Robin: Days of Fire and Madness

From the cover, it appears that Robin has teamed with Shadowpact. And while the Boy Wonder does join forces with Blue Devil and Ragman, the alliance is nowhere near the focus of this volume as the cover image would lead you to believe.

Instead, Tim Drake is recruited by a special forces unit comprised of metas and war legends. The descendants of the Losers and Enemy Ace are a part of this team. As is a special Weird War Tales/Land That Time Forgot character. Plus there is the mysterious leader: The Veteran. Nobody really knows who he is. Batman says that he's just a legend made up by the war department; "always the last person to die in a war." Sgt. Rock supposedly was killed by the last bullet fired in World War II, so my bet is on him! Only now with enhanced powers and abilities.

The secondary story has a long thought dead romance of Tim Drake's returning from the grave. A demon holds her fate in the palm of it's hands. In typical Batman fashion, the resurrected lover can be with Tim Drake again if she kills Robin! Drake's solution to this pickle is both clever and funny!

Heck, there were a lot of funny moments in this book!

I find myself trying to choose between the Robin and the Nightwing series of the late 90s/early 2000s. I'm trying to make a little bit of room in my collection. I really thought Robin would be the one to go. But after this wild ride, I am thinking that Dick Grayson may have to say adios. 

A wonderful collection of stories by Fables creator Bill Willingham with really striking art by Green Arrow's Scott McDaniel. This and the rest of my Robin collection is definitely a keeper!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Secret Files and Origins: Day of Judgment #1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day of Judgment is not Infinite Crisis: Day of Vengeance. I love that later title. It’s the origin story of the team that will become Shadowpact and it’s quite influential in telling of the begins of theCrispus Allen Spectre. It’s also very, very funny.

Day of Judgment is no Day of Vengeance. In this, a group of super heroes with mystical abilities are thrust into a mysterious cornfield and must decide as a group what to do with the mythical Spear of Destiny that’s just fallen into their collective laps. If anyone touches the spear, they become possessed with the ultimate power trip and it kinda steal people’s souls when used to kill- much like Black Knight’s sword in the Marvel Universe.

But when one of these conjurors turns out to be not who they seem, the story turns into Agatha Christies “10 Little Indians” with heroes dropping like flies.

This was a good issue, it just wasn’t what I was expecting. Thankfully, there are dozens of articles providing much needed back story. There is also a couple of shorts that comically explain some of the powers and abilities of characters in this story.

  Though I wasn’t a big fan of this book, I am inspired to go out and find some new titles of some of the characters used in this story. For instance, the character of Faust, the son of Felix Faust was the scene stealer. I am very interested in learning more about him.

Worth Consuming.

Rating 8 out of 10 stars.

DCU Infinite Holiday Special #1

DC did it again with this 2006 holiday special set against the backdrop of the Infinite Crisis and 52 story lines. Here Santa asks Shadowpact for help while Supergirl is tasked with brightening a little’s Christmas as Batwoman proves that there really are Hanukkah miracles.

But the best story is the Elseworlds themed tale in which Superman plays Santa to a little boy. The ending is totally unexpected and completely wild and I love it!

I hate that DC doesn’t do holiday specials anymore. Hopefully, that is a trend that will pass very soon. I understand they are busy with their New 52 story lines, but it’s been 2 Christmases now and we’ve gotten bupkis.

DC is also the better creator of Christmas and holiday themed specials. Hopefully, someone will read this plea and I’ll get my holiday wish.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.