A cool followup issue but not as impactful as the last issue. Everything feels like it's tiding up too quickly. This is not my favorite of the DCeased series but still entertaining. A 3 out of 5.

The Flash by Mark Waid goes heavy into the drama at first...and I love it.

Anything to do with Wally and Linda is great. A relationship growing is my favorite part about the Flash currently. Watching his own city kick him out is pretty screwed up. I admit the rogues aren't my favorite villains, come across just kind of goofy instead of scary. But I do enjoy the making a deal with the devil type storyline here, even if the ending is a tad bit cheesy. Overall, a solid Flash volume but can't help feel a little tame in comparison. A 3.5 out of 5.

Holy shit usually Waid is a real solid writer, and the middle of this is really solid but then those last two issues...well the last one in particular. Are we seriously doing a fucking spirit bomb revival? Get out of here.

This is not really worth reading other than Damien and Bruce are on talking terms again by the end. Also some real solid art.

2023 Reread: Getting to read the Absolute version of this was a pure joy. I'll put my original review below because it stays the same. It's a dark story but a very human one, and one that made me a huge DC fan TBH. This is easily one of my favorite "events" for DC ever. The absolute edition gets to showcase the art in a stunning way. Well worth grabbing it for that.

Original Review: This might be one of my favorite comics I've ever read from DC. I can see why some might not like it. It retcons things, it changes the past of characters, and it's far darker than most DC comics. When Elongated Man's wife is murdered every superhero (well almost every) goes on a hunt to find out who it is. This is when we begin to dig deep into the past of the JLA.

The main characters of this series (or event I guess) are Green Arrow/Wally/Tim Drake/Bruce/Clark. They get the most attention anyway. They are all effected the most by the events except for Elongated Man because, obviously, his wife died. However the events that happen here truly hit the characters above the most. Green Arrow being the narrative of most of the story and now most can see why I LOVE Ollie. He's good in nature but logical in others, and sometimes he has to make tough choices other heroes can't.

This is a murder mystery. Besides a (Badass) fight with Deathstroke and small one with Boomrang this event has very very little fighting. WHich is why I love it so much. I enjoyed Infinite Crisis alot for it's over the top fights and pacing but this is much slower and more calculated and honestly I LOVE the pacing in it. So be prepared this is a slowburn but it's worth the payoff.

What I liked: Love seeing the League deal with morally difficult decisions. Especially in the past. Thought the ending was really well done, if not sad, and I didn't guess the killer at all when I should have, and that's a good twist/reveal. The fights, while small, are amazing. Which brings me to the artwork, which is top notch, and some shots made me stare just at the page for a minute or two (Looking at you funeral shot). I also thought the narrative and pacing was also interesting and using Ollie was a great idea.

What I didn't like: I loved just about everything. Yeah the retcon was a little off and some old school fans might hate but that's about it.

Overall this is one of the books to come out and surprise the heck out of me. I know it's old but glad I read alot of DC before this. It made me feel for all the characters at some point and it hit me harder. This is a great book that I'd suggest AFTER you read a good amount of DC. A 4.5/5.

Chip's run on Batman is by far more explosive and fast paced than previous runs on the character. I personally love that. Bruce is trapped in a new multiverse world and has to figure out the ins and outs to survive. While doing that the backup story is Tim trying to find Bruce after he's been teleported away though some believe Bruce to be dead. A fun adventure begins.

Batman continues to be a delight. Bruce goes undercover to try and get back home and of course runs into good old Salina and her goons. Some fights, excellent running and surviving moments, and the Tim backup remains interesting. All good stuff.

A solid start to another event.

Basically after the events of Batman vs Robin and the release of the Lazarus Pit going all over the world, with a demon like king getting loose, everyone has to work together to stop it. Seems typical event like storyline. Damien is the stratagist this time since Bruce isn't doing too well. Some solid moments with newcomer Monkey king, and Power Girl is a badass, but otherwise standard event starting stuff.

A swing and BAM! HOME-FUCKING-RUN.

If I want a feel good, heroic, beautifully drawn comic I look no further than World's Finest. Mark Waid and Mara are absolutely killing it here, with a kid from a multiverse who loses his parents and just trying to keep it under control while Dick, Bruce, and Clark work with him. Heartfelt, funny, and so goddamn good. GIVE ME MORE!!!

Damn Waid just can't miss. So many great moments, and this new David Kid (Boy Thunder? Love it) working to build himself up to be a hero, but obviously something terrible happened in his time. All of this is great, and Kara at the end hit me in the feels. God I love this series.

This is a HUGE book. 1300+ pages. And it's (mostly) great!

There's a few different comics here. So I'll break down each one in terms of how I enjoyed them.

Hardware - Basically a Iron Man style story but our main lead is a bit more vicious and will kill if needed. He goes from murdering people easily to get his revenge on his crazy asshole boss to learning to be a hero. It's nice to see a multilayer hero and this title becomes one of my favorite of the bunch. (4/5)

Static Shock - Probably the biggest character to come out of Milestone. After the Big Bang (The event that gave so many people powers) he decides to dress up as a superhero and save people. He's a teenager, with a spunky attitude, giving him bigger Peter Parker vibes. This works well as all the other heroes here are older. It's fun though sometimes overly wordy at points and the art is the weakest of the bunch. Still good old school vibes. (3.5/5)

Blood Syndicate - Probably the biggest surprise. A gang of formed of super powered heroes, mostly young adults. These aren't nice people, but they aren't "bad" they are a product of what the world gave them. It's rough but they do what they think is best, while robbing drug dealers and stash houses. This feels more like a suicide squad or young adult/adult type book since it contains plenty of adult themes, murder, and so on. This turned out to be one of my favorites of the group. (4.5/5)

Xombi - Horror is one of my favorite genre, but this overly long, wordy as hell, exposition out the ass mobojumbo failed for me completely. While the idea is cool, and the body horror is neat, the actual story is pretty abysmal and almost unreadable. I have no clue what I was reading about half way and even started skimming on the last issue or two. (1.5/5)

Icon - Holy shit is this great. A conservative black alien who's trying to get by in life. He's worked hard to build himself up from nothing, and then one day meets a girl who tried to rob him. Together they become heroes known as Icon and Rocket. It's a awesome twist, touching a great adult themed storylines such as abortion, poverty, and more. This turned out to be really special. (5/5)

Overall all of these stories except Xombi come together in Shadow Cabinet crossover at the end. It's pretty exciting to see all the heroes together but it's not the best crossover, a bit too messy. Saying that the individual series save for Xombi really do stand on their own. ICON being my favorite of the bunch but really any of them are worth reading and range from good to great (except Xombi). Picking up volume 2 without a doubt!