Month 11: The last week is always the hardest

All Star Western #11: In many ways, the direction ASW went in the post Jonah Hex era has entirely justified the reboot. The seamless integration of Hex and Arkham into Gotham's history has got us to where we are - the struggle between Owls and the Crime Bible for control. FIXING CONTINUITY ON EVERY PAGE. Plus how many comics do you know that have a panel titled "steam powered death machine"? Cracking stuff, and the Terrence Thirteen backup is probably the best extra yet. "This is the 19th century, for pity's sake!"

Aquaman #11: A confused mess, again. It's difficult to work out which of the two timelines this story is working in, particularly since the two teams are in the same location at different times. And the stuff you can actually work out is even more confused. Manta threatens to kill Mera, because the way he's going to fight her can only kill her. So when it appears he's beaten her, is she dead? The perceived link between Manta and Shin we saw at the end of the last issue has not only come to nothing, but it actually looks like the last issue was completely incorrect. This is such a frustrating book, as from time to time I love it but the rest of the time I struggle to finish pages. One mystical glowing widget and another mystical glowing widget triangulate to find a third mystical glowing widget that nobody knew existed, and nobody knew two could triangulate despite them having been kept together for ages. Just hurry up and destroy Atlantis again dude.

Batman Inc #3: OK, I know not everybody got this so I'll keep it as spoiler light as possible. Hats off to DC, I suppose, for reacting to public events but I have no idea why they've done what they've done. Presumably it's the last panel of page 1? This is pretty good, but you'll figure out the Matches story from one of the first panels and way before the reveal which I'm not sure you should be able to. There's double (and possibly triple) crosses, we find out what BatCow's been up to (eating hay, it seems) and we find out what Damian's capable of. But really, two simultaneous books with a bad entity called Leviathan in publication at the same time? That's just sloppy editing. Towers above most other issues this week yet still feels like it's treading water. I think Grant may well be right, maybe it is time for him to be done with hero books.

Batman the Dark Knight #11: Batman interrogates a cuddly toy called Ducky, who helps him find the Scarecrow. Yes, really. Now that's a film I would have watched. Secretly this is maybe my favourite Batbook that isn't Batman. David Finch has stopped doing the things he isn't good at, and concentrating on the things he is - like a genuinely creepy Scarecrow and weird anachronistic weapons. This is definitely worth your attention, although I'm not sure I'd recommend buying it.

Green Lantern #11: I wish I had read Blackest Night, because then I would know how unlikely this all is or what any of it means. The Knights That Say Nok take Hal out of Sinestro's control, and the bad buy from Blackest Night starts Blackest Night-ing all over again. He brings his parents a chinese takeout, which is an odd choice because everybody knows zombies prefer brains. Maybe you get brains in Coast City takeaways? Or is Coast City still destroyed? Does anyone care except Geoff Johns? At the end Sinestro reveals the current plot of GLC to Kyle as they stand in his batcave and then they open the Black Book of the Black Black and get sucked out to a suburban house to share the Black Hand's takeout with the corpses. I think Sinestro would have preferred KFC.

GL New Guardians #11: During this, Larfleeze manages to get all his constructs to hold off the entire army of all the other coloured Lanterns. Now maybe I'm missing something, but wouldn't that imply Orange is the strongest of all colours? Which makes you wonder why he needed the other ones to do his work killing Invictus. Even his little captive Guardian tuts at one point at how ludicrous this is. He gets defeated by his own jealousy at somebody else possibly having an Orange ring, but not before he's done what we've all wanted to do and klunked Rayner round the head with his lantern. All the colours then forget their natures and unite as a team after Glomulus is discorporated, and it turns out that the Guardian was the one plotting all along. NOT LIKE THAT'S EVER HAPPENED IN A GL BOOK BEFORE. The last page seems to imply the next issue is the final one, but it's not on the cancellation list so I'm not getting my hopes up.

I, Vampire #11: So the zombies may not be zombies, and it might just be a fashion statement as they're mummies in disguise. But then biting them just seems to make things worse - which is kind of tough when you're a vampire since biting is kind of your raison d'etre. Looks like Stormwatch are going to turn up to kill the vampire zombie vampire vampire killers. I'm sometimes not sure what happens in any two issues of this book are actually linked.

Justice League Dark #11: Felix Faust was just a diversionary part of the story which is really about persauding Tim Hunter to do magic again? Really? He fought the Justice League proper in the Silver Age. He's a big hitter. And here he is being beaten by a chick that talks backwards and Steve Trevor. Steve fscking Trevor man, a guy who doesn't want to have sex with a hott woman. The way they treat people's reputations in the Johnsiverse is weird. Anyway, Not Harry Potter has given up being a magic and sold his dove pan to Paul Daniels. I like this. Not a lot though.

Superman #11: Dan Jurgens' 80s obsession continues as Superman battles a Red Menace. Or rather an a;ien that the Russkies inadvertently brought to Earth in their attempts to pursue the super-arms race. Which is odd, because that implies they don't know that they've got a Firestorm. Maybe Dan just isn't reading that book. I don't blame him, I wish I wasn't.

Teen Titans #11: Wonder Girl seems to have stolen the Nth Metal armour now Rob Liefeld's thrown it out of Hawkman. There's a lot of chat about who's made out with who, leaving Bunker out in the cold (until Vibe turns up as a potential boyfriend in the near future) and Superboy turns down a definite shag because people are a bit vaccuous. Danny The Street seems to have a dinosaur fetish, as he couldn'tleave them all on Mystery Island or so it seems in the new backup. I'm not sure quite what makes this so good, but if it works then who cares.

Flash #11: A sort of nothing story as Barry's Rogues Gallery reconvenes. I'm still holding out for the Turtle though. When's he showing up, eh? The least good issue to date, but all the rest have been brilliant so it's not really a slight.

Firestorm #11: I can't tell whether SCORN is a baddie name or a sound effect, which can't be a good sign. Some of the Firestorms fight the cloned army of Islamic Firestorms while the other Firestorms look for the other other Firestorms. The main plot of this now seems to be what Warren Ellis did far, far better a few years ago in Supergod but I'm left wondering most while reading this why none of the other heroes on the planet have got involved in a war of this scope - especially since JLI were kind of part of the plot at one point. I think we should see more of the mix-amd-match Firestorm creation system when they merge randomly, as it's the only thing in the book we haven't seen 1000 times before. Turgid.

Hawkman #11: OH GOOD ANOTHER NEW ROB LIEFELD CHARACTER WITH SWORDS AND STUFF. Never mind though, Hawkman hates Catholics so he's able to beat him up easily. The issue then turns out to be circular, as we're back where we were before the issue took place in terms of plot. So it must be time for ANOTHER NEW ROB LIEFELD CHARACTER WITH POUCHES AND STUFF. It must be tiring being Rob. No wonder he can't draw feet, trying to keep all the AWESOME in your head must be an ongoing struggle. Well, either that or he can't draw very well. But then surely he wouldn't be a comics millionaire?

Voodoo #11: MAYBE SLIGHTLY INFLUENCED BY SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS. Voodoo has a fight with two giant statues while orcs and goblins fight Not Voodoo until she grows wings. She then catches her up and next month's final issue sees them battle for the One Flame To Rule The All And In The Darkness Bind Them. If it doesn't turn out to be a secret GL offshoot book I will be gutted, because you can't have enough of them now, can you?