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Mild Mannered Reviews - DC Universe

DC Universe Online Legends #19

DC Universe Online Legends #19

Scheduled to arrive in stores: December 14, 2011

Cover date: Early February 2012

"Betrayal"

Writer: Marv Wolfman
Penciller: Mike S. Miller
Inker: Mike S. Miller

Jeffrey Taylor Reviewed by: Jeffrey Taylor

Click to enlarge



Batman, Wonder Woman, Catwoman, Dr. Fate, Firestorm, Breathtaker, Mr. Freeze, Atom, Cyborg, Blue Devil and Wonder Girl regret that their actions from last issue essentially cleared playing board for Brainiac to win the entire war. They had released lot of aliens from Brainiac's bottled cities so they would join the fight AGAINST Brainiac, which makes perfect sense. But instead, for no apparent reason, the aliens are fighting on Brainiac's side instead.

On top of it all, it seems that Lex Luthor has betrayed humanity, even though he hasn't. So while the team of heroes and villains sets out to recruit some of the newly powered humans who were infected with Brainiac's exobytes, Luthor turns to the Secret Society of villains including Black Adam, Circe, Giganta and Deathstroke. The Joker was there too, but since he thrives on chaos, he wasn't interested in putting a stop to this madness.

Batman doesn't trust that these new heroes stand a chance against Brainiac's armies, so he sneaks away in the Batwing to gather up containers of toxic gas, which will kill the aliens. Wonder Woman follows him and argues that killing is wrong. Batman was loading the containers using a walking hydraulic lift, so he uses it to punch Wonder Woman in the face. They tangle, but Batman releases some of the gas and gets away while Wonder Woman struggles to breathe.

In the future, the older Batman watches of video of the fight and decides it's time to travel back to that moment and correct his past mistakes.

To be continued...

1Story - 1: Last issue offered a lot of action, but little explanation. This time, we get the explanation and it's actually interesting for a few pages, but then the whole thing falls apart. First, the explanation why the heroes are so sure Luthor betrayed them is weak. Of course they have reason to suspect, but the "proof" doesn't prove anything that Lex hadn't already admitted and then shown he was trying to atone for.

*sigh*

The heroes gather up humans with new abilities for the coming battle, but even though a full scale alien invasion is taking place, they're sent to take on Luthor. Talk about priority problems.

*sigh*

The fight with Batman and Wonder Woman could have been good, but wasn't. Batman won far too easily and got away with no real effort.

5Art - 5: The art is the one saving grace of this issue. Mike S. Miller has really come into his own as this series has progressed. If this had been a monthly title instead of semi-monthly, he could have worked on the whole thing. He puts a lot of detail on the bodies and faces as well as the backgrounds. I'm not a fan of his take on Joker, but it's not actually bad.

3Cover Art - 3: Wonder Woman vs. Batman should be an interesting fight. There was a time when they were romantically linked, but although Batman doesn't have traditional super-powers, in the context of the game an "acrobat" can still defeat a "flyer" or a "speedster" just by using the right gadgets in the right ways. Plus both characters look pretty great here.


Mild Mannered Reviews

2012

Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.

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