Superman - Secret Origin #6 - Not a lot of really new stuff, but some beautiful art and a nice tribute to Chris Reeve.
Batman #702 - I love the idea of the original bullet...the one all other bullets come from...and it can kill gods. It left a Darkseid-sized hole in existance. Nice.
Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #5 - Another great story from Paul Tobin. Puppies save Spider-Man's life. Awwwwwwww.
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Nice annotations for the Batman issue.
I liked Batman 702 a lot, too -- even though there are apparently references in it to Batman & Robin and The Return of Bruce Wayne that I didn't get. One thing I loved was that when Darkseid was holding the Ancestor-Box, it's captions had Kirby Quotes, the Kirby Crackle of dialogue:
That's golden, friends.
Another wrinkle on the scene of Batman facing Darkseid, is that he's actually facing Terrible Turpin who is channeling Darkseid.
Turpin was an East-Side Bowery Boy, much like Kirby, who even in the 70's thought of himself as out of his time. It wasn't hard to see that Kirby identified with Turpin. That identification became explicit with the Superman Animated Series in the 90s, where Turpin actually looked and talked like Jack Kirby.
In terms of breakneck plotting and and continuous firecracker popping of ideas, Kirby is the father of what Morrison does in his superhero work. On some level, perhaps, Batman/Orion shooting Darkseid/Turpin is Morrison dealing with his own anxiety of influence issues. Sure, Kirby is a figure of respect, that Morrison could only have admiration and fondness for. Still, Morrison has illustrated "Meet the Buddha, Kill the Buddha" before. Even attachments to those we love can be dangerous - "Meet your parents, Kill your parents".
I've said it elsewhere, but the parallels between the extremely similar scenes of Batman shooting Darkseid here and the shooting scene (spoilerific link) in St Swithin's Day actually add meaning to both comics.
Ultimate evil, bullets that exist on a higher, symbolic plane, a lifetime coming down to a single self-defining moment. Even the Neurotic Boy Outsider being trapped in an era of history.
Batman being the embodiment of humanity standing up to evil is awesome...
Equally awesome was that he knew the New Gods were powerful symbols of higher, purer truths rather than actual beings. Batman had worked out beforehand that it wasn't just a case of shooting Darkseid with the God-killing bullet, but that he, Bruce, would necessarily have to embody all of humanity in its struggles against evil for the showdown to work. Batman had to see himself as a character in a story. Not in an Animal Man way, but Morrison is making the symbolism and the actual events of the comic identical here.
I've really loved these two issues of Batman. Issue 701 is probably up there with my favourite Batman comics of all time. Bruce has never come across as this human or vulnerable before. However, I'm still not sure if Morrison had intended to include these issues from the outset. I think he may have expected the readers to put together the revelations in issue 702 from the clues out there already. A task that would have been way beyond me, and most everyone out there, I'd imagine.
Batman would be best to embody man's battle against evil. For all his intimidation and fearsome persona, he sees himself as one of us, trying to prevent his tragedy from happening to anyone else. Beyond his being a control freak, of course!