Flash Friday!

Batman #12-  This issue was AWESOME!  Scott Snyder spends the entire issue on two new characters who could bring SO MUCH to the Bat Family comics.  Cullen and Harper Row are siblings who live in Gotham.  They are on their own and hiding from their dad (we don't know why though).  Harper is a great sister and a talented electrician.  She works on the power grid under Gotham City.  When she and her brother are saved from some thugs by Batman, she decides to help him.  She figures out how he works in the power grid of the city and she even helps him in the sewers once.  Next month's book will be the zero issue which is supposed to show us all the things that are part of being Batman.  Then in October, we're supposed to get dumped into the next storyline in which the Joker returns to the New 52.  I really hope that Cullen and Harper have big parts to play in the future of Batman.  This book earns 5 Flashes for a great book with great characters!

Find It: In Print at MyComicShop or Digitally on Comixology.

Batman & Robin #12- This issue is EPIC and just what the fans have been praying for.  Batman and Robin take on Terminus but they don't have to do it alone.  Tim, Dick and Jason come to their aid just when things are looking down for the Dynamic Duo.  The first scene of them all together is great.  Jason saving Damian while making NON KILL shots on the bad guys.  Dick and Tim in the background.  There is even a legendary frame of the four Robins looking off into the sky as they watch Batman disarm a missile.  Sure, the Robins go their separate ways in the end.  Damian offers Dick a ride home in the Batmobile while Tim and Jay go off to their respective homes/teams.  But still, it is a start for some epic Bat Family stuff.  Jason and Tim have bonded in a flash back in RH&TO.  They seem to be dealing with being former Robins out on their own.  I just hope that the entire Bat Family will continue to work together on and off.  It's the stuff that dreams are made of.  I give this issue 5 Flashes for general awesomeness.

Find It: In Print at MyComicShop and Digitally on Comixology.

Superboy #12- Superboy is actually a good read lately.  I really enjoy Kon and Miguel's friendship.  This isn't the preboot Kon with his epic friendship with Tim but it is almost better.  I really like seeing Superboy kind of dropped into the world not nearly as worldly wise as he was in his preboot form.  It's just really interesting to see how he navigates the world around him.  I can't wait to see where his story arc takes him next.  He has a cameo at the end of Ravagers #5 and I wonder how he is going to move forward.  Will he stay a hero or will the rules become too much and he'll turn more to the anti-hero path like the Red Hood.  The art has reached a level of quality that is superior to where it was when the series began.  I give this book 3 Flashes because it is good but it could always get better.

Find It: In Print at MyComicShop and Digitally on Comixology.

Arkham Unhinged #5-  This book covers the mystery behind Hammer and Sickle from the game.  It was great to see Batman discussing the case with Nightwing as they looked further into who the men are and how they came to be in Arkham City working for different bosses.  Hammer and Sickle are two of the lieutenants in the video game that come back again and again to drive you nuts.  I really enjoyed seeing the back story of these two because it almost makes no sense that they would be there.  Batman and Nightwing piece together the story how how they came to Joker and then were separated.  Dick had some great lines that really showed his character which was also lovely because his character in the game in has so few words.  All around this issue earns 4 Flashes for a great companion book to the game.

Find It: In Print at MyComicShop and Digitally on Comixology.

Ravagers #4-  This book is a little confusing as we really don't know how the Ravagers really came to be.  We know what happened in the Culling and what happened after they gained some amount of freedom but how did they gain their powers and why remains to be seen.  Beast Boy and Terra are not really with the others but they do find the others in this issue when they all have to deal with Brother Blood and his cult. Beast Boy seems older and edgier without any of Garfield Logan's endearing backstory.  It seems that sadness and strife are the back story to all of the Ravagers.  Fairchild seems to think that she made a mistake in helping the teens gain their freedom.  She doesn't see them as heroes but loose cannons who could destroy the world.  I think that they all have the potential to be heroes but we're going to have to stick around to see if that is actually going to happen.  I give this issue 2 Flashes because of how confused I am with it right now.  I hope that the book will continue to improve as we learn more about the Ravagers.

Find It: In Print on MyComicShop and Digitally on Comixology.

Next time, I'll have Blue Beetle, Red Hood and the Outlaws, Birds of Prey, Nightwing and hopefully, DC Universe Presents: Kid Flash.  Hope to see you all back then!