Batman #50, 51 (DC)
These are Scott Snyder's final two issues of the most successful run from the New 52 era. I've done my fair share of waffling on Snyder's Batman, but in the end I can agree that it was historic, and in a good way. #50 counts as the end of Jim Gordon's run as Commissioner Batman. Bruce Wayne, in an earlier issue I haven't read, finally reconciled himself with his Batman destiny again, and aided in the thwarting of Mr. Bloom's plans to deconstruct Gotham (via methods that made him a cross between Christopher Nolan's Ra's al Ghul in Batman Begins and Poison Ivy). Along the way, Snyder brings Duke Thomas, the would-be next Robin who went on to somewhat fill that role in We Are Robin, back into the fold, providing sort-of closer to one of his signature creations (along with the Court of Owls and Harper Row) during the run. #51 is a better issue, as it directly reflects on the very first issue by bringing back the "Gotham is..." newspaper column feature in the captions, along the way providing a hopeful interpretation of what Batman means to his city. I think that about sums up what Snyder brought to the character, building on Grant Morrison's earlier Batman Inc. mentality and allowing Batman to be less grim, while still pursuing monumental stories (just about every story was a crossover arc). This was something that was largely absent from of the New 52, a truly cohesive vision that looked like something new but was also, for those paying attention, something familiar.
(Snyder returns in the DC Rebirth era with All Star Batman.)
Justice League #49 (DC)
Geoff Johns pens the penultimate chapter of "Darkseid War" and his run in this series, his last regular writing assignment for the foreseeable future, and he continues to drop big moments, such as the death of Moebius (the responsible party is hardly someone you would expect), setting up a finale in which all the remaining players must sort out their variously tangled relationships, enemies of so many orders that you kind of might confuse this for the best-ever X-Men story (or the rest of the Marvel universe lately, as has been heavily depicted in its movies, soon to be seen again in Captain America: Civil War). So that's exactly what Johns has accomplished in this very DC series that has stood as the uncrowned monthly event series I've been describing since the first issue...
Omega Men #11 (DC)
The penultimate issue of Tom King's masterpiece sees war grow more and more entrenched, as the individual remaining members of the team rally the individual worlds of the Vega System to the cause. This is where we get to see the results of what the rest of the series has accomplished, and my favorite moment comes from Scrapps, the dirtiest player in the game (no, silly, not Ric Flair!). Scrapps is the girl I will probably have to go back and read to find out if King ever actually explored her background, but she's been the toughest soldier in an army that was packed with all kinds of muscle. She confronts Broot's father, the pontifex of Changralyn (where Omega be praised), and utters the phrase leading the title of this column, "I am being Broot." ("Broot" means heretic, by the way.) It's a great moment, and points to what King, and DC, may have been intending all along with Omega Men, which was to present DC's version of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, which a couple of years ago became a hugely successful movie, famously with the tree creature Groot, whose dialogue nearly exclusively consists of uttering the phrase, "I am Groot." And as far as I'm concerned, that's exactly what King has accomplished. DC has always been the thinking man's comic book company. There are plenty of people who would love to dispute this, but they'd be wrong, and I'm not even just talking superhero comics (no other company has been able to so successfully juggle those and so many other genres like DC). But even in terms of between DC and Marvel, DC's always been the more philosophical one, whereas Marvel has always tried its hardest to play the superhero game straight (again, you can see that clearly in the movies). Right now we have a lot of fans who prefer the Marvel method. When it swings around again (and it will), Omega Men will be waiting to be rediscovered. And make a better movie...
Maybe someday I'll finally get the chance to read Snyder's post-Death of the Family Batman comics and The Omega Man.
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