I just read it and I liked it a lot (maybe not a 10/10, but a 7). The art didn'T do it sometimes for me, I didn't like the faces of some characters. I didn't know it was part 2, I will go back to find the other!

That does have promise--Zeus V Darkseid and my money is on Zeus, haha! And I agree, I would read an issue with Steve, Giganta, and the stolen artifacts. Robinson seems to phoning this run in just to get his paycheck. Sad that Wonder Woman is so popular now and her comic stinks.

Jean Grey #10 -

I read quite a few of the X titles yet I'm always slightly behind on my reading pile so I don't always get to write reviews for them in their respective weekly threads. However, a major development happens in this issue, which directly leads into the upcoming Phoenix Resurrection mini and the apparent return of the adult Jean Grey.

In this series, Dennis Hopeless (who wrote the Original X-Men in their previous All-New X-Men title) focuses on young Teen Jean as she seeks to carve out her own fate while being threatened by the fate she's apparently doomed to suffer as an adult. Suffering prophetic visions of the Phoenix Force's return for her, Teen Jean embarks on a worldwide (and dimensional) tour of characters who've either been prior hosts of the Phoenix or could potentially help her learn how to combat it. So, she teams up with the likes of Namor, Strange, Scarlet Witch, Psylocke, Thor Odinson and such for some entertaining romps. Hopeless has a good ear for teen dialogue as he builds up the hopes and fears of Teen Jean's course of action.

Then she learns the source of her prophetic visions, a surprising but logical reveal and this leads Jean to her last best resource: Emma Frost.  Together with Emma, Hope Summers, and a few other noteworthy guests, Teen Jean ends up facing the Phoenix Force itself as it arrives on Earth for her. Here in this issue, the battle doesn't go exactly as thought with an ending that I did not see coming at all. It's a surprising move, handled with care and emotion by Hopeless (especially the last two pages) but what is to become of Teen Jean now?

9/10

Detective Comics #970

The focus of this issue is mainly on the actions of two characters, Tim Drake and Clayface.

With Tim, Tynion is highlighting the near-obsessiveness of his desire to make Gotham a truly safe place. Tim lays out some of his new ideas for Stephanie and the majority of them are highly radical (the most extreme being having Oracle hack the GCPD network in order to have the cops assigned to the smaller crimes while leaving the real dangerous situations for the Bat-family).

This deepens a wedge in their relationship as Stephanie, through some deductive work on her, realizes that Tim has lied to her about his future plans to quit. This is compounded by Tim's discovery of Steph's unwitting help in a new assault by cyber-assassins whose combat is modeled upon the team's moves and methods.

Meanwhile, Clayface is dealing with the possibility of being cured. But he's unsure of what that would mean for his identity, still an inherent monster or perhaps worse, a mere man capable of making the same rash mistake again that lead to him becoming Clayface? To test the cure's stability, he suggests trying it on his former girlfriend Gloria, for whom he feels that he's ruined any chance of a normal life. She's currently being held at Arkham but upon visiting her to tell her the news, he discovers that she's joined Anarky''s new army and they have plans for the Batman's monster ally...

Tynion juggles some decent personal themes here. Knowing what the future may hold, Tim is driven to accomplish what he feels needs to be done in a more stringent fashion. As seen here though, the lengths of how far he is willing to go grows more disturbing. How close is he coming to crossing a personal line? (And credit to artist Joe Bennett for his depictions of Tim here as he discusses his plans. He gives Tim an almost insidious joyous smile as he talks, quite unsettling).  The public angle is even worse, as fears grow that Batman and his army are not simply here to assist the civil forces but rather supplant them.

Clayface's personal angst was also interesting. It may be another swipe at the old man-vs-monster trope but Tynion handles Clayface's doubts and fears in a good way as he seeks out advice from teammates about what to do. But what would happen if the public knew that Batman employed a known criminal (and worse, a monster) in his war on crime?

8/10

Judas #1

Written by Jeff Loveless
Illustrated by Jakub Rebelka


I've always thought Judas was one of the most interesting characters in the Christ story. When he betrayed Jesus, was he simply carrying out God's will, or was he acting on his own free will? And even then, was he only a pawn in the overall plan, tossed aside once he'd played his role? Did Jesus choose Judas as an apostle just because he would eventually turn traitor? Why did Judas do what he did? Was he evil, misguided, manipulated?

So I had some hope for this series. And having read the first issue, I still do; there are 3 issues to go, after all. But the book's not what I want, yet.

It starts with Judas killing himself after betraying Jesus, and finding himself in Hell. He wanders around, reminiscing and asking the questions I mentioned above. But that seems like the lazy way of raising those questions. I'd have much rather seen the events unfold, had the issues involved come up dramatically in the conflict with the characters, instead of just being talked about. And the reason given for Judas' betrayal is the old 'if God is good, why is there suffering in the world?' chestnut. I would've liked more.

Like I said, there are three issues to go. I liked this one enough to try one more issue. Unlike Judas himself, I still have hope. 

6/10