The big CW-crossover concludes on Legends of Tomorrow, which also shares the “Invasion” title. Their “previously on” scenes seem to be focusing hard on Flash’s changing time before. That’s interesting considering the Legends have made several changes this season, some deliberate and some by accident. Not to mentions Sara’s repeated attempts to assassinate Damian Darhk.
The massive CW crossover continues with Arrow’s part of the “Invasion!” At the end of the Flash episode, we saw a good chunk of the Arrow cast beamed up by the Dominators. Now we get to find out what happened to them, along with a few scenes of what the others are up to. Well, most of them. As I commented about in my Flash review, Artemis is never seen, mentioned, referred to at all. Rory gets a passing scene, but no in-costume action.
While it sort of started on Supergirl, the big four-part crossover really kicks off on Flash. All the other shows share the title of “Invasion!” which was the title of the comic book event in the 90’s this story is loosely based on. For a big-time herogeek like me, it’s a lot of fun, especially as someone who’s been reading comics so long that I remember the initial story. It’s streamlined a lot, since the comic crossover went into every DC title running back then, and there were a LOT more heroes in the DCU of the 90’s than the DC CW-verse of the present.
The CW hero shows have their big crossover this week. Crossovers are a big thing in comics, so it makes sense that now that they have all these linked shows, they follow suit. While it helps reinforce the shared world of most of the shows, it ended up emphasizing that Supergirl is off on her own. Not only is she literally on a different Earth than the others (Earth 38, apparently), but all the other shows shared the “Invasion!” title for their episodes, where this one was “Medusa,” a follow up on something from last week. They also didn’t do as much for the actual tie-in as the other shows did.
Taking an early break, Gotham’s winter/mid-season finale (whichever term you like) is called “The Green-Eyed Monster.” A few of the plots rush towards their big cliffhanger, although I only found one of them to really have a lot of suspense in it. It was a pretty good episode… right up until the end.
I’ve been a comic book, and general hero, fan my entire life as far back as I go. As a rule, I’m more of a DC fan than Marvel, or at least that was true until the DC reboot several years ago. I’m also a big fan of movies. Give me a dark room, a big screen, and some popcorn and I’m a happy guy. I say all this as background to try and get across what a big thing it was for me to NOT see Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice in the theater. It was the first time two of the most famous comic book heroes out there shared the big screen, and I just couldn’t bring myself to see it after Man of Steel. I’m not going to rehash the Man of Steel controversy here. I will say, and most have agreed, that it was the most divisive comic book movie ever made. For me, on the heels of such dismal products as Green Lantern, Jonah Hex (how do you screw up a cowboy movie??), and Dark Knight Rises, I didn’t like where they went with Man of Steel. Everything I saw suggested that Dawn of Justice would continue that, so I decided to not give them my money. For me, I made the right choice.
You have to give Palmiotti and Conner points for how they handle Harley. The book is mostly silly adventure with a side order of cheesecake, but they manage to work in some serious issues in the background. This issue is even more slapstick/cheesecake than normal, and they still pull it off.
Falling back on what I really think is becoming an overused trope, Supergirl starts off fighting what appears to be Hank Henshaw. He’s clearly intent on beating the hell out of her, and she’s very confused. Then, of course, we get a different scene and “24 Hours Earlier.” The writers really need to come up with something else for us to open their shows with. This is getting old.
Gotham’s “Mad City” arc continues with “Time Bomb.” It does a very interesting job of weaving together several different plot threads, and setting up for some serious conflict later. And, while they’ve hinted at it before, we see some more of the dark, twisted, brilliance that will eventually make Edward Nygma one of Batman’s more intelligent foes (in the comics at least, I’m not sure any of that happens in this reality).
This week’s Flash starts exactly where last week’s stopped. They even skip the voice over. Flash is pinned to a wall by Savitar, Wally’s in some kind of cocoon, and Joe has been grabbed by cultists of Dr. Alchemy’s. Alchemy himself takes advantage of the confusion to grab his stone and slip away. Joe gets free, but apparently can’t see Savitar. Savitar yanks Barry outside, and proceeds to beat on him. Savitar drags Flash all over the city, moving so fast the trackers in Flash’s suit can’t keep up.
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