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Writer: Bryan Hill / Artist: Dexter Soy / DC Comics

Okay, it’s been a minute since we’ve checked in on Batman and the Outsiders, but the moment you turn the page and see Ra’s Al Ghul’s hired hands opposite of the Outsiders and Lady Shiva, you kinda have to get hype.

The Demon’s Head has been playing the game over the last four issues, courting Duke Thomas and targeting Jefferson Pierce’s personal life. Cassandra Cain has had a rushed reunion with her mother Lady Shiva, and Kaliber pulled a face-heel turn which means Katana has a bit of a vendetta. And while the Outsiders are at the forefront of the battle, Batman’s in the background with Sofia trying to be the Big Good to Ra’s Al Ghul’s Big Bad. All of the miniature story arcs that have been developing come to a climactic battle, and while the arc is far from over, there are plenty of awesome moments as the multi-pronged melee commences.

You got to give it up to Hill and Soy for beautifully marrying emotional rawness with visceral physicality. Each of the three fights going on has very cleanly summarized emotional resonance captured with clean splash pages. Black Lightning wanting vengeance for his dead friend. Signal and Orphan getting their rematch with Karma. The aforementioned Kaliber and Katana duel. Lady Shiva lending assists. And the best part is that after Hill sets everything, he lets Soy do the bulk of the work, and Soy is very good at what he does.

The focus of this issue is action, and Soy goddamn delivers. This is some of the most beautiful fight sequences I think I’ve seen in a superhero comic, and there is a sheer variety of combat going on. You got some of the best hand to hand fighters flexing. You got metas letting loose. And after the action, you got rising stakes that make you that much more invested in the story.

The “A League of Their Own” doesn’t put Batman and the Outsiders in a league of its own, but it does remain a very solid superhero comic that gives its characters ample opportunity to shine. Hill’s very good at imparting ethos into the script, and Soy masterfully brings it to life. As the arc races towards its conclusion, you have to wonder what the actual final battle is going to look like with all of the machinations and chess games between Batman and Ra’s Al Ghul going on, and I’m ready for it.

9.4 “Symbols” out of 10

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The post Batman and the Outsiders #11 Review appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.

Toni Braxton sang the praises of Uncle Bud’s CBD-Infused health products during an appearance on Cheddar.

Braxton, who is a brand partner with Uncle Bud’s, made an appearance with the brand’s brainchild, 23-year-old entrepreneur Garrett Greller on Cheddar to discuss the benefits of CBD and how the use of its products have been helping her.

The hemp-healthy brand specializes in skincare, personal care, and pain relief products, and are an essential part of Braxton’s daily routines. She has long suffered from the painful and debilitating effects of lupus. After being diagnosed over 10 years ago, Braxton thought it would end her career in music since lupus is a painful inflammatory disease that attacks the tissues. After discovering CBD, a legal cannabinoid extract, it vastly improved the quality of her life and provided the relief necessary for her to continue touring.

“I knew nothing about CBD, I’m going to be honest. I actually found out about his product by default,” the Grammy Award-winning artist told Cheddar. One day Braxton couldn’t find her regular lupus medication and just happened to stumble on an Uncle Bud’s product which was under the sink. After applying the product to her knees, there was immediate relief. Her concerns about the product making her high were dispelled once she learned that it wasn’t like THC, the active component in cannabis that creates a “high.” She became hooked and became a regular user and champion for CBD.

“Having lupus, I always try to be positive, but sometimes I have bad days like everybody else,” Braxton said. “All of a sudden, I put this product on and it just makes me feel better.”

Greller, who is the co-creator of Uncle Bud’s, was suffering from painful arthritis in his knees, back, hips, and ankles for years. He was wasting thousands of dollars on over-the-counter and doctor-prescribed pain-relief medicines that didn’t work or often had unpleasant side effects. Greller worked with an FDA-registered lab to formulate a natural, hemp-based solution that could provide relief to millions of Americans who suffer from daily aches and pains, which turned out to become Uncle Bud’s Topical Pain Reliever.

Uncle Bud’s products specialize in pain relief, personal care, and skincare, and it includes a topical pain reliever, body wash, sunburn soother, and hand and foot creams.

Source: James Devaney / Getty

Michael Strahan has filed for primary custody of his teenage twin daughters, Sophia and Isabella, after accusing his ex-wife, Jean Muggli Strahan, of abusing them.

According to court documents obtained by TMZ, the former football star and “Good Morning America” host is alleging that Jean has been inflicting both physical and emotional abuse on the girls. He went on to say that he has proof that Jean has been engaging in a “pattern of abusive conduct towards the children for years,” which he will disclose in sealed court documents.

Additionally, Michael accuses Jean of failing to take their daughters to court-ordered therapy appointments and argues that she is the reason that they have missed several volleyball games and equestrian events.

Currently, Michael has visitation rights and Jean, primary custody; however, he is requesting a swap. He wants to take primary custody and have the girls move with him in New York while Jean, who resides in North Carolina, takes on his current visitation arrangement. He also wants Jean to be held in criminal and civil contempt for her alleged actions.

This latest development comes as Jean and Michael are enthralled in the middle of an intense child support dispute. The nature of the dispute remains unclear. According to TMZ, sources connected to the media personality claim that Jean is seeking to increase monthly payments and modify their current child support arrangement while sources connected to Jean say that she is seeking back child support after Michael failed to keep up with certain “obligations” that were specified in their 2009 child support agreement.

Michael and Jean tied the knot in 1999 and divorced in 2006. After a bitter and lengthy court battle, Jean was awarded $15.8 million and Michael was ordered to pay $18,000 per month in child support.

Keiynan Lonsdale as Wally West and Grant Gustin as Barry Allen -- Photo: The CW

A few superhero faces have been missing on The Flash, recently. Cisco went away to research supervillains, I guess. Ralph is off chasing Sue Dearbon after she got the better of him. And this season’s Wells kind of just comes in and out. This week’s episode fixes a few of those, at least. Cisco comes back, and it looks like he definitely enjoyed his time off. What’s even more exciting though, is that Wally West is back! The episode opens with a helicopter rusting and falling apart. Caitlin and Kamilla think Barry’s already on it, but he’s still at S.T.A.R. Labs. There’s another speedster in town. Man, first Grodd comes back and now Wally West? This show gets me.

Wally isn’t here just to catch up with family, though. Like Barry, the Speed Force has been acting weird for him. For Barry, it’s been sudden loss of speed, and his accelerated healing not working like it’s supposed to. For Wally, he can feel the Speed Force fading in his head. Wally asks Iris if Barry’s told her anything, and she lets slip that Barry had an incident with the Speed Force back in December. Of course, she’s referring to the Bloodwork fight, when Barry chose to let Ramsey take control and attacked the manifestation of the Speed Force. When Wally brings Barry into the Speed Force, it tells Barry that it is dying because of something he did. Wally takes that to mean the Ramsey incident, and storms off on Barry instead of talking it out like rational humans. I guess we’re bringing back the show’s bad habits along with its good characters.

Victoria Park as Kamilla and Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon — Photo: Colin Bentley/The CW

Barry goes back into the Speed Force with Gideon’s help and finds out she wasn’t referring to the Ramsey fight. Barry’s actions in Crisis led to the Speed Force’s death. When he used the Specter’s energy to enter the Speed Force, the energy corrupted it. Barry saved the universe because of that choice, but now he might lose his speed. I guess we should have expected that this was next after “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” In the comics, speedsters lose their connection to the Speed Force or are otherwise forced to exist without it. It was only a matter of time before the show tried out one of these stories.

It’s a cool direction for the season to go, but my problem with it is that the episode doesn’t give it enough time. The Speed Force dying is a major event, and it doesn’t feel like the biggest thing that happens in this episode. I get that this is going to be an ongoing story for the next few weeks. The way it was handled though, it got enough time to feel like we should be getting something more, but not enough for it to have any real impact just yet.

Grant Gustin as The Flash and Keiynan Lonsdale as Kid Flash — Photo: Colin Bentley/The CW

It also takes away from what’s otherwise a really good villain of the week. See, the helicopter attack at the beginning of the episode wasn’t random. A Russian thief named Turtle (Or Turtle 2, since she’s from another pre-Crisis Earth), is tracking down her old gang. Seems like they lived lavishly, while she went away. The show doesn’t spend a ton of time on her motives or backstory, but it doesn’t need to. She can store and manipulate potential energy, creating little bubbles of frozen time. If she traps someone (or something) in a bubble, she can rapidly age them. That’s what happens to the helicopter, and that’s what happens to the socialite, who ends up mummified on the floor of CC Jitters.

We get an awesome fight in the middle of CCPD though, when Turtle 2 shows up to kill another member of her old gang. The Flash and Kid Flash team up for the first time in years, and it immediately brings a smile to my face. Yes, the episode is crowded, and the resolution is rushed, but Wally and Barry fighting together will never not bring me joy. And hey, Joe got in on the action too. After Jesse L. Martin’s break from the show for health reasons, and a whole lot of episodes where he couldn’t do much more than sit and talk, it was a welcome surprise to see him land the final blow on a supervillain.

Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow — Photo: Colin Bentley/The CW

In addition to all of that, the Nash Wells story decided to show itself. After weeks of Nash seeing ghostly figures of other Wellses, he tries to go to Cisco for help. Cisco though, is too busy trying to figure out how to stop Turtle 2, and blows him off. He only agrees to help after Caitlin gives him a talking to. Because we’re back to the can-I-talk-to-you cycle. It’s too late, though. By the time Cisco finds him, Eobard Thawn has taken over Nash’s body. He attacks Cisco, but is surprised to find out he doesn’t have any powers in his new body. He still comes close to killing Cisco anyway, but Cecile senses the hate through the door, and tasers Nash/Thawne until he’s unconscious.

At first I thought this story would be an unnecessary addition to an already overstuffed episode. But Thawne’s return and imprisonment becomes important to the death of the Speed Force. As Thawne taunts Barry and promises to kill his friends and family, he also gloats about building his own Speed Force. That gives Barry an idea. If Thawne did it, why can’t he? That’s how he’ll get his powers back. That’s a real interesting direction for the show to go. If it follows the comics at all, Barry probably won’t reach quite the speeds he was able to before. He’ll be slightly more vulnerable, and there’s a lot of story potential there. As rushed as some of these storylines were this week, they set up a lot of cool stuff for the weeks to come.

Candice Patton as Iris West – Allen — Photo: Colin Bentley/The CW

That’s what makes the episode work despite the flaws. There was too much going on at once, but all of it was exciting. I can’t complain much about too many stories if they’re all still pretty good. And hey, by consolidating Nash, Thawne and the Speed Force’s death into one single story by the end, future episodes could be slightly more focused. Even Mirror Iris finally got something going by the end. Until now, she’s just acted vaguely suspicious with no discernible goal. By the end of the episode, Kamila discovers that photos of her look like reflective glass. Unfortunately, she can’t tell anyone about that. Mirror Iris finds her and shoots her with a mirror gun. I hope she’s OK. Hopefully it just sent her inside the Mirror with Iris and Eva. Iris needs someone on her side in there.

This will be the last time I write about The Flash. My final post for Geek will be next week, but this is it for this series. I’ve been covering this show for three and a half years, and it’s hard to say goodbye. Especially in the middle of the season. Of all the shows I’ve recapped over the years, The Flash has meant the most to me. He’s my favorite superhero, and through all its ups and downs, I’ve loved this incarnation of him. My Flash fandom is part of what got me this gig in the first place. If you’re one of the people who read these recaps regularly, I just wanted to say thanks. And hey, next week, I’ll get to enjoy the new episode as a fan. So it’d better be good.

The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.

Previously on The Flash:

• The Flash Season 6 Episode 13 recap
• The Flash Season 6 Episode 12 recap
• The Flash Season 6 Episode 11 recap