Monday, February 15, 2021

DC Love is a Battlefield Review!

 DC Love is a Battlefield is an 80 page giant one-shot with a number of stories and a very funny cover by Kaare Andrews of Harley Quinn, her expression is hilarious!, and Poison Ivy attacked by an Audrey-like plant from Little Shop of Horrors!  There are ten stories in the anthology, a little Pat Benatar music?  The first one, “Perfect Matches” is by Christos Gage and Xermanico.  On a boat is the wedding of Maxie Zeus, he is the former teacher thinking he is actually Zeus, introduced in Detective Comics #483 (1979).  I’m thinking he should run into Wonder Woman.  Catwoman has been invited to the nupitals and her guest, Matches Malone in a tacky suit and glasses.  I already knew his identity first appearing in Batman #242 (1972). Riddler is suspicious that Catwoman is dating a henchman.  In their room, Bruce Wayne reveals that he placed trackers on Riddler and Maxie Zeus.  Of course, Batman is going undercover in a boat of supervillains!  

Catwoman and Matches take the spotlight dancing, I like this moment, just not caring about the situation.  Catwoman uses her whip to snap a cigarette from Polka Dot Man’s mouth, this is the goofy villain from Detective Comics #300 (1962).  He will be in the upcoming Suicide Squad film.  Riddler is onto Matches’ deception and revals the trackers planted on the villains.  He points out the tracker on Magpie’s hair extensions, very funny.  Maxie Zeus declares trial by combat so it is an all out fight!  He strikes Matches with an electrical bolt.  During the fight, Riddler sees a shadow, and we get a splash page of Batman kicking Maxie Zeus!  It is a nice moent between the super couple.  “Bittersweet” is a Wonder Woman story by Crystal Frasier and Juan Gedeon.  Diana and Steve Trevor are out for dinner, he notes that she brought her purse, in the form of her costume.  They are interrupted by um, a supervillain, called the Blue Snowman.  A robotic suit complete with snowman face, hat, and pipe.  The character first appeared in Sensation Comics #59 (1946).  



The villain has contempt for the holiday and wants their money.  Steve Trevor stands against Blue Snowman and gets frost blasted off the roof!  He is saved by the Lasso of Truth and Wonder Woman slams the robot suit villain!  Wonder Woman pulls up Steve, but she gets her arm frozen in blue ice.  Blue Snowman kicks her into Steve, for some reason, he also has a blue ice arm, a bit confusing.  The villain thinks Wonder Woman is held back by her relationship.  Steve brings up he is the first man that she has seen and while this is going on Wonder Woman finally defeats Blue Snowman whose identity is revealed!  Some fun with superhero action and Steve and Diana’s relationship.  I think the addition of that supervillain.  Mark Russell and Nik Virella bring us “Loose Lips.”  This has Amanda Waller, the government official in charge of Suicide Squad, having Valentine’s Day dinner with Perry White, editor of the Daily Planet.  He brings up a coup in San Jacinto where we see the Suicide Squad team of Boomerang and Harley Quinn.  


Perry notes that Lois Lane is missing covering San Jacinto and has pics of Task Force X on a memory stick.  They are interrupted by a waitress who asks the lovers if they would like frappachino.  Amanda sends her away and Perry gets into the argument, but spills coffee over himself.  She checks the memory stick which has vacation pics and contacts Boomerang.  Perry returns and they get into a heated argument which ends with them kissing!  Surprising, but this is a cat and mouse, political game between this two powerful figures.  The next story, “A Tale of Two Titans”, by Marquis Draper and Pop Mhan, brings in new characters for me.  At the West home is Wally West, Kid Flash, he is the son of the Reverse-Flash and looks like the Kid Flash from the CW show.  He is nervously trying on outfits for his upcoming date.  Also there is Avery Ho, the Flash from China, introduced in The Flash #3 (2016).  At Teen Titans Academy, New York, we have Emiko Queen, Red Arrow reconfirming her dinner reservation.  She is the half-sister of Oliver Queen made her debut in Green Arrow #18 (2013). 


Uninterested is Crush, the daughter of the alien bounty hunter, Lobo, who uses Emiko’s bow to loose an arrow next to her!  Teen Titans Special #1 (2018) was her first appearance.  Meanwhile, we have Kid Flash racing to every men’s clothing store, we see on a map until he is stopped by Avery in her purple Flash uniform.  She’s checking on him when they see two supervillains, Mirror Master and Golden Glider, robbing a wedding store.  The superheroes have to defeat them, Kid Flash hugs Flash, and then runs off for his date.  Golden Glider replies, “Girlfriend, you are so friend zoned”, very funny!  There’s also some fun with Tim Seeley and Rebekah Isaacs’ Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy story, “The Beginning.”  In a splash page, nice!, we have Dr. Harleen Quinzel speaking to her patient, Poison Ivy, Pamela Isley.  Then, another splash page as we get the first team up of Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn escaping with a doctor statue(?) from Batman and Robin!  They have wild adventures and we find out that it is the elderly Pamela checking on Harley in a hospital bed.  She has modified the Lazarus Seeds to give them a second chance.  Kinda touching.  Of course, there are five more stories packed in this anthology!  DC Love is a Battlefield have short, fun stories with excellent writers and artists!


Four Lazarus Seeds out of Five! 


#DCLoveisaBattlefield, #ChristosGage, #Xermanico, #CrystalFrasier, #JuanGedeon, #MarkRussell, #NikVirella, #MarquisDraper, #PopMhan, #TimSeeley, #RebekahIsaacs

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