Final Crisis Rogues Revenge #2 (OF 3)

To me the DCU used to seem a lot more innocent. I might have told you it's why I read more Marvel titles, or at least used to. DCU had the heroes of virtue, that you just knew were going to act accordingly and seldom fly off the handle. Even the villains of the DCU use to have a code of conduct, but not anymore.

FC Rogues Revenge #2 starts off with a nod to the 1979 cult-classic, "The Warriors". The first couple lines of dialogue are basically adapted from the opening credits of the film in which the Warriors gang discuss Cyrus (here the DCU villains discuss Libra). The character placement throughout the panels is also indicative of the reference.

(interestingly enough there's a comic adaptation of the Warriors scheduled for release in early 2009. just so happens to be in this week's "comic shop news". yeah, i thumbed thru it on its way to the trash)

Geoff continues the fun by taking us deep into the psyche of Len Snart, aka Captain Cold. It seems Len's got daddy issues. He's also got a group of wanna-be's calling themselves The New Rogues that want to take his place. The Old Rogues decide it would be better if they didn't and so dispose of the Newbs in a rather improper fashion. Ouch! 

If you were wondering, the New Rogues are a tie-in to Gotham Underground, the Batman mini-series which just recently concluded. You won't find much on them there, aside from being a group of Gotham's down-trodden, enlisted into Penguin's army to fight Gotham turf wars. They had no character development otherwise. 

A lot's been said about Snart's portrayal in the issue. He almost killed his dad, but chickened-out at the last and had Heat Wave do it instead. So how come nobody's mentioned Zoom?! Talk about creepy. Everytime I read his text I wanted to find the volume knob and turn it down, he seemed so vociferous.  I'm sure it had a lot to do with the red pupils (notice Grodd has them, too). 

There was a lot to gain from this issue, as hints to Libra's future plans were revealed. Damn, he's a cold bastard. Also looking forward to Piper's return and his reaction to the new Trickster, Axel. I expect big things from the final issue. With Geoff Johns you just can't lose.