A Bunch of DC Reviews this week

Final Crisis: Superman Beyond #1: Now this is crazy. The story picks up right from a panel in Final Crisis #3 and follows Supermans quest to help a mysterious female monitor in hopes of saving Lois's life. Its still Grant Morrison writing so you know you have to read it a little slower than you might a normal comic if you want to try and get it. If you've been having trouble following Final Crisis (which is actually quite straight forward) don't attempt to read this. This is Morrison being at his craziest. Comic book Limbo is back with its King, Merryman, from Grants run on Animal Man as is the book the monkey was working on there. Yeah its nuts. Also it seems that the multiverse exists in some kind of bleeding vagina. Not even kidding. Some of the pages are in 3D and the book comes with some specs for that. Me, I found that fun. Others might not. I enjoyed the book and understood it the first time through but it does go out there. Its only a first part and its really gonna depend on how the second one goes to see if this mini was worth it. So far the most noteworthy thing that happened is learning the history of the monitors and the multiverse. If that doesn't sound interesting to you I'd skip this one. For me it was an enjoyable trip that acceptably blew my mind at points but I'm hoping for something to wow me next issue.
Rating: 3/5 for 3D specs man!

Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge #2: I explained a lot of the appeal of this book in my review for the first issue so I'll just quickly recap. The Rogues are the best villains. In this issue they confront the new rogues (some lame ass villains from the Gotham Underground mini-series). Captain Colds response to the new rogues threat is beyond priceless and elevates him to the most cold hearted bastard ever. Theres a lot of good killing in this book. Theres some other cool moments with Captain Cold but I don't want to spoil them. Otherwise I'm surprised I liked this issue as much as I did despite not as much happening as I would have expected. The arts awesome and fits the tone perfectly and the characters and writing is spot on and just plain badass.
Rating: 4/5 for the way the flame dances

Superman #679: Man oh man do I want to warm up to this run. But its not happening as quickly as I would have hoped. In fact I'd say this issue is almost a step backwards for me. I'm ok with how Robinson is portraying Lois. The scene with her and Clark having a discussion about Zatanna was pretty cool. I like it looks like Jimmy is going to be a more vital character in this run. I love the way Supergirl was portrayed. I loved the cliffhanger ending sooo much. I'm sure alot of people will say its goofy and hate it but this is a comic book after all. There was a scene this issue with Lana Lang that has her effectively lose her job as head of Lexcorp. This scene really left me cold. It blows my mind how a known criminal like Luthor can somehow have her fired when shes the boss. Plus Lana as head of Lexcorp is now just another OYL thread that never had any decent story to it. Otherwise alot of this issue is Superman getting beat on by Atlas. Pretty uninteresting mostly because Superman has had barely anything to do yet.
Rating: 3/5 because I loved the cliffhanger that much

DC Universe: Last Will and Testament #1: Notice there is no Final Crisis tag on this one shot. Just thought I'd point that out. Though this story seems to deal with everyone thinking the world is coming to the end it really focuses more on tie-ing up a plot thread leftover from when Meltzer was writing Justice League. Geo-Force wants to kill Deathstroke the Terminater for corrupting his sister Terra. Otherwise theres a bunch of short bits thrown in showing what Batman, Superman are doing to deal with their situation. I enjoyed all of these somewhat but I'm surprised that I was so compelled by the story of Geo-Force, a very C-list hero. The confrontation with Slade was very well done. I just thought I'd throw out that theres no way you can fit this in continuity but its not that horribly off in a way that affects the main story.
Rating: 4/5 From your friendly fuckin Captain Cold

Blue Beetle #30: Blue Beetle deals with those border hopping metas and does a little investigating into the matter. Its all very entertaining. I'm assured that this series will stay great under Sturges pen. The art is somewhat differnt than how Albuquerque usually draws and I'm not sure if his style is evolving or what. If it is my tastes are hopefully going to evolve too because it doesn't pop to me like it did last issue. Theres a gangster scene thats a little flat and theres no Peacemaker this issue but I'm hoping the series gets better as the plots are fleshed out more. Its still made of win!
Rating: 4/5 I'm a princess!!

Justice Society of America #18: The Gog story arc continues. This issue spotlights Hawkman and Geoff has the best grasp on him of anyone I've read. Gog continues to help people but this issue takes his help in a decidedly darker direction against genocidal soldiers. Also some of the consequences of his help are surfacing. Theres a rather big development that happens to one of the characters this issue as well. I think I would have liked this issue more if the art didn't feel flat to me though. 3 inkers on this book. Come on.
Rating: 3/5 Magog Rise