The Good

There is so much being set up in the three stories here. We've been patiently waiting for things to kick into gear as soon as Convergence ends. This issue gives us a taste that will blow you away.

BATMAN

You may have heard the spoilers for this section. If you read this week's BATMAN #40, you know things ended on pretty dour note. This story does pick up "two months since the Joker unleashed his deadly endgame on Gotham." Without giving anything away, we do get a glimpse at the new Batman robo-suit as well as why the suit is needed and will be used. There's also some other developments that could impact Gotham City from a business standpoint. It definitely fits in with the overall mythos of the Batman universe seen in a certain animated series.

Being written by Scott Snyder with art by Greg Capullo and Danny Miki and colors by FCO Plascencia, there's no denying the feel or importance of these eight pages. We have the BATMAN creative team telling an important story. This isn't filler for Free Comic Book Day. This is setting the stage for the next chapter.

SUPERMAN

Oh man. Did you read SUPERMAN #40? Something pretty big happened on the last page. It was something I figured would be spread out and explored in the coming months. I was wrong. This story may have jumped forward a little. We see the repercussions of that little development hit Superman in an extremely massive way. It's no joke when we say things are changing for Superman. If this is where Gene Luen Yang and John Romita Jr are taking the series, it's going to be pretty crazy. I keep wondering how the heck is Superman going to get out of this mess?

JUSTICE LEAGUE

As with the other two above, if you read JUSTICE LEAGUE #40, you saw the first appearance (finally) of a character that's been teased in the New 52 for some time. This is basically her origin. All this leads up to the Darkseid War. As you would expect from Geoff Johns in a FCBD issue, we get some insane glimpses into the fate of the Justice League members. Johns knows how to set things up and tease them in big ways. Jason Fabok's art, of course, is freaking amazing.

The Bad

Nothing at all bad here unless you're unable to get this. These three stories are crucial and essential if you're reading the regular titles. I've been underwhelmed with CONVERGENCE. This issue amped up my excitement for DC Comics once again.

The Verdict

This is an issue not to be missed. Scott Snyder, Gene Luen Yang, and Geoff Johns are changing everything we know about Batman, Superman, and the Justice League. Don't dismiss this as a novelty comic for Free Comic Book Day. This is the real deal. These pages are essential to readers of the regular series. The writing and the art on each part was truly amazing. If you haven't gone to your local comic shop yet and are sitting there reading this, you need to get there right away and get yourself a copy. Everything is changing.

Good

Ugh, I hope my LCS isn't sold out.

Good issue, splash page Darkseid v. Anti-monitor was awesome!

I wanna see a triple threat match with darkseid anti monitor and imperiex

Will get.

@the_stegman: don't worry, they won't be sold out..... They are free *ba dum tas*

Sad to say that the Superman stuff was the weaker of the three, I'm still exited for what the future holds/ I was so pissed when Johns returned Clark to the Daily Planet, but looks like he's leaving again and new adventures lie on the horizon. Dat JL part was tight.

Guess this means I'll be heading out for FCBD today

@saintwildcard: Ihateyou Ihateyou Ihateyou.

Are you guys gonna review The Tick? That was the free comic I picked up today :)

ohh yesss

~MiB

So when are we people not blessed with a nearby comic store going to see this on comixology?

• Jim Gordon as Batman in a mech suite I gotta say this is going to be interesting.
• Superman exposed nothing new but it more than makes up for this weeks awful issue.
• Justice League I haven't read so avoiding that in case of spoilers

Where can I download this

@outside_85: People have been saying it'll be up within a week. And by "people," the internet. Nothing official yet.

Glad mycomicbookshop had this , can't wait to get this :)

Batman: I have a ton of faith in Snyder and Capullo. No way I'm not going to continue reading this. Looking forward to see what they have in store.

Superman: I haven't been reading the series, I just can't handle Romita, Jr's art. Certainly an interesting twist for Supes, if a different artist was on this I might give it a chance.

Justice League: The star of this issue for me. Really looking forward to this now. Oh, and "Grail", I like it.

Can't wait to read the League part.

The Batman part was pretty good. I think the only problem is my own, in that I can't look at that character and think, "Oh, thats Gordon", because it looks nothing like him at all. I understand that they addressed the hair cut, but it just doesn't work for me and I can't connect with it. But I'm sure I'll adjust to it once the full issues with him come out. I didn't even read the Superman part because I can't stand Romita Jr. 's art in Superman. He doesn't look anything like Superman. I think Romita's art belongs in Marvel, but it just doesn't fit in DC. I'm about to read the Justice League part.

Read it, and holy damn this was good

Loved all three bits and am more excited for the future of the DCU then ever before.

I have been dying to see Darkseid Wars from it was announce.Now after reading this sneak peak. I wish you could pay for comic events early.

All were solid, the darkseid war section was amazing. That splash panel.

The New Gods is the most underrated franchise in history of comics. I know in 1970's Jack Kirby try to push New Gods franchise but unfortunately it is not sells very well. I think people nowadays are ready for New Gods mythos and franchise

Does anyone else think the cover looks horrendous? If I haven't read the latest Batman & Justice League arcs would this be too spoilerish? I'm trade waiting for the most part.

@darthdanman: Batman you may want to skip, but everything else is fine.

@captainhoopla: I'm in the same boat with you. His art is terrible

Slightly better than Secret Wars, but only because that one was so bad. I'd rather get a whole, hearty issue but whatev

So what's special about Darkseid's daughter ? Any why amazons tend to get pregnant by Gods ? :D If I didn't want New 52 to be 'cleansed'' , I would be quite upset at Grail's mother.

In the battle between Darkseid and Anti-monitor, seeing Grail holding Justice League's gear was the least I expected. I mean come on, she is not the main focus ( hopefully)

Either way, Batman becoming Metron-like new god ? I wonder how they will pull that off since, you know....

Gordon might be right when he said this could be the dumbest idea in Gotham history, you would think with Bruce gone the rest of the Bat-family would step up.

I am interest to see the revelations of The Truth plays out but Justice League seems like he is on his way out.

Why not they are the cream of the crops, good genetics and hot, hopefully Grail is more important than Grayven and Kalibak.

Loved this from start to finish. Not a superman reader but this intrigued me. Justice League was my far my favourite!

Im reading JL 40 and FCBD Divergence again.. im so hype for Darkseid Wars

I liked it, but does The Darkseid Wars take place before the events both the current Batman and Superman? Superman has his Kryptonian armor, and Batman is, well, Batman.

Where can I get this issue?

@captain_batman_ftw: It was free yesterday.

Nothing in this issue interested me, but maybe I a chance for the title of Superman.

Solid stuff. The Superman story was interesting, which is promising cause I didn't like Superman #40 at all.

I'm so pumped for all of these stories. I have no idea wherethey're going with all this, but I'm excited.

Not sure if you can get it anymore but if your lcs still have leftovers, I'm pretty sure they won't mind you copping one up. Otherwise, I'm not to sure about it, but I believe it's up on eBay already

GREAT FOR A FREE ISSUE. LOVE THE NEW BATMAN SUPRISINGLY.

When Mealippes Saying her prophecies she list names. She list: Diana, Bruce, Scott, Victor, Barry, Barta, Clark, Jason, Arthur, Jessica, Billy, and Lex they will hurt. Who is the Jason that she is talking about?

Anyone notice how in the WW part the oracle said "I see a new god reborn" refering to batman?

I assume so considering the fact that he died in the latest endgame issue and that he is seen again when the oracle predicts the future or whatever the hell she does.

Anyway first look at New God Batman?

@kingofkings1: Intried looking for it at Kickass, but I didn't find it. It probably wasn't there when I checked.

Batman: Seems like the next arc is gonna be crazy - I trust Snyder however. It kinda ruined Batman #40 for me though, which I haven't read yet (my own fault really).

Superman: While I hate Romita Jr's art, it was surprisingly good in this book. And I love the setup for the next arc, which was another surprise. It was great.

Justice League: Everything was amazing. Hard to describe without spoilers, but this was fantastic. Perfect art, amazing writing. I'm dying to read Darkseid War now!

@elmohump: That was such a cool reveal. And the Batsuit looks sick!

@redhoodx: I presumed Todd, but I'm not sure on that now...

@scolton97: the only Jason I can think about are Jason Todd and Jason Blood (etrigan)