Batwoman Book 3: World's Finest (#12-17, #0)

"We will go to Gotham together.  And when we do find Medusa, she will regret ever leaving the safety of her cell" - Wonder Woman

So my month of comics devoted to the ladies continues. When I did my first of these estrogen soaked months I failed in a big way because I did not pay tribute to the ultimate female superhero - Wonder Woman.  Reader I will now 'fess up I own no Wonder Woman comics. The runs I've been interested in like Gail Simone and Greg Rucka's can be hard to find. But for this month I present the next best thing, Wondy teaming up with lesbian superhero Batwoman.  This is the New 52 incarnation of Batwoman, created by Greg Rucka but now written by JH Williams III and W.Haden Blackman.  I make no bones about it, I am reading this series mostly for Williams's amazingly beautiful art and layouts.  The writing has been average to poor at best mainly tied to the fact they have dragged the first story arc out to an incredible seventeen issues with a lot of extraneous padding along the way.  Batwoman is Kate Kane by day, a socialite who is dating policewoman Maggie Sawyer who is unaware of her secret identity.  Maggie is looking for some missing kids, unbeknownest to her they've been taken by an Occult organisation called Medusa.  Batwoman has been blackmailed into working for the D.E.O - The Department of Extranormal Operations who have kitted her out with all sorts of nifty technology in return for her help.  This volume sees Batwoman working with Wonder Woman to bring down Medusa for good and save the kids.  There is also a zero issue which explores Batwoman's origins but you're better off reading Greg Rucka's single volume reboot of Batwoman that I already covered with art by JH Williams III.  So lets have some World's Finest action.

We start with the narrative switching between Wonder Woman and Batwoman. Batwoman sums up the story so far by thinking that Maro the leader of Medusa has taken the kids they kidnapped through a wormhole and though she has "interrogated" a lot of Medusa agents and has all the resources of the D.E.O at her fingertips, she is no closer to finding them.  Meanwhile Wonder Woman contemplates her nature and how there are many stories about her:

Wonder Woman: "But in this moment, I'm only this flashing sword, impaling an eye the colour of fallen leaves.  I'm only the gleaming shield, blocking my enemy's arrows with the ring of wind chimes.  I'm only this golden cord, coiled and waiting for the truth."

Batwoman has teamed up with her werewolf allies lead by Abbot, to investigate the Bloody Mary legend, because Medusa has been using urban legends to capture children and battle her.  She's catalogued several variations on the legend but they all end in Bloody Mary's death and her being summoned by chanting her name in front of a mirror.

Wonder Woman at work.

As Batwoman summons Bloody Mary, Wonder Woman slices up serpents that have murdered children, as she kills them she thinks that "Clark would be horrified, Batman would be reluctantly impressed, Aquaman would call it defence of the realm".  As Bloody Mary appears to Batwoman, Wonder Woman keeps laying into the serpent monsters.

Batwoman smashes Bloody Mary's mirror and demands to know where Maro took the children.  Mary says Maro abandoned them "and fled to Medusa's lair".   She says Medusa is "not a group.  Medusa is the Queen of Monsters".  She says she can't be stopped and Batwoman crushes the piece of mirror Mary was talking through.

Then we cut to Batwoman as Kate Kane on board a yacht with Chase and Mr. Bones of the D.E.O. Kate tells Chase Maro isn't in Gotham anymore and they are going to need some help so what about Wonder Woman, Medusa is a Greek myth after all.  Mr. Bones agrees but they are going to mike her up so they can get some intel on one of the World's Finest.

Mr. Bones, Kate and Chase.

Meanwhile  the families of the missing children are protesting outside the Gotham police station because it's been months now and the lead detective on the case, Maggie Sawyer is no closer to finding them and they want her replaced.  The media is there as well and even as Maggie assures them they are working hard on finding the kids the TV people record one of the couples saying if it was Maggie's kid missing she wouldn't be satisfied with just updates. Commissioner Gorden brings the press conference to a close after that.

Back at home with Kate and Maggie, Kate says she has to go out tonight. Angrily Maggie says if Kate cared she'd stay with her tonight and not be so selfish.  When Kate says she can't really tell her where she was the night before they made love the first time Maggies shows her the door saying, "don't come back until you can."

We then visit Kate Kane's father who Kate isn't speaking to right now and who is taking care of his neice Bette "Flamebird" Kate who is still recovering from being gutted by one of Medusa's minions in book one.  He promised to teach her how to be a hero who is even better than Kate.  She tells him "I am going to hold you to that promise."

Wonder Woman has defeated all her enemies.  She washes herself in the sea thinking how she is "more than just my brilliant sword... more than my balanced shield... more than just my nimble rope... more than Amazon... more than demigod.. more than human." Then something rises out of the sea and startles her, it is Batwoman in a small sub.

Batwoman finds Wonder Woman.

After one year, every series that was part of the New52 took a one issue break from their on-going stories and did a prequel issues.  Thing is Batwoman had the perfect prequel story by Greg Rucka that established her origins.  I covered it here and as the issue zero pretty much just summarises it, so I am skipping it and carrying on with the Wonder Woman storyline.

Wonder Woman and Batwoman sit together as the sub takes them to where Medusa is supposed to be.  Batwoman thinks that what she is doing is the only way she can think to help Maggie.  Wonder Woman thinks about what Batwoman might think when she looks at her, "a goddess wrapped in her own nation's flag? Does she see a warrior?  A hero?"  She also ponders Batwoman cloaked in the colours of death and war, one of Batman's loyal soldiers.

They arrive at the prison that holds "mythology's most dangerous villains".  Batwoman says it sounds like "an Amazon Arkham Asylum".  Medusa is supposed to be held in the deepest cell far from the world she wants to destroy. There is no sentry on guard which doesn't bode well as the venture inside.  The place is strewn with dead bodies. They venture further inside:

Wonder Woman: "Be wary.  Any creature worthy of being imprisoned here has been deemed more dangerous than me."

They come across a surviving guard, a minotaur.  Wonder Woman questions him and he says this is the work of "Black hearted Nyx.. Mistress of the night".

Attacked by Nyx.

Then huge black centipedes come after them and start attacking.  They are both quickly overwhelmed and everything goes black. We are then privy to Wonder Woman's thoughts against a black background.  She feels like she has been buried alive as the centipedes wrap tightly round her.

Nyx speaks to her, saying "Medusa has brought you as my morsel" and that she is guarding the gate for her, Medusa is the "mother of all monsters."  Then Batwoman interrupts, tells Wonder Woman to close her eyes and sets off a flash bomb, freeing them.   Then she uses a explosive flare gun to blast open a way out through the wall.  Then they escape the island by hi-jacking Black Manta's flying sub, the D.E.O might be super shady but they do have some wonderful toys.

We take a quick visit to Kate's dad and Bette meditating together. Unfortunately all she can think and brood about is what it felt like to be gutted and how much pain she is still in and how she must try and be stronger than Kate.  Back with Batwoman and Wonder Woman they are in a desert looking for Medusa's other son "Pegasus" the brother of Falchion who was defeated in the last book.  Wonder Woman calls Pegasus out of his lonely home and out he comes.  He has festering wounds showing through to the bone in places.

An ailing Pegasus.

Wonder Woman warns Batwoman to be careful of him, he is still Medusa's son, but Pegasus collapses at their feet saying "only her bastard. But now I am gutted and clipped."  Batwoman kneels by him and checks his wounds and realises it was Falchion who inflicted them.

Pegasus: "Dying. For a thousand years I will die.  If we live forever so too do our wounds.   Mortals will have vanished from the earth before I am whole again."

She says to him that Falchion tortured him, Pegasus says his brother would call it "coercion". He has tried to recruit Pegasus to their mother's cause and Pegasus declined.  Many times over.

Wonder Woman asks him why Falchion wanted his help.  Pegasus says for "horror.  Madness. Death.  A reaping of all mortalkind.  I don't know how..."  Batwoman says does he know where this will happen.  Pegasus says yes, and he will tell them for a price.  Wonder Woman must take his head, "give me a warrior's death."  This shocks Batwoman and Wonder Woman tells him humans have no faith in him now he will not be brought back.  "I do not care" he says sadly.  So Wonder Woman, over Batwoman's protests, agrees.

Pegasus then tells them it's a "city where shadows are deepest and evil is born".  Batwoman realises what that means, "Gotham".  Then Wonder Woman cuts off Pegasus's head. She asks if Batwoman thinks she committed murder.  Batwoman doesn't know and asks if he can come back like Bloody Mary and The Weeping Woman.  "Maybe" says Wonder Woman.  "Then I choose to believe" says Batwoman as she immolates Pegasus's corpse.

Then Batwoman expresses her irritation that she dragged Wonder Woman halfway around the globe when Medusa was in Gotham the whole time.  Wonder Woman says Medusa is a powerful witch who has kept herself concealed for centuries, "but she will come out of hiding to complete her dark ritual." Batwoman asks if Wonder Woman wants to come with her, "or do I smash this bitch in the teeth all by myself?"  Wonder Woman will come.

Medusa in Gotham.

Batwoman thinks to herself how much she wished she had telepathy to warn Maggie to get out of Gotham, but it's already kicking off there.  Killer Croc in his new, even more mutated form is rampaging through the streets as Maggie and Harvey Bullock are fighting him.  Then they come across Medusa herself:

Medusa: "Long have I sat in darkness sharpening  this dream like a blade...My dream is a blade to carve out the heart of this city, bleed its lambs into goblets of gold. A blade to hack off our enemies heads to make the world safe for all my kind".

As she and her minions fight the Gotham PD she thinks about how Falchion failed her, but did at least raise this army for her.   They are the ones who scoured the world and freed her.  Falchion also found Maro who created her supernatural army.  So s/he wasn't totally useless then.

Medusa then tells Killer Croc he can become more powerful, Maro using a blood ritual causes Killer Croc to mutate massively becoming a hydra like creature, "the beast of Babylon" says Medusa.  Backed into a corner by Medusa, things look bad for Maggie and Harvey then suddenly down swoop Batwoman and Wonder Woman to the rescue.

Kick ass.

Trevor McCarthy takes over as artist for the next issue meaning the loss of the lovely layouts of Mr. JH3.  Maggie is stunned and confused by the arrival of her rescuers and a fractured narrative follows showing us the events leading to this moment.   She flashes back to an hour ago as she reviews the missing kids case for the umpteenth time. Then we see her shooting Medusa's soldiers, there are no cries of pain where the bullets hit, the dying call for "Mitera" (Mother).

Everything is confusing out on the streets, "why is a Chinese gangster speaking in ancient Greek?"  She demands to know who "Mother" is from someone she has a hold of.  "She is the end of Gotham.  The end of your world" she is told.  "Zealots in my city" she thinks.  She bumps into Agent Chase of the D.E.O and wants to know why they aren't helping the GCPD on the front lines.  Chase says that is not her orders.

Chase tells her to have the GCPD fall back and the D.E.O will cover them.  Maggie doesn't trust her.  She and Harvey head towards a church where she has been told some people are preparing to become matryrs.  It's a Catholic church and inside are the mainly hispanic parents of the missing children.  They have heard "that these monsters have our children.  Then have our children on chains."

Maggie defuses the mob.

Maggie tells Isabella the leader of the mob that they should let the police handle this. Isabella says "you will just keep failing".  Maggie says the things can't be fought with baseball bats and kitchen knives nor guns either.  Maggie points her gun at the man toting a shotgun telling him to put it down.  When he won't she says:

Maggie: "I'm trying to save your kids. But if you get killed, what will happen to them?  Where will they go?  Who will take care of them?  Foster homes? The street? The church".

She then disarms the shotgun wielder.  But Isabella starts to freak out, her husband Felipe went out there alone looking for their children.  So Maggie goes back out to find and save him.

He is outside shooting down Medusa minions until he runs out of bullets.  Maggie and Harvey find him, but then water coutesy of the Weeping Woman sweeps over them.  Felipe kneels before her and when she tells him she will "free" the whole place he forgives her and she fades.  Maggie comes over and comforts the distraught man and when he says of his kids "I miss the so much" she hugs him.  And she worries maybe she'll never be able to bring them home.

Maggie comforts Felipe.

She returns Felipe to Isabella at the church then she and Harvey venture out through the rubble of Gotham's streets. Then we arrive at the moment when BatwMoman and Wonder Woman arrive, and as they do so Maggie thinks "God loves me enough. To keep Kate out of this madness. And bring her home safe."

JH Williams III is back on art for the rest of the book now.  Batwoman drops down to where Maggie is in the middle of all the chaos.  But Maggie yells at Batwoman to forget about her an Harvey and take out what Killer Croc has turned into before it destroys the city.   She starts to fight her way to it, horrified that it is breaking her "building... my base.. home... everything". Wonder Woman meanwhile is also fighting and feeling oddly responsible for Medusa, and now her senses are "dulled by shame, guilt, rage".

As Batwoman head towards the Hydra, Wonder Woman stops her saying she is not capable of taking it on. Batwoman says she's lost her home, her pictures of her sister, her mother's journals... she tails off.   Wonder Woman promises to kill the Hydra, but Batwoman needs to concentrate on getting back the children.

Medusa is waiting for Ceto, the mother of all monsters to appear from the sea.  She will rise, devour all mortals and make a world safe for the monsters.  Then Mr. Bones appears pointing a gun at her.  Medusa says he should be an ally what with him being a skeleton and all.   She tries to uses her petrifying eyes on him but fails. 

Flamebird back in action.

Then the hook handed creature attacks Chase, she fires on him but he shrugs it off and advances on her, but then Bette Kane as Flamebird appears ready to extract revenge on the being that so badly injured her. Her inner monologue has her as terrified, but she punches him and keeps punching him but he manages to grab a hold of her and she wishes that if he guts her again she wants to die.

Medusa stands at the sea's edge with the children and Maro.  The children ask if they are going to be killed.  Medusa says Ceto needs "your souls to bind her to this world".  Right now Ceto is a "dream. A ghost. A myth" says Maro, but once she was feared throughout the world.

We then get a quick history lesson on her. She became Goddess of the Oceans, she fell in love with Phorcys, Mystery of the Deep.   Many wonders were born from their union. Those wonders brought awe and adventure to the world. "We gave their frail lives meaning".  They were killed by mortals who wanted to prove they had mastery over all the primordial forces putting them and their followers to the torch and spear.  Ceto was brought to Mt. Olympus and judged.  "Zeus claimed there was no room for both mortals and monsters on Earth". He banished her, stripped her of her beauty and power reduced to the one cruel epithet, "The Mother of all Monsters".  So that's what she will be "and the mortal world the gods love will suffer for it".

Batwoman is fighting her way to Medusa and fighting the urge to go back to Maggie.  Also Abbot and his werewolf coven are also helping her despite how mean she usually has been to him in prior volumes.  Wonder Woman is taking on the hydra.  She discovers that whipping her sword fast enough makes it hot enought to cauterise the neck and stop another head growing.

Wonder Woman takes on the Hydra.

Batwoman and Abbot arrive at where Medusa, Maro and the children are.  Medusa calls the Weeping Woman again, but Batwoman shouts "what if they were your children, Maria?!" And Maria pauses remembering the two that were.  She attacks Maro who killed them saying "you are my grief" and melts Maro's face. Medusa says the Batwoman it doesn't matter now, "My mother is coming."

Batwoman can't process what she sees next,  "it's a tear in the fabric of reality.  As if it's something we can just stitch up". A huge squirming, many tentacled thing has appeared.  She realises there are somethings you can never unsee and never fix. Wonder Woman jumps down saying "please tell me you know what the hell this is, Batwoman".  Batwoman can only tell her Medusa and Maro performed a ritual and summoned the Mother of all Monsters.

The Mother of All Monsters is summoned.

Wonder Woman says "Ceto".  Batwoman says so she knows her name but does she know how to stop her.  "Haven't a clue" replies Wonder Woman. So Batwoman decides they should start by kicking Medusa's ass. We return to the hook-handed monster holding Flamebird by the throat.  Flamebird using arm mounted flame throwers (!) blasts the hook-man in the face then as he kneels holding his bubbling face she attaches a bomb to his hook and blows it off his arm then tosses it in the sea where it fastens onto a crab.  Catharsis!

Maro makes it to shore, but her twin who inhabited the same body is dead now.  On land an almight ruckus is taking place.  Batwoman, Wonder Woman and the werewolves versus Medusa's minions.  Abott gets turned to stone by Medusa and as she kneels by him, Flamebird appears and helps her up.  They quickly formulate a plan, they shatter Bloody Mary and use a piece of her mirror to reflect Medusa's glare back on her and she turns to stone.  Batwoman then smashes the statue for good measure.

Medusa defeated.

They look out to sea and there is no monster, just some rainbow smoke. Wonder Woman thinks "we broke the spell somehow."  The Weeping Woman holds Medusa's head and says she was as Medusa made her, but actually she wants to erase all the stories ever told about her.  Wonder Woman is about to kill her saying her stories always end in death but Batwoman stops her.  And Wonder Woman helps her up saying she keep her safe instead.

Flamebird points out the D.E.O is about to arrive so she makes herself scarce telling Batwoman her new name is "Hawkfire".  Wonder Woman says she too has no wish to meet the D.E.O.  Before she leaves Batwoman gives her the recordings she's made of her the past few days.  Wonder Woman crushes them and says, "if you ever need me again, just ask."

Chase catches up with them and is pissed about the loss of intel on Wonder Woman.  She then takes the children to a park close by where Maggie is moodily sitting on a swing. When she realises Batwoman has bought them all back and has called her "Mags" she realises who she really is:

Batwoman: "Marry me Mags".

The book then ends with Mr Bones interviewing Alice, the crazed supervillain sister of Batwoman and he says "oh I know who you are.  You have our sister's eyes."

And that was the end of the series and they both lived in marital bliss and lalalalala can't hear you DC editorial!

Once again it's the art that sells me this series, with stunning layouts and gorgeous renditions of everything from eldritch abominations to caped crimefighters.  His depiction of Wonder Woman is superb, she fit and athletic looking rather than skinny and top heavy. She looks like a woman who gets shit done as does the bustier fetish clad Kate Kane.   But I keep circulating round to my major problems with the series so far, this arc went on far too long, the dialogue is often stilted and unnatural which suits the narration of the mythological aspects of the story but not the voices of the characters. Also the happy ending is somewhat soured by knowledge of what happened next which was DC vetoing the marriage. In their sort of defence I don't think that was homophobia at work, DC simply didn't want any of their New 52 characters to be happy.  Seriously, that was an editorial edict.  This then resulted in Blackman and Williams III quitting the title and DC spiking their final issues.  I haven't read any further Batwoman after this one mainly for those reasons, while the series had flaws it had potential and this just felt like the straw that broke the camels back regarding DC's overbearing editorial attitudes during this period. Still, curiosity might compel me to check out the next volumes and If I do I'll cover it here.

Harley Quinn Book 1: Hot In The City (#0-8)

"Romance.  Who needs it?  I've got all the unconditional love I need right here" - Harley Quinn

Well let's lighten the mood a little now, Harley Quinn's New 52 series was something of a breath of fresh air amongst the doom, gore and gloom of the majority of the rest of the line.  I've already covered her team up miniseries with Power Girl that happened later in this solo series of Harley's but this is her ongoing that debuted in December 2013 and has been going ever since.  If you don't know much about Harley here's a potted history.  She first appeared in Batman:  The Animated Series as Harleen Quinzel the former psychiatrist of The Joker's who became his partner in crime and girlfriend although the relationship was something of an abusive one.  After joining the New 52 Suicide Squad (and you'll be seeing her as part of the team in the Suicide Squad film in August), she was given her own series where she functions much as Deadpool does in the Marvel Universe.  She has no respect for the fourth wall, is a pansexual and somewhat homicidal anti-hero and just generally larks about having a laugh.  She's no longer the Joker's girlfriend after he blew up her home and set fire to her beaver (No not like that perverts!  I mean the stuffed beaver called Bernie who she likes to chat with.  Tsk) and in this series is striking out on her own though she has a casual relationship with Poison Ivy going on now.  The issue #0 I'm not going to cover in any detail because it is basically Harley auditioning artists to draw her new series, with single pages from the likes of Batman: TAS's Bruce Timm and the late Darwyn Cooke amongst those responding. 

Issue Zero: Serious talent involved.

In the end she chooses Chad Hardin, with Stephane Roux (see the Harley Quinn and Power Girl mini I covered a couple of months ago) as a back-up and writers Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti who put in a cameo appearence at the end. Conner is an artist as well and is also responsible for the fantastic covers each issue has.  After she was told she'd inherited some New York Coney Island property at the end of issue #0 from an old Arkham Asylum patient of hers we join Harley in issue #1 driving her motorbike with what's left of all her possessions on it to check her new place out.

She waits at some lights and a hipster is dragging a sad looking daschund along behind him. The dog implores her and so she takes him.  They drive on, then a masked man pulls up along side with a shotgun and fires at Harley.  He misses but causes a crash and pile up.  Annoyed she wallops his head off with her giant mallet.

Stop. Hammer Time.

Finally she arrives, it is a four floor building with a Freakshow, Creepshow and Criminal House of Wax as some of the businesses there. The real estate agent shows her around.  The second floor is flats where the people who run the businesses live.  The third floor is empty, mainly storage and lumber and the fourth floor is a living space with access via an elevator of its own and roof access too.

Harley: "I think I've died and gone to heaven"

It's almost too perfect she thinks and the estate agent hits her with the bad news.  She is to be responsible for the back taxes, real estate taxes, insurance and upkeep.  The tenant's rents don't cover all this so she will have to earn about six thousand extra a month to keep the place.

Harley's new digs.

Later Tony, a small man who looks after security in the building, gives her a welcome gift, a local newspaper with the help wanted section circled, a milky coffee and a Brooklyn everything bagel with cheese.  This makes her happy and she gives Tony a hug and the person looking at her through a sniper scope can't make the shot.

So she uses make-up to give her a normal skin tone and applies for a job at a mental health clinic as a counselor using faked references.  They say they'll call her back.  Then she tries out for Roller Derby and the team are impressed with her violence and hire there and then.

Later that night Harley is lying out on the roof of the building saying how much she in enjoying the secutity having a place of her own gives her.

Harley:  There's no place like home.

Then Tony appears and shoots the assassin who was about to attack Harley from behind.  Harley rummages around in the assassin's clothes and finds a flyer, it has a bounty listed on her head for two million dollars!

Still has feelings for the Joker.

Next day Harley is looking round the House of Wax which has models of all famous criminals including The Joker.  Harley spots a fridge and realises she needs one of her own and goes and purchases one.  Outside she sees a demonstration, a pet shelter is going to put down fifty animals tommorrow if they don't get adopted.  Harley applies to adopt but the woman she hands the form to rips it up.

So Harley calls Poison Ivy to come and help with her plan.  While she waits, she hangs out with Bernie at her place.  Then the corpse of the hitman comes to life causing Harley to jump in fright.  But it's just Ivy standing on the fire escape using her vines to make him move.  Harley is relieved, "I don't know if I wanna kill you or kiss you".  Ivy replies, "kisses please."  Harley then says:

Harley: "You wanna meet my beaver?"

Ivy: "Um.. Okay... why not?

Harley: [shows her Bernie]  Bernie, meet Poison Ivy, Bernie.

Ivy: "Oh.. it's an actual beaver.  And he's burnt".

A well stuffed beaver is such a rich source of double entendre.  So after that at night they go to the shelter and let all the animals out.  Who promptly all run away.  Harley and Ivy split up to round them up and take them back to Harley's place.

"Rescuing" the animals.

Once she is alone, someone in a car tries to run her down.  She jumps onto the roof and chokes the man with a pair of giant pliers and he tells her that her address has been posted online with the bounty.  She throws him through a butcher's window and ties him up with sausages and this attracts the dogs so she leads him and them back to her building.

Ivy has already got the cats and birds there, so Harley decides to put the dogs on the third floor.  She then tosses the sausage wrapped hitman to the dogs and they make short work of him.  Next day Ivy wakes first and goes downstairs and makes floor three an indoor forest area with trees and grass.

Ivy and Harley make a cute couple.

Pleased with this, Harley is asked by Tony what she plans to do with all the poo that's going to need to be dealt with.  She says she has an idea, and is Tony good at building stuff?  He says he is, so she tells him she has "something spectacular" planned.

We next find Harley on valentines day attending the Creepshow.  She is ambushed by a hitman in there but kills him with his own shotgun and as she leaves, tells the proprietor she left something scary in there for him.

Brooding about her lack of a date she finds Tony looking similarly despondant holding some flowers.  He was going to ask Queenie out but she's gone out with someone else instead.  He gives Harley the flowers and leaves sadly.  In the bath later Harley complains about all the romance on TV, Bernie says "admit it fruitcakes.  You're lonely".

Bernie: "You need to put your ass out there, meet new people and sell your wares.  Giving all your attention to just your pet beaver will make you appear antisocial".

Pondering Valentines Day.

Harley spots a plant Ivy left her and eats a berry from it.  Then she gets a call from the nursing home she applied to be a therapist at, she's got the job.  To celebrate she dolls herself up and gets ready to hit a singles bar.

Harley: "Look out world, here I come!  I'll never understand why Superman wears the same outfit every damn day."

She strolls on out, but the berry gives off some sort of scent that affects the driver of a bus full of criminals and he crashes it and they all escape.

Each one of them smells a different delicious smell coming from Harley and advance on her.  She runs into a hardware store and battles them inside using the likes of strimmers and drills until there is only one left and she blows him up.

Harley deals with the besotted criminals.

She goes back outside and is kissed by the policewoman who was called out, much to the policewoman's surprise because she isn't into girls.  But Harley smells like the best donut ever.  Harley runs home realising the berry was causing all this and catapaults the plant out of her home.

Then Tony appears, the berry has worn off and he asks Harley for the flowers back so he can fight for Queenie.  Harley gives him the flowers and the last berry saying it'll "give you an edge".  Then she goes and plays with the cats and dogs for a while.  She ruminates on how Valentine's Day is the meanest holiday there is.  But as she leaves to go for a walk she sees Tony being hugged by Queenie and a man and thinks:

Harley: "Although it is awfully nice to play Cupid every once in a while."

Next day Harley disguises herself and gets ready to attend her first day at the clinic.  She meets with Tony who has the plans for the mysterious contraption she wants building which he negociates four months rent free to do so.

A tale of woe and neglect.

Her first patient is an old lady called Mrs. Rubenstein who tells her a sob story about how her son rarely even calls her and she hasn't seen her grandson in ages and she thinks they are just waiting for a big blood clot to claim her life.  Harley says they'll talk again on friday, Mrs Rubenstein responds, "If I don't die of a broken heart, sure."  Harley then tells the receptionist to rearrange her appointments for the evening she has something to do now.

At the Rubenstein's house, the grandson is playing videogames, his mum is demonstrating massage devices to some friends to sell and the dad is playing with his model trains upstairs.  Harley crashes through the side of their house on a bulldozer and takes all three of them hostage and dumps them in the boot of her car.

She goes for some food at a diner and while she does so, takes out another hitman with a fork.  Then she attends her first roller derby match, which she is late for.  Her team loses, but she runs over the opposing team as they leave the stadium, "wow, that was kinda hot" says her team captain.

Harley then remembers she has the Rubensteins in her car boot and gets them out and sits them on the end of a pier.  She kicks the grandson and his mum off it and takes out the son/dad's gag.  When he realises why she is doing this he furiously tells her he sees his mother three times a week, his wife has lunch with her once a week and his son sees her every saturday.  Harley is non-plussed.

Mr Rubenstein: "She has alzeimers you twisted clown!  She can't even remember what she had for dinner!"
Then he jumps off the pier to save his family but lands on sand, luckily the tide was out.  Totally unconcerned with her actions towards them Harley cheerily drives off telling the father to call his mother. 

The Rubensteins get some unorthodox therapy.

She attends her evening appointment which turns out to be an elderly Jewish man on a mobility scooter and with bionic limbs.  He is called Sy Borgman, and he knows she is Harley Quinn.  He is an ex secret agent and he wants her help tracking down and killing some Russian sleeper agents here in New York.  Are you ready to serve your country he asks her? "Well, Mystah Borg.  Let's do this thing" she replies.

Sy gives her the files on the seven targets they are after and tells her to study it ready for tommorrow.  In return for her help he can find out who put a hit out on her, though Harley says she has someone looking into that.  She returns to her building and is invited to a Burlesque show taking place there.  She gets a bit to involved though and storms the stage thinking the fight taking place is real.

Sy Borgman.

Then she go upstairs to read the files and nods off, she has a very weird dream in the process.  Next day she attends her clinic jobs until it is time to meet Sy in the evening and begin their job.  The first target is in hospital on life support so they gain entrance to his room by attaching the mobility scooter to a zipline and crashing through the window.

Sy rips all the wires out of the wall.  Nothing changes.  He cuts all the tubes.  Still nothing changes.  He electro-punches the man.  Nothing.  So Harley gathers up the tubs and blows hard down them making the mans arteries explode.  This kills him and they make their escape from the hospital.

One way to make an entrance.

They arrive at their next target's house, they break in through the gates and battle the gaurds.  The target phones one of the others and says it is their job to alert the others.  Then, when Sy and Harley reach her she sets off a huge explosion that blows up the whole house.

Sy uses his cybernetic enhancements to fire up some cables that grab onto a passing news helicopter.  The three off them are dragged free of the building and Harley takes the woman's rings before letting go of her.  She and Sy clamber into the chopper and take control.  Harley manages to fy it to the zoo and crash lands it outside, their next target "The Bear" works inside.

Dealing with the Russians.

As they go find the secret entrance, Sy tells them The Bear got his nickname because he used to feed whole families to them to get prisoners to talk.  The Bear is watching them on CCTV and says over the phone to another target, "zey von't know what hit zem.  I have a plan".  He lets out some of the more ferocious animals.  The bears don't want to get up though, he kicks one and it rips him to pieces in a rage.  His head goes bouncing out of the enclosure and is picked up by one of the eagles.

Inside the zoo Sy tells Harley their work has been done for them, he recognises the tattoo on the arm one of the tigers is chowing down on.  With The Bear taken care of, Sy says they can do a couple more tonight, while Harley wants to stay and play with the animals for a while.

Then the rest of the Russian targets pull up at the zoo entrance.  After trading insults they fight Harley and Sy.  Two of them blow themselves up with faulty bagel grenades, Sy blows one up with a rocket launcher, Harley brains one with a pipe and the older female in charge kisses Sy but aims a dagger at his back.  Before she can strike, he drives forwards and knocks her into the rhino pit and she is impaled on a horn.

The Bear falls victim to the zoo animals.

With all of them dead, they go for the mystery eighth target.  Turns out he's an American who sold Sy a rare car in 1959 but didn't tell him it had a radiator leak.  When he broke down and had to go for some coolant, he returned to find his dream car had been totally stripped of parts.  When he says he would have left the car to Harley, she gets mad and kicks the man out of the window.

Sy and Harley watch the sunrise on the boardwalk.  She kisses him and says, "you sure know how to show a girl a good time".  Then the eagle drops The Bear's head in Sy's lap.  Harley kicks it into the sea.  She returns home to find Poison Ivy there who has taken care of another couple of hitmen and says she has a lead on "who put out that bounty on your cute, crazy little head."

Another wacky escapade over.

Next day, she and Harley go to the beach.  Ivy tells her she tracked the postings down to Harley's laptop, so someone must be breaking in and posting while she is out or asleep.  Two men come up to them and flirt with them, the girls decide to play along.  One of them paints Harley's toenails:

Harley: "I'm keepin' this one".

Ivy: "Do what you want just put him away when I'm around".

They return to Harley's place and check her laptop activity.  The site advertising the hit gets updated once every five days and so that means tonight will be another update time.  They find a file called "Nunya" as in "nunya business" but it is user and password protected.

Ivy's plan is to hide in the closet while Harley sleeps and they can catch the miscreant in the act.  Harley finally gets off to sleep, then starts sleep walking.  She goes to the laptop and increases the bounty to three million, her plan is to attract all the local competition and kill them off.  She opens the Nunya file, but then two assassins crash in through the window.  Ivy starts fighting them and Bernie exhorts Harley to wake up:

Bernie: "Hey!  Turnip head!  They're going to kill your favourite houseplant if you don't wake up!."

Harley wakes up and between them, she and Ivy kill the attackers.  But in the fight Harley's laptop is destroyed.  Ivy fills Harley in on what she found out.

Ivy: "With the computer gone and you unable to remember the site or password, you're a bit screwed".

Harley unconciously hiring her assassins.

One of the attacker's phone goes off and he has a text update about a meeting of the "Brooklyn Assassins Guild" the next day.  They decide to crash it and Tony comes along for extra firepower.  Once there, Ivy uses her powers to tie them all up with vines.  Harley tries to explain to them how there is no bounty on her, and if they come after her she'll go after their families.  A grizzled assassin says he doesn't believe her and has no family to threaten, so Tony shoots him in the head.

As Harley, Ivy and Tony walk back to Harley's place, she thanks them for her help and she'll just have to keep dealing with the ramifications of the bounty on her head for now.  As a reward to Tony she buys him some new boots with the cash they took from all the contract killer's wallets.

The Assassin club.

We next see Harley trying to pawn the rings she took from the Russian lady.  Unfortunately they have been reported stolen so she has to take a lower price for them, boosted by the fact she takes out two robbers who try to stick up the pawn shop up when she is in there.

After a meatball lunch with Tony, she attends her next Roller Derby match.  She is doing too well and the opposing team send out their secret weapon, Bertha, to take down Harley.  She knocks Harley out and when she is revived in the changing rooms she is angry when she discovers she's had a tooth knocked out.  Her manager forbids her going back out but Harley ignores her, grabs her mallet and smashes Bertha's head in.  Unfortunately this gets her banned from Roller Derby, but her manager gives her a card with details of something called "Skate Club" on it.

Once home, all the occupants of the building have gathered to see something Harley is going to unveil.  It turns out to be a giant catapult which she nicknames the "scatapult" as this is the way she is going to deal with all the animal poo building up in the place.  They start firing bags of the stuff off the roof.

The scatapualt revealed to the rest of the building's tenants.

The first hits a roller coaster.  The next hits a train.  The next hits DC's office window where an editorial conference about a new line-wide reboot is being discussed.  Hah!  Harley goes  downstairs to get more poo, but a hitman has a hold of a kitten and threatens to kill it if she doesn't let him kill her.

He is grabbed from behind by Mario, one of the building's tenants and Harley whacks him with her mallet.  They put him on the scatapult and fire him into the air.  He bounces off a advertising zeppelin and gets minced up in the propellers of an advertising aeroplane.

As these shenanigans are going on, a creepy looking man watches Harley through binoculars from the top of a train.  A cop stands behind him and calls him Edwin, exhorting him to give up. Edwin disarms and kills the cop then dressed in his uniform says he's coming for Harley and wishes to marry her.

Yes, fire that poo at Dan Didio, noone deserves it more than him!

And that brings this first book of Harley silliness to a close.  I found this tremendous fun.  The scripting is sharp and snappy with plenty of double entendres and groan worthy punnage.  The sheer enjoyment Harley has as she bounces through life make her a very appealing character, especially now she has come out from under the shadow of The Joker. Giving her a property full of freaky people like her makes for some fun interludes as she investigates the various businesses working underneath her.  Her no-strings relationship with Poison Ivy is very sweet, after one as abusive as The Joker's one with her was, it does make sense she'd turn to a woman like Ivy afterwards. The various misadventures are enjoyable to read, especially when you get characters like Sy Borgman along for the ride.  The art really does suit the tone and atmosphere of the book, it's very lavish and almost garish in places the hyperreality suits a character who seems to exist in her own little self-contained part of the DCU that other characters occasionally get to visit. The mystery man at the end has got me intrigued and I'm looking forward to reading the next volume to find out more and also enjoy more daft antics from Harley and everyone she drags along with her for the ride.

The Movement Book 2: Fighting For The Future (#7-12)

"So are we supposed to be heroes or something equally dumb?" - Katharsis

This is the second and final volume of the cult New 52 comic penned by Gail Simone and drawn by Freddie Williams II.  The first book introduced us to the titular Movement, an team of superpowered individuals in their late teens and early twenties made up  of Virtue, who can ride peoples emotions and use the power she takes offensively and acts as the defacto leader of the group; Tremor who can cause localised earthquakes, Mouse who can speak to and control rats, Katharsis (who was introduced in Simone's Batgirl run) who doesn't have powers but can fly using home made wings and has superior hand-to-hand combat skills, Vengeance Moth who can form a glowing green moth shape around her and use it as a shield and fly when doing so, and Burden whose powers manifest as a demonic style possession.  They are part of a wider social movement in a fictional US city called Coral City, made up of the general underclass who don't feel the police and ruling class are serving their best interests.  In the first volume, after two Coral City cops are caught sexually harrassing a minor on video, they are kidnapped and put on trial by The Movement, they escape through tunnels created by Tremor who thinks the whole thing has got a bit out of control.  Also causing problems is the mysterious "Cornea Killer" who targets the homeless and is the son of crooked mayor of the city and leader of the city council, Mr. Cannon.  He in turn has called in his own team of metahumans called The Graveyard Shift to deal with The Movement and they attack Movement member Mouse on his own, leaving him strung up from a lampost where Tremor and Katharsis find him after they have talked out their differences in a nearby diner.  And it's directly on from that, where Book Two starts.

Mr. Cannon is speaking with his son Terry, the Cornea Killer.  Terry says he didn't harm anyone today much to Mr. Cannon's relief.  He tells his father he wanted to though, "I like it daddy, I really, really like it".  He goes on to say he killed his mother because she caught him "doing something naughty".

Katharsis and Tremor rescue Mouse.

Katharsis and Tremor cut Mouse down from the lampost and calls for an ambulance.  Katharsis calls Virtue who had just done a fake exorcism on Burden to trick him into thinking he was free of his curse.  She leaves Vengeance Moth in charge of their HQ.  The ambulance is going to take an hour to arrive, so Virtue bought Katharsis's wings with her and Katharsis flies Mouse to hospital.

The Graveyard Shift follow the "breadcrumbs" of energy Virtue left behind to track back to Movement HQ.  It was why they left Mouse alive, to lure her out.  In the HQ Burden confesses he is having "sexytime feelings" as Vengeance Moth puts it.  He asks if they can do an exorcism to get rid of those as well.

Vengeance Moth and Burden in The Movement HQ.

The two cops that were captured by The Movement are being patched up.  Whitt says they should get down there and clear "the punk scum right the hell out".  At said HQ, a jamming device has been activated by the Graveyard Shift who approach the entrance through the tunnels.

Katharsis arrives at the hospital with Mouse while The Graveyard Shift arrive at Movement HQ. Vengeance Moth is there to meet them while Burden looks on.  She activates her energy form and blasts them, but one of them "Monster Baby" says she's blind already and punches Vengeance Moth.

Vengeance Moth activates her power.

At the hospital the others are now there and are told Mouse is in bad shape and might not make it.  We then join the cops, one called Yee says he is not going to let Whitt attack The Movement and Whitt threatens him.  At Mouse's bedside, The police captain Meers hands Virtue a folder with information on The Graveyard Shift, who "the shadow council hired to clean you out".

Vengeance Moth is putting up a fight but is outnumbered.  Burden runs up to help her and is knocked back for his trouble. Vengeance Moth say they need his help, the exorcism was a fake, they need his power, "you are our only hope for those people" she says.  So he transforms into his demon self and begins fighting.

Burden goes full demon.

The police are still arguing, Yee tells Whitt, "you're a bad cop" and Whitt punches him.  At Movement HQ, Vengeance Moth drags herself back into her wheelchair, while Burden takes on all of The Graveyard Shift.  She thinks they might be too much for him as she goes back to the fight.

Virtue, still at the hospital, is on the phone to Rainmaker (an independant female metahuman), saying she'll have to cancel their date.  Rainmaker says she got dressed up, even wore a skirt.  Virtue says she'd "like to see this miracle garment" next time.

At Movement HQ, Burden is beginning to tire, Vengeance Moth sneaks up on the leader "Anguish" and belts her with one of her crutches.  Captain Meers is called to come to where Whitt and Yee are fighting.  Whitt has won, but more police are standing up to him, including Pena his partner who says he, "requested a new partner this morning".

Even wheelchair bound, Moth can beat you down.

Anguish recovers and goes to hit Vengeance Moth with the crutch, but she says while Anguish was temporarily incapacitated, she smashed the jamming device and called the others. Then rocks start to fall from the ceiling because of how intense the fighting has been.  Vengeance Moth thinks back to how she was terrified of being buried alive, "tapehephobia" her shrink called it, and it still frightens her.

At the hospital, Virtue gets Vengeance Moth's call as she, Katharsis and Tremor watch over Mouse.  He mumbles something so Tremor gets closer to hear and he kisses her, "I kissed you and you're a girl.  We're in love now" he says.  Virtue runs in saying it's time to get back to HQ the others are in trouble.

The Graveyard Shift decide to cut their losses and leave before the roof caves in.  Anguish looms over Vengeance Moth saying she wants a "souvenier".  Katharsis appears and punches her away from Vengeance Moth. 

Virtue is scary when she is mad.

The Graveyrd Shift fight back, but Virtue takes Vengeance Moth's fear of being buried alive and fires it at anguish much amplified, causing her to freak out in terror.  Virtue then says:

Virtue: "Leave Coral City, that's the good news.  The bad news is is you ever come back I will bury your soul so deep you'll think hell is a mile higher".

The Graveyard Shift take the hint and leave.  Back with the cops, Captain Meers is finally able to fire Whitt for punching Yee.  Yee baited Whitt deliberately much to Whitt's anger.  He then tells Meers he looked into Virtue and has found out she died six years ago.

Mouse seems to have some kind of enhanced healing ability as he is able to join the rest of them on a roof looking out over the city.

Virtue: "Maybe someday everyone looks up and sees something beautiful".

And this chapter closes on an image of Batgirl in front of the "Welcome to Coral City" sign.  She is in town on the trail of a wannabe superhero who killed some people.  His name is Reese, or "Horizon".  She finds and confronts him and he fires some energy at her and escapes.

At Movement HQ, Katharsis, Virtue and Burden are in the bathroom trying to make Mouse presentable to Tremor.  Virtue asks the cowering Burden if he can help?

Burden: "Me?  That boy is buck nekkid.  I can see his.. I can see his teats.  I shouldn't even be in here!"
They get Mouse under the shower and when he admits he doesn't know how to use shampoo, Virtue gets in with him to give him "the full treatment."

On a lighter note, Mouse hates bathtime.

Batgirl has recovered from the attack and finds herself surrounded by the masked "I.C.U" crowd telling her to leave Reese alone.

Batgirl: "Well this spiralled out of control fast. What in the world is for real going on here?"

She goes looking for Reese, meanwhile Mouse is all dolled up in a suit and even wearing shows.  He goes up to Tremor and reads his declaration of love and offers her a box of chocolates.

Courtship, Mouse style.

Tremor screams at the rat and Katharsis drily remarks "it doesn't sound like that went too well".  Batgirl goes to the one person considered an authority in the area, Pastor Mike.  She tells him she wants to talk with The Movement and she's in luck, Virtue appears right away.

Batgirl tells her she is looking for a criminal called Reese Cahill.  Virtue says they don't go giving people up to the cops.  Batgirl tries to threaten her with blackmail if she doesn't play along.  Virtue thinks, "my first real superhero and she's kind of a bitch to be honest".

Batgirl vs. Katharsis round two.

Then Katharsis appears.  She and Batgirl have history, they fought when Katharsis was a member of a group called "Knightfall" in Gotham.  They get into a punch up and Batgirl manges to disable Katharsis with a kick to the stomach.  They are still in the church and Pastor Mike says:

Pastor Mike: "Church or no church.  This is a terrible way to solve problems".

Then Mouse rides in on his wave of rats who surround Batgirl.  Virtue says they can sort things out over doughnuts and milkshakes so they go to their local diner to talk it out.

Meanwhile captain Meers is digging into Virtue's history and finds out he shot her father who was robbing a bank at the time.  At the diner, Batgirl says Reese tried to stop a mugging but was attacked himself and killed two of his assailants and put the other two in hospital badly burned.

Ice cream and donuts are way better than fighting.

Katharsis points out he did it because he was acting in self defence, then gets up to use the toilet.  Virtue says she can sense there is someone Batgirl hates very much (image of the Joker) and would she kill them if she could?  Batgirl gets annoyed and says to keep out of her way while she looks for Reese.

Then Katharsis cold cocks her from behind and knocks her out. Their plan is to take her back to HQ and photo her unmasked for leverage against her.  The chapter ends with Reese killing two cops saying, "I am a hero can't you see that?  I'm a hero."

They bring the unconcious Batgirl down to their HQ and lay her out.  Tremor thinks what they are doing is a bit skeevy.  Virtue says the photos will just be for them.  Katharsis goes out to look for Reese herself.  They point a camera at Batgirl and start to peel off her mask.

Hey! Not cool Movement, not cool at all.

But she starts to come round and sees an image of the Joker standing over her with a camera (the events of The Killing Joke are partly canon, but she wasn't permanently crippled this time), and she punches Virtue hard.  She disables Tremor too as she imagines herself shot in the gut on the floor of her home.  The approaches Burden who says, "I am a little bit frightened right now ma'am!".

Batgirl starts to help the others up and says they triggered a traumatic memory for her.  One of The Movement's eyes on the street says she's seen Reese.  The location is transmitted to Katharsis who locates him.  He tells her to leave him alone, she replies "you're sort of bringing a ruckus"  They fight while Katharsis compliments him on his good looks.

Katharsis finds Reese.

Elsewhere the Graveyard Shift hand their notice into Mr. Cannon.  He calls them cowards, Anguish says "maybe but we're still alive". Mr. Cannon says to Terry they have to find another solution to their "little Channel M problem".

Batgirl apologises to Virtue for practically breaking her nose.  She looks around the HQ and is told they feeld, clothe, house and protect those society has failed.  Batgirl thinks she may have misjudged them.  Virtue says she has Katharsis dealing with the problem of Reese, "I trust her good judgement".  Cut to Katharis and Reese kissing in the air.

With things a bit quieter  Tremor tries to have a word with Mouse over his infatuation with her.  She says she is flattered but:

Tremor: "Mouse, I'm asexual".

Mouse doesn't understand, ("A sexual what?") and nor does Burden much to Vengeance Moth's amusement.

Superheroing doesn't always result in sexy times, alas.

Virtue tells Batgirl they'll take care of Reese, but Batgirl says that's not happening.  Reese and Katharsis meanwhile have made love. "They are going to kill me" says Reese to her.  But she reassures him she won't allow that.  She flies him to a bridge to explain it doesn't matter what he does, because on one side of the bridge is the 'Tweens.  Every city has them.

The others are waiting on the bridge too.  Katharsis defends Reese, but Virtue tells him he's killed two Coral City cops earlier.  Angered she turns and says to him:

Katharsis: "Dammit.  Did you we just.. just do that when you still had cop blood on your hands?"

Deciding Reese's fate.

Reese looks sad and says he was going to be a hero.  Katharsis gets ready to chop his head off, but Batgirl disarms her.  Virtue says, "there is no good side here... none that I can see."  They decide to let the Coral City cops deal with him which satisfies Batgirl.  Before she leaves she invites Virtue to Gotham, they need some positivity.

Virtue: "We don't always get a choice Batgirl.  We don't always get to choose."

Some days later The Tall Man arrives in Coral City saying he is looking for the devil, "An' I've come to take him home".  Rainmaker and Virtue have managed to have a date, and have a passionate snog at the end of it.

Well sometimes superheroing DOES get you sexytimes!

The Tall Man comes to the soup kitchen Burden and Katharsis are helping at.  Katharsis notes Burden has a real thing about family when one of the homeless calls him "son".  Sadly Burden admits, "they did not think well of me". The Tall Man comes over and says it is because of the blood on his hands and he has come to take Burden home.  He is Jacob, Burden's brother.

Katharsis tries to stop him and Jacob beats her almost unconcious.  Burden hugs her and thanks her and goes without a fight with Jacob before he can hurt anymore people.  Later the rest of the group convene and Virtue tries to follow Jacob's emotional trail but is overwhelmed by the rage and hatred it is made up of, "he is made of hate.  Made of it".

Burden's brother Jacob is a dick.

Katharsis suggest following Burdens emotional trail instead and we get a shot of Jacob flying home carry Burden with him.  They arrive at their religious commune an Elder York says they didn't want Burden back after he killed his father, it is due to Jacob's kindess that he is back "for the dignity of the trials.  Thank him for the merciful scourge you are to receive boy".

Burden is dragged to a cross and tied to it.  He says he admits killing his father but can't recall doing it.  Jacob tells the story of their childhood, but his self aggrandising words are at odds with the images showing the truth.

We see him flying as a child.  He says he was "born of angels and given to a Godly woman".  We then see him telling his parents that the newly born baby is "the devil's own leavings". He says he prayed and prayed for Burden until his knees bled, while we see that actually he tried to drown a young Burden to bring his devil power out.

Burden's unhappy childhood.

Father scourged Burden daily, "but in the end he was too kind, too gentle by half" as we see Burden tied to a bed being whipped across his naked back. One day Jacob woke Burden up and showed him their father's dead body saying Burden did it.  That's when Burden ran away.

He opens his wings and is about to brand Burden with a hot iron, Katharsis appears and punches him, saying "he's not your brother anymore.  He's our brother."  While they fight, Virtue tells the crowd Jacob is lying.  Burden then changes into his demon self and takes Jacob on.

Jacob: "I have the face of an angel and a heart of filth.  While you are my opposite brother.  They will always choose me".

Demons are cooler than angels anyway.

Burden rams Jacob's face into the hot coals, and as he turns back their mother runs to Jacob saying "you hurt my beautiful son.  You monster!  You abomination before God".

Burden and the others leave, but before he goes, Burden turns as says to the crowd, "also?  I like other boys."  And they head home.

Burden triumphant with his new family.

The final issue starts with captain Meers  finding Virtue leaving her place of work.  He asks, "why The Movement?  What was the endgame here?"  She replies that she has a "silly little dream" where they could be part of something better, "where people cared about each other".

She says that they live in the 'Tweens, they'll never join the club that lives on Mount Olympus.  He tells her she's a kid and the world isn't her responsibility.  She tells him when she was younger she manifested her power and her mum made a "terrible decision" and had her declared dead and sent away to live with an aunt with her father none the wiser.

Mr. Cannon meanwhile is contemplating his wife's grave and asks her to forgive him for his weakness. He then asks an assisstant if she has found the cop, she says yes and "he's agreed to you terms."

Down in Movement HQ, Virtue fixes Mouse up with a woman who works in a pet shop and loves rats.  She has even bought him cheese.  Mouse tells Tremor he is with Margaret now, much to Tremor's relief.  Katharsis says Virtue is amazing at this sort of thing.  Burden wonders if their is the perfect guy out there for him as well.

Mr. Cannon needs help.

Then Vengeance Moth detects someone approaching via the tunnels.  It's Mr. Cannon.  One of his aides swipes Mouse's rats and he attacks her, but Mr. Cannon says he is here to negociate not fight.

Virtue carries on telling the story of what happened next.  He wonders why they agreed to work with Mr. cannon, she says she could detect his feelings as a father, it's the nature of her power that she finds "something to hold on to in even the worst of people".  She says the reason she was sent away and declared dead was because she lashed out at her father when he grounded her for seeing a girl she liked and hospitalised him.

Anyway, they agreed to help Mr. Cannon catch the Cornea Killer, and go to the graveyard where he says he'll be.  But Terry fights back, wounding Mouse with a knife to the chest.  Then ex-police officer Whitt fires on them from the bushes.

The death of the Cornea Killer via corrupt ex-cop.

It was a set up to kill The Movement and have Terry take the credit but also die a hero. Whitt's first shot just skims Katharsis.  He gets Virtue in his sights but Terry pushes her away and he gets shot in the head instead.  They leave Mr. Cannon to greive his son's death.

Virtue tells Captain Meers that she hated him for a long time because of him shooting her father, but now she knows he is a good man.  He says he doesn't see much of his own daughter nowadays, so perhaps he could look in on her from time to time.  They hug.

He tells her to be careful, "they'll never change enough fit in with the Justice people".  Virtue responds:

Virtue: "Oh I know.  That was never the plan.  But sooner or later captain, they're going to have to change to fit in with us".

And they all lived happily ever after...

And that brings the whole series to a premature end.  It's a real shame tumblr popularity couldn't be reflected in sales.  It was never going to be a mega seller, but it's a shame it was felt there was no place for a metahuman team of young immigrants of varying sexualities, working at street level to protect the "little people".  The series at least comes to a decent end, and doesn't feel too abrupt.  We were just getting to know the characters thanks to Simone's skillful way with words, the coversations felt authentic and not some embarrassing attempt to be hip.  She was helped immeasurably by Freddie Williams II's down and dirty artwork adept both at showing superheroes fighting or showing one character having to be enticed into a shower.  DC took a risk with The Movement and got exactly the right author writing it, but like future attempts at diversity in the DCYou, the word just didn't get out to the less social media inclined comicbook readership.  I also have this terrible fear that now Gail Simone is gone from DC, the characters will end up expendable cannon fodder in some future "Crisis Crossover" type event.  Don't do that DC, please leave them alone with their happy ending.  Please....