I love this volume for one real big reason. The big hostage situation.

I always battled with myself growing up. I always think I'm a pretty good guy, that I'd never step over that line. I'd never kill. However when I look at my wife, I just think if anything ever happen to her I'd go berserk.

We get to see Mark go fucking NUTS. It's one of the most powerful scenes in the series. Really pushes the series into new grounds. Mark is still growing, finding out who he is, and him having to deal with the aftermath of his decision is one of the best.

I also really love the talk with his pal, the suitmaker, and really getting a inseight to all his issues with his love life. We also get to see Eve again, who is amazing, and I LOVE it. The love triangle, weird figuring out who you love storyline, should hit home to anyone in a similar situation growing up.

Lots of great moments here and the series only gets better from here on out!

Well this was stupid.

Not like "OMG WHAT DID I JUST READ" but more like "Why did I read this?"

So Skrulls are in town. Do you know who they are? They're shapeshifters. This pisses off a lot of people cause one second you think you're with your wife, the next it's a green face with a evil grin in your face. Fucked up huh? Could make for some compelling storytelling.

Besides a few moments (One included Mr. Fantastic, another including Jessica) the rest of the reveals or fights come off as flat or boring. There's a TON of fighting, so much it's hard to keep up with it after awhile, and even when you do honestly there's no real substance. THe only real GOOD thing of this event was the fact it sets up some interesting things. Still, it's pretty boring overall.

2/5.

Hey, this wasn't bad. Well, I haven't loved a Batman story till Death of the Family so that's probably why.

So let's talk about what works. I love Alfred. This is the best he's been since the scene in Injustice Year One when he lays the motherfucking smackdown on Superman. I also enjoyed Gotham and Gotham Girl, both interesting characters (though I'll explain the bad side later). I also thought this had some of my favorite standout moments of Batman so far. The crashing of a plane, the Justice League moment was fantastic, also the "I am Gotham" moment was wonderful. This had a lot of fun/great moments I enjoyed.

So why only a 3? I felt they rushed some things. I would have loved to see Gotham/girl both staying around for 10-12 issues. Expand, give us a reason to care more. I only felt for Gotham girl, and that shouldn't have been like that. With the events that occur I should have cared more and I didn't. Because it felt a little to rushed.

I also found the pacing weird. Similar to Morrison (just not as shitty) it was very jumpy. Which is what I might of had a problem with the emotional moments not sticking. We need to slow it down, breath, let them sink in.

Overall it was fun, it really was. I had a blast reading it but it had some issues, glaring ones. I hope the next one takes it slower and pays off better!

This is another solid volume though not as good as previous volumes.

The highlights are mostly coming from the relationship status with Mark. I loved a lot of what they dealt with and felt very "real" I also enjoyed the fight on planet earth when all our heroes are far away. The beginning was so/so, with Mark and William. But it had some very funny moments so that's always a plus.

The Squid monsters really come off lame. I get the making fun of Aliens thing but it's not all that interesting. The whole "OH NO" moment at the end didn't stick because obviously these guys aren't a big threat. I just never felt anything for that portion of the story.

Still, fun and exciting with the shit about to get ramped up this is a good slow down.

Loved the first half. Second half is okay.

So let's discuss what was good and bad. Lex putting himself on the Justice League is gold. He has Batman by the balls, he spits truth at every corner, and the whole team really hates him. It's just such a joy to watch and then see him basically bitch slap them all. Tears of joy throughout my years. So much fun.

THen we get to the...you guessed it, zombie like outbreak (Cause we need more zombies right?) everyone but Lex, Superman, and Wonder Women are effected. So now they must find a cure! DUM DUM DUM!

It has good moments (especially the whole "Fuck you assholes, you all created issues too" but it's by the numbers and the end results in "everyone is okay" because it's superhero comics. I never felt, for a moment, anyone would die. So it seemed bit meh, they could have done way better ideas to build Lex up.

Either way entertaining but not as amazing as I hoped. On to the final two parts!

Talk about getting better as you go along. I wasn't feeling the rebirth issue or issue 1-2 but man, 3 kicked it up, and 4, 7, and 8 are all really good. I really enjoyed this second half a lot.

So that makes it just good, because the whole thing could have been amazing if they focused more. The start feels cheeky, trying to be funny, instead of coming off easy. Lines that make me cringe throughout are all in the first few issues. Once we get down to it, to the past, to Nightwing and Raptor's relationship, it gets so damn intense and good.

I'd recommend reading all the way through to really get the emotional weight of it all. Some great finish up moments and the last two issues in particular give me a lot of hope for the growth of our favorite side hero. I just hope it keeps up with the quality!

Another 3.5. It's a lot of world building. But it helps for the events coming soon. (If you didn't read my volume 1 review I already read this up to volume 19 or so.)

My favorite part of this entire volume is Allen. He's actually my favorite character. He's about to embark on some grade A shit. You gonna see some awesome stuff come down, and Allen and Nolan together <3 YES! Also loved the stuff with Oliver, another one of my favorite characters. So many good ones actually!

Anyway solid volume with it about to become amazing in the next volume or so.

Okay...yeah...okay...

So this isn't horrible idea. But the execution could have been so much better.

We have Hugo basically creating monsters around the city. Batman and friends have to stop this beast. After the death of "you know who" Batman is on the edge. He doesn't want any of his people getting involved in this. Of course Dick and Batwomen like "Bitch please we do what we want brah" and Batman all like "NOOOOO!"

That's my biggest issue. Batman seems so out of character and almost useless here. It's really thanks to Nightwing and Batwomen that anything gets done. Also they underutilized Spoiler and Batgir- I mean Orphan. So that fucking sucked.

The art is fine, and there's some enjoyable big monster take down moments, but overall it's just not all that great. Maybe next time the crossover could have a Batman that actually reacts like BATMAN. You know, like when Damien died. That was amazing.

Oh man...I wanted to love this. But I didn't.

So there's something big coming. The war to end all wars. Darkseid (Do you pronouce his name darkside?) and the Anti-Monitor. Now maybe because I'm not a HUGE DC reader, and only really began getting deep into their mythology the last year and a half, but I had no clue who the fuck the Anti dude was. Like he looks like Darkseid except not as cool.

Anyway our heroes are really just like little bugs in this. Even Superman feels weak against these two monsters going to War. Also the prologue is LONG and BORING and I wanted to skip it but was afraid I wouldn't understand what was happening. So it's a ton of exposition instead of just showing the events or going through any fun dialog. It's just boring, it's the best way I can put it. Sad.

Batman becoming a God was fucking sick tho. Dude looked badass.

Yeah, so it feels like Part 1 of a movie. Like nothing major happened (except the ending) and then we gotta wait till Part 2 to get good...let's hope it does.