**AS ALWAYS BE MINDFUL THAT THERE WILL BE SLIGHT SPOILERS, READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL!!**

**Yes guys I am a bit late but Man of Steel and Last of Us had to be dealt with!!!**

Batgirl 21

Story by Gail Simone

Art by Fernando Pasarin, Jonathan Glapion

This issue was probably one of the darkest issues I have read in a long time.  In this issue, Batgirl finds that this young lady as the Ventriloquist will stoop to depths unknown to get what she wants and no one including her own parents are out of bounds.

This issue also starts off as Barbara is still dealing with the death of her brother and dealing with family both blood related and Bat-family.  There is a tense conversation that she has with Nightwing as he deals with thugs about what she should do, both agree that things are still dicey with Bruce as he is also still dealing with Damien’s death to bring more problems at his door as well as the trust issues that they have.

As we move into the story proper, we see Barbara in a difficult choice, don her Batgirl guise to deal with the Ventriloquist in a hostage situation and again it’s as creepy a rescue as it can get. This young lady murdered her parents and uses their corpses to distract Barbara and the reaction it causes almost got the same from me.

Fernando Pasarin and Jonathan Glapion do a really good job of bringing this work alive with setting the mood to this story and magnifying the terror that Gail Simone writes in this tale and yes, this story kept me up for a bit after reading.  I was hoping for more when it ended but hopefully we will get more in the future

4 out of 5 stars

Superman Unchained

Story by Scott Snyder

Art by Jim Lee

Of course this being a Man of Steel weekend, one can’t go without a Superman book, especially a new Superman book.  American Vampire’s Snyder brings another take on Superman and it pretty much starts off with a bang.  That bang being the Atomic bomb. From there we are introduced to Superman returning to Earth as he has dealt with 7 satellites that have fallen from the sky in various places and the one he is dealing with has occupants and then of course an amazing saving the day sequence follows.

Beyond that, Supes as Clark Kent is investigating the mystery of all these crashes and we get an appearance from the usual suspects being Perry White, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olson and even Lex Luthor.

Come to find out of course, something diabolical is in the works and Lois’ father is probably behind them and has his own super weapon ready.

Maybe it’s just me, but the fold out pages could have been saved for more story as I feel like the whole setup was a bit rushed.  Also add to it, as much as I like some of Jim Lee’s art, a lot of it here was a bit too kinetic and all over the place for my liking.  The book has potential but I don’t feel that this was the best launched title in the ‘New 52’ Superman franchise as I think that honor still belongs to Action Comics 1. There is a lot of story to be told here but DC didn’t need the gimmick to sell me on this title.

3 out of 5 stars.