Bullet Reviews: Final Crisis:Superman Beyond #2, Faces of Evil:Prometheus, Tiny Titans #12

I know that none of the comics being reviewed here have anything definitive to do with Supergirl. Still, at least tangentially, they will impact her and the DCU. And they all were good enough to warrant at least a bullet review.

The second part of Grant Morrison and Doug Mahnke's mini-series came out last week and definitely impacts Final Crisis. At last, the main threat of Mandrakk, the Dark Monitor is revealed. You might recall that last issue the Supermen from multiple universes travelled to Limbo in a Monitor driven ship to help save the universe from destruction. During that trip, Superman read of the origin of the Monitor culture which had been corrupted by the very concept of 'story'.


The female Monitor Zillo Valla is able to repair her ship by feeding it Overman's blood. It turns out that the Monitors live off of the bleed, the energy between universes. A massive destroyer ship of Mandrakk's shows up in Limbo to destroy it and the Supermen attempt to hold it off. It is then that Superman realizes he needs to inhabit the Superman statue doomsday device created by Dax Novu and hold off Mandrakk himself.

Captain Adam, the Doctor Manhatten-esque Superman, combines the energies of Ultraman and Superman to create a powerful enough quantum symmetry to broadcast the essence of Superman into the thought robot.

Superman, inhabiting the robot, is able to walk amongst the Monitors on this world of forms, taking in the massive scale of his surroundings. He learns the thought robot can adapt to fight any threat. He sees how narratives on the 52 Earths have changed the previously immutable Monitor culture.

And, he learns that the Monitors are in many ways vampire gods sucking the 'Orrery of Worlds' dry. It is at that point that Ogama, a monitor who had Nix Uotan exiled, reveals himself as an agent of Mandrakk.

Mandrakk arises and engages the Superman device. Mandrakk seems unstoppable, wielding unlimited powers and holding a container of bleed energy. But his every attack is thwarted by the ever-evolving Superman being. Mandrakk is then attacked by the Superman's origin story - an unstoppable, indestructible, better story than his own. A story as a weapon ... pure Morrison.

The battle carries across the landscape with massive damage dealt by both sides.

It is then that Superman understands. Mandrakk is the 'opposite of life'. Hmmm .... anti-life? It is also clear that Mandrakk was the first Monitor contaminated by the stories of the multiverse. He is Dax Novu. Mandrakk is cast into the overvoid surrounding reality, engulfed by the over-riding Monitor mind. Superman is able to wrest the vial of bleed from him. He returns to the Monitors where he hears that Ogama will be exiled.

Superman and Overman then 'fall' back into Limbo.

Superman then leads the Supermen against Mandrakk's destroyer, smashing it to pieces. Victorious, they are all sent back to their home worlds.

Well maybe not all of them. Mandrakk and Ogama appear in Limbo and recruit Overman to be their first knight of terror. They vow to fight Superman again, with an army of millions.

Back on Earth, Superman reveals that he carried the precious drop of ultra-menstruum, the fluid needed to save Lois, in his mouth. He kisses her and revives her.

Superman had taunted by Mandrakk about what he would want carved on his tombstone. The issue ends showing what Superman had carved on the stone while in the Monitor-world ... the words "To Be Continued." Spectacular!

Well, like most of Morrison's works this one is unbelievably dense with abstract ideas and somewhat inscrutable plot twists. Unlike Final Crisis, I was completely on board. This was Morrison at his best, throwing concepts and wrinkles at us rapid fire, hoping we can keep up.

In the end, I felt like this was sort of like a David Lynch film. I might not have understood every tiny piece, but I understood enough for the themes to come through. I loved it.

Overall grade: A

I absolutely loved Prometheus when he was written by Grant Morrison in JLA so I was thrilled to hear that Supergirl's Sterling Gates was going to write a one-shot to bring some respectability back to the character. This was a fun read.

It turns out that after the Mageddon invasion during Morrison's last JLA run, the Martian Manhunter felt Prometheus was such a threat that J'Onn imprisoned Prometheus in his mind. Prometheus was forced to relive his defeat at Batman's hands over and over.

This was the one slight slip I thought in the issue. We know how Batman was against mind-wipes in Identity Crisis. Isn't this a bit similar for him to just go along with?

The JLA dumps his catatonic body into Blackgate prison. Well, with the death of the Manhunter in Final Crisis, Prometheus' mind became free. He quickly murders his guards and escapes to a safe house of his where he discovers that someone else has been wearing his gear and pretending to be Prometheus in his absence.

This phony Prometheus is shown being taken down by 3 D-list heroes ... Anima, Gunfire, and Argus.

The real Prometheus batters them all with ease, cutting off Gunfire's hands thus robbing him of his powers. He uses his key (being carried by the fake) to transport back to his limbo-like dimension. In teleporting, he kills Anima as he only takes the top half of her with him.

The phony Prometheus was a man named Chad who the real Prometheus was grooming to be his 'Robin'. The real Prometheus feels that Chad, who both let Prometheus rot in jail and then proceeded to ruin his reputation, has betrayed him. Prometheus then burns Chad alive.

As he laughs with glee, Prometheus realizes that the JLA will underestimate him because of how Chad acted. Prometheus will have his revenge. I think he is supposed to take on the new Justice League (the Hal/Ollie/Kara one) early in that title.

So, the whole 'someone else was wearing my suit' story has been done before. But I am just glad that the intelligent, conniving, powerful Prometheus is back. And I think Gates does a good job of re-showing us how psychopathic Prometheus is as he casually kills and mutilates people throughout the issue.

Overall grade: B+

I wish I could easily explain why I enjoy Tiny Titans so much. But I flip through every issue and have purchased about half of them. The creators put so much DC Universe history in each story that I think I get a bigger kick out of them than the Supergirls at home do.

Take for example the Faces of Mischief cover, instead of Faces of Evil.

In this issue, Prinicipal Deathstroke and substitute teacher Trigon leave the school with their kids to attend a day baseball game. They decide to leave 'lunch lady Darkseid' in charge as temporary principal. Lunch Lady Darkseid? Awesome.

Darkseid decides to make the students take their final exams that day despite it being in the middle of the semester. That's right ... it's a Finals Crisis! That's comedy gold.

In another story, Robin is stopped by the hall monitor ... The Monitor. Robin is then told he does not need a hall pass by the Anti-Monitor. The two then argue about whether or not a hall pass is required. At one point the Monitor tells the Anti-Monitor 'everyone likes you more!'. I chuckled out loud.

It is hard to grade this comic because of the format.

Overall grade: A

Rapid Fire Reviews: Reign in Hell #2, Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #1, and Final Crisis: Superman Beyond #1

Well, all three of the books could potentially impact Supergirl or have some interesting nuggets in them. None have enough Supergirl involvement to warrant a solo review. So here are some quick reviews.


Reign in Hell #2.

The bottom line here is no Linda Danvers in this issue. Thus no long-winded review. The thrust of this issue seems to be the choosing of sides in the war in Hell by various Earth-bound people.


The issue starts with a conference at Stonehenge between Zatanna, Captain Marvel, Detective Chimp, Dr. Fate, and Zauriel. In some ways it echoed a bit of the circle of magic made way back in Swamp Thing #50 by Alan Moore. Zatanna sat at that table too. Her father Zatara died at that table. The discussion here is mostly exposition as the magic wielders talk about how this war in Hell could have impact on this plane and that people should get involved. The majority of the rest of this issue shows heroes and villains (Nightshade, Ibis, Black Alice) deciding who they will back in this war in Hell.


Here Blue Devil decides he will back Satanus in hopes of regaining his humanity (lost when he made a deal with Neron back in Underworld Unleashed).

Not a great issue, but not bad. My one complaint is that there are conversations between characters who are not named or labelled. There is a blond guy and a young dark-haired guy who I really don't know because I did not pick up Shadowpact or similar titles. And of course, no Linda.

Overall grade: C


Final Crisis: Legion of 3 worlds #1.

I am not quite sure exactly how this mini-series fits into the Final Crisis storyline.

The story itself is quite compelling. The Time Trapper plucks Superboy-Prime from his limbo and places him into the future. SB-Prime goes to the Superman museum and becomes infuriated that he is considered a footnote in history below lightweights like Toyman and Prankster.

There are lots of visual goodies in George Perez's museum panels including this museum homage to Kara.


And this museum piece of the Silver Age Comet (lower right)!


SB-Prime decides he will ruin the reputation of Superman and destroy all he loves in the future. To accomplish that, he goes to the prison planet Takron-Galtos and frees a bunch of super-villains including many of the Legion of Super-Villains, specifically Lightning Lord, Saturn Queen, and Cosmic King.

In the meantime, the Legion is politically reeling and is about to have it's funding pulled when out comes RJ Brande to try to save the day. Just when he is about to turn the political tide in the Legion's favor, he is assassinated by Leland McCauley. When Brande reverts to his Durlan form, the tide swings back saying that Durlans are infiltrating Earth.

Realizing they need help to figure out all that is going on, the Legion calls in Superman. To fight the army of Super-villains that are now free, this Legion decides to recruit the Legion from other timelines (the 'Legion Lost' Legion and the 'current' Legion). And that means Supergirl may be recruited too. There she is in the back row!


Superman hopes that somehow they all can redeem SB-Prime, a tall order given the absolute mayhem and death he has spread around the last couple of years.

There was a lot going on here and for an old Legion fan like me, a lot to like. Johns has based this Legion on the Levitz run albeit with some new costumes and new attitudes. It made me feel nostalgic to read the names RJ Brande and Leland McCauley. But redeem SB-Prime? The guy has killed many heroes and even destroyed a whole Earth in Countdown. Is he redeemable? Do we want our heroes to try?

Overall grade: B+


Final Crisis: Superman Beyond #1.

This mini-series seems the one most tightly linked to Final Crisis as it looks like the real villain behind it all, Mandrakk the Dark Monitor will be revealed here. Darkseid may be doing stuff on Earth, but Mandrakk seems to be poised to do something multi-universal.

Now this is written in pure Morrison trippiness so I am going to venture some guesses/interpretations here, but other feel free to speak up.

As seen in FC#3, Superman is called upon by a Monitor to leave Earth on a universe saving mission. If successful, the Monitor will give Superman some Ultramenstruum, the stuff of the cosmos that can save Lois.

The monitor has recruited the Superman equivalent of a number of universes including Captain Marvel, a Doctor Manhatten-like Captain Adam, Overman the Nazi Superman, and Ultra-Man. Before the mission can even be discussed, the ship they are in must flee from another ship trying to destroy them. The Supermen guide the ship through universes to comic Limbo, seen in Morrison's Animal Man comic as the place characters go when not written about.

There, Superman discovers a book in the Library of Limbo and it is here that the origin of Mandrakk is revealed. I wish Morrison would have written this piece in a straight-forward way, but instead we get snippets and Grant-speak. From what I can tell, there existed a universal Monitor. This uber-monitor detects within itself a flaw and sends a probe to investigate. (My guess is the flaw is the multi-verse.) When this uber-monitor contacts the flaw it becomes aware of chaotic events happening and calls these events 'stories' (this is all so Morrison meta-textual). Having never seen/heard/experienced stories, it is overwhelmed. It creates a construct to contain the flaw (my guess this is the orrery). But it's contact leads to this:


"An uncanny form", this Superman-like structure stands as a monument in the world of the Monitors where it is revered as being something connected to the first Uber-monitor and later felt to be a doomsday device to save the universe from an ultimate enemy, Mandrakk the Eater of Life. Superman it seems is some archetypal figure born from the first Monitor's Earthly encounters. It's all soooo messianic.

Of course everything I just wrote could be wrong! Ahhh .. the beauty of Grant Morrison. But it sounds like an evil Monitor exists (maybe an anti-monitor?) and somehow Superman is the key to defeating it.

The Supermen opt to leave Limbo. The female monitor who has led them kills Overman and drinks his blood to sustain her own waning life. (Maybe she is the monitor from the Vampire Earth?).


Here is the one Kara bit. Our Superman went on the mission to save Lois. Overman went on the mission to find his beloved cousin, Overgirl, the Nazi Supergirl we saw dead in Final Crisis #3. It wonder if our Superman would make the same sacrifice for our Supergirl?

Anyways, it is a heavy convoluted trippy story. There seems to be a lot of intersting ideas here and I hope I can piece all this together. It is hard to know if Mandrakk shows up here or in the final issues of Final Crisis. The Doug Mahnke art is slick and detailed here. I guess I like Morrison a lot because while I didn't grasp it all, I loved this book.

Overall grade: A.