Green Lantern #44
And now, for a belated review of Green Lantern, which actually came out last Wednesday, but I was locked in the throes of Guy Gardner week. Nevertheless, it is fabulous...as usual.
Right from the start, I am impressed by the art that Doug Mahnke is knocking out. The book opens with a pan of Mars, and J'onn J'onnz's tomb...complete with the Choco still sitting on the top, left by Batman. *sniff* Things are stirring however, and the choco falls to the ground and is crushed, as a Black Ring breaks through and, in a REALLY cool sequence, reanimates J'onn's corpse, with him finally bursting out of the sarcophagus.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, Hal and Barry are investigating the defilement of Bruce's secret burial, and exchanging a bit of witty banter all the while. Needless to say, they are somewhat...startled by J'onn's arrival, not to mention the fact that he says that the two of them shouldn't even be alive. In another rather cool effect, both Hal and Barry are shown as seen through J'onn's eyes, and Hal glows green, while Barry glows blue. Lovely.
At first they try reasoning with him, or at least Barry does, but according to Hal's ring, J'onn IS dead, and naturally, a fight breaks out. To put it bluntly, J'onn wipes the floor with them.
That's a darned good question, J'onn. I have to admit that I do like to occasionally see good guys get possessed, or go bad or whatever, because it gives them a chance to REALLY cut loose, and show exactly what they are capable of, but rarely display because of minor things like ethics and morals and stuff.
Back on Oa, the remaining Guardians, who have just been clobbered by Scar finally get around to asking why she's doing what she's doing. Simply put, she's carrying out their mission, putting the Universe in order,without any messy emotions or all the baggage that life brings with it. She and Hank Henshaw should really get together some time.
On Earth, Barry is fighting with J'onn...or is he? Oops.
Oh J'onn, you rascal! You faked Barry and Hal into beating each other up, thinking it was you!
But it's the cliffhanger that really grabs me. John Stewart, as is his wont, is off sitting on some of the rubble left over from the destruction of Xanshi, and pondering Fatality's words, when a whole passel of Black Rings show up.
Oh crap.
"This ain't good."
That's a bit of an understatement, John.
To be continued in Blackets Night #2, while next month, it's Sinestro vs. Star Sapphire and the Return Of Xanshi! Be there, or be square.
posted by SallyP @ 12:09 PM
7 Comments:
Loved J'onn's query about why people always forget his power (including most writers, really...). On one hand, it showed how awe-inspiring his power is. on the other hand, he seemed like a kid who throws a destructive tantrum, upset that people forget him and keep fawning over his brother :P
And I am quite hooked. apart from all the happenings, now that it appears (somewhat, or at least one can speculate) all the Black Lanterns '0.01%' per kill are going into a central battery to bring the Anti-Monitor back, based on what Scar suggested.
And of course one big question that you pointed out, what will happen to Xanshi and John? What about John and Kyle being reunited with past loves? And the most important question of all, will Ch'p battle the rage kitty Dex-Starr?
Speaking of rage kitty, I loved the Red Lantern Bleez story from Tales of the Corps: "Hate creates hate." The series reminds me of those old Tales of the GLC features which told us about some minor and some major characters and created a cool fabric of storytelling about the personalities involved in the corps... why do Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi have to make even the tiny, seemingly inconsequential things so interesting? :P
I don't know about Ch'p and Dex Star,but apparently there IS going to be a Krypto/Dex Star battle, which sounds as though it could be delightful.
It's true that a lot of writers don't seem to be able to remember all of J'onn's powers, but to be fair, he was given SO many powers, especially at the beginning, that it began to get ridiculous. Remember when he could find gold in sea-water? Or make magic ice-cream cones appear out of thin air?
What I find particularly unnerving about Black Ring J'onn, is that he's perfectly rational and logical and reasoned...just evil.
I think that John is in BIG trouble. And that Kyle has a huge number of dead girlfriends to fight off.
J'onn's ability to come up with new powers is legendary... What Were They Thinking's Martian Manhunter Drinking Game comes to mind :P
then again, they did the same with Superman, turning his superjumping ability into flight, amplifying his strength and speed, and giving him all sorts of other powers...
as for Kyle, the good news for him is that he doesn't have to worry about a BL Donna Troy. And Alex didn't have any superpowers of her own (doubt intelligence and being more fearless than her GL boyfriend count as superpowers like the other resurrectees have). Which means he and Soranik just have to worry about Jade, a Black Lantern with the powers of a Green Lantern... and Soranik's possibly psycho dad. I so want to see Kyle approaching THAT guy about marrying his daughter!
Yeah, it was an awesome issue. I'm really liking Blackest Night so far.
If you think about it, J'onn is actually MORE powerful than Superman, because he has Superman's powers and THEN some. That's why I was really looking forward to seeing him as a Black Lantern. So far, I'm not disappointed. :-)
I loved the banter between Barry and Hal -- especially Barry's tiny little implication that Kyle is smarter than Hal. Too funny. :-)
My favourite part of their banter was Barry saying "The geeks are taking over the world." And Hal's anguished "Oh, God. You started reading the internet, didn't you?"
:D
Ok, I should stop commenting on this post... but I can't help it with such awesomeness all around :P
Barry knows Hal pretty well. I'm pretty sure that his comment went right over Hal's head...as Barry knew it would.
I'm sure that Jade is coming back, which will be wrenching for both Kyle AND Alan. Don't see her accomplishing much, since she was a pretty piss-poor Lantern though.
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