Some Idle Speculation

There was so much going on in the last few issues of Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps and Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors, that I find my poor head simply aswirl with ideas. Oh, there was a lot of fighting and it was all SO colorful, but I always have just as much, if not more fun out of the little personal moments and interactions.

I love Guy and Kyle together, they work beautifully together, it is always nice to have a genuine friendship, and it is a lot of fun. But I have to admit, that I've been having a ball reading about Guy and Hal together for a change. They've done stuff in prior issues of course, but not this much one-on-one interaction since way back in Green Lantern #12 and #13, when they flew off to Biot to rescue the Lost Lanterns.

Guy has been needling Hal relentlessly...but in a fairly good-natured sort of way. Almost brotherly, as in a smart-ass younger brother trying to get the goat of his big brother...which is quite different from the way that Guy treats Kyle. That's brotherly too, but in a different fashion. And instead of having a hissy fit, Hal has been giving as good as he gets, and again...in a relatively friendly way. They've actually been having...fun. Yes, they are alone, fighting the entire Corps, and all the Entities, and Krona, but dammit, they're going to have a good time while they do it. Hal's manic grin the minute he gets strapped inside that hot-rod Space Ship was just a joy to behold. And...and usual...Guy gets all the best lines.

I'm worried about John Stewart though. Killing Mogo...if Mogo actually stays dead...is going to be a HUGE problem. Can the Corps even function without him? Can he possibly be replaced, or can he be brought back? Even if he can, how will everyone feel about John's actions? Kyle certainly wasn't happy about what happened, and neither was Guy, although Guy and John had been sniping at each other right from the start. How much of that is attributable to the rings they were wearing and how much of it was just normal bickering, I'm not sure. John certainly didn't appreciate the remark Guy made about Xanshi...and yet he DID go and blow up another planet! A really really COOL planet!

If nothing else, John has to be sickened by what he did. He keeps saying that he didn't have any choice, and that may very well be...but on the other hand, the hallmark of a superhero is to always try and find that alternative to killing...however justified it may be. I actually think that once Guy calms down, he might sympathize with John a bit more, because he was just in the almost the exact same situation with Sodam Yat a couple of issues ago. He was fully prepared to shoot him down with extreme prejudice, when Arisia flew up and spoiled his aim. I think that he was probably secretly relieved that she did that, but still...he was ready to pull the figurative trigger.

Kyle of course doesn't understand John's thinking, and while the Hope ring may have had something to do with it, I believe that Kyle would always naturally try and find an alternative. He refused to give up on Guy when he was possessed by the Red Ring the first time, and Kilowog had to practically pry it out of him, that Guy had told him to kill him if necessary, to stop him from killing any Green Lanterns. Kyle wouldn't have been able to do what John did, and Guy was prepared to do. I think that Hal could do it if necessary. Hal is fairly pragmatic most of the time.

So I don't know what is going to happen with John, but I'm awfully excited to see what is going to happen. I really hope that Mogo can be fixed somehow, and that John won't have this horrible experience hanging over him, because let's face it...killing off a fellow Lantern has GOT to eat away at him.

Finally, what the heck is going to happen with Guy and Tora? In order to break into the central Battery, Guy is wielding both the Red and Violet rings, Rage and Love, at the extreme ends of the emotional spectrum, and he realizes that his love for the Corps is the most passionate feeling that he has. Well, that and the hate he has for the Rage. Does this mean that Guy doesn't love Tora?

I really don't think so. I think that Guy does love Tora, but the whole situation since she's returned from being an ice cube has been a bit peculiar. He finds her, and pours his heart out to her, and she rebuffs him. Then he takes fright and high-tails it off to Oa. Kyle has been asking him about his feelings for Tora all along, and he's been dodging the question. It's also possibly why he weasled out at the last minute when she came to visit him on Oa, and asked her to shack up instead of marrying him.

Of course there is the problem with Max Lord messing with their heads as well. Presumably Guy now knows that Tora WASN'T trying to kill him, as he was raving the last time that he saw her, but will the writers actually address this problem? Because they are still one of my favorite couples, and I hope that their relationship can be salvaged. It would be an awful shame to throw away one of the best romances around just on a whim. Maybe it's a girl thing, I don't know...but I'm getting a bit fed up with there never being a happy ending.

Speaking of which, I have been rather surprised by Hal's continued concern for Carol. It is rather nice of him to actually care for a change.



I filched this from @#$%yeah Comics. It's by Polly Guo, and it's adorable. And I want it to continue to be true.

In Honor of Memorial Day

I hope that everyone has a safe and fun Memorial Day! I've been to the parade, had my son sing "God Bless America" and "Amazing Grace", drunk lemonade, had barbecue, cleaned out the gazebo, and finally...FINALLY finished the firepit.

So...go and kiss a Veteran. You'll both feel better.

War of the Green Lanterns

I'm going to do something a little unprecedented here, and review ALL THREE of the Green Lantern Books that came out this week. Unusual perhaps, but it all reads as though it were simply ONE large book, flowing quite seamlessly into one another.

And...it was spectacular. And heroic. And Tragic.



Let us begin with Green Lantern #66, or Part Seven of the War.

While Kyle and John go off to stop Mogo, Hal and Guy have managed to bust into the Battery, so that they can free Parallax and hopefully stop Krona's hold over the rest of the Green Lanterns. That doesn't work out so well, since Krona has placed the remaining Guardians, each of which is possessed by the various colored entities. Hal actually is a tad on the concerned side.



Fortunately for the two of them, the possessed Guardians prefer to attack them one by one, instead of in concert, and the two of them are actually holding their own...for a little while anyway. Hal is starting to become more and more entranced by the yellow light however, and Guy...well Guy is just cranky as hell. Since their yellow and red rings aren't doing a heck of a lot, Guy decides to give the antique Green Power Gauntlet a whirl...and it does pretty darned well...for about a second or two, when they both get hit by ALL the Emotions At Once. This puts them down for the count.

Meanwhile, imprisoned in the Book, Sinestro, out of all of them, has figured out what is going on...and he's not happy. He's particularly not happy when he remembers that Abin is dead, and he's...he's not a Green Lantern anymore. He also stumbles upon Indigo and her crew,and discovers that they aren't at ALL Compassionate. He almost makes it out, but Krona shows up, and says that although he's got Willpower to spare, he doesn't have what the Earth Lanterns have...which is Heart.

Next thing you know, Hal and Guy wake up, and find themselves chained up, and dressed as Guaridans! It is not a look that flatters them. Krona really drops a bombshell however when he declares that the old Guardians are a bunch of losers (which they are actually) and that he's going to wrap Hal and Guy up in the mummy bandages to transform THEM into Guardians, and that they can rule the Universe at his side!

Holy Crap! Krona sure does love him some Earthmen!

Green Lantern Corps #60

While Hal and Guy are getting their surprise makeover, John and Kyle finally manage to teleport over to Mogo's surface...and it's not looking good. Rings are flying off all over the place, Krona's plan is to flood the Universe with Green Lanterns, all of whom would be under HIS control. Kyle tries to stop the rings, but his blue power isn't working. John however, can channel whatever other rings happen to be around, so he swipes some nice green power and tries to shut down the flight of the rings. It's a valiant effort but doesn't work, and the two of them are drawn down into Mogo's interior. They realize that since Mogo is a telepath, he knows that they are there, and that he's going to be messing with their heads, and right on cue, John sees Katma Tui.

She tries to warn him, to look out from behind. John's not falling for THAT old wheeze, and sure enough...he gets zapped from behind. Oops. They're being chased by GL's, all of whom are ramped up on Kyle's ring. In desperation, he tries to heal them, and lo and behold, it works! Some of the Green Lanterns wake up! But way too few to count.

They finally make it to Mogo's core, and brain...and his ring. Kyle figures that he can use his healing Hope power, and sends in a construct of Bzzzd. It is working, until suddenly all this horrible black goo starts to leak out.

Well crappity crap. Remember when Mogo absorbed all the Black Lanterns into his core? That power is still there, and it's corrupting Mogo. They're running out of time, and John is getting desperate, so he decides to channel the Black energy as a weapon. Kyle thinks that this is a SERIOUSLY bad idea...but John feels that they have no other choice.



And he blows up Mogo.

Double Crap.

Green Lantern: Emerald Warrior #10

Back in the Battery, Hal and Guy are still hanging around, while Krona babbles on about how utterly FAB it is all going to be. Then suddenly, he screams, Ganthet screams, heck EVERYBODY screams...except Hal and Guy,who figure that they don't know what just happened, but it's not time to look a gift horse in the mouth, and they manage to bust out of there.

Back on Mogo...well, back where Mogo USED to be, all hell has broken loose, and Mogo chunks are raining down on Oa. Kyle is just beside himself, and tells John that what he just did was the opposite of Compassionate, and if they had just tried a little harder, they could have saved Mogo. John isn't particularly happy either, but defends himself by saying that he didn't have any choice. Kyle tries to put Mogo back together, but John stops him, saying that Hal and Guy need them, and then teleports the two of them back to Oa.

On Oa, Hal and Guy have grabbed Ganthet and the book and are getting the heck of of there, when they find themselves being pelted by Mogo bits. They're a bit confused until it dawns on them what must have happened...and let's just say that Guy isn't too pleased. Neither is Hal, but he's a bit more stoic about it.


Eventually, they all get together, and Ganthet wake up, and they realize that if Ganthet is up and about, then Krona and his cohorts will be too, so that they had better get cracking. Cracking open the battery is a good start, but even the five of them can't make a dent in it. Ganthet finally realizes that they need ALL of the rings powers, and that there are still two left. So Hal gets Orange...and Guy gets Violet. Oh, you just KNEW that Guy was going to end up with pink! Sadly, he doesn't immediately get a thong, just one side of his uniform ends up with a Star Sapphire emplem and he's pink and red now, which disappointed the hell out me!

They pour on the power, and still...nothing, and now all the rest of the Corps has shown up. Ganthet realizes that Guy is the one who controls the two extremes of emotion...Love and Hate, and that he has to tap into his innermost being, and let those feelings out. He starts by saying that he loves Tora and that he hates his Father...but nothing is happening.

And then...

'

Guy realizes that the thing that he loves the most in all of the world...is the Green Lantern Corps itself...and that he hates...HATES being filled with Rage. And next thing you know, Parallax is free, and so are the Green Lanterns. Guy falls, and almost goes splat but Kyle is there to grab him, which is nice. They all want to take the rings off and get back to Green, but Guy is stuck, if he takes off the red ring, he'll die. Kyle points out that all he needs is a Blue Lantern. Guy's a bit skeptical, but Kyle pours it on...and the red ring and the violet ring both dissolve, and Guy is free. The Green rings zip onto their fingers, and it's back to being in the Corps, baby!

Krona simply sneers that it is more convenient for him to turn ALL of the Earth Lanterns into Guardians now, but all of the Green Lanterns are there, and full of piss and vinegar...and there is just ONE MORE EPISODE TO GO!

I'm going to assume that Zardor and Sodam Yat and Bleez will show up eventually.

But man,oh man...this was epic. And fun, and beautifully drawn, and some really great stuff was going on! Too bad about Mogo however. But before I start to mourn, I'll wait and see if it sticks. Kyle came back in only one issue after all.

But there are all sorts of repercussions that are going to be happening in the fallout of all of this...and I can hardly wait!

If you haven't been reading this, you are missing a really fabulous story. All of the three books have been flowing into one another quite seamlessly, and it is going to make a helluva collection if you want to wait and buy it in the trade version. If you have that much patience...and Willpower.

Twelve Thumbs Up!!!!

Green LanternGasm

Ummm...can't write...Must...Read...Comics!

Holy Pastafazoola! I cannot believe that they did what they just...um...did there. I'm going to let this all percolate for another day or so, and give you all a chance to actually go out and buy and read your comics. Needless to say however, the Green Lantern Books were GREAT!!

Oh, and the other stuff wasn't bad either.

Anticipation

Finally! It's the Wednesday when all THREE of the Green Lantern books are going to be coming out! Personally, I would have spaced them out a bit, but on the other hand, it IS rather nice to get the entire story all together in one big lump, so I'm not complaining. Just don't get in front of me on the way to the Comic Book store today, because I WILL run you down. And laugh while I do it.

Bwhahahahahahaha!

So speaking of Green Lanterns. I always find it rather interesting when they take two characters that don't usually go together and try to make a story out of it. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. For the latter, just look at the recent story they tried to do, pairing up Hal and Plastic Man. I like them both...but together...it was just painful. However, I do have to admit that I am looking forward to the Guy/Batman story in a couple of months with HUGE anticipation.

But I got to thinking about Guy...as I frequently do, and it occured to me, that two of the most important people in his life, have never interacted with one another. I am speaking of course about Tora and Kyle. With the possible exception of running into each other at one of the huge groups of Heroes who always show up to fight the End Of The World, I can't think of a single instance where they have talked to each other,much less be introduced. And really...you would think that they might have a lot to talk about.

Kyle knows all about Tora of course, he's been listening to Guy talk about her for years, but I'm pretty sure that he hasn't actually met her. And he probably should. And Tora was dead when Kyle first showed up, and he's been on Oa, and not Earth. Again, I'm fairly sure that she's heard of him...if not from Guy, then from Fire. Fire has to know Kyle, they all hung out at Warriors back in the day.

But here we have two very nice people. Seriously, how can you not like Tora OR Kyle? And they happen to have a certain red-haired lunatic in common. I would LOVE to see a story that puts the two of them together...somehow. If I were running DC, all I would have to do, is point to Peter Tomasi or Geoff Johns or Gail Simone and, grab Ivan Reis, or Pat Gleason, or Doug Mahnke and say "make it so"...and voila!

Of course if I were running DC, we'd have a Blue Beetle book with Jaime and his family, a separate book for Fire and Ice, the old JLI back together, and Ted, Ralph, Sue, Dmitri, Scott and Barda AND Max would all find their way back from the inter-dimensional portal to Kooey Kooey Kooey where they've been living all this time. I'd keep Secret Six, but I add a book about the Flash's Rogues, 'cuz I just adore the Rogues. And I'd lure Chris Samnee and Roger Lackridge over to DC.

And there would be butt shots. Lots and lots of butt shots.

*ahem*

Well, now that I've gotten over my little moment of unbridled lust for power, I guess I'll mosey on over to the Comical Book Store, and sate my OTHER lust. Green Lantern lust! Oh, and whatever else happens to be coming in this week.

Feeling Pensive

Maybe it is all this talk of impending doom, maybe it is the stock market, maybe it is just my own realization that I'm not getting any younger, but Time...and the concept of Time has been on my mind a lot lately. I've always had this habit of wishing that things would speed up sometimes. I want to know how the show turns out, I want to know whodunit, I want to see how the story ends. When I'm at work, I keep hoping that the clock goes just a little bit faster. Each week, I look forward to Wednesdays, because the new books come in. Then I look forward to Fridays, because hell, who doesn't?

I want Time to speed up when I'm bored, or tired, or doing something that I would rather not be doing, and I want Time to slow down when I'm home, or having fun. But Time isn't like that, and I'm fast coming to the realization that there is only a certain amount of Time allotted to each of us in our lifetimes. An old and very dear friend of ours is in a hospice, with cancer, and it's looking as though his amount of time is drawing very quickly to a close. And of course, it's not fair.

But maybe I shouldn't be in such a rush to find out the end of things...because I'll get there all too quickly as it is. And I DO believe it to be absolutely true, that time spent doing the things that you love is time well spent. So hug your friends, love your family and go out and read as many Comic Books as you possibly can.

Well...Here We All Are

And so the Rapture has come and gone. Some people are feeling pretty depressed right about now. Ok, so the old guy who thought this up made a mistake. It happens. It's not the end of the world or anything.

Oops.

Anyway, I can't help but think that this whole thing is a bit...strange. I guess that I can understand that some people really really want to get to Heaven. But still, to wish for the total destruction and death of the entire World in order to achieve that desire seems a bit...well, MEAN! Un-Christian even. Not to mention just a tad on the selfish side.

In fact, it seems more like the world-conquering plan of your typical Comic Book Villain. But only a villain on a very grand scale. The old, "If I can't rule the world...I'll DESTROY IT!" kind of villain. Now Starro might think that it's just a fine and dandy idea, but for the rest of us, inCLUDING Lex Luthor, destroying the world is just counter-productive.

Besides, I've heard that in Heaven there is no Beer. That's why we drink it here. Or something.



And there is enough of this sort of thing going on all the time anyway. So let us all take a deep breath, and concentrate on the important things in life.

Like Comics.

Is Anyone Feeling Enraptured?

So...the chosen are supposed to rise up into the Heavens tomorrow, with the Rapture being upon us...again. This will signal the beginning of the end of the Earth, with the actualy end, supposedly coming on October 21st this year.

Well!

I know I'M not going anywhere. There are no fewer than three Green Lantern books coming out next Wednesday, and I know where MY priorities lie! Besides, I have other stuff to do. Important stuff.

According to the stuff on the news, I do believe that the accension begins at 6:00. It is very considerate of God to be paying attention to the International Date line. But 6:00 is really such an awkward hour for this sort of thing. You really haven't had time to digest your dinner yet!

So, is it going to be something like THIS?



Or more like this?

Thursday Reviews...and it's STILL Raining

Man, it is getting quite soggy. But at least it isn't snow. The books DID come in, right on time, and although...once again...there weren't a whole lot of them, they were still quite appreciated.

Batman # Robin #23

Well...that's certainly odd. What happened to Tomasi and Gleason? I WANT TOMASI AND GLEASON! Dammit. Instead we have Winick of all people, and Guillem March, who actually does a fairly decent job on the artwork. For some reason, Jason Todd, aka the Red Hood shows up, and is in Arkham, and talking to Batman, and being his usual...charming self. Oh, and he's a redhead. Seriously, he looks a heck of a lot more like Roy than a Robin. I thought that Bats only went for black-haird manchildren? No WONDER Jason didn't work out! Anyway, Jason manages to get transferred to another prison and starts killing off the inmates, all of whom were, actually trying to kill him first...but still. And then Bats goes to stop him, but he's being transferred and then is broken out by what appears to be Talky Tawny's cousin, a very small T-Rex and some girl walking animals. You can tell that they are girls, because they have big boobs. But only Two breasts, which would seem to be peculiar, since most female mammels have multiple mammary glands, so that they can suckle a large litter...but I digress.

This was a bit different from what I was expecting. Not terrible...but certainly different. Damian was hardly snarky AT ALL!

Booster Gold #44.

This ties into Flashpoint. Booster gets back to the Time Lab, tired and hungry and not at all interested in discussing the strange warnings printed on Rip's blackboard. Rip is a bit perturbed, because HE didn't write them, nor did anyone else! Then the room goes dark, Rip and Michelle disappear, and Booster and Skeets are alone in an empty time lab, just as confused as all heck. They go to Coast City looking for a Green Lantern, and are taken to be an attacking Atlantean, which just confuses them more. Then poor Skeets gets blowed up. NOT SKEETS! Booster is quite heartbroken. And confused. And on the Run. Oh, and then Doomsday shows up.

Poor Booster.

Fables #105.

Bigby decides that it is time that he had a little sit down with Daddy dearest, about the latter's plan to kill his son Ghost. The North Wind is trying to explain that Ghost is a monster and that killing monsters is what the North Wind is sworn to do, and that he's changeable and fickle, because he's the NORTH WIND, DAMMIT! Bigby isn't buying it at all and manages to confuse his father with a bit of twisted logic. The old Man then decides to put Bigby to sleep while he goes off to confront Mister Dark...all by himself. Oh, this is going to be epic.

Jistice League of America #57

Well, Alan Scott shows up, helping what remains of the League, although he's in trouble, since Eclipso ran off with the Starheart. And Obsidian is there, and actually has dialogue and isn't a villain! Woohoo! Too bad that Jade is possessed by Eclipso, along with the Shade and all the other darkness based characters. Eclipso decides that he really down't like the Spectre and lures him in and disposes of him rather neatly, although is REAL plan is to go after God himself.

This is all ok, although I do wish that it would hurry up and conclude and go on to other things, because Eclipso for some reason is just NOT a villain that I find particularly compelling. The only time that I liked Eclipso, was when he was actually Jean Loring, trying to tempt Blue Beetle, because THAT was fabulous! Otherwise I find him to be...dull. But still, a decent book, all things considered.

And that was that! Maybe I'll watch the rain drops some more.

Still Raining Wednesday

I...sense a pattern here. A Weather pattern, if you will. A damned annoying Weather pattern. Obviously, the only answer is still more random and slightly peculiar scans.
Seriously, I can do this sort of thing all week.



Here is J'onn being quite suave after "hulking out" and beating up Booster and Beetle and basically polishing off an entire warehouse full of chocos. God DAMMIT I miss the old JLI!



Speaking of the JLI...I'd LOVE to get my greedy mitts on this book! That is one delightful cover.



Oh...this is just so perfect on so many MANY levels. Superman finally gets his comeuppance for all of his enormous amount of douchebaggery over the entire Silver Age.



And finally...that's a job that I would have loved to have applied for, back in the day. I mean, who wouldn't?

Equally Rainy Tuesdays

I'm having a bit of trouble concentrating. Tuesdays always affect me that way. And for the third week in a row, there aren't a heck of a lot of books coming out tomorrow. Or at least books that I consistently read. But NEXT week...Hooooboy, it's gonna be fabulous.

So in lieu of actual content, I'm just going to show nice pictures. I need to get SOME use out of my photobucket!



For example...here's a nice picture of Guy and the Tasmanian Devil guy, who was made into a rug, but was miraculously brought back as a possible friend for Mikaal, aka Starman. Guy is being his usual charming brain-dead self.



Here is Batman being hit in the head with a rather large crow-bar. I enjoy this even more than Hal getting hit in the head.



Oohh, lookie here! It's Tora's nonexistant family! Right there on the cover of the Justice League. Too bad it is all a figment of her imagination now! Not that I'm bitter or anything.



And here is Cosmic Boy in his Space Corset...for no other reason than that it cracks me up.

Well! I've managed to put together a whole bunch of completely disparate scans, and make a blog entry out of it!

Rainy Mondays

Well I did NOT want to go to work today. I actually had a very productive weekend, and now it is dreary and chilly and raining. In other words, a typical spring day in New England.

But last night, I was up in my study, at my old drawing table, and heard some weird noises outside the window, where there is the roof of the screened-in porch. You know that feeling you get when...something...is watching you? It was dark, but pressed right up against the glass of the window was a rather large raccoon...staring straight at me, sitting about two feet away. We eyed each other for a couple of minutes, before, he sauntered off into the night, but it was certainly a little out of the ordinary! For me at least.

So I decided to put up one of the pictures that I was doing. Also because it is Monday, and I don't have a single thought in my head anyway.



J'onn is actually a lot of fun to draw.

Huzzah!

Somehow...magically, everyone's deleted posts and stuff all came back. So once again, happiness and harmony reigns on the bloggersphere. Oh who am I kidding? Harmony NEVER reigns on the bloggersphere!

But I am happy, dammit.



And apparently so are the JLA and the JLI. Well...except for Guy.

What the Heck?

This is peculiar. Darned peculiar. I have apparently lost a week's worth of blog entries, and I don't have the FOGGIEST idea how it happened. Or how to retrieve them. I went to the Edit posts, and they were gone. Does anyone have any suggestions? I really don't have a whole lot of expertise with this whole computer stuff...as is obvious.

I mean, it wasn't mind-boggling or anything, but still...it IS annoying. They were there yesturday when I turned off the computer, and gone today when I turned it on. It's probably Donald Trump. I imagine that I'm on his hate list anyway.

Anyway.

On to newer and better things.

I had a strange idea this morning. Does anybody read Batman & Robin? There was an absolutely hysterical moment in the last issue, I believe where Dick uses his Bat Ears to stab the bad guy. It was...sublime. And hilarious. So I got to thinking...what OTHER uses could the Bats use for their Bat ears? Or for that matter, any other misc. parts of their costume? The Utility belt is already full of cool stuff like Bat Shark Repellant and Bat Jelly beans.

I would like to have Dick or Bruce modify their Bat Ears into Tasers. They could fly off their cowl and zap the bad guys! Or the Bat Ears could be hollow, and be used as Bat Pez dispensers of sweet sweet candy.



Batman likes Pez.

Any ideas?

Teensy Weensy Reviews

Man, that WAS a small week!

Firstly, we have Birds of Prey #12. And what a doozy this is, bringing back a particular villain that I had honestly thought was gone for good. On the other hand, that was pretty naive of me...a good villain is NEVER gone for good! Or even for bad.
That's a heck of a cool cover as well. Oh, and the Question shows up, which is always nice.

The Flash #12.

This was ok. I like Barry, and I'm glad that he's back, but I have to admit that I haven't exactly been set on fire by this run of the Flash. It is perfectly adequate...not terrible...but it just isn't setting my blood on fire. It's nice to see Bart, and I would love to have Wally actually show up and do something, but it's just a little...lackluster.

Flashpoint #1. Well, this is where the apparent poo hits the apparent fan. Reverse Flash has shown up and he's up to all KINDS of shenanigans! Time has been reset, with only Barry seemingly aware of it. Different heroes have taken the place of OUR heroes, and it is going to be rather interesting to see how this all works out. And an interesting little twist there, with Batman too. I don't think that I'm going to buy ALL of the various Flashpoint books, nor do I see any real need to...I'll get the ones that look interesting, and we'll see how it all progresses. I have to admit that I AM looking forward to seeing Hal fight dinosaurs in his plane.

I also picked up Journey Into Mystery from Marvel. Thor was my very first comicbook love waaaaaaaay back when, and I still am keeping vaguely abreast of his adventures...although I STILL haven't forgiven Marvel for cancelling the Chris Samnee/Landridge Thor!

Dammit!

But this was pretty decent actually, with child-sized Loki coming to grips with the fact that he may be reborn innocent, but there aren't a whole lot of Asgardians who are going to cut him any sort of slack. The art is nice, and I've always been fond of Loki in a way. I like Bad Boys some of the time apparently.
So this was pretty good. I AM getting a little bit tired of Odin being such a douche all of the time, but that's certainly the way that he's being written. We'll see.

So...not a bad week, just a very very small week.

Back To Basics

Ok, enough pontificating! It's Wednesday, and I'm off to the Comic Book Store. Not a whole lot is coming in today, but still...the ritual must be completed. And I've suddenly realized that I've been neglecting the whole reason for this blog.

Green Lantern Butt's. You just can't beat them.



Oh yeah.

You Really Shouldn't Have to Prove Your Nerd Credentials

So I took a wander over to the "When Fangirls Attack" site yesturday, and stumbled upon a rather interesting little brouhaha. Zooey May, whom I am unfamiliar with, had posted a rather heated entry, calling fake Nerd Girls to task. The gist of her argument was that it shouldn't be so amazing any more that women actually like and read about Superheroes. I am certainly all for that. Women constitute at least 25% of the reading public, and the numbers are growing all of the time.

Where she lost me however, was when she launched into an ad hominem attack on another woman, named Jill Pantozzi who has a blog named "Has Boobs Reads Comics". Frankly, I thought that was rather amusing. I have a blog named for Green Lantern Butts, so this sort of thing obviously appeals to my rather juvenile sense of humor. What I did NOT find so amusing was Zooey's wish to "...punch her in her stupid boobs...!" She was irate about the fact that Ms. Pantozzi had called attention to being a female and writing about comics.

Well!

Then there was another article about whether or not it was possible to be "hawt" and still be a nerd, and that all those attractive young actresses were just faking their nerd credentials, and should therefore be hissed and shunned. My reaction to all of this is...What the HELL is wrong with you people?

I don't care if you picked up a copy of Thor yesturday, after seeing the movie, and now proclaim yourself to be a "nerd" because you liked it. Anyone who likes comics...male, female, androgynous, or Martian (yes, I love J'onn) is going to be looked upon by me, as a comrade. I don't care if you have been reading comics for thirty years, or thirty minutes, I will still be happy.

There is this underlying desire amongst some people to keep their society closed off to outsiders. It's a cliche, but things become a cliche for a reason. The desire to dominate others by knowing more about the Millenium Falcon is a little silly, but is taken quite seriously by some people. As fangirls, we are used to this sort of treatment from the boys...which is why I am rather startled to see a girl pulling the same sort of crap. And yes, I am using the terms "girls" and "boys" as opposed to Women and Men, because if you are going to ACT like a ten-year old, they you will be designated as one.

Is it really a crime of the first order to pretend to like Star Wars? In a way it is sort of flattering. Geek culture is finally being taken seriously by the population at large, which is both exhilarating and apparently terrifying to some people. I'm a Woman who reads comics. I've been reading since I was fifteen, and I'm fifty now so I don't have to establish my credentials to anyone. And I thank God for the internet, because otherwise, I wouldn't have found so many wonderful and witty people to exchange ideas with on a daily basis. And yes, there are a LOT of Women who have comic book blogs too. Just look at my side-bar thingie.

So let me just say to Ms. May...young lady, you owe Ms. Pantozzi an apology. And let's all just lighten up a little. And enjoy our comics and movies and sci-fi and television and games and anything else that enriches our lives, without pissing on anyone else.

Or else you'll all be sent to your rooms without supper. Or Wi-fi.

Hi Mom!

Happy Mother's Day to you all. Especially if you just happen to be a Mother. Or have one. Which pretty much covers just about everyone except for Conner Kent. But he's got Martha looking out for him, so I don't feel TOO sorry for him.

Anyhoo. I do have to say that Mothers don't get quite the same amount of ink in Comics as Fathers do. It seems as though an awful lot of superheroes have massive Father issues. Look at Hal. Hal LOVES his Daddy. Mom...not so much. On the other end of the spectrum, Guy really hates his Daddy...and who can blame him? His Mom is a piece of work all by herself, and I think that he's secretly proud of her in a weird sort of way. I can't really say how John feels about either one of his parents...he doesn't seem to mention them all that much. Kyle of course had a fabulous Mother, in Maura, and it's a damned shame that they killed her off.

Martha Kent is probably the best Mom on the planet, closely followed by Bianca Reyes. Martha Wayne seems to have been a good Mother, although it seems all we ever see about her, is Bruce sobbing on her grave a lot. She's a bit hazy to me.


There are also a whole crapload of dead Moms. Hal's, Barry's, Bruce's, Diana's (although Hippolyta is so awesome that she keeps coming back...as well she should)
Ollie's, Dinah's, Dick's,J'onnz, Fire's, and so on and so forth. Tora's Mother isn't dead, and she's actually quite fabulous as well.

But since the need for angst and blood in Comics only seems to be escalating, please be sure to treasure your Mother's, both real and fictional. 'Cuz you never know.

Dagnabit!

I had a positively brilliant post all planned for today. Brilliant, I tells ya! Except I forgot to write it down when I first came up with it, and now I fear, that it is lost forever. Hence the "dagnabit". Old age is apparently staring me in the face.

But it IS Friday and it is also payday, and that is a good thing. And it is a balmy 73 degrees, the sun is shining, and the tulips and the daffodils and the azaleas and God knows what else is blooming, and gosh, I just feel good today. So perhaps I'll be brilliant another day.

Instead, I give you Booster and Beetle. Because really who DOESN'T like Booster and Beetle?



This adorable picture is by Bobby Rubio, and I simply love it. Batman however...may not.

Reviews

My goodness, but that was a tiny tiny week. I can't say that it wasn't worth going, because it is ALWAYS worth going to my beloved comic book shoppe, but still...slim pickings.

But GOOD pickings!

Jonah Hex #67

Now this was a honkin' good story. Jonah has a huge bounty on his head, for a murderous crime spree, and the good sheriff has rounded up a posse to go out and git him. Meanwhile, a group that is bringing some desperately needed medicine to a small-pox plagued town has been attacked by Indians, and are in danger of being wiped out, when Hex shows up and casually drives them off. He even comes back and helps them bring the wagon full of medicine to the striken town. Then of course, he tells them to piss off. Hex goes into the town all by himself, and just about everybody is already dead...except for one man, who is dressed...just like Jonah! It turns out of course, that Hex killed his Paw a while back,and he hit upon impersonating Hex and committing murders as a foolproof method of revenge. I love Hex's lackadaisacal attitude towards the murderer. He's just so confident, that you actually begin to feel a little sorry for the poor bugger. Then the Sheriff and the posse show up, and realize that there are TWO Hex's! The one in disguise is dying from the pox anyway and wants to take Hex with him, so he is screaming to shoot them both. Hex asks what the bounty on his head is...and then shoots the doppleganger, which rather flummoxes the Sheriff. They talk it out and realize what the twin Hex was doing, and it all ends happily. Or at least as happily as a Jonah Hex story CAN end. I loved this.

Secret Six# 33

Well, they are all stuck in Hell. Scandal is trying to rescue Knockout, who is supposed to be marrying Merkel. They are offered the choice of dying for nothing, and staying in hell or dying for something and ruling in hell. Or something. Jeanette is all for the ruling part, as is the Shark. Deadshot simply doesn't care. Catman has his own agenda, he's off to find his dear old Dad, in the company of Etrigan. And he does! Find him, that is. Dad is hysterical and demands that Thomas save him from the Lioness that eats him and poops him out every day. Guess who the Lioness is? Why it's Mum! Thomas and Mom have a nice reunion, agree that they love each other and Thomas leaves his miserable father to be eaten...again. Man, that's cold. But I can certainly see his point. Thomas does ask Etrigan why his Mother, who was a good kind woman, ended up in hell of all places, and Etrigan replies, that the line between Heaven and Hell is pretty thin sometimes,and that this IS her idea of Heaven!

Then Lady Blaze shows up and gives them all a taste of their own personal hells. Bane is being eaten by rats in the prison where he was born, Deadshot is out of bullets and being attacked by all the people he killed. Jeanette meets her husband...the one who looks like Deadshot and he wants to know why she never told him what she was. And my favorite...my absolute favorite is the Shark, who goes into a fancy club, full of women and acclaim and the best of everything...except that it is a VEGETARIAN CLUB!

Bwhahahhahaha!

Things aren't going well, till Knockout finally does remember who she is, and what is going on. Scandal was going to grab her and run, but she finds that she can't run out on her friends, and they all end up coming to their collective senses, and stand by one another...even Merkel. It seems all nice and lovely, even though they all know that they are apparently going to end up here anyway someday. But then Lady Blaze tells Scandal that if she uses the Card to free Knockout, then poor Lianna is going to end up in hell in her place.

Well, crap.

And I also managed to get my greedy little hands on the Captain America/Thor book for Free Comic Book Day. Written by Roger Landridge! Drawn by Chris Samnee! It's like getting an extra issue of Thor: The Mighty Avenger! GOD but I miss that book! It's adorable, and you should definitely get your greedy little hands on it as well~!

Finally, I managed to pick up volume 5 of the Showcase: Green Lantern reprints. This has the stories from the Hard Travelling Heroes, by Denny O'Neil and Neil Adams. The artwork is sublime of course, and I actually HAVE quite a few of this issues, but still, it's a nice way to get my hands on them all relatively inexpensively. But egad...the stories are incredibly overwrought. I'm sure that at the time, this was all considered to be incredibly daring...but it really hasn't worn that well. Ollie is SUCH a douche and Hal is SUCH an idiot. But still, it's a lot of fun in a warped sort of way.

I hope you all had a lovely lovely Wednesday.

Leftover Plot Devices

I am currently immersed in the War of the Green Lanterns...and loving it! But I have to admit that there does seem to be something...missing. As we all recall, the first issues of Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors was all about Guy running off with Arisia and Kilowog, to find out who or what was draining the rings of energy. And they DID find out!

Last we saw them, Zardor and Sodam Yat and Bleez were all on their way to Oa, ready and willing to kick ass and take names as it were. Zardor was an ally of none other than Krona, but seems to be more than happy to turn on him. In fact Krona would have to be an idiot NOT to expect him to turn on him.

In the meantime, Guy, who was chasing them, has time to go and meet Hal at their safe house, fly in a cool rocket ship, crash-land on Oa, meet up with Kyle and John, pick out their favorite rings, get yelled at by Ganthet, and run away from Mogo, not to mention exploring the Guardian's basement at Oa, picking up a few handy little trinkets and making a new friend along the way. All of this has been MOST exciting, and all, but it has also used up a reasonable amount of time.

Where the heck is Zardor and Yat? And poor Bleez, and the various minions and oh, what about those kidnapped psychics that Guy and Bleez freed, and sent on their merry way to Oa as well? I assume, that they are going to be showing up soon...in fact they will pretty much HAVE to show up soon, because the whole thing ends this month! I do like the way that this cross-over is going however. It is small for one thing...confined only to the Green Lantern books, and each story dovetails quite seamlessly into the next, which is very very nice and easy to read. And the art is pretty. And Guy has the best dialogue...as usual.

So...my take on this is that Krona and Zardor are going to be going head-to-head pretty soon, and hopefully, will take each other out, with a little bit of help from our friendly Earth-born quartet. Oh, it will be lovely.

Monday Meandering

I'm going to try a little bit of that old random bits of thinking, because it is Monday, and because as usual I don't have a clue. Plus my son Frank is getting married next month, and they just signed the lease on the cutest little apartment, and he's going to be moving out and I'll be down to just one kid at home, and frankly I'm feeling a little conflicted. Yes, there will be more milk and orange juice in the house, but still...!

I imagine that Ma Kent feels this way. There always seems to be a fresh apple pie, and a free washer and dryer at the Kent Farm for whenever ol' Clark feels like wandering by. Which actually is rather nice, when you think about it, because an awful LOT of superheroes seem to be orphans. Hal certainly can't go home, although I suppose that his brother's house serves that purpose to a degree. I don't know if John still has living parents, and Kyle used to, but doesn't anymore, and I would think that his mother's house would be the LAST place on earth that Guy would go to voluntarily.

Batman's parents are dead. Just ask him, and he'll tell you. Fortunately, he has Alfred to bake the cookies and run the vacumn and clean up the bat guano in the cave. Others aren't quite so fortunate. For a large number of heroes, their various Leagues and Societies and Teams serve as surrogate homes and family. The JSA is probably the most so, or at least it used to be. The old JLI served as a family of sorts, with J'onn serving as a slightly reluctant paterfamilias, and Ted, Booster, Bea, Guy and Tora as the kids. The JLA doesn't seem to be quite so warm and fuzzy, but at least it's a place to hang out. The Titans all seem to cling together, which is odd, because some of them actually do have families. Heck, Jaime Reyes may have to most normal family life of just about any hero. And I find that SO refreshing.

But anyway, enough meandering. Here's a nice picture of Guy and Kyle that I found somewhere that I can't remember. It's by Aaron Felizmenio, and it is awfully pretty.



Happy Monday!