Villains' Month Reviews pt. 3!

Two weeks down, two more to go. Books have been either origin stories or Forever Evil tie-ins. Whatever the case, this event extended the New 52 universe bigger than before! Let's find out which books are good this week with points!

Batman

Scarecrow (Detective Comics 23.3)
It’s common knowledge that Batman has the coolest villains; in a way, his rogues are the reason this month-long event can happen. Now, it’s revealed all the Batman comics are connected! Scarecrow teeters on the brink of sanity as an ex-psychologist turned madman. Can he keep himself focused, and his ambitions in check, to become the ring-leader of a Gotham crime syndicate made from ex-Arkham Asylum inmates who want to rule he city? Find out in Forever Evil: Arkham War (a comic I’m going to have to keep reading post-Villains’ Month). This issue’s Scarecrow is delightfully meta--talking directly at the reader, looking past the panel, and explaining the conventions of villain stories. Thankfully, we don’t here anything about Scarecrow’s origin (not only did that already happen in Batman: The Dark Knight, almost every other freaking book is an origin). Instead, we see how a crazy bad guy can convince other crazy bad guys to listen to him. The book’s a little confusing as it references issues that come out next week, but I bet everything will sorta make sense come Arkham War. 4 Burlap Masks out of 5. 

The Penguin (Batman 23.3)

After being usurped by Emperor Penguin--a stronger, scarier, and more ruthless penguin-themed crime boss from a recent Detective Comics run--Penguin is forced to relegate his crime skills to running a casino. After some punk magicians tell Penguin he’s no longer scary, he loses it and shows them who’s scary. Then, when a senator tells Penguin he’ll have to close his casino, Penguin frames him for prostitute murder and makes the guy go all R. Budd Dwyer. This issue was neat because it told a self-contained Penguin story without being an origin or a tie in. Honestly, not enough books did this. Plus, Penguin’s pretty funny--you almost want to root for the creep. The art is good too--look how menacing that hook nose protrudes!
4 Weaponized Umbrellas out of 5.

Ra Al Ghul's League of Assassins (Batman and Robin 23.3)
This pseudo-origin tale doesn’t reveal Ra Al Ghul’s he genesis, but rather shows the massive scope required to become an all-powerful cult leader, martial artist, and necromancer. Al Ghul’s started creating the League since before 1285AD. We see Ghul’s influence increase throughout the 20th century, garnering more and more power. Eventually, he finds Batman and mistakes this meeting as his chance to harness the perfect man. Of course, we know Batman is the only person who can truly topple the League of Assassins. Batman already wrecked Al Ghul’s psyche by accidentally killing his daughter and grandson. One man built the League, one man is going to bring it down. Ghul refuses to join the fun of Forever Evil and instead opts to set up an upcoming story in Red Hood and the Outlaws (which I’ll never read). Unfortunately, we learn nothing more about Ghul’s dungeon full of Damien clones despite everyone ever desperately wanting to know more about it. 3 Lazarus Pits out of 5.

Clayface (Batman the Dark Knight 23.3)

Clayface is a stupid idiot and he hates being reminded so. That’s the main point of this basically pointless one-shot. It starts with Clayface doing muscle for a heist in the sewer. When the scam’s leader calls Clayface dumb, he murders everyone (and totally proves their point). Then, it flashes back to Clayface’s time as an actor. He admits to having quite a temper, and says that he “became Clayface” in an act of revenge against a director he beat up (for calling him an idiot, of course). This is a really weird origin--Clayface willingly choosing to be a monstrous freak because of a grudge. Anyway, Clayface finds out there’s a Secret Society of villains, tries to get a membership, but can’t because he’s a stupid idiot. Upon finding this out, he kills everyone (again, proving their point). Then, Clayface signs up for a gold heist, and decides to kill everyone: because he’s a stupid idiot. Unlike the Clayface of Batman: The Animated Series, who was tragic, not stupid, and became Clayface on accident, I don’t care about this character at all. Plus, the Clayface character design is too blocky and clean. He’s a melting monstrosity. He should look creepier. 2 Mutant Face Putty Creams out of 5.

Superman

Lex Luther (Action Comics 23.3)
This issue details the events in Lex Luthor’s life leading directly up to Forever Evil. His escape from prison, plastic surgery to fix a gross face burn, his control of the space program, and his ruthless murdering streak (don’t get in his way). I like the New 52 Luther because he demonstrates how evil and selfish industrial capitalists always act. This issue is kind of stagnent though, and doesn’t do much for the Forever Evil plot as a whole. The art is nice, as seen in the Robot Luther splash page above. Overall though, nothing much happens here. 
2 Robot Mecha Suits out of 5.

He'l (Superman 23.3)

Scott Lobdel writes really boring comics. There’s way too much text in this confusing story and all of it sounds stilted and strange. He’l was put in a coma, but then he wakes up, and decides to rule Krypton (see imbedded image). Zod and Jor-El team up to try and stop He’l, but they fail. We’re supposed to buy Superman Annual #2, but I won’t do that. This story is the opposite of Greg Pak’s Zod issue from last week; where that makes you want to find out more about Krypton  pre-explosion, the characters in this He’l issue make you glad the rock blew up when it did. The only redeeming aspect to this book is the art, which manages to tell the story way more efficiently than you’d expect with such a clunky script. 2 Prodigal Alien Sons out of 5. 

Justice League

Dial E for Enemy! (Justice League 23.3)

A fitting final farewell to my favorite DC comic. Dial Q (for Qued) gets you a super-villain power. Likely, Dial V was reserved for Vehicle. Somebody gets ahold of a Q dial, and a new artist draws a new villain on every page. The Centipede, of course, wants the dial back for himself (and his employer), but the dial proves too powerful...or maybe just, unpredictable? Whenever the case, obviously the art is awesome. The complexity of a concept like this would be lost if not for China Meiville. Only he can balance the insanity. When you read closely, Dial H the series works exactly like a super-dial: it has a vast and beautiful logic that you're never going to figure out. 5 Imagination Generators out of 5.

Eclipso (Justice League Dark 23.3)

Apparently, Eclipso’s been running all over the New 52 fringe and all I’ve done is miss him. He’s in Demon Nights, Catwoman, Sword of Sorcery, and Team 7 (I’ve never even heard of those last two). Apparently, he’s a demon that lives in a crystal and needs a human host to escape. This story is adequately creepy--the demon convinces his human hosts that he can make their lives perfect, then just ruins them worse than ever before--making Eclipso the prime personification of sheer evil. Plus, the art is amazing--very moody with strange and effective paneling. The story’s end doesn’t really pay-off to anything (it’s neither connected to Forever Evil nor a future story arc), but it was still a fun read. Now, I want to go explore those crannies of the New 52 I missed. 3 Black Magic Crystals out of 5.

Shadow Thief (Justice League of America 23.3)
I have no idea who Shadow Thief is. She hardly seems like a villain, although she's a spy. She wears a cool suit made of shadows and exposes a government conspiracy run by aliens. Both cool, not necessarily villain things. Shadow Thief is kind of a mix between Trinity from the Matrix and Aeon Flux from the cartoon. The story is fine, but doesn't build to much and doesn't connect to anything else. It's about a spy who finds out their employers are not who they seem. Apparently Shadow Thief is a Marv Wolfman creation, who initially fought Hawkman. She was in Crisis, Infinite Crisis, she's stuck around. I'm not sure why, but maybe it's because her costume is cool and she is sexy. Actually that's probably why. 3 Dimensiometers out of 5.

Green Latern/Flash/Swamp Thing/Wonder Woman/Teen Titans

The Rogues (Flash 23.2)

The Flash books have been a standout in this event, for they both advance the main book's story and the event's story simultaneously. Grodd called back to an old arc before he became a main villain; Reverse-Flash was hiding in the background all along); now The Rogues both pledge to defend Emerald City and try and rule it. I guess that's also a reoccuring theme building in Villains month. Bad guys want to rule stuff. Anyway, the team dynamic of the Rogues is just like old timey bad guys, they have a code. I bet if this book was a monthly series it'd be regularly interesting. The Rogues steal a million dollars, have reservations about splitting it up, and Captain Cold details an origin. The story is kind of all over the place, and the dialogue is lame (someone says cray-cray as a dramatic line) but the concepts are neat. 4 Anti-Heroes out of 5.

Black Hand (Green Lantern 23.3) 
I love the color symbolism in the DCU. Green is growth, like plants (Swamp Thing; Green Lantern; Poison Ivy). Red is life (Animal Man). Black is rot (Anton Arcane, Black Lanterns). Black Hand is a necromancer lantern soldier who's power ring can raise the dead and rot the living. I think he was a main villain in Blackest Night (every week, my Green Lantern ignorance embarrasses me more and more). In this issue, Black Hand goes around, kills some cops, and raises a cemetery of dead bodies. It's totally awesome. I hope soon a cross over with the red, green, and black occurs (but one bigger than Rotworld). The art in this comic is also interesting; not as technical as Jim Lee, but more in the emotive style of Jeff Lemire. It's really dark and evocative. One day, I'll know what Green Lantern is all about--until then, I'll just be like a little kid who thinks, "Aw man! This is neat and confusing!" whenever I read his books. 4 Death Grips out of 5. 

Arcane (Swamp Thing 23.1)

Perhaps my love of Swamp Thing makes me bias, but this was one of the most interesting and complex issues so far of the (villains') month. It's titled, "Arcane", not Anton Arcane. He's there, and we get to see his life after Rotworld failed (he's in a Garden of Eden paradise, which to him is hell because nothing can ever rot). Rotworld also set Abigail Arcane as the new avatar of the black (so Swampy's sworn nemesis) and we get to see what's going on with her too. In flashback, we see the entwined origin of Anton Arcane's terrible fathering (which makes it more understandable that Abby might have an Oedipal-inspired longing for her father's direct opposite, a man made of plant matter). We see Abby's traumatic life on the run from her evil father. But the story also extends the mythology of the New 52 Swampy (a girl Swamp Thing makes a one panel appearance). This issue certainly does a lot of stuff, but it doesn't read like anything more than a good story that's answering questions set up since Swamp Thing 1. It looks like Anton Arcane is going to escape prison and come for Swampy (well of course he will, he always does), but how will Abby's role as the Rot's avatar effect this? The issue is even able to set up questions for the future of the series. 5 Rotting Rabbit Feasts out of 5.

Cheetah (Wonder Woman 23.1)

Brain Azzarello made waves by changing Wonder Woman's nemesis from Cheetah to Ares. And this pretty good origin issue makes a case for why Cheetah still cool. Cheetah was a woman named Barbra Minerva. Raised in a female tribe of Amazonian-esque warriors, Cheetah was forced to participate in a brutal hunting ritual, resulting in her getting stabbed with an ancient God-killing sword. When a non-God gets stabbed, they turn into a god--or more specifically, a Cheetah person. Cheetah also has a strange habit of eating her enemies hearts. This issue shows an interesting civilization seemingly run by fascist, Spartan-like women (I didn't think the Amazons killer their young senselessly). However, I'm overall glad that New 52 Wonder Woman's greatest foe isn't a jungle-cat lady. That idea is only so cool (especially compared to the vast, historical epicness of Ares: God of War). The issue ends with Cheetah getting caught up in the battle of Forever Evil, so let's see how that goes. 3 Enemy Hearts out of 5.

Deathstroke (Teen Titans 23.2)
Deathstroke is a gun for hire in the war on terror. He fights other assassins, reveals his origin as a bomb expert guy in the Bosnian war, (like the main character in the Hurt Locker), kills a Latin American president, and explains his motivation for killing for hire: money to will to his daughter. The story is just fine, but the art is fantastic. There’s a bullet that looks like it’s shooting out from the page, like Frank Quitely’s art in We3. Plus, two-page spread where Deathstroke rides a gigantic rocket. Even a sweet bullet that pops out of Deathstroke’s eye socket. Just look at how well the above panel spread conveys the action! 4 Teen Killers out of 5.

Point Total: 48/70