DCU Comic Book Reviews

THE BATTLE FOR BLÜDHAVEN #6

The Battle For Blüdhaven, Part 6

September 2006

Written by Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti

Pencils by Dan Jurgens

Inks by Jimmy Palmiotti

Cover by Daniel Acuña

Synopsis

One Year Ago...the explosion in Blüdhaven created a rip in the fabric of space and time, allowing Captain Atom to return to his home world.  Now...Captain Atom has been given a new suit to contain potential radiation leaks.  However, he is upset that people, the government, have been using him.  He warns others to evacuate the city.  Meanwhile, the battle for control of Blüdhaven rages on as the Teen Titans, Green Lantern, Atomic Knights, S.H.A.D.E., and the Nuclear Legion are all fighting each other.  Major Force of S.H.A.D.E. has gone berserk with his hatred of Green Lantern.  The Teen Titans are able to convince the rest of S.H.A.D.E. that the real villains are the Nuclear Legion.  S.H.A.D.E. agree and they join forces.  Upon hearing the news, Father Time orders an evacuation.  Just then Captain Atom appears, grabbing Major Force.  Captain Atom tells everyone they have 10 minutes to leave the city.  After 10 minutes, Captain Atom destroys Blüdhaven completely.  In the aftermath, the President calls for a task force to regulate meta-humans.  Meanwhile, three miles underneath Blüdhaven, the Atomic Knights regroup to continue the battle. 

Review

All right, the ending pissed me off to no end.  What this six issue mini-series basically told me is that it is no more than a prologue to the Uncle Sam series that will spin out of Brave New World.  This would have been fine if the damn thing had not been so densely populated with so many characters and sub-plots.  Somewhere amidst all that mess there is a story to be told regarding Father Time and his abuse of powers and how Uncle Sam built his team from the remnant of Father Time’s evil (or just misguided?) S.H.A.D.E. team.  But the inclusion of the Titans, Green Lantern, a Nuclear Legion, and Nuclear Family was just was too much for such a short story too handle.

The other problem I had was the fact that the destruction of Blüdhaven and then the President’s speech seems liked a fairly good way to end this mess.  And if that was the way it ended, I might have been less upset.  But the epilogue with the Atomic Knights just left a bitter taste in my mouth.  A lot of that, as I said, is the fact that this is the set-up for the Uncle Sam mini-series, but another part of me is just annoyed that Gray and Palmiotti felt inclined to toss another bit of DC history (Command-D or Kamandi, if you will) into this convoluted story. 

I am uncertain what to think of the destruction of Blüdhaven.  On the one hand, it seems to me that the current DC editorial team thinks the decision to create a sister city to Gotham was a bad idea, something that I do not agree with.  I thought Blüdhaven was a good idea and a great way to get Nightwing on his own without removing him too far from Batman’s world.  While the idea is sound, I am not entirely certain the execution was all that great and it certainly did not help when Nightwing was removed and Robin and Batgirl were tossed into the city.  And now with Batgirl gone, Robin returned to Gotham and Nightwing in New York City, there doesn’t seem to be a need for Blüdhaven any more.  So, on the other hand, no one is really going to miss it.  And I suspect this may be the last we hear of it as well.  Out of sight out of mind. -- MRB

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