Howdy folks, here we are again with the comics and stuff. It’s a super light week with only a couple books, but that forces me to pick one of the trades in my backlog to talk about after the credits roll. Let’s dive in!
Justice League #5
This issue focuses almost entirely on Lex Luthor, and his confusing plan to unleash seven primal forces of the universe using the Legion of Doom and a magic doorknob of Doom. The series is floating in this weird limbo of being really fun and really confusing. It’s pretty clear I missed some major stuff in No Justice so I may need to carve out time for that soon. The writing is really rad and keeping me super invested even when I’m not 100% sure what’s going on. I especially like getting a whole Luthor issue going into some of the background of this plan and how he recruited some of the other villains for the Legion of Doom. It’s also cool seeing them layer all of this old weird stuff on top of an otherwise contemporary plot. For example, they’re using the classic Legion of Doom underwater fortress aesthetic, but now it’s in a lake of lava and made out of special stone mined by an immortal that makes it difficult to see. It’s a fun update while still keeping the classic aesthetic in place. I also really like the team for Legion of Doom emulating the classic lineup from the show but with the scarier comic versions of the characters. The Joker is particularly dangerous, and Grodd is really intense too. I suspect the Justice League team will strike a similar balance, but we need a bit more focus on them together before I can say… for sure. This issue claims to be the start of a new arc, but it seems like since the series is new it’s just one continuous story, so the arc doesn’t have a ton of meaning. Being biweekly gives it the ability to move quickly which I appreciate for this book since it’s so fucking odd. Excited to keep up with it for a while.
Things are getting pretty crazy in the “On the Outside” story arc. Bruce figures out who Karma is and why he might have such a grudge. While he’s out thinking and making that discovery, Karma’s plan escalates significantly when he kidnaps a school bus full of kids and gives Batman a horrifying ultimatum. This issue drove the plot of the arc forward, but didn’t do as much work with the philosophy of the characters as most of the books have.. However, we do get to see Black Lightning interact with the Bat-Kids he’s been put in charge of, and since he’s sort of a side character I don’t know much about; it’s nice to get scenes that focus on him. The situation Karma has put Batman in is a pretty bad one with no good options; does he choose to save innocents or protect his family? I’m very interested in how the next issue plays out. I love Batman, but I hate the “he can beat anyone with enough prep time” meme and prefer to see him as an actual character than an infallible hero. With how the writing has been, I have a reasonable amount of confidence that we’ll get an interesting resolution and not just “Batman saves everyone because he’s perfect.” We’ll see in a couple weeks if I’m right!
The series wraps up in appropriately spectacular fashion with the conflict between Elatha and his brother Balor reaching its peak. Wonder Woman intervenes directly in the conflict, while Batman returns to Gotham to deal with the faery folk who have crossed over through the newly opened pathways. A bit surprisingly, a lot of this issue actually focused on Elatha and not as much on the actual DC characters. I really really enjoyed this story, and the last page ends with a cliffhanger and the words “End of Book One” so there’s hope for me getting more. 
The line of cool introspective comics continues as Karma pushes the BatFam apart by targeting all of them separately. He has the power to read minds and uses it to great advantage, both determining Bruce’s identity and easily countering his surprise and strategy based fighting style. He appears to have some other tricks hidden in his magic or whatever helmet as well. It seems unfair to be putting Bruce through this much bullshit given what happened in his main book, but I’m curious to see how it plays out. Putting another rift in the family feels a bit like piling on. It’s also unclear how much this lines up with the main book, I have no fucking idea how that works. Regardless, Karma seems like a pretty rad villain and I want to see his motivations and see more about who he is and where the powerful helmet came from. There’s some dialogue from Bruce I really like toward the end, and I really like Black Lightning’s role in the story. 
After the brief one-shot last time, we’re back launching into a full arc. Some villain calling himself Batman’s Karma is targeting the members of the Bat-Family, claiming they weaken Batman and that he has become a brand more than a symbol. I’m really liking the stuff this creative team is tackling honestly. Batman’s usual fights with villains are pretty well contained in the main 
The penultimate issue of the 
Dang what the fuck? The story arc is over for like 5 seconds and they throw in a weird one. The issue seems to be a one-shot dealing with a villain called Blackfire. Batman remarks that he’s never been sure if Blackfire is an actual ghost or a metahuman who believes himself to be one. He gains power from people believing in him, and he’s used the city’s homeless population to capture a child for an evil plot. Batman has to track down the kid, fighting through possessed homeless people and Blackfire’s evil influence on his own mind. It’s a super weird issue that has an almost 
The “Batmen Eternal” storyline actually ended up having a really excellent final issue! The threat of Brother Eye and brainwashed Tim is resolved fairly quickly, if in a slightly anticlimactic way. However, that left a lot of room for resolving the moral and ethical problems facing the many Bat-family members. This was a really strong follow up to the way some of the moralizing was posed earlier in the story. It’s not quite a magical happily ever after, but everyone sort of talks out their issues and at least manages to get to a point where they know they can count each other even if they aren’t always close. I’m curious which members of the family the story will follow going forward. Tim and Steph are following one path, Batwoman is off on her own (and has a solo book), Batwing is taking a break, Azazel has a role in one of the new 
We’re nearing the end of this series, much to my dismay. This issue had very little in the way of action, especially for being close to the end, but I enjoyed it immensely. After a brief sequence dealing with the fallout of last issue’s small fight, Batman (who has added a cloak to his ensemble to look less out of place) and Wonder Woman go to speak to the murdered king’s widow. She explains that the spell of forgetfulness over their home has caused them to forget much of their history, and that the king had a series of paintings done to honor King Nuada who died in the most recent war against Balor Evil Eye. That’s why I loved this issue really. A series of gorgeous paintings and just straight up telling of myth. What else could I even ask for? From the story, Batman gains a clue, which leads to a big reveal at the end to leave us hanging. I’m still REALLY enjoying the writing on this series. I can’t believe how naturally Batman and Wonder Woman are being made to fit into Celtic myth, it’s really a feat. This issue, the art deserves really special mention. I couldn’t find an image of one of the pages in question, but a majority of the book has the paintings taking up most of the page. The painting art reminds me of Ted Nasmith, an artist who did a lot of art for Tolkien’s worlds. It’s really beautiful, and stands out even from the already excellent looking book. If you haven’t been on this series, I highly recommend grabbing it or waiting for the trade for the art alone.
“Batmen Eternal” prepares to transition over to “Rise of the Batmen” with this issue which escalates the conflict with The General, Brother Eye, and the newly brain warped Tim (Red Robin). Batman, Spoiler, and Orphan attempt to get in and control the nanites (O.M.A.C.) that have possessed many of the Colony soldiers plus Azrael and Batwing. There’s a lot going on here, obviously.