ACTION COMICS #21: Superman continues to battle the hybrid creature with the help of a holographic transmitted Dr. Veritas, who teleports a red light device to him. Suddenly Lex Luthor arrives in his warsuit to evict the Man of Steel from Earth. Superman convinces Jimmy and Lois to lead the hybrid humans to safety, even as Luthor tells Superman he is allowing the virus to spread. Lois records the confrontation between Superman and Luthor on her phone, specifically when Luthor admits he created the virus. Unfortunately, she drops her phone in the midst of their battle. After a trip to the sun to regain his energy, Superman defeats Luthor but id disappointed to hear the police consider arresting HIM. Lois and jimmy, with no physical evidence explain the real story to the police. The following day, Jimmy and Lois meet with Clark, who gives her back her phone that he claims washed up on the river shore. Lois hugs him, declaring him the best friend ever, even as she goes off on a date with her boyfriend, Jon Carroll. In the back-up, Lara breaks ups with her lover as he falls under the influence of Colonel Zod. And Zod has sent men to kill Jor-El.
The Andy Diggle/Tony Daniels era continues and it just gets really dumb! Luthor shows up in his battle suit and spends way too much time doing his monologue. Superman gets depressed because people don’t understand him(is this supposed to tie in with how he is treated in the new movie?). Lois’ phone survives an epic battle and she BELIEVES it washed up on the river shore and was found by Clark after an exhaustive search. Clark gets dumped…again. The dialogue is awful and the plot is equally bad with holes to drive a bus through. And the only thing worse than the main story is the back-up, which continues to give us the early days of Lara, Jor-El and Zod but really does nothing for me. Personally, I cannot wait until November when Greg Pak and Aaron Kuder sink their creative teeth into this title.
ALL STAR WESTERN #21: We begin with Booster and Jonah fleeing from the remains of Clem Hootkins' gang. Unfortunately, Booster ends up driving the horse drawn cart they are in over a cliff. Jonah grabs Booster who apparently floats through the air. Jonah drops off Booster and falls to the ground. When he wakes, he realizes he is in Gotham’s future, where he finds a family being attacked by a gang of mutants and fights them. Before he can reach the family, he finds himself in battle with the Gotham City Police Department and the Batwing. Hex mentions Amadeus Arkham and Batwing think he is an escaped mental patient and he knocks him out. When Jonah wakes, he is in a padded cell and has been labeled a lunatic. In the back-up, something in Dr. Thirteen’s garlic fueled blood poisons Mircalla and causes the death of her and her minions. Adam is left to his own devices as the team strips him naked and lead him in the desert. Before all is done, Jenny offers herself to Dr. Thirteen.
This was a wild issue this time around as Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti send our hero off to the future of Gotham City. And it’s not just ANY future: it looks to be the future of THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS. Well, there are mutants here so it MAY be possible, unless that timeline doesn’t exits any longer. Oh yeah: our hero needs to know that you can’t say “colored” any more. But, at the same time, the GCPD have to know that “redneck” is equally offensive. Art for Moritat is on target as it always is. Regarding the back-up, AS I HAVE SAID BEFORE: I don’t care! First off, I don’t need to bear witness to a 19th Century Stormwatch team, even if it does color the future characters and their descendants. Second: if I wanted vampires in the desert, I would watch FROM DUSK TILL DAWN.
ANIMAL MAN #21: As we learned last issue, Buddy baker has been nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his role in the film TIGHTS. His manager calls him at the apartment he has been living in since his family threw him out and implores him to go back to work. Buddy reads about pet abductions in the area and decides he must investigate. He ends up at a seemingly abandoned warehouse, where he feels the pain of all the animals who suffered there. Meanwhile, Ellen and Maxine moved to Ellen’s mothers’ farm in Sacramento. Maxine pretends to go to sleep, but actually ends up talking to her cat Socks. Maxine decides she and Socks will travel to The Red to revive her brother Cliff. They encounter the Shepherd who says the Totems have mellowed a bit but she must still maintain some decorum when speaking to them. She tells them she wants to be their avatar, but only if they do it while she's asleep and that they allow her, Shepherd and Socks to look for Cliff, which they agree too. Back at the warehouse, Buddy makes his way into the basement of the warehouse and discovers all the animals have been subjected to horrible experiments. He runs into the person responsible, who has grafted the animals' body parts onto his body. The creature flees and Buddy gives chase, but runs straight into the paparazzi.
Jeff Lemire once again continues to amp up the complete creepiness of this title. We have a creature made up of animal parts that has been torturing small animals? Wow! That just turns all the animal lovers completely off! And then, we get sweet little Maxine preparing to resurrect her brother? THAT can’t be good! Great looking art from Steve Pugh and Francis Portella too!
AQUAMAN #21: Deep beneath the Bermuda Triangle, Mera has a long overdue meeting with Nereus, who kisses her passionately claiming she is his wife. Meanwhile, her REAL husband is off hunting The Scavenger and tears up one of his submarines to discover that he is not there. In Medical Cove. an Atlantean who was savaged by The Scavenger is stabilized until he is well enough to operate on, while some plan to rescue Orm from a human jail. Arthur goes to find his wife and discovers that Mera, Nereus, and the rest have been frozen by the alleged First King of Atlantis. While Vulko screams to see Aquaman prior to his trial beginning, The Scavanger’s plan is revealed. He has implanted a tracking devise inside the wooden Atlantean and now he and his followers have invaded Atlantis.
The DEATH OF A KING storyline continues on as all of the pieces begin to fall into place. Kudos to Geoff Johns and Paul Pelletier for churning out another killer chapter in this soon to be epic. We get a glimpse at Mera’s background, the First King of Atlantis, the real story behind the Bermuda Triangle and proof that The Scavenger is truly a villain to be reckoned with and deserves a place in the pantheon of Aquaman bad guys.
BATGIRL #21: Nightwing returns to Gotham City and calls Barbara Gordon to talk about James death, making the comparison to how he lost his brother in Damian. Meanwhile, Barbara is trying to deal with the hostage situation involving the Ventriloquist and hacks into the police database. She learns that the Ventriloquist is Shauna Belzer. Meanwhile, Jim Gordon meets with his ex-wife and is sad to discover she is leaving again. Later that night, Shauna entertains Xavia while she sits at the dinner table with the corpses of Shauna's parents. Shauna fears her dummy, named Ferdie, thinks Xavia more attractive than her and demands he drill out the singer’s eyes. Batgirl arrives and ends up battling the corpses, accidentally slice the father’s head with her Batarang, before defeats them and handcuffing them to a table. Soon she is battling with Ferdie, who wounds her with his drilling before she causes him to be destroyed by an exploding Batarang to his head. Shauna is soon knocked out by our hero and Xavia is recues, even though Batgirl leaves to avoid being caught by the police. Later that night, while she and Alysia eat Snickerdoodles, Barabra’s date arrives: Ricky.
Yeah…this one has it all: romance, drama…animated corpses. We even get Nightwing proving to be a jerk by calling Barbara up to console her while whining about losing his “brother”. I am so glad to have Gail Simone back on this book as she continues to write some great stuff...even if we probably will never find out HOW Babs got her legs back. Fernando Pasarin does a beautiful job on the art and Alex Garner’s cover is eerie and rocking! This is quickly becoming one of my “must read” first books in the Batman Family of titles.
BATMAN #21: We
start six years ago when Gotham
City seems to think that
Batman is dead. He soon proves he is not. Five months earlier, Batman had been
working under cover to try to bring down the Red Hood Gang. He ends up in a
standoff and discovers that his new grappling cannon needs improvement and ends
up in Gotham Bay for his troubles. Later, we learn that the world thinks that Bruce
Wayne is dead and Bruce wants to keep it that way. As he is about to leave, he
is surprised by the appearance of his uncle Philip Kane. Kane explains he’s
been trying to keep track of him since he disappeared and finally figured out
that he was back when Alfred moved into Crime Alley. He drives him to the new
home of Wayne Enterprises, which had merged with Kane Chemicals. Kane had Bruce
declared dead so that he could take control of the company. He told Bruce a
story about when HIS father realized he was dying and Bruce recalled his father
showing him a visual mapper that used a 360 degree camera that Lucius Fox had
designed. That night, Kane told his strategist that Bruce wasn’t going to play
along with him and Edward Nygma tells him the simplest answer would be to kill
Bruce Wayne.
In the back-up, a 19 year old Bruce Wayne learns stunt
driving from a criminal named Miguel that Bruce manages to turn on and turn
into the local police.
Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo begin the ZERO YEAR event here
with a tale of Bruce’ past AND the debut of Edward Nygma, who all comic fans
know as The Riddler. There are so many great months in this issue, especially
Nygma’s appearance AND the legendary Giant Penny, which is in front of Wayne
Enterprises. Yeah-those were two MAJOR FANBOY moments for me! As far as the
back-up by Snyder, James Tynion IV and Rafael Albuquerque: like most of the
back-ups in DC titles, I can do without it. It’s a meaningless little tale that
shows off Bruce as a 19 year old future superhero.
Peter Tomasi continues to document that slow decent into hell for the Dark Knight. As with every issue since the death of Damian Wayne, the title changes again. Technically, it’s BATMAN AND BATGIRL #21, but that just gets WAY TOO CONFUSING, so we’ll call it BATMAN AND ROBIN. It’s an interesting story, as we realize that Batman and Batgirl are both going through their own private hells. Cliff Richards does an adequate job on the art, but I miss Patrick Gleason.
BATMAN INCORPORATED #12: Batman has bats from the Bat Cave attacking the transformed Man bats and changing them back to normal because these bats contain the antidote. That allows Batman and the surviving members of Batman incorporated to be free to take out their frustrations on the murdering brother of Damian Wayne. Bloody and defeated, he ends up back with Talia, who beheads him and proceeds to blow up Wayne Industries building. At the end of the issue, Talia is inside the Bat cave and ready to face off against her former lover.
Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham gallop along to the epic conclusion of this series. Morrison’s grand plan is coming to fruition and it ends with a battle between ex-lovers. This issue was light on dialogue but heavy on action and gore. And that’s fine because this issue was all about Bruce and company trying to save Gotham City and exact a small amount of revenge on Damian’s murderer. Burnham’s art is killer and so is the action. Despite everything Morrison has done to mess with Bruce Wayne’s life and the mythos of the characters, I will be sad to see this series end.
BATMAN SUPERMAN #1: Many years ago, a young Clark Kent visited Gotham City for the first time. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne was watching a group of boys bully a Middle Eastern boy named Zack. Bruce decides to watch and see what happens but Clark intervenes. Clark introduces himself as a reporter for the Metropolis Daily Star and he says he is investigating the murder of three Wayne Enterprise employees in Metropolis. Wayne tells him to stay out of it and that Kent should go back to the small town he came from because he will never understand the city. Soon, word comes that one of the Wayne employees fell victim to Catwoman. Batman ends up in a fight with her and has to break his employees’ wrist to stop him from activating stolen titanium robots from catching Catwoman. Superman arrives and takes out the robots with ease and then assumes the Batman is the murderer. He sets off a bomb which shocks and stuns Superman and then he finds himself having household appliances dropped on his head by an obviously possessed Catwoman. Both heroes head towards each other but a blinding flash sends Superman to Smallville. There he sees Batman, in a different costume, who has activated a shield of Kryptonite radiation to protect himself. Superman battles him, accidentally burning down his father's tree with his heat-vision in the process. Their fight was interrupted by the voice of Jonathan Kent, who can’t understand why his son is acting this way.
Greg Pak, the man responsible for so many great Hulk tales over at Marvel introduces his take on the origins of the Superman/Batman team. Well, not really the team as they were friends in the old DCU and here they just exist. This issue represents the first meeting of the two legendary heroes and it’s a winner! We get to see a Gotham City filled with the dregs of humanity. We get to see a nice parallel that never really was hammered home before: in this universe, there is an amazing similarity between Clark and Bruce’s ascent into manhood. Clark’s parents die in a car crash (technically murdered) on the night of his prom and that partially leads to him going to Metropolis. Bruce’s parents are killed and that leads to his decision. Jae Lee’s art is his typical super stuff and half the reason to buy the title. So the book is really cool and, in addition to this, Pak’s next assignment takes him to ACTION COMICS where he can continue tgo craft the legend of the Man of Steel.
BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT #21: Picking up where the last issue left off, Batman leaves the scene of the death of Natalya Trusevich in search of seeking his revenge on the Mad Hatter. Alfred tries to convince Batman not to go after the villain in the mental state he is in. Batman replies that if Alfred tries to stop him, he will run him down. Reaching the Hatter's underground lair, Batman finds himself attacked by Gothamites who have fallen under the Hatter's control. Freeing himself, he runs into Tweedle-Dum and Batman deactivates the mind-controlling device he has. Once the Hatter and the Dark Knight meet, Hatter blows hallucinogenic dust into his enemy's face. Overtaken by horrific visions, he eventually breaks free of the drug and breaks Tweedle Dee’s jaw. Batman then proceeds to beat Hatter to the point of near death, knocking the unconscious into a pool of water. Alfred is forced to remind Bruce that if he lets Tetch die, he will be no better than the villain and he saves him. One month later, despite Alfred asking Bruce to consider giving up being the Batman for Natalya, he returns to duty.
This has been a great story. Gregg Hurwitz’ has managed to take the Mad Hatter, someone I always considered to be a second tier villain at best. Hurwitz has turned him loose and let him become a major, A list psychopath! And, at the same time, there was a hint of his troubled past which provided some great pathos to the troubled character. Coupled with, for most of this storyline, Ethan Van Sciver’s highly detailed and incredibly expressive art, this title has been given new life and continues to impress.
BATWOMAN #21: We get a tale that begins with Killer Croc who was recovered by Kyle Abbot’s Religion of Crime and began a relationship with a reptilian woman named Claire. A man named Jered, along with Claire, suggests he can be their king by avenging Abbot and killing Batwoman. They decide that Maggie Sawyer MAY be Batwoman but Croc discovers that Sawyer and Batwoman are actually lovers. he attacks and is surprised when they team up on him. With Hawkfire arriving, he realizes that Batwoman has family and if she dies, more will come after him. He runs away and heads back to the tunnels and is confronted by Jered and Claire. He runs Jered through with his sword and tells Claire that Gotham is not safe and they need to flee, especially since she carries his child.
Just what we all need: a little baby Killer Croc running about! J. H. Williams III and W. Hadem Blackman give us a nice little story that sets future events in motion while tying up events from the Medusa storyline. Of course, I can’t figure whether Croc is a hero or a villain now. We know that he was an AA mentor to Roy Harper and we also know he became the hydra that almost destroyed Gotham City. So, do you cheer for him or not? It’s kind of like watching wrestling! Art by Francesco Francavilla is nice-it’s not Williams II, but it fits the book. I still love this character, even despite the ups and downs over the last year or so.
BIRDS OF PREY #21: In a tale that continues both from last issue and TALON #8, Batgirl and Strix find themselves attacked by Talon Calvin Rose, who announces he is Strix’ executioner. He basically is here to attack her because the Court of Owls owns him and he is trying to protect Casey and Sarah Washington by doing their bidding. Calvin realizes how badly Strix has been hurt in her life by seeing the scars beneath her face mask. He throws his weapons aside and expects Strix to behead him. But she writes the word "who?" into the floor. He tells her that his friends will be tortured and killed if he doesn't bring back proof that he killed Strix to the Court. Strix begins leading him away, appearing as if she will help him in his fight. Meanwhile, Condor attempts to recover the hard drive from one of the computers in the lab. At one point, he removes his helmet, introduces himself as Ben and explains the real reason he has joined The Birds of Prey was to be close to her. And then he kisses her!
Great-now we have a love story! I miss the
old days of ass-kicking and such with Oracle at the helm. I REALLY MISS Lady
Blackhawk. That having been said…again…Christy Marx delivers a decent story
that, unfortunately, leads into a title I DON’T read, since I never really
cared for Calvin Rose’ character. Romano Molenaar does a great job on the art
and that helps kicks the book in all the right places. Next issue: we don’t
know. All we know is that this continues into TALON #9. Tune in next month and
we’ll see more kissing from the Birds(i.e. Condor and Canary).
Ann Nocenti, despite being overly wordy and sometimes sending stories off in vague directions, is writing probably one of the better pieces of her career. This whole Gang War story against the Penguin is great, although Catwoman and Rat Tail don’t strike me as the ideal couple. I do like the introduction of Joe Pazzo’s daughter into the mix and I’m sure there will come a moment when these two cross paths with either tragic or vengeful results. And let me not forget that Rafa Sandoval’s art is improving with each issue and becoming more of a fit for these characters every month.
CONSTANTINE #4: John Constantine is upset because
of recent events. He goes to the Joint Bar and is warned that Papa Midnite's
men are looking for him. He had stolen a sounding skull from the Haitian crime
lord and he is looking to exact revenge. Constantine
is captured by him, but they reach a truce to face a common enemy in the form
of the Cult of the Cold Flame. Constantine
goes to visit Zatanna and informs her that Jaimini Sargent has returned as Sargon.
This upsets Zatanna, as they were childhood friends. Leaving her, he runs into
a con man named Third-Time Tommy and sends him back to Sargon. When John
returns home, Dotty’s bird tells him that tomorrow there will be fifty-million
deaths when light falls, and he may be one of them.
Yeah, I know: I swore I was done with the last issue.
Unfortunately the lure of the upcoming TRINITY WAR made this title too tempting
to pass up as the repercussions involving the magical folks in the NEW 52
Universe could be huge. Jeff Lemire and Ray Fawkes are responsible for a nice
story that bridges the first three issues from what comes next. Fabiano Neves
does the art and there is some grisly stuff here, especially when we get to
Papa Midnite and his torture chamber involving the members of the Cult of the
Cold Flame. While it doesn’t measure up to the stuff we see in WALKING DEAD, it
is pretty grisly for a mainstream T+ comic.
DEMON KNIGHTS #21: The team is at what we presume to be the final door leading to the Holy Grail. Through use of a transportal spell, Jason Blood and Vandal Savage to a great treasure room, which Savage immediately begins to loot, while Jason searches and finds Merlin’s Box, which contains the Grail. They also meet up with the giants who are the guardians of the room. Calling Etrigan forth, the Demon proceeds to be beat upon while Jason Blood goes to Hell with the Merlin Box. Jason tries to leverage Lucifer to send him back to al-Wadi and separate himselfe from Etrigan. What he DOES DO is bring Etrigan to Hell, leaving Savage alone with the two giants. Lucifer then sends Jason back to the others and he announces that “Vandal Savage finally got what was coming to him" as we see an unconscious and bloody Vandal Savage.
Robert Venditti heads towards
the conclusion of this series with issue #23 by seemingly uniting Sir Ystin
with the Holy Grail. At the same time, Ystin and Exoristos cement their love
for each other with a serious lip locking! What happens in the next two issues
that will set the future for these characters? We know that Etrigan remain
buried under London
for six hundred years because he didn’t have a human host. So somehow he needs
to get out of Hell, Vandal Savage needs to continue to live on(after all, he
became a serial killer as documented in DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS) and Madame Xanadu
needs to keep herself alive to be a part of JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK. On the art side
of the ledger, Chad Hardin drops the ball, as everyone is illustrated with these
angular features that look more art school experiment than comic art.
DETECTIVE
COMICS #21: We learn that Bruce Wayne had watched the girl he loved, Mio,
die ten years ago after she betrayed him and killed Matsuda, their trainer. In
actuality, she survived and became part of the League of Assassins. There is an
event at Wayne Tower and Harper Row, who is hanging outside with her brother
Cullen, notices a suspicious woman in white, who seems to have been there for a
long time, making Harper suspicious. Harper follows her into Wayne Tower
and watches as the woman creates a cross-bow to assassinate the Bhutanese Prime
Minister. Alfred has observed Harper’s actions and Batman arrives to battle the
would-be assassin. Calling herself Penumbra she battles the Dark Knight, even
as Harper, having gone to the ground floor and advised police of the incident,
manages to shine police flood lights on the 14th floor window. Batman realizes
that Penumbra is Mio. Confused by the fact that Batman knows her, she missteps,
falling towards the ground, but disappears in mid-air and never reaches the
ground. Mio is returned to her master, who has her put in a dungeon as punishment
for her failure. In the back-up, Kirk
Langstrom may be turning into Man-Bat at night and murdering people, but he
doesn’t know for sure.
It’s
time for me to start off by beating up on DC Editorial once again. Underneath a
beautiful cover by Jason Fabok and Jeremy Cox, we get a story from John Layman
that continues to tease the possibility of Harper Row entering into the Bat
Family in some way. We meet Bruce’ old flame and get a glimpse inside the
League of Assassins, specifically a shadowy figure that we can only assume is
Ra’s Al Ghul. The back-up by Andy Clarke and Layman is just a great excuse to
fill the book, although Clarke’s art rocks! Oh yeah-back to DC Editorial and
that great cover. It has Batman in battle with Penumbra and Catwoman. CATWOMAN?
She appears NOWEHERE in this book. Oh I get it: it’s symbolic as Batman is
entangled with two of his ex-lovers. DUH! That is ridiculous. DC Editorial
screwed up!DIAL H #13: The entire Dial Bunch, along with Nelson and Roxie, have been taken to a dimension of living graffiti by Open-Window Man. But they arrive too late to prevent a young boy from being orphaned by crime. Roxie is searching for something a J-Dial. If she and Bansa can find this Dial and fix it, they might be able to make the jump to the Fixer's home base. Unfortunately, it's only graffiti on a wall. Of all the Dial Bunch members, only Open Window Man is the only one without powers. he was recruited by Bansa after his partner Boy Chimney was killed. Bansa thought she might be responsible as her dial removes powers. Open Window Man’s origin is much like that of Batman except her was inspired by an open window instead of a bat. He gets Nem to dial up a bus and Open Window Man crawls through one of the windows and ends up leaping out through a window in graffiti world. The heroes give up the J-Dial so he can avenge Captain Random. When he leaves the graffiti world, he drew a super-hero hideout underneath the boy’s house. The boy explains he can't accept it because it doesn’t belong here, even if it would help him fulfill his destiny. Open-Window Man wipes the cave he drew off of the wall, and says goodbye as they all leave this dimension.
Despite it being as weird as anything else that has run
through this series, this is one of the most lucid and touching episodes.
Despite that, this title has confused so many people that DC is pulling the
plus in August with issue #15. Most comic fans figured this title would be
strange with China Mieville at the helm and they were right. What makes this
issue work is the origin of Open Window Man and how they tie together with the
kid in graffiti world AND Bruce Wayne. And Alberto Ponticelli’s art is quirky
as always and pretty spectacular too. Although the title will be missed by
some, hopefully the character will end up in something like JUSTICE LEAGUE
DARK.
James Robinson continues what will be his final story for
both DC Comics and EARTH 2, effective with issue #16, as he has decided to
forgo the mainstream and work with Boom Studios. This story is a load of fun as
we get a look inside of Captain Steel’s origin, learn about the Red Files AND
see more of the new batman, whoever he or she may be. And there’s a Red Lantern
too? I wonder if it turns out to be an Earth 2 version of Guy Gardner. Anyway,
the story is fun and Yildiray Cinar provides some really nice looking art,
although I am getting tired of DC throwing in new artists on titles every
second or third issue. Whatever happened to the days when an artists, like Jack
Kirby, would stay on a title for years?
GREEN ARROW #21: Stuck
in the Arizona
desert, Magus finally gives Oliver some answers. Oliver finds himself in a hallucination where
he finds himself on the island and being attacked by versions of the super-villains
he has fought. This transitions into a vision involving his father, Emerson and
the Arrow Clan. When he comes out of the vision, Magus explains that the
Outsiders are a collective of seven clans and that, centuries ago, he had been
a member of one of those clans. Oliver’s father became aware of the Outsiders
when he discovered a secret vault belonging to his great grandfather. The third
man in the vision was Simon Lacroix, who is now Komodo. Lacroix killed Richard Queen
to gain the legacy of the Arrow Clan, which contradicts the story Emerson had
told Moira. Richard had tried to instill archery in his son when he was young
and Emerson arranged to have Oliver stranded on the island with the bow so he
would be ready when Komodo came for him. Magus leaves him with John Butcher:
the man who attacked him on the highway and stranded him in the desert. Butcher
is a member of the Axe Clan and a friend. Magus instructs Oliver to go to Vlatava,
where he will confront his greatest challenge ever. Oliver returns to Seattle and enlists the
aim of Henry Fyff and Naomi as part of Team Arrow. Using his JLA salary, he
walks away from Queen Industries to fight the corporate system as Green Arrow.
GREEN LANTERN #21: The new era of this title begins in the near future with the Green Lantern Corps, led by Hal Jordan, are on Oa and realize that the Central Battery is dead. We flashback to now as Carol Ferris breaks up with Hal. In the middle of this, he is called away to see Kyle Rayner and the Bohemian Guardians of the Universe are sorting through the evidence vault on Oa and name Hal the leader of the Green Lantern Corps. Soon he is leading the Corps against an invasion by Larfleeze and the Orange Lantern Corps. That’s when Jordan’s new recruits show up.
I realize that Geoff Johns work
on this title is a tough act to follow but to say I was totally underwhelmed by
this whole issue would be a major understatement. I like Robert Venditti’s work
but this issue went nowhere with me. A recently resurrected Hal Jordan gets
dumped by Carol Ferris with all the tenderness of a bad soap opera. Then he
leaves to meets with Kyle Rayner and gets drafted to run the Corp by the new
generation of the Guardians, who drop the gig on him and leave. Then he has to
deal with Larfleeze and the Orange Lantern Corps, coming in to get their hands
on whatever they can steal. In the middle of all this, the new recruits show up.
Oh, and let’s not forget thatr somewhere in the middle of all of this, the
Central Power Battery will go dark. That’s a great piece to open the book with
but to spend the balance of the issue telling the now story instead of the
future tale feels like we have had a carrot dangled in front of us with no
payoff. On top of that, we get a mediocre art job from the very talented Billy
Tan. All in all: I am really disappointed. I hope the next issue delivers more.
THE GREEN TEAM #2: In the middle of where they were left with Riot
Act last issue, Mo and L.L. hide in a car while J.P. tosses another of the
Commodore’s discs at Cecilia and she develops gold colored armor similar to the
Commodore’s green one. The Commodore arrives driving one of the old Batmobiles,
saving Mo and L.L. while Cecilia finally manages to work the weapons on her
suit and electrocutes the Riot Act members who are hanging off of her. Commodore
and J.P. trade text messages and J.P. and Cecilia arfe told to lay low until
later. Commodore, Mo, L.L. and Abisha take refuge in one of Mo’s New York apartments.
Commodore explains that he wants to use his money to get weapons off the street
by forming a super team. Abisha says he knows somebody who might be able to
help out. Meanwhile, J.P. and Cecilia end up in a fancy hotel and for some
reason, her right arm grows some kind of pink mechanical sleeve.
Here is another very strange
issue that leads to a lot of potential plot places but doesn’t really deliver.
Art Blatazar and Franco drop some really cool stuff into the book, like the
contents of Mo’s apartment where we see a bunch of his recent online auction
acquisitions over the years, including a BROTHER POWER costume! Yeah-I totally
geeked out on that ONE PANEL and that for me made the book. The biggest problem
I have thus far is that Commodore is going to put together a super team and
they apparently are going to be powered by the special discs. Okay-I get that.
So let’s put the team together and get this book moving along. I realize this
is only the second issue but get us moved along already. I think new see SOME
of the characterization here, but I would like a bit more than what we’ve
gotten. Art and Franco’s use of satire is evident, even if you sometimes have
to dig deep for it. And I like Ig Guara’s art. Do I think this book will last
past a half dozen issues? No. But it could be fun while it lasts.
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