the multiverse's anomalies. He tells Booster that he will be the "greatest hero the world has never known," which does not appeal to Booster.  He reluctantly agrees as we see Supernova talking to Sinestro in the past.  What?

Johns and Katz write an enjoyable book here, but there is just nothing inside that absolutely merits a read.  It's all setup and no hook, at the end of the book the reader is left hoping that the next issue will have something trully exciting.  Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund's art translates here more than it did in Nightwing previously.  Jurgens does a great job with making the characters look like individuals, and masters facial expressions.  He should after all these years shouldn't he?  I'm still confused as to who's doing the work here on the art, as Jurgens is listed as doing the layouts with Rapmund doing the finishes.  What does that mean?  52 style?  Or a Pat Lee style where Rapmund is the background artist?  A mix of both?  Anyway, their work is always consistent and never lacking, even in this Image influenced era.  I'm not sure whether I'll continue with the series or not, the next two issues will decide that for me.  See you in a month Booster! C+/B-

Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Daniel Acuna

I really wanted to hate this book.  DC's handling of Bart Allen and the Flash character has disgusted me.  From handing the book over to two writers who did not get the character, to then handing the book over to a good writer, who brought the book out of the gutters, only to kill him the same week that Wally West returned from wherever he was for a year.  So, why was he the Flash in the first damn place?  He was fine as Kid Flash, and had only been that for a few years in publishing time.  I guess Mark Waid returning to the series and the character he molded is trying to make amends with angered fans like me.  Most everyone was excited about this book but I was not.  I had never read Flash until Bart took over, I thought I could grab onto that series like I had done for Blue Beetle and follow him forever.  The return of Wally does not excite me that much, since I was gravitating towards Bart at the end of his run with Marc Guggenheim.  Anyway, over to the book itself. 

I ended up liking this book.  Not loving, but liking.  I'm still of the opinion that Mark Waid has had his run on the Flash, but I'll still read this book for as long as it contiunues to interest me.  The twins, Jai and Iris, who were only just born when Wally dissapeared are super-heroes alongside their father.  Jai exhibits super-strength through accelerating his muscle growth.  Iris has the ability to super-vibrate her molecules, making her DC's copy of Kitty Pryde. Both of these sets of powers are based on having super-speed, and thus derivitive from their father.  The kids' went through accelerated aging, getting rid of my thoughts that Wally and Linda had spent 10 years inside the speed force but only a few outside it.  It's still not clear exactly what happened, so hopefully Waid will explain more of it later.  The book starts off with an adventure and then ends with a conversation about the children between Wally and Linda.  I think the book is starting out a bit forward in time than the current DCU, as the Wests already have their own house and are moved in.

I was not a fan of Daniel Acuna's work on Green Lantern 18-20, as it looked rushed, and in some places, sloppy.  Here, it looks better, but I'm still getting used to the non-traditional style.  It seems to work with the character, as Flash is usually more a blur of color than actual ink.  I guess the difference will show whenever Acuna needs a break or leaves the book, and a more traditional team takes over.  For now, I'm liking the art and the colors, as Acuna colors it himself, making the art more seamless than other DC books out there. B