I don’t know who the Reaper is and I’ve yet to read Batman: Year Two, but I’m gonna! The lost tale involving the return of the Reaper was very good. But the reprint tale that begins Year Two was fantastic.
Here, a young Bruce Wayne is attempting to finalize his Wayne Foundation office building, when Dr. Tompkins brings a young lady into the playboy’s life. Along the way, an old school vigilante named the Reaper has returned to Gotham and found that the city hasn’t been left in very good hands and he’s looking to do something about it.
Great art. Amazing writing. I am so on the hunt for Batman: Year Two. I would have perferred a Denny O’Neil Batman issue, but Mike Barr did a fantastic job and he’s got me hooked!
Worth Consuming.

Again, when faced with a chance to revisit a classic DC era, the publisher doesn’t choose Neal Adams for the art! Why is that? Both stories are very good and the art is great. But, when I think of Batman in the 70s, the quintessential artist is Neal Adams. They also didn’t pick Dennis O’Neil to write it either- but to be fair, Denny was much better during the 80s writing Batman than he was in the 70s. He still had a little 60s Batman TV-show camp lingering in his Dark Knight tales.
A good read- but it could have been so much better if they had followed my suggestion.
Worth Consuming.

When Kyle Raynor replaced Hal Jordan, I really didn’t feel adamant for or against it. The Green Lanterns is a police force and replacements come and go. So, it just made sense. I didn’t hate Raynor- he just wasn’t very exciting to me.
This issue doesn’t really do very much to reinforcement my favoring of the character. When it comes to using the ring, he’s more creative and he’s more fun loving. But, if I had to pick a Lantern I’d much rather read about, Kyle would be lower down in the list behind more interesting Lanterns like Jordan, Guy Gardner, Kilowog, Tomar Re, and Chip.
The art is good for both the lost tale and reprint. The stories are well written as well. It was an enjoyable read, but it didn’t light a fire under me to go out and start reading 90s Green Lantern books either.
Worth Consuming.

I love presidential history. So, when I found this book, I leaped for it, even though it’s clearly geared towards children. The book features just about everything a person should know about how a person becomes president. There is extensive looks at the Constitution, the life of George Washington, the election process, and the role of the Commander-In-Chief.
What I wanted was a book that offered some fun facts about presidents with a humorous slant. There are some FFs here, but not nearly enough for my liking. The humorous slant is pretty juvenile and the jokes are used over and over and over. It’s like that knock knock joke about banana. The writer uses bunnies and monkeys alot for the majority of the jokes and it gets old pretty fast.
The age range for this book is very narrow. The political info is too old for kids under 9 and the jokes are too goofy for kids over 13. It would make a good summer read for parents wanting their kids to learn and read during school break.
Worth Consuming.

I normally stay away from crime books. But, after reading Ed Brubaker’s Criminal books, I decided to give this book a try.
In this historical crime fiction tale, a pale black man who can pass for white travels to the segregated South in hopes of revealing the atrocities of lycnh mobs to his readers up North. In the midst of his latest investigation, the hero learns that his brother is facing a lynching after being accused of killing a white woman. But, when the girl turns up alive, our hero must figure out who the victim really was.
A very powerful book. Very gritty. Lots of swears and racial slurs. That includes the “N” word. Along with the nudity, this probably wouldn’t pass muster in high school libraries. But, with it’s important message, I feel like if any kid aged 13-18 wanting to read this book, parents should at least examine it for themselves and open an important dialogue about racism and bigotry. This book would be perfect for college lit courses.
Worth Consuming.

This retroactive has a lost tale featuring John Stewart. It reveals why he forwent wearing a mask and a secret identity. The story was very clever and the art was classic.
The reprint tale has Hal Jordan returning from an year-long exile in outer space. It also explains why John Stewart replaced Hal- a mystery I never understood ever since I saw Stewart’s first appearance on a magazine stand in a 1980s Rite Aid when I was not even in Kindergarten. (Yes- I’m old!) It too is a very good story and it features wonderful 1980s DC art, of which I am a huge fan.
I only wish Guy Gardner was in this book. He’s on the cover, but nowhere to be found in it’s contents. Bummer.
Worth Consuming.

I rate this book as ok and Worth Consuming at the same time. First of all- the lost tale is lame. Green Lantern and Green Arrow do not team-up together and both of their adventures end very ambigious and I HATETHAT! Plus, the art was all wrong. Why couldn’t that get Neal Adams to it? It would have been great having Denny O’Neil and Adams do another turn on the Green Guardians.
What makes this book worth consuming is the reprint tale. It’s GL/ GA #76, the classic story that gave birth to relavent comics. It’s a classic and thus anything that reprints it is a book worth a gander.
Worth Consuming/ Not Worth Consuming.

As wedding bells chime for the newlywed couple of Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, things get even more deadly between their alter egos. With all of Gotham’s villains destroyed by Batman, the only thing Gotham City PD has left to do is apprhend him. Yet, in very un-Batman like fashion, a raid on Commisioner Gordon’s offices proves that this isn’t your grandpa’s Dark Knight.
Some great plot twists and turns. It’s a crying shame that DC never made a sequel to follow up the great shock ending. The art continues to amaze and the writing just keep getting better and better making for one heck of a closing chapter in a very awesome Elseworld’s tale.
Worth Consuming.

In this role reversal, Catwoman is the hero and Batman is the villain. As Catwoman solves the crimes of Gotham City, Batman is making a name for himself by killing all of the heroine’s foes- Joker, Two-Face, Riddler…nobody is safe. And Catwoman is the next target.
This Batman also has a perchance for robbing the pants off of Gotham’s elite and when he comes across Catwoman’s secret identity during a random robbery, he decides to put off her murder temporarily, but wooing her during the day as Bruce Wayne.
I like the role reversal thing. I also like that this isn’t like Elseworld’s Finest: Batwoman and Supergirl, where all the guy characters are now female and vice versa. The only real difference is that Catwoman= good, Batman= evil. The story is very good. The art is prestine and fits seemlessly with other Batman books of the late 90s.
My only problem is that Catwoman’s maid is dressed as a slutty French maid all the time at Kyle Manor. Alfred never worked in Wayne Manor wearing a banana hammock! Talk about gratitious (and unneeded for the story ) T&A.
Besides that, this volume is worth consuming.

A time travelling story with a twist. The narrator, historic figure Nathan Hale, can see into the future. This helps him out greatly, as it’s keeping his executionor and captor entertained.
In this volume, Hale foretell what will happen when iron clad ships come to blows during the Civil War. The Monitor and Merrimack (Or Virginia, depending of if you are a Rebel) have an exciting history.
Even though this is a book geared towards kids, it’s very information. I learned lots. Yes, there are tons of goofy jokes, like drawing an actual fox for a character whose last name is Fox and drawing a character nicknamed Sharkface with shark teeth.
Parents will love this book and kids should too! It has the very cool mix of entertainment and learning that’s not been seen since SchoolHouse Rocks! Bravo!
Worth Consuming.