Quick Hits 4

Superman #39 (DC)
Geoff Johns concludes his run with a gentle character study replete with his trademark insights.  Sad to see him go, but it's always good to have him visit with the Man of Steel.

Batman #39 (DC)
A cover-stripped and therefore freebie edition because of some issue or another, which nonetheless allowed me to read another installment of "Endgame," in which Batman hopes to discover the Joker's secrets from the Court of Owls, with anemic results, alas.  I keep expecting Scott Snyder to rise to expectations created by his high profile, and he keeps backing off.  Far more intriguing is the James Tynion IV backup featuring an almost-origin of the Joker.  It's clever, how the story unfolds, because at first it really does seem as if we've finally found out who he was and how he came to be, but then of course we find out it's just another of Joker's sadistic jokes, and it may actually be the best thing the Joker has done in the New 52.  Trace the story backward through previous comics (Batman Annual #2), and you've probably got a pretty good standalone collection right there.

Divinity #2 (Valiant)
So I'm becoming something of a Matt Kindt junkie.  I thought this was a standalone mini-series, but apparently it's tied in with Valiant's superheroes.  Still interesting, though.  The whole thing comes from an intriguing angle, a Russian cosmonaut from the '60s inexplicably coming back, without having aged, with extraordinary abilities, having broken the taboo of forming a romantic relationship prior to heading out into space...

MIND MGMT #25-31 (Dark Horse)
Catching up with the series to date leads to a number of fateful encounters (that's the crux of the whole series, really, unraveling the mystery of what happened and in the process leading to a long-in-coming conclusion to something, basically, that's already over).  Like Supreme: Blue Rose, it reminds me of Mike Costa's Cobra.