Dark Nights: Death Metal: The Super-Pets!

Title: The Super Pets in The Super-Threats!

Writers: Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti

Penciller/Inker: Chad Hardin

Colorist: Enrica Eren Angiolini

Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual

Editor: Katie Kubert

Associate Editor: Liz Erickson

Cover Artist: Chris Burnham

Featuring: The Legion of Super-Pets (Krypto the Super-Dog, Streaky the Super-Cat, Comet the Super-Horse, Beppo the Super-Monkey, Ace the Bat-Hound, Nathan the Dachshund, Bat-Cow. No, Proty doesn't appear despite being on the cover)

I'm doing this apparently for the sake of no one else having to do it.

If anyone had any semblance of interest in DC's main books, they could not help but notice the main titles were recently dominated by Dark Nights Death Metal. Being the sequel to Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Dark Nights Metal, Death Metal is... basically more of the same but ratcheted up to like 5 million.

No, that's not a good thing.

After being built up in Snyder's Justice League run and the overall Year Of The Villain banner that infested the DCU for 2018 and 2019, Death Metal featured the combined threats of The Batman Who Laughs and Perpetua ravaging the 52 Multiverse. While Perpetua is steadily destroying and subjecting the 52 Earths, BWL has led a cockroach-like swarm of Dark Multiverse Batmen in taking over the main DC Earth.

The Multiverse Who Laughs is an anthology (if you can call it that) narrated by the utterly obnoxious Robin King, about the Earths in the Last 52 Multiverse. Robin King is yet another evil Bruce Wayne, a sociopath from birth who killed his parents in Crime Alley and is a redux of the Batman Who Laughs as well as Damian Wayne at his absolute worst. I still don't understand the logic behind creating a Last 52 Multiverse, since they are worlds where evil triumphed, even though that's what the Dark Multiverse is.

The stories in this collection are barely worth commenting on, and none of them do a very good job at highlighting how "exciting" and "evil" this evil Multiverse is supposed to be. Body horror in Arkham Asylum, fascism with the Green Lantern Corps, some thing about Steel and Azrael, and this story about the Legion of Super-Pets. There's not even an epilogue by the Robin King to cap it off, the stories all... end.  

JSA Classified #2

JSA Classified #2 (October 2005)
title: "Power Trip! Part 2"

writer: Geoff Johns

penciller: Amanda Conner
inker: Jimmy Palmiotti

letterer: Rob Leigh
colorist: Paul Mounts

asst editor: Harvey Richards
editor: Stephen Wacker
cover: Amanda Conner & Jimmy Palmiotti & Paul Mounts (signed)

reviewer: Russell "Bilingual Boy" Burbage

Mission Monitor Board:  
Power Girl/Andromeda, Superman, Supergirl, Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, Cosmic Boy; appearances by Phantom Girl, Sun Boy, Karate Kid, Micro Lad, Dream Girl, Shadow Lass, Ultra Boy, Star boy, Chameleon, Brainiac 5

Guests: 
Jimmy Olsen, Mr. Terrific, The Flash, Dr. Mid-Nite, Mr. Bones

Opponents: 
time-warping and/or dimensional hopping, the Psycho Pirate

Threeboot: Legion of Super-Heroes #14

Recap: The war is over! The Legion using some brilliant strategy and a little luck, was able to defeat the machination of Praetor Lemnos and his Terror Firma. But war has its casualties and the Legion wasn't spared. Dream Girl has died, sending Brainiac 5 into a bit of a obsessive quest to save her, her body kept in complete suspension in his lab. But the big questions is 'what do you do the day after the war?'

Threeboot: Legion of Super-Heroes #13

Recap: The Legion had been on the defensive against Praetor Lemnos and his Terror Firma, heading to defend  key UP worlds to keep the lines of communication and teleportation open. But then Cosmic Boy had a revelation. The best defense is a good offense. Cos suggests the Legion take control of all UP communications and derail the teleportation lines, stranding Lemnos' army on their command world. With civilians relatively safe, the Legion team decides it is time to do what they do best - inspire young people and kick the tar out of bad guys.

Legion of Super-Heroes #13 closed out the major story which had been moving through the title since its first issue. Writer Mark Waid and artist Barry Kitson had the tough task of reintroducing us to a 'new' Legion while giving us a major plot that would bring the right gravitas to the team and title. I enjoyed the way Waid went about this, focusing on key Legionnaires so we could get to know these new versions while having the Lemnos plot of destroying the UP percolate in the background. If you read these reviews, you know that I have enjoyed the book ... more than I remembered.

You know there was going to be a 'but', right?

The truth was, this plot was now a year in and even as I review these, one book a week, I was kind of ready to see it end. Now that I felt that I had a handle on this new team and new continuity, I wanted more. I wanted different villains. What was Mordru like here? The Fatal Five? Was there an RJ Brande? A Daxam? I was happy with this new reality. Now I wanted to see more than Praetor Lemnos and his machinations.

And so I was glad to see the arc end here so Waid could branch out a bit. The ending feels a little rushed. But there is closure. There is a departure. And there is a mystery.

Adventure Comics #247 Tributes

by Siskoid

Adventure Comics #247's classic "Superboy Rejected" cover by Curt Swan and Stan Kaye from 1958 is most definitely the most homaged cover in Legion history. Surprisingly, such tributes started to come out relatively late and proliferated in the late oughts. Here we attempt a complete listing of Adv247 tributes.