Month 12: Popular culture influences abound

Batgirl #12: Gail Simone's ALL WOMEN ALL OF THE TIME schtick comes back to haunt her as she's now reduced to Batgirl fighting Batwoman. Man, there are stacks of great female heroes and villains she could fight or are they Johns-embargoed? New Wave? Hypnota? Shimmer? The Golden Glider? I mean she ice-skates on the air! What's not to like about that? Plus she even looks good to Bronies:

How much better would that make this book, eh? ONE BILLION PERCENT BETTER, THAT'S HOW MUCH.

Batman #12: Scott Snyder really concentrates on the seemingly minor character he introduced in Batman #7 (Harper Row) who it seems like is going to be the Johnsiverse Lucius Fox, or probably more accurately the Microchip (or the last version, the skate kid) to the BatPunisher. The most notable thing is how awful Becky Cloonan's art is - Harper spends the whole issue looking like she has bogies hanging down from her nose rather than a piercing and its Scott Pilgrim/TokyoPop aping is completely at odds with the Batman tenor. More successful are the last few pages by Bolland-biter Andy Clarke, but what's up with Tiger Shark's bottom lip in his first panel? And the final shot of Harper is just dreadful. But, hey ho. Get on with your next epic, Snyder.

Batman & Robin: Woohoo, NotBane fights Batman in Not The Suit From DKR while the Ex-Robins fight something from Animal Man. And ends with Bats steering a nuculer bomb into Gotham Harbour where it's safe, ejecting at the very last minute while Robin(s) looks on with a bit of sadface (plus Jason Todd is clearly styled on Robotman from the Doom Patrol). Nothing like originality, eh?

Deathstroke #12: Can the book get any more Liefeld than the cover? Isn't a reflection of a gritty teeth leaping attacker, chest at 90 degrees to the floor, reflected in a sword WITH LENS FLARE the most epic thing ever? Rob must do these in his sleep. It looks like it at times. But wait, this features some of the worst Liefeld art in the Johnsiverse. Challops I know, but check this bad boy out:

THE LIEFELDENING

Demon Knights #12: It's a TARDIS! Morgaine's got a TARDIS!

If Doctor Who writer Paul Cornell doesn't make this happen I will lose my faith in humanity (again). It also contains the best line of dialogue this month, when Vandal Savage nonchalantly states "I will not die so a woman with no face can gain different genitalia!" In truth this is kind of muddled, with more plot than almost all the rest put together crammed into the last half-dozen pages - not to mention hints at The Rot being part of the plot here also in crossover overload - but it still feels like the sleeper book of the Johnsiverse.

Frankenstein #12: Mycroft and Crowly are Number One and Number Two in this ongoing version of The Prisoner. Frank kills Leviathan, which presumably comes as a shock to Batman, although I probably commented on that last month. Why is Satan's Ring important? Because it's the maguffin that ties this into The Rot of course! IT WAS THAT OBVIOUS!

Grifter #12: "Time to blow this popsicle stand. Literally." What part of being on a spaceship makes that literal. EH? And oh good, a Superman crossover after Zero Month. I'd say I can't wait, but you know that would be a lie.

Legion Lost #12: Chameleon Girl turns into the Predator Out Of The Arnie Film. That's all I've got. Not really sure why this hasn't been cancelled going forward as this issue makes a pretty clear end.

Ravagers #4: Beast Boy turns into a Tyrannosaurus Chicken but fails to bite Brother Blood's head off, so we find out what he looks like with a chimney on him once Lightning has jumped in a Puddle of Mudd. Then Fairchild walks about in her underwear looking for Niles Caulder, who turns up all non-wheelchaired and introduces Superboy. What is it about the Johnsiverse and people who were cripples being able to walk again? Is it some kind of anti-disability propaganda? Aquaman has his hand back, so can Jericho hear? Doctor Midnight see? WHERE WILL IT END?

Resurrection Man #12: I thought this was the final issue, but it turns out that Zero is. In this one, it turns out that some/all/one of the previous issues were a virtual reality induced on a Mitch held in a stasis chamber to see what his powers did; and that the guy who was in charge wasn't, because the other Mitch was all along. Which he demonstrates by killing Mitch 2's mates after Mitch 1 kills the guy we thought was in charge. Possibly. What a clusterfuck.

Suicide Squad #12: Someone who may be Zaxton Regulus from LoSH turns out to be behind the Mayan death camp. No, wait, it was Captain Boomerang after all. NO, WAIT, IT WAS BLACK SPIDER ALL ALONG? It's much better than I'm making it sound, really. Adn on the last page, Nu-Waller turns up in the house of Old-Waller. Or that's what it looks like anyway.

Superboy #12: Superboy goes disco dancing with Paris Hilton. No, really. I wish I could make something like that up.