CBR News on the passing of Mr. Turner.

In 1985, DC Comics decided to combine the “Infinite” number of continuities they created, purchased, or inherided through a 12-issue mini-series called “Crisis on Infinite Earths”. We all know that. At the same time, they decided to ret-con Superman. Y’know, make him fresh for new readers. Dump the entire Silver Age continuity. They handed the reins to John Byrne.

Bryne had a vision. I remember reading from an article years ago that the Silver Age became overburdened with Kryptonians that “it seemed like only the -Els and a few nieghbors didn’t get off Krypton in time”. The first step was to make Superman truly “The Last Son of Krypton”. Kryptonian DNA was bonded to it’s homeworld. No Kryptonian could ever leave or they would die. In Bryne’s World of Krypton, he explained that Kryptonians were logical, solitary beings during the last age of Krypton. They reproduced by donating a little of “the good stuff” to the birthing bank. Jor-El, in his infinite wisdom, became aware of the impending doom. He travelled to the birthing bank and began modifications on the embryo that would become Kal-El. This explained why no one else escaped. Kal-El’s birthing matrix was attached to a starlight drive and blasted off Krypton, moment before its destruction. When the ship landed on Earth, the matrix opened and Kal-El was literally born on Earth. And he was the last Kryptonian.

And I stopped typing for a moment. Just a moment to check Wiki for the release date of Superman: Birthright, the story that ret-conned Bryne’s ret-con. I did that because I didn’t feel like walking a few feet to pick up the Birthright Tradepaperback and looking. And then wiki shows me something I didn’t know.

DC Comics doesn’t consider Superman: Birthright continuity anymore. Wait, what? I found the footnote that took me to this article on the Superman Homepage. If you don’t want to read the whole thing, I’ll tell you what Superman’s origin is…

There is no origin. Simply put, if they need anything from Superman’s past, they’ll take it, use it, and explain how it works now in the New Earth era.

So where does that leave me?

I’ll get back to my point with this new information added to my swirling brain of frusrtration. Let me talk (write?) about Busiek’s run on Superman for a moment. It was great. With the exception of Superman #661, every book he was responsible for told a good story. But there was that damn Third Kryptonian. She started this.

I was able to live with the idea that the Superman I read about now was the Silver Age version. I didn’t like it, but there was nothing I could do about it. And I really liked what Busiek was doing. (You notice I don’t mention the Johns/Donner tag team? WTF was that?) But then there was the ramifications of who the Third Kryptonian was and what she meant for New Earth continuity.

She was a soldier of the Kryptonian Empire. Yes, the empire. One day, a new political party takes charge, and disbands the empire. Some soldiers don’t want to go home. under the red sun, they’ll have no powers. So they ran (flew?).

Why does this matter? It effects the legacy of Superman in the eyes of the intergalactic community as a survivor of the totalitarian Kryptonian society. That has a way of making people hate you. What’s worse, there is an untold number of Kryptonians out there. Superman is not the “Last Son”.

The Infinite Crisis has changed Superman–forever. It destroyed the foundation of the Modern Age Superman, and left some great stories as non-continuitus. The first book I ever bought was The Adventures of Superman #463, Superman races The Flash. Of course Clark and the various Flashes have run together before and after this book, but nobody puts a race together better then Mr. Mxyzptlk.

After this, The Day of the Krypton Man 6-issue story arc was released. I was introduce to an idea that I could follow an ongoing story in three books over the span of a month. How cool was that? At the end of the year, Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite came out. Mxy was back, and he gave Lex Luthor red kryptonite. In this continuity, there were no other colors. Red was new to me too. At this point, I was begging to go grocery shopping with my mother each week, just in case the next issue of the Superman franchise had been released. I mean, “What the hell is a comic book store?”

Well, I soon found out what a comic book store was. I picked up all the Superman books. I followed Superman’s adventures in Time and Time Again, and read about the return of the Eradicator in the first issue of Superman: The Man of Steel. This book turned Superman into a weekly series.

It wasn’t just the character of the Eradicator who shouldn’t exist now that I enjoyed back then. The Guardian, the protector of Project Cadmus and the Newsboy Legion, has been altered in this New Earth to be one of Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers. Gangbuster, aka Jose Delgado, would fight the good fight in the Suicide Slum, while Superman was taking care of intergalactic threats. Agent Liberty was a hero whose origins would make him an agent of a homegrown terrorist cell, one he turn against and brought down. Even Bibbo Bibbowski has seemingly vanished from the mythos.

Then there was the creative teams. Marv Wolfman and John Byrne, just barely before my time with Superman, started things off. They handed off to the talents of Jerry Ordway, Roger Stern and Dan Jurgens. Louise Simonson and Karl Kesel joined up later. Ordway and Jurgens would lend their artistic talents along with Tom Grummet, Kerry Gammill, Jackson Guice, and Jon Bogdanove (who named his kid Kal-El). These men and women, along with others, took the Man of Steel to the grave, and brought him back.

And the DC Universe was never the same.

The resurrection of Superman brought down Hal Jordan, which gave us Kyle Rayner and Parallax. Parallax gave us Zero Hour, which doesn’t matter anymore. But Parallax was defined in Green Lantern: Rebirth, which leads to the Sinestro Corps War, and so on. Right into New Earth continuity.

And that is why DC brass says the death still counts.

But that’s it, unless the writers need something.

At this point, I don’t know what to think. I’m pissed that my favorite stories don’t count anymore. But shouldn’t these stories stand on their own? Do they need continuity to be good? Is giving the New Earth Superman any sort of true background even necessary? If the writers are just going to re-imagine the concepts, the villians, the support staff, do they need the works of Bryne and Wofman, Ordway, Stern and Jurgens, even Loeb and Waid? Does any of this matter????

To me, it does. These are good stories by good creative teams. They don’t count to DC, but they count to me. This is MY Superman continuity.

Onward to the present. I still buy Superman. I still buy Action Comics. I hate what has happened to both of these books. But at the same time, Busiek wrote some damn fine stories, as mentioned above, and I’m happy to see that Geoff Johns has ditched Richard Donner.

AND I LOVE JAMES ROBINSON! Firearm and Starman. Two of the best titles I’ve ever read. The Golden Age may have been a better mini-series then Kingdom Come. “Face the Face” was a good read at the One Year Later jump in the Batman books. I’m so happy to be reading James Robinson on Superman. But I reserve the right to be grumpy as things change.

But, then again, I can only imagine if I picked up my first comic book in 1965, and 20 years later, some jerk named John Bryne ret-cons everything I knew about Superman.

The Broken Bat
Knightfall Part 11
by Doug Moench (w)
Jim Aparo (p)
and Dick Giordano (i)

Broken… and done.

With Batman: R.I.P. in full swing, I’m reminded of the last time Batman got his ass handed to him, Knightfall. Knightfall was a 19-part epic (with sort-of cross-ins) featuring the official first assault on Gotham by 1993 Villain of the Year Bane. Bane made his first appearance in the Vengeance of Bane Special.

Batman #497 is the eleventh chapter of the Knightfall story-arc. In the first 10, and prior, Bane started making Batman’s life a living Hell. Bane destroyed Arkham Asylum, allowing all the inmates to escape. Batman, already exhausted from the never-ending battle, was now forced to collect the inmates and get them off of Gotham’s streets. After an incident involving The Scarecrow, the Joker, the Mayor, and a flooded subway. Batman was finally done. He drove home, and headed straight to bed.

And that’s when our story starts. Bane is upstairs in the Manor. Alfred: unconscious. Batman is exhausted, but understands what must be done. Bane explains the Venom coursing through his brain is an enhanced form of the steroid drug that Batman was once hooked on. Batman questions Bane, “Why all the killing?” Bane responds, “I’d kill for anything.”

I realize you may well be the single greatest source of madness and evil I’ve ever faced…

Then they fight. Bane fights to break what haunts him, night after night. Batman fights for Alfred, for Robin, for Gotham, and for himself. But Batman has fought too much for too long. It was no contest. Bane had an answer for everything Batman tried to throw at him. Batman was physically outmatched. He lost his speed and timing to the relentless war he had faced over the last few months.

In moments, Bane turned the myth, the legend of the Bat, that which could strike fear in the hearts of the cowardly and superstitious…

into a just a man. Broken and beaten.

I am Bane, and I could kill you. But Death would only end your agony and silence youR shame. Instead, I will simply–

Batman lost the war for the first time in his career. He handed the reins over to an untested rookie, Jean-Paul Valley, and left. Valley, formerly known as Azrael, defeated Bane. After that, the programming inside of Valley’s head perverted the legend of Batman. When Bruce healed, he defeated Valley, only to turn over the mantel to Dick Grayson, if only briefly.

Bane would later kick his addiction to Venom, but he would never be the villain he was designed to be. He would become an Ubu for Ra’s Al Ghul, and the intended for Talia. It was then that he would rematch Bruce Wayne, once again Batman. Rested and ready, he defeated Bane. Then he would go through soul searching, and take on the quest to find his father. Bane even teams with Batman to take out Venom pushers in Gotham.

But ever the bad guy, Bane is on the wrong side of the Battle for Metropolis during the Infinite Crisis. He runs around, breaking the backs of C- and D-listers. The last we see him, Bane works for Lex Luthor on the prison planet in the pages of Salvation Run. It is implied in some stories that Bane is back on Venom, but it seems no writer cares enough to explain.

During the Knightfall story, Batman is physically broken. Fifteen years later, in the R.I.P. story going on now in the Batman books, Bruce’s mind will be broken. The villains have changed, but the story is the same: how far can we bend Bruce Wayne before he breaks? And what do we do with the pieces? The resolve of the Knightfall arc: KnightQuest and KnightsEnd, I felt, were a let down. They did so much to end Bruce’s career as Batman, and did so little to bring him back (his paralysis was healed by his girlfriend/doctor/meta-human with healing powers). Maybe the question isn’t, “How will Batman be different after R.I.P.?”, rather “What is DC willing to do to put Batman/Bruce Wayne back to the status quo?”

Simple fact is, I’m a Thursday guy, not a Wednesday guy.

I play cards at my comic shop on Thursdays. VS System, eva hear of it? If not, you didn’t find your way here from the mothership of the BENDING STEEL franchise.

I’ll give you a list of what I picked up…

Batman Confidential #18
Trinity #2
Wonder Woman #21
Titans #3
GL Corps #25
Booster Gold #10
Action Comics #866
Green Arrow/Black Canary #9
Salvation Run #7

I’ve read like half of them. I STILL love Booster Gold. I have issues with DC and their treatment of Superman. I’ll be on this weekend to praise/wig-out.

Fans of the original BENDING STEEL (includes my wife and my mom, among no others) will recognize a Jelly and Cheese title. The following is my pull-list from this week.

Trinity #1
Boys and Their Games…
by Kurt Busiek(w) and Mark Bagley(a)
In the Morrows to Come
by Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza (w),
Scott Mcdaniel (p) and Andy Owens (i)

One down, 51 to go…

Your typical first issue. Clark, Bruce and Diana have a dream. They talk about it. They leave. Something happens. Cliffhanger. You didn’t miss much. Nice to see The Flash and his kids make an appearance.

In the backstory, the villians start to get together. They had dreams too. Evil Laugh. End.

I like Busiek’s run on Superman. Can he handle the Big 3 in one weekly book? 4/5

Justice Society of America #16
He Came, and Salvation With Him
One World, Under Gog Part One
Alex Ross and Geoff Johns (w),
Fernando Pasarin (p),
and Rebecca Buchman (i)

“I come in peace.”

Yeah, and Soylent Green wasn’t people. Welcome to Earth, Gog, the last of the Third Worlders. Yes, let’s kill off the Fourth World to make way for the Fifth, but create an all-new Third Worlder and confuse the crap out of me. It doesn’t matter, because he says he’s a good guy, no matter what Superman-22 thinks. Why a 22 after Superman’s name? Because he is the Superman from the criticly-acclaimed Kingdom Come mini-series (a new Absoulte addition is coming soon), recogniozed in the new multi-versal order as Earth-22. Supes-22 had his own Magog, and he thinks New Earth will eventually get a Magog from this Gog god. Anyway, Gog proves he’s a good guy when he fixes Damage’s face. And, on a side note, Black Adam is back, and he kills a man.

Good issue, no action. Yep, we’re back to peace without violence. Except for Black Adam. 5/5

Nightwing #145
Freefall
Part 6
by Peter Tomasi (w),
Rags Morales (p),
and Michael Blair (i)

“Comissioner Gordon on the emergency line. Our Mr. Kase, otherwise known as Ra’s Al Ghul, has escaped. There are fatalities.”

Peter Tomasi has revived Nightwing. I only wished I had read the whole thing together as a trade paperback, or a hardcover. This book is good. I’ll go over the story more at the conclusion of the arc. The other important thing is it only took Ra’s a few months to get out of Arkham. The Black Glove, Hush, and Ra’s Al Ghul on your butt, Batman your screwed. Betcha wish you only had Bane to deal with. 4/5

Rann-Thanagar: Holy War #2
Seek And Ye Shall Find
by Jim Starlin (w),
Ron Lim (p)
and Rob Hunter (i)

“…the war you have raging has made tourism a tad difficult.”

Adam Strange. Starfire. Animal Man. Hawkman. Comet. The Weird. Starman. Tigorr. And Bizarro. I only wish this was the Justice League. This ban of sci-fi b-list superheroes have made for several great miniseries. Holy War is no exception. More on this series later. 4/5

Robin/Spoiler Special #1

Haven’t read it. I’m scared that I’ll find out Superboy-Prime punched a wall in time. Guess I should just suck it up and read it. After all, I did buy it.

Acceptance
by Will Pfeifer
and Ron Randall

…I like to take a look at a planet that’s not exploding.

Do I have to? Really? If I do, I’m going to go off! Are you sure? Okay, I warned you…

What is this crap DC is printing? SUPERGIRL has been directionless for a year now. All we get is the constant “boo-hoo, I don’t know my place in this world. I’m not Superman, who am I? boo-hoo” OH MY GOD GET OVER IT ALREADY!

SUPERGIRL #30is no exception. The book boo-hoos out of the gate with Kara floating over the planet. Then she takes out Livewire (in what should of taken 2 panels) over the course of 4 pages. Then She goes and talks to Batman. It becomes obvious that Kara and Bruce have more in common then Kara and Clark.

Kara heads to the Antarctic looking for her spaceship. But she doesn’t find any crystals like her little cousin has. Boo-Hoo. Then she flies off to meet with Johnathan Kent. Is the soul searching ever going to end? Then she ends her visit to Kal-El’s Freezer of Solitude in the Arctic. She turns on the Marlon Brando head and learns she was crucial to the kids escape because she kept Kal-El out of their hair while getting ready. The End.

WTF!? This book sucks! Hell, I don’t even know who is the regular writer is anymore. Will Pfeifer tells a cute story, but this isn’t going to drive up readership. Whenever I read a floundering book focused on a cornerstone of the DC Universe, I think back to the Mark Waid model when he first jumped aboard THE FLASH. First four issues, bi-weekly, origin of Wally West. Insert minor continuity changes here. Book Five, insert long-term girlfriend. Waid’s fifth issue introduced us to Linda Park, the future mother to the Flash Twins. Within a year, the hero focuses on what’s holding him back. The Return of Barry Allen saga happened not long after the Wally reset, where Eobard Thawne, the greatest Barry Allen fan in history travels back in time, reads about his murder at the hand of his icon, then convinces himself he is Barry Allen. This fight released Wally West from the shadow of Barry Allen.

Supergirl needs a writer who can restart the engine. This character is young and full of potential, and that is why I haven’t dropped the book. We have some promise, though. From DC Nation #113…

When the events of SUPERMAN and ACTION started to cross over, the two of them became incredibly animated, conveying in incredible detail how Minor Event A in SUPES would impact Major Event B in ACTION—they were threading not just stories, but a true Superman franchise, a line where the books (along with SUPERGIRL and a special miniseries we’ve got cooking) would all be must-reads. We discussed just how Supergirl would fit into the picture (in no small way, thank you), where story threads would creep over into JLA and GREEN LANTERN, how the books would begin to connect more than they have the last couple of years… you get the idea. If the sky was the limit, then—nah, that’s too cheesy, even for me.

And, on the ComicBloc Forum, Supergirl has been added to the Geoff Johns forum section. What’s up with that? Don’t expect to see change right away, but expect to see change.

The Riddle Unanswered
by Paul Dini (w)
Dustin Nguyen (p)
and Derek Fridolfs (i)

Next thing you know she’ll be trading in her top hat and fishnets for a cape and cowl. “Bat-anna”. Has a ring to it.

I don’t care about what people say about COUNTDOWN, I still like Paul; Dini’s writing. His run on DETECTIVE COMICS has been really good. Take, for example, what he has done with The Riddler. Right from the start, he has taken a fun Bat-Villain and made him a recurring character with solid dialogue that doesn’t involve holding someone hostage and sending the exact address to Gotham PD in the form of a riddle. The Riddler, Private Detective has been an excellent support character, and a thorn in the side to the real detective. (and the book is called DETECTIVE COMICS!)

Detective #845 features not only the return of The Riddler, but Catwoman as well. She didn’t seem to serve much of a purpose, other then to tease Batman about his love interests.

The main single issue story follows the detectives as they try to tie together three seemingly random murders, all committed by the same killer. As Batman continues to get frustrated, he turns to an Internet chatroom for detectives, The Heirs of Dupin. Yes people, this is a real website. He even worked in Marplemiss99 (the “webmistress”) into the story. That’s why I like Dini.

The chatroom members discuss the three murders, with no good information to be found. Then JPHRED52 logs in and gives them the smallest of leads: the killer is weak and insecure. As the talk continues, JPHRED52 pm’s Batman. They talk about a chatter with the handle WIZARD101. “Do you think he has any idea who you and I are?” Batman types, “Probably not, Bo. Like you said, Riddler is too fixated on picking other brains for leads. To him, we are only online nobodies.” JPHRED52 is Detective Chimp of the Shadowpact.

Eventually, Batman discovers what’s going on. The killer has been baiting the Riddler. Riddler was involved in a robbery years ago where a warning shot was fired. The bullet killed the murderer’s girlfriend. Batman arrives in time to rescue the Riddler and stop the bad guy. Case closed.

I am not Paul Dini. Dini took the simple idea of “A Riddler victim wants revenge” and make a really interesting story out of it. I wasn’t too thrilled about the art in this story, which is surprising, because I regularly enjoy Dustin Nguyen’s art. It may be the inker, Derek Fridolfs. I’m not familiar enough with his work.

4/5

Forgotten
Part 1
by Marc Andreyko (w)
and Michael Gaydos (a)

Is there any place on the planet that doesn’t have their own superhero?

MANHUNTER IS BACK! Many many moons after the solo adventures of Kate Spencer ended, her book has returned from the dead, and right where it left off. I am unfamiliar with the circumstances for the cancellation of MANHUNTER, but I’m happy to be reading this book again.

The book picks up with a two-page “previously” section, leading into Kate chasing down the Atomic Skull in Hollywood. She beats the snot out of him and we move on.

The main story of this arc is about the disappearance of Marta, a Mexican woman who works the third shift at an American company. After being harassed by American protesters, she misses her bus back to Mexico. She starts walking back across the border. She is then attacked by our mysterious enemy and ends her first scene with a scream.

Meanwhile, Kate meets her grandfather, Iron Munroe. Munroe was a hero during World War II, serving in the All Star Squadron. The last time I remember seeing him, he may have been the father of the teen hero Damage (That was worked out in the short run of Damage’s book, his father is the Golden Age Atom, but he has mixed DNA of over 25 different Golden and Silver Age heroes). Munroe apparently impregnated fellow Sqadron member Phantom Lady, then bolted for more government work. Kate has other issues when it comes to male role models.

Later, Kate speaks with one of her employees, Jerry, about his sister, Marta, disappearing. He tells her about the “Monsters of Juarez”. The area is supposedly a haven of death and disappearing. No one knows who is doing it. Kate gives Jerry some time off to go home, then she calls Mr. Bones. Bones is a former villain/former hero turned bureaucrat at the Department of Meta-Human Affairs, and Manhunter’s boss in the field. He also has a “death-touch”. She tells him she’s going to Juarez, Mexico. He says that she can’t, “There are things at work you’d best steer clear of.” So she goes.

To help her out, she enlists the help of token gay friend and JSA member Obsidian, who brings a helicopter with him. Of course, flying over the Mexican border in a chopper draws the attention of Mexican military. Kate jumps out and tells Obsidian to get out of there. Not long after landing she discovers a body in the sand. And guess who discovers her?

That’s right, El Paso’s own Blue Beetle.

Who’da thunk that DC would re-introduce a book, and bring in 2007 Rookie-of-the-Year Jamie Reyes, The Blue Beetle, for a visit. Jamie seems to be the go-to hero to get books on their feet. Over all, a “welcome back” for Kate. Well done dropping old readers into the story right where we left off, while introducing the main character to new readers. I’m not too impressed with the art Michael Gaydos. But I thought it was important that he didn’t make Kate Spencer “sexy”. She isn’t, and I love it. She’s not Supergirl, she a hard-nose lawyer/single mom who recently quit smoking. But I’m waiting for what Andreyko gave us way back in the last issue, the new Azrael.

3/5

We get to the theater about an hour early for “What Happens in Vegas”, so we need something to do. My wife is the former manager of this particular theater, so we have the run of the place. We decide to drop into the “Sex and the City” movie. She wants to know what all the hype is about. I’m here for the nudity.

We walk in as Mathew Broderick’s wife’s character is asking the guy from Law and Order to get married in some half assed non-romantic way. She then tells her friends and they flip out. The lead chick wants a small wedding and her friends don’t like that. Then they talk about sex.

Meanwhile, the red-headed chick who is a lesbian in real life won’t put out for her husband because she’s all wrapped up in work. He ends up sleeping with someone else, who they conspicuously don’t mention. Now the lesbian hates him and wants a divorce.

The mildly attractive brunett that is never in any other movies or TV shows spend the entire 45 minutes clothed and hanging out with a 3 year old Asian kid.

Then there is the horney-all-the-time chick. She watches other people have sex because her model boyfriend won’t put out.

Back to the star. She gets an opportunity from the editor of Vogue (played by Candice Bergin, who is showing her age and how many twinkies she eats a day) to be the “today’s woman at 40″ pictorial. She gets to wear all sorts of dresses in the photo shoot, and she falls in love with this one dress. Then the designer gives it to her.

Then the wedding gets really big and scares the groom. We left before he calls the wedding off. There is, like an hour and 45 minutes left of this film.

This movie is dumb. Why are all these girls ga-ga over it? Who lives this way? Why did I get no breasts, but two nude male thrusting buttocks within a 45 minute period?

0/5

The Terrible Toyman
By Geoff Johns (w)
and Jesus Merino (a)

There are Superman people and there are Batman people…

The Toyman has seen himself reincarnated by various writers. Most receintly, he was seen as a “Toyboy”, working with Lex Luthor and his “Revenge Squad” (his appearance was like that in “Superman, The Animated Series”). What Geoff Johns has done with this issue of Action Comics is clean up the Toyman’s history, intergrate each incarnation (without Superboy-Prime punching a wall in time) and sort-of erase the most disturbing moment in Winslow Schott’s career of villiany.

Our story opens with Winslow Schott’s narrative about why he shouldn’t be in Arkham Asylum. You see, he’s not a Batman person. Batman people are sick, and deserve to be in Arkham. He’s not sick. He just hurts bad adults because they don’t understand. This narrative is framed wonderfully by Jesus Merino’s art, depicting Schotts escape from Arkham, killing anyone in his way, until he can get to his Gotham hide out. He proceeds to kidnap Jimmy Olsen with Superman action figures. Schott tells Jimmy that he couldn’t take Clark Kent or Lois Lane because he doesn’t trust anyone over seventeen. He wants to tell Jimmy a story.

Winslow Schott was a happy toy maker. Him and his wife, Mary, would invite children to his toy store and they would all play for hours on end. Life was good. Then a businessman came. He offered the Schotts millions for his inventive genius. It was Mary that convinced Schott to say no. Three weeks later, Mary was hit by a car and died. With nothing left to live for, Schott ageed to the businessman’s proposal. But the businessman wasn’t a good man, he was a bad man, and he made Schott’s toys hurt people. People…and children. The toymaker didn’t like that very much, so he killed the businessman.

Schott, well, Schott’s toys came in conflict with Superman several times. And Schott, now called The Terrible Toyman, went to Stryker’s Island. There, The Prankster constantly begged him to team-up. But the Toyman didn’t want to. Toyman didn’t hurt people for fun, he didn’t hurt people to get attention, he hurt only the bad people. He would never harm a child, not even Adam Grant.

Flashback time. Years ago, the Toyman seemingly lost his mind. He started kidnapping children to force them to play with him. One of them wouldn’t. His name was Adam Grant, son of Daily Planet reporter and WGBS on air talent Catherine Grant. The Toyman stabbed Adam Grant, killing him. While incarcerated, the Toyman talked to himself believing he was talking to his mother.

“I would never hurt a child like that! NEVER! It wasn’t me…”

You see, the Toyman had built other Toymen. Different kinds, different sizes, different styles. Robots so convincing, even Superman couldn’t tell the difference. One of the robots was the Toyman that killed Adam Grant. There was something wrong with it, a glitch. When Schott tried to call it back, he thought his mommy was speaking to him.

It wasn’t long until Jimmy escaped and signaled for Superman with his sonic wristwatch. “I’m twenty-two, you jerk!” That was enough information for Toyman to consider Jimmy a bad man and tried to kill him. That’s when our hero shows up.

The Batman.

But The Terrible Toyman doesn’t want to go back to Arkham, that’s for Batman people. He unleashes his Toyman robots on Batman and Olsen. Of course, Superman shows up and fries all the robots. Schott begs Superman to take him to Stryker’s, because he’s a Superman person. The Man of Steel refused. Our story concludes with Jimmy relating the story to Superman. Jimmy then points out that throughout all the reasearch he’s done on Schott, he’s never been married. That’s because Mary was a robot, too.

Overall, it was a fun story. I’m happy to see this retcon, because the Norman Bates-Toyman was a freak. The problem with the retcon is Hiro Okamura, a character first featured in the Superman ongoing and later as an ally in the Superman/Batman comic. It’s implyed from this book that he was a Toyman robot, too. Wiki-note: I had forgotten that Hiro was one of the Titans of Tomorrow that had traveled back in time during Sean McKeever’s first story arc on the Teen Titans book. Thanks Wiki! Merino as a fill-in artist for Gary Frank is a welcomed escape. His Batman entrance is done will, and all the ways he drew the Arkham Asylum empoyees dead is interesting, if not sick. I especially like the Mr. Potato Head eyes jammed into the eye sockets of an Asylum Guard.

4/5