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Pick Your Pickle and Prepare for Puns: Pickleball's Board Game Just Launched. A fast, fun, irreverent board game that celebrates the joy of Pickleball. Fans of silly puns, pickles, and fast-paced games alike have a new game to add to their list of must-haves: HotShot Pickleball. This delightful card-drawing board game is quick to learn and gives a surprising amount of opportunity to lightly strategize as you race to the ball and attempt to hit it back over the net to your opponent. The debut release from indie studio Midnight Trading Co., HotShot Pickleball was made while game designer Robert Gelb was recovering from an Achilles injury sustained, ironically, by playing Pickleball. For those who haven’t heard of pickleball, it's the fastest-growing sport in the world, with over 32 million players last year. HotShot Pickleball is a lively, family-friendly game that combines the fun of the sport with a cast of quirky, pickle-themed characters like Stew Cumber, Kim Chee, and Corni

@BatWatcher Reviews: @DCComics Catwoman, Red Hood, Talon, Teen Titans



Here are today's Guest Reviews by Jeremy Sims from Batwatch for DC's; Catwoman #22, Red Hood and the Outlaws #22, Talon #10 and Teen Titans #22. I have also added my rating after each review. If you have any questions about my rating or want to discuss anything just leave me a comment.


See the Review Rating Overview page for more information on how I rate each comic.



Catwoman #22 - Down Under



What lies beneath the streets of Gotham City? Catwoman is determined to find out, but Dr. Phosphorus stands in her way!

Preview



Yep, It Sucks


Catwoman under Nocenti's (former writer for Daredevil and current writer for Catwoman and Katana) writing sucks, and this will end the background info and building of expectations introductory paragraph.

Will Catwoman #22 suck slightly more or slightly less than usual?

In this issue, Catwoman goes to the Underground of Gotham City to find her lost friend, Rat-Tail.

Specifically, this is a, "How does this even begin to make sense?" kind of suck rather than a, "This is so sloppy and incompetent," issue which is actually good news because it is more fun to make fun of Catwoman when it appears it was written while Nocenti was high.

Read the rest of Jeremy Sims' review on Batwatch

My Rating


Cover & Solicit - 3/5
Art, Colors & Inking - 5/5
Layout & Flow - 3/5
Story - 2/5
Verdict -3.1
 - (Buy Catwoman #22) SAVE 10%


Red Hood and the Outlaws #22 - Dangerous People


As the fate of Jason Todd remains unclear, Starfire faces off against Essence to try and tip the scales—but in which direction?



Preview




I Didn't Hate It


I love, love, love what James Tynion IV (current writer of Talon, Red Hood and the Outlaws and Batman) has done with Talon, but I'm beginning to think I hate, hate, hate what Tynion is doing to Red Hood and the Outlaws. RHATO was a high octane, high violence, low drama thrill ride. Yes, there was definitely some darkness skirting the edges of the story and there was definitely a considerable portion of the fan base who found Starfire's boobs the best plot element of the series, but overall, it was a buddy cop action/comedy series, and it was a lot of fun.

Now, it is not a lot of fun. The buddies have been split up, and what used to be fun is now drama central as our trio of heroes have parted ways. Jason isn't even himself since he has been mind wiped, and it's almost like dealing with a completely new character. I liked the idea of Jason doing some soul searching while wiped, but instead of facing the hard facts of life, seeing the necessity of violence, and coming to terms with the scars of his past, we have some plot from left field about Jason being the head of the League of Assassins. This would be an interesting concept if the real Jason Todd were getting this opportunity, but why would mind wiped innocent Jason want anything to do with it?

Long story short, this arc is getting on my nerves. I gave Tynion a lot of rope waiting for things to build, and if it doesn't build to something I enjoy in this issue, then you can count me among those eager for a new writer to take this series.

Does Red Hood and the Outlaws finally demonstrate that there are still good times to be had with the Outlaws or have the good times come to an end?

In this issue, Starfire tangles with Essence and Jason takes a tour of the city of assassins.

If but one thing positive can be said about this issue, it is that the story is finally coming together to form the big picture.

This issue was better in many ways.

Perhaps the most surprising area of improvement was in terms of the art. Julius Gopez's (former cover artist for Devil's Due's Dragons of Spring Dawning and penciler of The Ravagers and current artist for Red Hood and the Outlaws) art has been, quite frankly, ugly in past issues, but here, there are many scenes that look quite nice. Previously, Gopez seemed unable to draw a good looking face, but in this issue there are only a few hiccups in facial renderings. It seems that people are not Gopez's strength because while people look fairly good this time, the city of assassins looks great and highlights Gopez's skill. The colorists also deserve a lot the credit for making the city of assassins look so otherworldly.

Read the rest of Jeremy Sims' review on Batwatch

My Rating


Cover & Solicit - 3/5
Art, Colors & Inking - 3/5
Layout & Flow - 4/5
Story - 3/5
Verdict - 3.1
 - (Buy Red Hood and the Outlaws #22) SAVE 10%


Talon #10 - All Sorts of Fun


Can Calvin escape Santa Prisca, the most dangerous island on the planet? Or will he fall at the hands of its ruler, Bane?



Preview



If You Can Dodge a Wrench, You Can Dodge a Ball!


Ah, Talon. How I love thee. Let me count the ways. Thy protagonist is clever and witty with the perfect blend of light and dark. Thy powers and skills, though formidable, have not yet become tired nor overused. Thou always doth manage to surprise me with twists and turns that make my feeble heart go all a flutter, and thou brought forth one of the best women in all of comics in the form of the fair, though now mangled, Casey Washington.

Enough with the faux poetry bit. There is a lot to love about Talon, and I hope more people give it a chance since it is not doing well in sales, but I'm tired of yakking and ready to read this bad boy. When we last saw him, Talon was on the island with Bane and his goons, and I'm eager to see how this conflict will play out.

Does Talon #10 prove that Calvin Rose can go head to head with the greats or is he heading for yet another fall?

In this issue, Casey gets ready to make her move while Talon tangles with Wolf-Spider.

The first quarter of this issue is great. After that....meh.

I really enjoyed the are following Casey Washington. At one point, I theorized that Casey Washington's thug sanctuary program might be a good direction for this series to explore, and this issue makes it appear that we might see something like that happen, but I'm drifting off topic a bit. What I was getting at is that Casey is awesome, she has been from issue 1, and I'm glad this series continues to do her due diligence. I thought the scene where Casey watched the indoctrination of Sarah was done strikingly well in what amounts to pretty much a one panel story. The conclusion to Casey's arc in this issue made sense to me, and I thoroughly enjoyed it though (Spoilers) it's reasonable to assume that the Court has contacts in the police department, so Casey will need to break free of custody pretty quickly.

Read the rest of Jeremy Sims' review on Batwatch

My Rating


Cover & Solicit - 4/5
Art, Colors & Inking - 4/5
Layout & Flow - 4/5
Story - 4/5
Verdict - 4
 - (Buy Talon #10) SAVE 10%

Teen Titans #22 - Dark Titans


Trigon triumphs over the Teen Titans as he begins to turn Manhattan into a staging ground for a demonic takeover of the planet.



Preview




Ooooooo-kay.


Teen Titans is in the midst of drudging up the old plotline of Trigon and recycling it over the past couple months. Quite tellingly, this has actually been one of the better arcs of the series, but really, that is saying very little. Nearly two years into the rebooted Teen Titans, and we've had nary a good arc. We've had some that were okay, and that's the best Mr. Lobdell (former writer of Uncanny X-Men and current writer of Teen Titans, Superman and Action Comics) has managed to provide.

I'm not really in the mood to pick apart the pros and cons of the DCNU Teen Titans. Suffice to say that the bar is low, but thus far, this Trigon arc seems to be clearing that bar. If Lobdell can focus in and bring us a coherent story and Eddy Barrows (former artist for Nightwing and cover artist for Teen Titans and current penciler for Teen Titans and Superman and cover artist for Constantine) can bring his A game with the art, then there is potential here for an issue which is a lot of fun as the demon Trigon unleashes his full power upon the Teen Titans.

Does Teen Titans #22 prove to be a devilish good time or is it time for this series to go straight to Hell?

In this issue, Red Robin, Beast Boy and Raven take out Trigon.

Well this was...odd.

You know, I usually say that surprise is the way to win my comic loving heart, but this is not the kind of surprise I mean when I say that.

I knew a great plot was practically out of the question based on Lobdell's previous work on the Titans, so I was hoping for nothing more than a reasonable plot with some well drawn action. To my pleasure, Eddy Barrows delivered a much better looking issue this month than the last. The battle was quite dynamic, and I was enjoying right up until the minute that it ended...unexpectedly...without much warning. One minute they were fighting and the next minute Trigon got an owie, grabbed his toys and ran home to his hell dimension. That might be a little bit of an exaggeration, but it's not far off, and it just felt...too easy and kind of boring. For a huge battle that has been built up for four issues to end with a blow that clearly did Trigon no serious damage was just disappointing.

Read the rest of Jeremy Sims' review on Batwatch

My Rating


Cover & Solicit - 4/5
Art, Colors & Inking - 3/5
Layout & Flow - 3/5
Story - 3/5
Verdict - 3.1
 - (Buy Teen Titans #22) SAVE 10%

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Jeremy Sims is a blogger at https://batwatch.squarespace.com/ and a comic book reviewer at Comic Vine. The use of these reviews has been authorized by the original author.

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