ACTION COMICS #16: We find ourselves in the 30th century and the Legion of Superheroes, or what is left of them, try to hijack the last known Time Bubble. Chameleon dies in the process and Sensor holds back the attacking soldiers allowing Saturn Woman, Cosmic Man and Lightning Man to head back into the past to make things in the time stream right. This takes us to yesterday, as Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen meet at the statue memorializing the day Superman died at the hands of Doomsday. Soon after, Superman and Xa-Du crash land and Superman tells Lois and Jimmy to find Mr. Triple X at Metropolis General Hospital. Lois spies her niece Susie floating nearby. Susie tells her that she was being controlled by a small man. Lord Vyndktvx appears and promises everyone eternal life in his kingdom as long as they don’t help Superman. Although captured by the Anti-Superman Army, Krypto and the Metaleks free him until the dog is trapped in Kryptonite chains. Two days before al of this, lex Luthor was working on a Transmatter Symphonic Array(?). It activates on its own and Superdoom arrives inside the Array to kill Superman. Meanwhile, Lois and Jimmy find Mr. Triple X but can’t wake him. That’s when the Legionnaires arrive to lend a hand. In the back-up story, the Legion of Super Heroes helps protect President-Elect of Earth Hiroshi Takaneda from assassination. We learn that he is really Universo and he will cause the United Planets to crumble within 9 years.
Here we have Grant Morrison and Rags Morales taking the imaginary story to a new place. The past has changed, the future has changed and all we need is Jimmy Olsen as Turtle Boy. This is a riotous tribute that also paves new ground in the legend of Superman. The back-up story is simple fluff by Sholly Fisch and Chris Sprouse that I assume will find a way to tie into the main tale, or provide back ground for the LEGION OF SUPERHEROES title. All in all, Morrison is racing towards his final issues nicely.
ALL STAR WESTERN #16: Jonah finds himself a bit cranky since being laid up last month with a broken leg. He finds himself staying at Doc Arkham’s place where the constant presence of nurse Constance and the lack of alcohol is driving him to suicidal tendencies. Not to mention Arkham’s ailing mother who is also driving Hex crazy. One night, he decides to kill her but reconsiders and spends the night reading her JANE EYRE. The next day, Mr. Hyde arrives, making rude comments to Constance regarding her time and threatening to kill her. Hex leaps into action and eventually, with the help of Constance, shoots him. Not killing him and only wounding him, the now reverted Dr. Jekyll gets locked up and Hex makes it a point to put the Black Diamond in a bottle and pitch it out to sea. In the back up, Tomahawk and his fellows Native Americans gain their violent and bloody revenge on both the Americans and the British in the conclusion of this tale.
Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and Moritat hit a major Home Run with this concluding chapter of the Black Diamond Probability. What I love it getting to see the side of Hex we very rarely see: the human side. We see him at the depths of his alcohol addiction and depression and actually put his gun to his temple. We see him take compassion of Arkham’s aged mother, who is convinced Hex is a character from JANE EYRE. In addition, we see the ass-kicking, albeit on one leg, Jonah Hex who saves the damsel AND himself. As far as the back up story: it is a bloody tale that continues to paint the foreigners on this soil in a very bad light. And that is okay. Tomahawk was always painted much like Tonto-the good “injun”. This is no “injun”-this is a man seeking revenge for his family and his people. Great stuff!
ANIMAL MAN #16: Animal Man and company free Medphyll, the Green Lantern of Sector 2814. He chosen as Earth's Green Lantern when the Guardians saw Earth fall to The Rot because he is a plant based organism that they thought would have a direct connection to The Green. But he was captured by Blackbriar Thorn, who has discovered his prisoner is now free and attacks. Constantine tries to reason with the wood creature while Black Orchid uses her powers to wither the vines. Buddy uses termite powers to dig deep into the wood and remove the wizard controlling the creature. Meanwhile, Frankenstein and his army are battling Arcane’s forces. Medphyll makes his way to the Daily Planet globe, where he hid his power battery, and recharges his ring, allowing him to enter the fight. The united team heads to the heart of the Deadlands and is attacked by a blur, which turns out to be a Rot controlled Flash. the first victim is Constantine as The Flash thrusts his fist through John’s chest. Arcane’s stronghold is protected by the Justice League. As part of the parallel story, we discover that Maxine was betrayed by William Arcane and gave herself over to The Rot to save her family. But, in doing so, she sealed the fate of the Earth as the special protector was now part of The Rot.
Jeff Lemire and Steve Pugh continue to bring this book to a whole new level. I read issue after issue of this crossover (including SWAMP THING) and wonder how our team of heroes manages to pull the fat out of the fire and set reality right. If you can have me guessing throughout, I GUESS you are turning out one hell of a comic book story to confuse this veteran. NICE JOB GUYS!!!
AQUAMAN #16: While Cyborg goes under, his program keeps on running, and it will tell us who actually caused the missile to launch. Aquaman does his best to rescue the League, who have been encased in solid water. But the piranha-people from the Trench come forth and not only attacks the now freed League but also Orm who is trying to battle the substitute League members too. But if Orm is working with the piranha-people, why are they attacking him. It turns out, once Cyborg’s files have downloaded, that Orm is NOT responsible for all of this mess. It turns out that Vulko, the exiled Atlantean, is in possession of the Atlantean scepter and he has started the war.
Geoff Johns takes the red herring, runs with it, and leaves us totally baffled until those final pages. In the old DCU, Vulko was Aquaman”s close friend and advisor. Apparently this one has been exiled after Aquaman left and now he wants revenge. A very nice, unexpected twist indeed. And Paul Pelletier’s art is just beautiful. This is truly some of his best work of a very long and illustrious career.
BATGIRL #16: So, with Commissioner Gordon in the hospital, Mrs. Gordon missing a finger and tied to a five-pound nail bomb, it looks like Barbara Gordon is going to have to marry The Joker to set things right. he explains that she and the rest of the Bat Family are dragging The Caped Crusader down and he is going to set him free by freeing them from him. But to keep her from running away, he says he is going to cut off her arms and legs with a chainsaw. Just then, her brother James shows up with two live grenades. He says that he saved their mother so she attacks the Joker, convinced that she will kill him with the chainsaw if she can. But James Jr. drugs her, as he had made a deal with the Joker to let his mother go free or else he would kill Batgirl himself. To make sure he gets away, he pulls the pin on a real grenade and drops it at the Joker's feet. During the explosion, James gets away. When batgirl awakens, the Joker announces he is calling an end to their engagement. In his hands he holds a platter and teases her to guess what’s underneath.
If you have followed any of this month’s DEATH OF THE FAMILY titles, you will see this platter making its rounds. What IS under the lid and is it the same for every player? For all we know, it’s a different item with each reveal. Whatever the case, Gail Simone and Ed Benes are following the master plan to the letter and it all comes down to BATMAN #17 for the final chapter. Next issue: the fallout of those events.
BATMAN #16: Inside Arkham, Batman sees that the Joker has dressed guards like Batman and the Joker and is having them dance for days in a pool of water. Batman thinks he plans to shock the guards he activates an electromagnetic pulse to deactivate the electrical system. But the Joker has figured that would happen and has a back-up power supply ready. Batman tosses something into each cell to absorb all the water, thus saving the guard’s lives. Our hero heads to Dr. Arkham’s personal quarters, where he figures our crazed villain will be. But Joker has figured this too and sets an armored group after Batman. He takes them all down, unhorsing a swordsman in the process and taking the horse for himself. He doesn’t get far as he sees a tapestry the Dollmaker has made from still living bodies, illustrating past moments with the Joker. Continuing on his way, Batman encounters Mister Freeze, who the Joker introduces as the king's groundskeeper. Losing the horse in the process, batman puts a heating device on Fries' chest. Further on, he encounters the Commissioner and breaks his arm. He’s revealed to be the king's player, Clayface. Freezing him with Mr. Freeze’s freeze gun, he next encounters the court physician, Scarecrow.
As he gets to the main room, he sees a stone, with an electrified chainsaw embedded in it. On one side of the room is Penguin (the bishop), Riddler (the strategist) and Two-Face(the judge). On the other side is the Joker, with a group of victims dressed as the Justice League. He makes the man dressed as Superman try to pull out the chainsaw and fries him beyond recognition. Before he can make the woman dressed as Wonder Woman do the same, Batman cuts the jumper cables with a Batarang. He then shows Batman a set of screens on the wall, showing all the members of the Bat Family defeated. He tells Batman to accept his true role on the throne as Bat King. He warns that if Batman doesn’t take the throne, he will never find out what happened to the bat-family. Defeated by the villain, Batman sits on the throne, puts on the electrified crown and takes a huge electric jolt to his brain. In the back-yup story which follow immediately after the main tale, the Joker’s trio of collaborators are anxious to leave but also want to see if the Batman is truly dead. But the Joker has plans and locks the trio up so as they won’t interfere. Riddler passes out from tranquilizers in his costume. Two-Face points a gun at the Joker who verbally puts Harvey and fills him with doubt, forcing him to lower his weapon. Joker does show the two conscious villains the entree platter which visibly disturbs them.
There is not a whole lot I can say about this except that I have no idea who or what is under the platter and have no idea who Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo are going to tie this one up. This has been one great ride and coming on the heels of the NIGHT OF THE OWLS, puts this team up there with the greats in Batman history. this is truly a classic story in the tradition of THE KILLING JOKE, KNIGHTFALL, BATMAN IN BETHLEHEM, SON OF THE DEMON, HUSH, THE JOKERS FIVE WAY REVENGE, THE LONG HALLOWEEN, and THE LAUGHING FISH(which appears on that living tapestry). This is the most amazing work of his career and we can only hope he and Capullo are in this for the long haul. Tune in next month to see how this all turns out.
BATMAN AND ROBIN #16: Robin discovers that his father has been affected by Joker Venom and the two must fight to survive. Damien finds he’s been weakened by Joker Toxin as well. Just as Batman is ready to kill his son, Robin decides to simply give up. He would rather die by his father's hand than kill his father. So Joker kills Batman. In tears, Robin grabs one of the screwdrivers from Joker's tool belt and stabs him through the foot. Joker draws a mustache on Robin's face using the blood off the screwdriver. He unmasks the Batman, revealing it was really a dojo master named Toshiro Matsu. As Robin begins to pass out, the Joker tells him of a surprise under the lid of the entree platter. See you in BATMAN #17 for the shocking answer to that question of what’s in under the lid.
Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason continue their portion of the DEATH OF THE FAMILY tale with a delightful little battle between the killer Boy Wonder and a fake Batman. It’s does what it needs to and propel the story forward. Other than that, wait until next month to see how the aftermath affects the team.
BATMAN AND ROBIN ANNUAL #1: Damian sends the World’s Greatest Detective across Europe, forcing him to retracing places of significance to the Wayne family. Along the way, he finds a painting by Martha Wayne in England, a photograph of his parents in Spain and a long hidden wedding proposal in Greece. While all this is going on, Damien dons his own version of a Batman costume and solves the mystery of a gasoline theft. And Alfred finds a long lost love and realizes some loves need to remain lost.
A very heartfelt and touching issue from Peter J. Tomasi and Adrian Syaf. It has nothing to do with the dark and gloom of DEATH OF THE FAMILY and stays away from the carnage of BATMAN INCORPORATED. This is an issue that shows the love of a son for his father as he illustrates the importance of family. And it is all undeneath a sweet looking cover by Andy Kubert.
BATMAN INCORPORATED #7: Things are going really badly in Gotham City. Leviathan has captured Batman, most of the Outsiders have been hospitalized following a hellacious explosion and the Knight is dead. Meanwhile, the Kollektiv, a Batman Incorporated group, are in Yemen and find the carcass of a whale at a Leviathan training facility. Watching on satellite, Damian realizes this was the birthplace of his cloned twin brother. Wingman arrives at Batcave East and gets ambushed by the Hood who is aligned to Spyral. At Wayne Enterprises Headquarters, a new security guard starts shooting people and Ellie, the receptionist is forced to hide, getting away as Talia al Ghul arrives. Batman finds himself trapped inside a safe and needs to pull a Houdini. Damian realizes he needs to save the day. Alfred hands him the Robin costume, disables the security locks, steals the Robin jet-armor and flies off to the rescue.
Grant Morrison’s epic storyline races towards an equally epic conclusion. Really, Grant: you killed off The Knight? So I guess the chances of a sequel to the mini-series from a few years back is highly unlikely. This is a great, winding story with awesome art from Chris Burnham. Who knew that chaos could be so much fun!
BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT #16: Gotham has been rife with random kidnappings that have left the citizens panicked. Batman breaks up a kidnapping at a sweatshop in Chinatown, although it costs him the Batplane in the process. The kidnappers shoot their own men trying to slow Batman’s progress. As they attempt to escape, Batman fires up the engines to the destroyed Batplane and goes after the kidnappers. He manages to save one victim but can’t help the rest as the Batplane explodes and destroys the van and its’ inhabitants. Once d he returns home, he gets into an argument with his girlfriend Natalya who is convinced she knows who he is. Later that night, Batman visits the Penguin and accuses him of being responsible for the kidnappings. Penguin reminds Batman that he isn’t the only villain who likes hats. This leads us to the Mad Hatter who has been using his mind control on his kidnapped victims. Not thrilled with failure, he orders a step-ladder be brought out for him. He climbs the ladder so he is the same size as one of his accomplices and then shoves his thumbs into the other man's eye sockets and kills him. THAT’S tough love!
If you recall, it was Gregg Hurwitz who brought us a creepy new vision of The Scarecrow. Now he is responsible for bringing us a truly terrifying Mad Hatter! And you thought he was crazy in the first BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT story arc. He is downright maniac here. This issue also features the debut of Ethan Van Sciver on both pencils and inks and he provides what may be the best work of his career. This book continues to impress and now that Hurwitz and Van Sciver are running the show, I expect it to continue to elevate the dark characters to new heights.
BATWOMAN #16: Batwoman is happy to see her girlfriend but she is also pretty upset to find that the Hydra is trashing Kate’s penthouse, her lab and all of her memories regarding her sister and mother. Wonder Woman halts Batwoman’s attack as she explains that only three people could battle the Hydra and survive and Batwoman is not one of those. She tells Batwoman to be concerned with the children and let the Amazon handle Hydra. Agent Chase is in the middle of the fray and her boss, Director Bones battle Medusa wearing special goggles that keep him from turning to stone. Just when things look the darkest, Flamebird, arrives to battle The Hook. Maro calls Ceto up as Medusa explains to the kidnapped children how the mother of all monsters came to be. Batwoman continues to fight Medusa's cultists and received aid from the Religion of Crime. Wonder Woman battles the Hydra and eventually finds a way to strike the monster down. Batwoman seeks out The Weeping Woman and begs her to make this end and she turns on Maro and drowns him. Unfortunately, Ceto, the Mother of All Monsters has arrived.
The penultimate chapter is here and it looks great! J.H. Williams III is back as artist for the entire issue and it has been a lot time in coming. Combined with co-writer W. Haden Blackman and this title continues to be amazing and mystifying. And to all the haters out there who have an issue with this title because of the love relationship between Kate and Maggie: go find another book to hate. This title is a rocking character study that just defies common misconceptions.
BIRDS OF PREY #16: Talon Strix has been brought into the mix to bolster this team which was now short Poison Ivy and Katana. While Batgirl fully trusts and endorses her choice, Black Canary and Starling are not sold on it. That was when Condor shows up to save the day and attack Strix. But Starling has her own axe to grind with Condor and the two of them square off while Batgirl and Canary try to stop Strix, who is pretty pissed about being blindsided. It turns out, once cooler heads prevail, that Condor has come to Gotham to let the Birds know that someone is dealing Basilisk Tech. We jump ahead three weeks with the team on a new mission. Condor confesses he is looking for a new team to replace one he used to be on. Can someone tell him this is an ALL GIRL TEAM? Suddenly Black Canary gets another headache and unleashes a powerful canary scream that takes down an building down.
Duane Swierczynski and Romano Molenaar continue their tale of the transformation of the Birds, but that will be short lived. Jim Zubkavich, who is responsible for the Image book SKULLKICKERS, takes the writing tasks away from Swierczynski with issue #18. And I am pretty good with that as I have not been a big fan of his writing, specifically his dialogue. I do like the idea of putting Strix on the team because we needed another crazy chick with sharp objects under her command!
CATWOMAN #16: Trapped in the Black Room with a scientist named Darwin, Catwoman has been affected by the Black Diamond. At the same time, the Diamond’s presence has caused other evil and magical items within the room. She slides the diamond and the map into her cleavage and that can only spell major problems. While the A.R.G.U.S. guards try to figure how to get into the room without letting the evil artifacts out, Catwoman attacks a demon, beating it up with the arm of a boxer. The guards can’t figure how to get them out, so Darwin, Catwoman and two downed guards jump inside the Haunted Tank and use it to ram a hole through the doors. Selina, now in the disguise of the Professor she was pretending to be, eventually ends up with Trip Winter's. Trip takes the diamond to the man who hired him. He claims to be Bruce Gordon but is actually Alex Montez and he is VERY happy to have his diamond back.
Let’s start with the fact that the tag line on the cover says ASSUALT ON A.R.G.U.S.. Sorry guys: ASSUALT is not the same as ASSAULT!!! Editorial-you f’ed up! So we went from Judd Winick to Ann Nocenti and I like her writing almost as little as fans did on her work on GREEN ARROW. Her dialogue is wooden as everyone sounds like they are 16 years old. However, she and Rafael Sandoval conclude this piece of the BLACK DIAMOND story. Oh well: with Jeff Lemire now writing on GREEN ARROW maybe I will read that book, dump this title, and follow Selina Kyle at JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA.
DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS #16: So Black Lightning is lying on the ground in Madame Rousseau’s Wax Museum where he has taken a series of bullets to save his father’s life. And Blue Devil is naked because Nebiros took his suit/skin away. The evil demon brings some of the wax figures to life and they attack Daniel. He manages to defeat them, some in a grisly manner,. and then slips the Devil skin back onto his body and generates enough magic to heal Black Lightning. But that’s not enough so the Devil makes a deal with the Devil: Nebiros will fully heal Black Lightning if Blue Devil lets Nebiros live. Blue Devil accepts. Black Lightning comes back to life with a little more evil in him than he had before. But that’s okay because Blue Devil has a little evil in him too as he puts Nebiros in the body of Tobias Whale. How’s that for payback?
This was probably my favorite DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS arc since the CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN and may actually be my favorite arc. The dialogue and characterization by Marc Andreyko was tremendous and Robson Rocha’s artwork was equal parts dynamic and creepy. I would love to see this duo in their own title, as long as this creative team is behind it. Nice job, guys!
DEMON KNIGHTS #16: We begin in 1043: 30 years after the Battle of Avalon last issue. We’re in Saxony and Cain, the original vampire is tearing up a town. Meanwhile, the Horsewoman is being hunted by men riding armored buffalo. The catch her and Maelstrom, her horse, dies and becomes food for the hunters. captured, they bring her to Al-Wadi where she becomes their prisoner. Aleeady their as aprisoners are Sir Ystin and Exoristos. Although he has aged, we learn that Al-Jabr is the caliph and he put out the bounty on the Demon Knights to bring them back together to take on Cain. It is believed he is travelling with an Amazon he has turned and they are headed to Paradise Iland. We also discover that Vandal Savage and Jason Blood have issues as Savage has been torturing Blood for many years and can’t fight back. maybe that’s because he has no mouth with which to cry out.
New writer Robert Venditti does his best not to jump the shark by launching the team forward thirty years. Obviously, it’s too early in his run to tell. His style is fluid and his plot ideas seem to be taking the book in the right direction. I like the idea of bringing Cain into the mix as it will soon be the only place to find him, as I, VAMPIRE has gotten the axe! We also have Bernard Chang’s typically nice art work propelling things along. Let’s see where Venditti takes us before I pass any further judgment.
DETECTIVE COMICS #16: With the Joker back in Gotham, all kinds of fanatical followers have popped up and Batman is trying to deal with this including a new group calling themselves the League of Smiles. He finally makes a connection with the body of a psychiatrist that many members shared. The doctor had been burned to death at the hands of Rodney the Torch, who is planning on attacking the Homestead Youth Center. Batman arrives and finds Rodney alone. He has let his hostages go as he had a change of heart. He has also cut off the smile tattooed on his face. He tells Batman that the group’s leader, the Merrymaker, is going to continue the killing rampage. In the back-up, we see just how far Ogilvy will go to earn the name of Emperor Penguin.
Here is further proof that the Joker doesn’t even have to appear in a DEATH OF THE FAMILY crossover to make the book creepy. John Layman and Jason Fabok take the concept of rapid fanaticism to a whole new place here, especially Fabok who provides some of the most amazing artwork of his career. And the back-up by Layman and Andy Clarke is also pretty intense. We get to see the rise of Emperor Penguin, complete with the blowtorch killing of a rival. What is it with everyone and the disfiguring of their smiles?
DIAL H #16: The Centipede is looking for answers and he’ll do pretty much anything to get them. It appears that he got his powers The Centipede gained his powers testing a time machine for the Canadian government. He breaks into Roxie’s house and tries to crack her computer. but the computer goes into an emergency wipe, leaving him pretty much out of luck until his superiors step in and shut the wipe down. He also discovers Roxie is Manteau and discovers her passport, showing she is in Toronto. Meanwhile, Roxie and Nelson are on their way to Toronto to search for the second dial. Soon after, Manteau encounters the police and becomes the hero Flame War. In actuality, it was Nelson in a Manteau. He begins hallucinating former heroes he had transformed into and it is clear he is becoming an addict. He sees another hero in front of him named Lad Autumn. But before Nelson can work with him, soldiers arrive and take Lad Autumn away. The Centipede runs into Nelson and takes his dial. He begins to brag how all the research they have done didn’t let them figure that the mysterious "O" they have heard about stands for Operator. The last thing he does is threaten to use the dial himself.
China Mieville and Alberto Ponticelli continue to weave the most screwed up title in the NEW 52 Universe. And I still don’t know what to thnk of it or how long this will last, as I am certain even the most die hard comic readers are having a hard time with this one. It’s disjointed; totally out of bounds in the realm of normal superhero titles. Let’s face it: it’s pretty f’ed up!
EARTH 2: We begin in Dherain where Steppenwolf is meeting with King Marov. We are reminded that the World Army is actively searching for the man who nearly destroyed Earth 2 and killed the legendary Seven Wonders. But King Markov has secretly ordered his men to be ready to attack Steppenwolf to gain whatever technologically advanced weapons he can. But Steppenwolf is aware of the plan thanks to his one ally: Fury, who is Wonder Woman’s daughter. The pair cripples the Dherain forces and kill Markov. Then Steppenwolf takes the throne of Dherain and makes plans to conquer the whole planet.
James Robinson and Yildiray Cinar continues to pave new ground with the EARTH 2 series. Fury is a villain and aligned with Steppenwolf of Apokolips? Really? Do you think mom would approve? This next chapter is going to prove to be extremely interesting. Not only are we promised the debut of more heroes, we have this story in line.
FRANKENSTEIN AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E. #16: Frankenstein and the Creature Commandos have been assigned by Father Time to stop The Plague from setting off a dirty monster-bomb. Nina sets off the B.I.G.F.O.O.T. to keep any nearby surveillance equipment from recording them. But it doesn’t work as well as it should. The Plague launches a Monster Bomb from within the Devil’s Water tower onto an unsuspecting Central City. Frankensten, Velcoror and Griffith arrive to stop the terrorists. Unfortunately, someone from Homeland Security has spent the last five years of his life watching this group and everything he has spent the last five years doing has been ruined. He sees the bomb falling and runs outside to try and save lives. Velcoro drops Frankenstein on top of the bomb, as he believes his blood will negate the virus. He blows up the bomb and himself but somehow survives and dispatches the Plague.
Thus ends this great series which just never caught on with most fans. Matt Kindt added a much-needed gust of steam following the departure of Jeff Lemire, but it was not enough to keep it going. And Alberto Ponticelli? He will continue with DIAL H until that book is cancelled. Look forward to seeing Frankenstein as he continues as a member of JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK. As for the rest of the Creature Commandos? Who knows. Good luck guys. Welcome to the Monster Unemployment line.
GREEN LANTERN #16: Someone finally believes that Simon is innocent and terrorism and lets Waller know that he is not a threat. He learns more about how to use his ring, with some help from B’dg, a Green Lantern resembling a large squirrel. Within the ring are hidden messages from Hal and Sinestro. They want Simon to find Carol Ferris and Arkillo. After being told that the ring can do anything, Simon heads to the hospital to cure his comatose brother-in-law. That is when B’dg explains that the ring can’t do that. Surprise-IT CAN because he has faith and strength like no other Green lantern before him! And we learn that Hal and Sinestro’s mysterious guide in the “afterlife” is Tomar Re.
Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke continue on with the next chapter in the RISE OF THE THIRD ARMY. And luckily they tell us to read this before we read of the rescue of Guy Gardner because this issue DOES happen first. It is an average issue but the revelation that Tomar Re is the mysterious guide in the afterlife is not so much of a surprise as this has been referenced and discussed for many months now. Once this storyline ends in GREEN LANTERN CORPS ANNUAL #1, we move on to the next epic storyline-THE WRATH OF THE FIRST LANTERN. There are changes on the rise and they all begin now.
GREEN LANTERN CORPS ANNUAL #1: This is the conclusion of the RISE OF THE THIRD ARMY crossover. The Lanterns, with the exception of Hal and Sinestro, who are still trapped in “the afterlife”, band together for a final battle. Kyle is now a White Lantern, Guy Gardner is dressed in black, and Mogo arrives to help decimate the Third Army. But the Guardians are still trying their best to destroy the Lanterns and even Killowog’s anger isn’t helping to win the day. That is when the Manhunters arrive and start to attack the Guardians. Ganthet taps into the power of the First Lantern and this sets Volthoom free, with a promise to destroy everything, including the Guardians.
I don’t normally read this title but, since it is the final chapter of this epic, I felt obligated. And I felt that this is just one more piece of a much larger puzzle. As with his work on BATMAN AND ROBIN, Peter J. Tomasi writes a very complicated and busy story. With Chriscross doing the artwork, this book explodes from the printed page. And having Scott Hanna and Marlo Alquiza inking you cannot hurt either! We are left with almost as many questions as we have answers and we can only hope that the next crossover for the Lantern line, THE WRATH OF THE FIRST LANTERN, will answer that. Either way: I’m sure it will not be pretty.
HUMAN BOMB #2: Michael Taylor continues to deal with his discovery that he is a human bomb and is being hunted by other men from his outfit. Samuel from the N.S.A. tells him about the nefarious plot of C.R.O.W.N. and sends Taylor out on a mission to stop them.
There’s not much to say about this book. Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, known for their work on ALL STAR WESTERN, lay a big egg here as this book just seems to go nowhere. It takes a full issue to get Taylor from Ground Zero on to a mission. Along the way, there is a lot of dumb dialogue and not much action. However, the art by Jerry Ordway is his usual killer work. If you have a few extra bucks, buy the book just for that!
I VAMPIRE #16: Cain tells the tale of how he took his first victim and created his bride, Lilith. Mary is tired of hearing about the trials and tribulations of the first vampire, who is no longer a vampire, so she goes out for some night air. John Constantine happens to be there and they discuss how Bennett and his new army have killed almost all of the Van Helsings and how he could continue to destroy the world. He also explains how important it is to get the old Bennett back. Meanwhile, back in castle Van Helsing, Bennett and his crew have now turned the librarian and have angered some residents there. It does not take long for the foursome to dispatch their enemy. Tig wants to leave the group to hunt the killer of her father when Bennett tells her than Constantine was responsible. The Brit gathers Mary and Company to the House of Mystery. Unfortunately, Bennett and his team have gotten there first.
In the column of unfortunate, this title gets the axe in April, along with DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS and THE SAVAGE HAWKMAN. I sort of figured this title would drop eventually because, despite all the positive press this title got (and selling enough copies of the trade paperback to end up on the NEW YORK TIMES bestseller list) and sadly, it is sooner than later. That also means a planned FLASH crossover goes by the wayside. Joshua Hale Fialkov’ writing has been stellar throughout this run and this issue is no exception. Scott Clark, Fernando Blanco and Szymon Kudranski handle the art and it shows. In some spots it looks great and it others it looks like it was drawn by an art school student…an art school student who is flunking out! Three artists on one issue of a comic usually means there is a problem.
