Green Lantern Corps #20

It seems as though it has been forever since this book came out, but I didn't want to give away any details, until after Green Lantern #20 came out...which it finally has.

GLC takes place after that rather epic conclusion to Geoff John's tale of the Green Lanterns, and it is also the farewell issue for Peter Tomasi and  Fernando Pasarin, which naturally makes me very sad.  I LOVE Peter Tomasi, and I have come to appreciate Pasarin's artwork.  It was such a change from Pat Gleason's but he has poured his heart and his hands into drawing Guy and Company, and I going to miss them terribly.

So.. you remember how the Guardians discovered that Salaak was trying to spy on them, in order to guess their nefarious plans?  Well, they found out, and basically entombed him alive, which was a rather nasty thing for them to do.  As we begin this issue, Kilowog and Guy have found him, and are opening his crypt/prison...and good gosharootie, is Salaak ever happy to see them!  My favorite surly Slyggian actually gives a giant four-armed bear hug to both Kilowog and Guy, which just fills my heart with love. 

Awwww!

They fill him in on what happened with the Guardians, and I have to say that he doesn't seem too broken up about it.  Being locked away in a metal coffin will do that for a person. 

Meanwhile, John and Yrra have escorted Mogo back to his sector, which was nice of them.  I can't say how happy I am that Mogo is back and doing his/her Mogo thing for the Corps.  John and Yrra also decide that now is the time to let bygones be bygones...and make sweet sweet alien love...right on Mogo...who handles it with a certain amount of aplomb.

Back on Oa, Salaak is filling Guy in on what the Guardians were up to, prior to their late unlamented demise.  This is when Guy realizes that they set him up with his old nemesis Xar, and he's not happy about it.  Not happy at all.   So, while Salaak tries to pinpoint where Xar has disappeared to, Guy decides that he needs a little boost to his Ring, and goes and literally grabs St. Walker right in the middle of an inspirational speech.  St. Walker takes his kidnapping with a degree of composure, as he amps up Guy's powers, and Guy discovers that Xar is on Earth, about to make mincemeat out of his family.  Xar is not a nice fellow at all.

Fortunately, he is also a real jerk, and is having some fun taunting Guy's family before he actually kills them, which gives Guy the time to arrive, full of piss and vinegar and an excess of Green Lanterny ring power.  And Xar is nothing more than a stain on the wall...literally.

So, after saving the day, Guy decides he needs a little bit of down time...maybe a couple of months or more, to relax, and appreciate what he almost lost.  They all go camping, and shopping, and to the Dentist, and to Motor Vehicle, and even to the movies, where he politely asks some dillweed to shut off his phone, and then handles the problem to the great delight of the other movie goers.  My only question, is who is his date?  She has short fair hair, and I thought perhaps it should be Tora, but her hair is colored blonde, and she actually looks a bit like Arisia!  I don't know if it was a coloring mistake and it is supposed to be Tora, or if she is just some random unknown person.

Things like this bug me.  Because I'm obsessive, I guess. 

Anyway, he lasts all of ten days before he gets the urge to head back into space, and flies off in a blaze of glory.

This was...nice.

It wrapped up a few more loose ends, it puts things right, and it has Guy back in the Corps, doing what Guy does.

My only concern is that the new writer is going to shove him into the Red Lantern Corps, which is NOT where I particularly want him to be.  We have already HAD that story, and it came to a satisfying conclusion, I don't really see the need to rehash the whole Red thing again.  Hopefully it will only be for a few issues.  But still, it is a nice ending to a long and fabulous ride.

Green Lantern #20

Well this is it.  The finale, the Big One, the End of an Era.  Geoff Johns brings his epic journey on Green Lantern to a climax, in an oversized book, that pretty much wraps things up, ties up loose ends, and tells us what happened, and what might happen, and still preserves all of his toys for the next kids to play with.

Frankly I loved it.

I have a few quibbles, but what the heck.  It was a big noisy splash of all of the colors of the Corps, and comeuppances are given, and a happy ending is provided.  How often do we actually GET a happy ending anymore?  So I am going to savor this one.

We begin in the future, with a lucky young recruit having completed his Green Lantern training, so he goes to visit  the Bookkeeper, Toris.  He wants to hear from the Book of Oa, all about Hal Jordan, Greatest of the Green Lanterns.  And in only a few pages, Johns and Doug Mahnke give us a succinct and beautiful synopsis of just what the heck has been going on for the past nine years or so, and thus brings us up to date on what is happening NOW.

Korugar is destroyed, Sinestro is stricken with grief and rage, and Hal is still trapped, so...being Hal, he literally leaps before he looks, and falls to his death.  His REAL death apparently.  And being Hal...somehow his cockamamie idea works, and he ends up with Black Hand's Black Ring.  Simultaneously, Sinestro casts aside his Green Lantern ring and reembraces his yellow ring of Fear.

On Oa, Volthoom is gloating over the Guardians.  I can't feel too sorry for the miserable little blue munchkins, they brought all of this on themselves.  Just to twist the knife a little, Volthoom manages to retrieve his original ring, from Ganthet's gullet, and gives all the Guardians the ability to FEEL again, which they had denied to themselves so many many millenia ago.  They...aren't happy.  Not at all.

But as Volthoom is about to go and do Bad Guy Stuff, Guy, John, Kilowog and the rest of the remaining Lanterns show up and start smacking him around.   They aren't doing all that well, but fortunately, the Red Lanterns show up, and then Kyle brings in the cavalry, with the Blue Lanterns and the Star Sapphires.  Guy has a clever idea, which even Volthoom acknowledges, of chanelling all their collective energy through Mogo.  But alas, it's not enough.


Then Sinestro shows up all yellow and pissy, and starts whaling on Volthoom too.  And then...

Hal shows up.  With all the Black Lanterns.

Black Lanterns who aren't very pleased with Volthoom.

Naturally they are delighted and horrified to see Hal this way.  Carol wants to know if Kyle can use his white Lantern ring to bring Hal back to life, but he says he can't.  I don't quite understand why not, but what the hey.

Volthoom may be startled, but he's not down, and he grabs Hal, and does his usual schtick of prowling through Hal's history  searching for a weak moment.  And it isn't when he was possessed by Parallax, but when he was a little boy,watching his father crash and burn.  Volthoom uses the spark from innocent little Hal, to give him the power to rewrite the history of the Universe. I don't understand fully how this is possible, but hey...comics.  Sinestro is outraged by this violation, and heads to his battery...where he calls forth...

Parallax.

Yes, it's time for Parallax to possess Sinestro.  Except that this time, the shoe is on the other foot, and Sinestro is the one in charge, with all of Parallax's power.  He rushes in and grapples with Volthoom, who is taken aback, but not defeated.  Volthoom sneers and postures a bit more, until Hal realizes that they can't do it alone.  He heads back into the darkness and summons...

Nekron.

Boy howdy, all the big baddies are showing up!  Hal is even able to boss Nekron around, and get him to do HIS bidding!  But they can't just go charging in and kill Volthoom, because that would destroy their Universe, so...somehow, Hal is able to drain away all of Volthoom's emotional spectrum powers..until there is nothing left, and he's just a man again.  And Nekron takes swift and brutal action...and that's the end of Volthoom.

And the Guardians are now free.

Hal meanwhile goes back to his younger self, who mistakes him for their Father, and hugs him, which is rather sweet.  Meanwhile, although Volthoom's ring was banished back to the alternate Universe from which he came, another Green Lantern ring finds Hal...

And oh, yeah, there is a new Green Lantern in town.

Exactly how a regular ring could bring Hal back from the dead, when Kyle couldn't is not exactly explained, but hey, it is a really nice page, and Hal looks all heroic and stuff, and Nekron fades back into limbo, or whatever.

And everybody is very very happy.

Well...mostly everybody.

Till the Fear Lanterns all show up.  And they are all ready to start fighting again.  Hal for a change is actually smart enough to figure out that this is simply a diversion of Sinestro's.  Sinestro is stalling them, while he goes after the Guardians, although Atrocitus is also looking to spill a little Guardian blood.

Naturally Hal tries to stop Sinestro, who can't understand why Hal would be trying to save the Guardians...except that he's really trying to save Sinestro.  Too late unfortunately, because Sinestro already did it.  Yep, he killed the Guardians...except one, that he saved for Atrocitus, which was nice of him.  And he and Hal have one more exchange, and Sinestro admits that despite everything...they were and will always be...friends.

And the Sinestro Corps takes off...presumably for Qward.

And that's that.


Except of course, it isn't.

The young new recruit is amazed, but not completely sated.  The old Guardians were replaced with the nice new Templar Guardians from Maltus, who weren't crazy.  He wants to know more, and Toris obliges him by telling him what happened to everyone after the final confrontation.

Guy is still hanging out in bars, when Bolphunga the Unrelenting shows up and Old Guy takes him out with One Punch, which made me snicker.

John marries Yrra, and they go to earth, and he becomes a State Senator.

Kyle stays in his white suit, and goes off to become Space Jesus apparently, healing everybody.

Simon Baz  keeps his ring and finds the first woman Lantern from Earth, which is nice, and goes around being fabulous.

Larfleeze gives up everything to find his family...for a while, but reverts to greed again.

St Walker  has a family and builds up the Blue Corps and all is well.

Irogue of the Indigos discards her ring, but stays compassionate.

Hal and Carol get married and have a baby boy named Martin.

But what happened to Sinestro?



Yeah, Sinestro becomes the Bookkeeper of Oa.

Man, the art in this was gorgeous.  As I said, there are a few inconsistencies, but I don't care.  At least I don't care right now.  This was something of an epic undertaking.  Geoff Johns came onto this book, when it was a mere shell of what it had been, with only Kyle left, the Corps distroyed, and Hal a villain and dead.  From Rebirth, he brought back Hal, he brought back the Corps, he kept Kyle, he brought back Guy and John, and the Guardians, and established so many of the aspects of the Corps that we now all take for granted.  There aren't too many writers who stay with one book for so long, and give so much to it.  And he did it, revising things, but not destroying what had come before.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, that Geoff Johns is a master at dumpster diving through DC continuity.

This new vision of the future of the Green Lantern Corps, may only be good for the new 52 Universe, it may be changed by whomever comes after Geoff, and Peter Tomasi, and Ivan Reis, and Doug Mahnke, and Pat Gleason and Carlos Pacheco and Fernando Pasarin, and all the other writers and artists who have made my Wednesdays so glorious.

But I had my happy ending.  And for that I thank you.

And most of all, I thank you for bringing back G'nort.  

Reviews!

Great Googally Moogally, that was a sensational week!

Aquaman #20

Arthur isn't eve IN this, but it is a fairly nice story about some of his old buddis, aka The Others, and how they all end up helping some Apaches in Arizona.  Granted, that is probably not the best place to put a Sea King.  I actually thought that the Skinwalkers story was a Navajo one, but what do I know?

It had nothing to do with Aquaman, but the characters were fun, and not a bad story, so what the heck.


The Flash #20

Barry is just glad to be back on the job, and not having to deal with talking gorillas for a while.  Silly Barry.  Instead of being upstairs with the grown-ups however, they have stuck him in the basement with all of the "cold" cases, which may turn out for the best, since Barry seems to do better without someone peering over his shoulder all the time. 

He is still investigating what happened to the people who were in the Speed Force with him, and trying to ferret out what happened,and who killed who, and does Iris have any powers.  It is a nice story, and nice art, and I liked it.

Green Lantern #20

Hoooooboy!

Green Lantern: New Guardians #20

One of the sequels to Green Lantern.  More anon.

Jonah Hex #20

And the dynamic duo of Booster Gold and Jonah Hex continues.  Yes, I know the book is actually called All-Star Western, but it's about Jonah Hex, and I'm gonna CALL it Jonah Hex, dammit! 

Remember that really nasty gang of outlaws that were robbing and killing people in Booster's town?  Well, they had the misfortune to run into someone even bigger and meaner than they were.  Jonah and Booster have tracked them to  the new Baddie's lair, and Jonah is all set to go in with guns blazing, but Booster manages to talk him out of actually....killing anyone.  Jonah isn't particularly happy, but he is busy cutting the heads off the gang, so that he can get the bounty. 

Booster, bless his heart, sneaks in, gets the last gang member, and the gold so that he can payoff Jonah, but gets caught and shot at...guess what, his suit makes him bullet proof!  I love boys from the future!  I'm having  a ball with this particular pairing.  Booster always makes things better and for some reason, Jonah seems to actually...like him.

Fun!

Justice League #20

Well, who should show up on the Satellite of Love, but Despero!  And he and J'onn have something of a history.  The rest of the League is earthside, so it is up to  Firestorm, Element Woman and the New Atom to take down Despero by themselves, and it just ain't gonna happen.  Plus Atom has a secret. 

Fortunately for all of them, J'onn does show up and makes short work out of Despero.  He takes off again, after swearing the Atom to secrecy, so when the rest of the League shows up finally, she has to lie and say that they managed to take out Despero solo.  She's a bit frantic, and wants to quit, but it turns out that her deep dark secret is that she is working for Amanda Waller, who has planted her as a mole in the Justice League. 

I am really not too happy with this new 52 version of Amanda Waller as a super paranoid patriot.  Yes, I can see where they would want to know what the League was up to, but it is a bit too...Marvel-ish for me.  One of the main attractions of the DC universe as opposed to the Marvel one, is that the DC denizens actually LIKE their superheroes!  They don't hate and fear them, they give them parades and museums!  It's almost as though someone from Marvel was running things and bringing in a Marvel point of view! Gosh!

Justice League Dark #20

Well, who should show up to help our hapless magicians but the Flash, and I have to say that Barry is a bit of a hoot there.  Frankenstein is also growing on me, he has such a dry sense of humor. 

Dr Destiny is having himself a fine old time messing with all of them of course, and he's also got poor Swamp Thing tied up and being tortured.  Also that is quite the cliff hanger on the last page!

Good fun.

Red Lanterns #20

I haven't been picking this up with any sort of regularity, but I figured I would take a peek.  Rankkor saves his almost girlfriend, but alienates her at the same time, and decides he's going to be a REAL Red Lantern now!  Bleez says she's going to follow Atrocitus, but you know that probably won't stop her from scheming on the side. 

It's...ok, but nothing particularly outstanding.  I'm not too happy about them bringing Guy in...but naturally I'll read it.

Superman #20

I've only been reading Action, because Lobdell is not one of my favorite writers, but heck, it had Orion on the cover, and I couldn't pass that up!  Orion and Superman fight of course, and it is a lovely lovely fight...each one being a bit surprised by the strength of the other.  Then Wonder Woman shows up and spoils their little romp.  Turns out that Orion thought Clark was going to go nutso, and Clark notices that Orion and Diana seem to have a bit of a...history, so he's a little jealous, and Hector Hammond winds up getting out of Superman's head, which is why Orion was fighting him in the first place. 

I don't know if I would read this on a regular basis, but hey...Orion!

Journey into Mystery #652

Gaia is feeling a bit out of sorts, and her garden in Asgardia is dying.  Sif is more than happy to help...but she doesn't really know what to do...so she goes off to Broxton and calls upon Jane Foster.  There is an absolutely fabulous couple of panels where they joke about Thor, that just cracked me  up. 

She ends up getting Iron Man to take her and Gaia to some sort of space station,where Gaia and the Garden can recover.  I don't fully understand this, but what the heck.  But then they get invaded accidentally by none other than Beta Ray Bill, with whom Sif has a history.  Oh, and Ray's fiancee, which should turn out to be VERY interesting.

Dang, I do like this book.

Young Avengers #5

And speaking of loving a book!  Our young heroes are fighting for their lives against their possessed and reanimated parents, since Loki apparently borrowed Wiccan's powers and took off.  So Wiccan is going to commit suicide to save them.  But Loki comes back.  And why?  Because sweet little Loki, who I thought had been killed by the shade of evil Loki isn't completely gone!  He's lurking around in Loki's brain functioning as his conscience! 

I'm so so happy.  I love good Loki!  I love bad Loki too, so this should be a load of fun. 

Loki does manage to save their butts, but his body isn't strong enough to be able to do all of the manage that adult Loki used to be able to do, so they take off in Marvel Boy's cool space ship, that has Kirby rockets that run off of belief, because Kate promised to show him all about Earth as a Hot-Make-Out spot. 

The art is gorgeous, the story is hilarious, and gosh, I do love this book!

It's Here!

Finally.  The massive final issue of Green Lantern...as written by Geoff Johns.  So I won't be doing much today except lapping up Lanterny goodness.  And Green Lantern: New Guardians came in, and Red Lanterns as well.  Not to mention a plethora of other excellent books.

I have my tea, I have my books, and I have some nice cheese and an apple...and I'm going to wallow in comics for a while. 


Please feel free to wallow as well!

Anxiously...Waiting For Wednesday

Well...tomorrow is Wednesday, and it is the 22nd, and by God, Green Lantern is supposed to be out.  This is the BIG one, the humdinger, the final battle between the Good Guys and the Bad Guys.  Or just Guy.

Of course some of the  thunder has been stolen from this epic event, with the publication of Green Lantern Corps two weeks ago...but I have withheld reviewing it...although I HAVE read it of course.  I am also wondering when Green Lantern: New Guardians comes out...is that tomorrow as well?

So while I do wish that some of the surprise still existed, who REALLY thought that the Lantern Corps was going to be wiped out?  Although I imagine that there has probably been a certain amount of collateral damage.  I also hope that the Guardians get theirs.  And Volthoom.  I REALLY dislike Volthoom.  I can like a villain with proper motivation, and character...just look at Sinestro...but Volthoom seems to be evil, just because he can.  Which I fnd to be boring.

I am still suffering from a bit of trepidation about a Green Lantern world without Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi.  We've been together for SO long now.  But perhaps it is time to move on, and see what other people have to say.  

Just don't keep Guy in the Red Corps for more than an issue or two.  He really HATES the Red Lanterns.

I Luv Lanterns!

Lately, it seems as though I have just been going through the motions on my little ol' blog.  Doing the weekly reviews, seeing what dumb thing DC or Marvel has done lately...the usual.  And it occurs to me, that perhaps I have been drifting a little too far away from what it was that prompted me to start this whole blogging thing lo...so many many moons ago.

Green Lanterns.

And their butts.  Their beautiful beautiful butts.

But it is not only because of their posterior pulchritude that I like Green Lanterns.  They are just so...so fabulous!  They come in so many sizes and shapes, and colors, and configurations!  Some of them are things like a mathematical equation, or a microbe, or a giant cube, or with tentacles, and fins, and other cool things.  All it takes to be a Green Lantern is that you are brave, and capable of overcoming great fear, and have loads and loads of Will Power.  And that is something that practically anyone can aspire to.

Still and all, it is a fairly elite club.  You can be brave and noble and all of that, but if you can't harness all that lovely Will Power, you aren't chosen.  So there.  Which is frankly, one of the things that thrills me, when it comes to Hal, Guy, John and Kyle.  As lunatic, as foolhardy, as repressed, or as naive as they can be...they can still do something that Batman can't do.  Or Superman, or Flash, or Aquaman or Wonderwoman, or Green Arrow, or the Atom, or Captain Shinypants, etc. etc. etc.  They can harness their imaginations and will through a shiny little green alien ring.

And I hope that is something that the new writers aren't going to forget.

 

Oh Guy.  You do have such a way with words.

Where It Began

It may come as a surprise to some of you...but I really really like Guy Gardner.  He is my favorite Green Lantern, and I really really like ALL Green Lanterns.  And their butts.  It just happens to be my mostly harmless fetish...er...obsess...er...thing that I like. 

Don't judge me!

It didn't start out this way.  My first comic book love was...Asterix. I used to read them...in french...at my dentist's office when I was about six.  Then I like the Batman television show with Adam West when I was a bit older.  To this day, Frank Gorshin is still my ultimate Riddler.  And Julie Newmar IS Catwoman. 

Then I discovered Marvel, and had a serious crush on Thor.  I loved his hair.  I mostly was a Marvel Zombie as a teen, although I knew of the DC heroes of course.  Everyone has to know who Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are.  And I liked the Green Lanterns.  It was Hal of course, and I barely even knew who he WAS, but man, he had a nice costume.  And purty purty hair.  Not quite Thor hair, but still...pretty good. 

Black and Green was such an interesting color combination in a sea of primary colors for heroes. 

And as I got older, I found myself slithering over to the DC side of the aisle at the Comic Book Store...and then I found Justice League International and discovered, much to my surprise that there were OTHER Green Lanterns, and I was hooked.  And went out and found all the back issues in those cardboard boxes that I could find. We didn't have collections or trade publications in those days, my children.  And as much fun as it was finding all those old issues, I freely admit that it is a whole heckuva lot easier now to put a collection together. 

And I still liked Hal, and I liked John, and I loved Kilowog and Salaak, and Katma and the whole concept of Space Cops.  And then there was Guy Gardner. 

Gosh, he was obnoxious.  He was rude, and lewd and crude...and I loved it.  He sassed Batman, and I loved him even more.  He was a complete jerk most of the time...and yet, you could see hints of something else there.  And he had such a fabulous costume.

And he didn't even really start out as a semi-villain, anti-hero asshole.  He was actually a pretty nice guy, an alternate choice for Hal, who just happened to be further away when Abin Sur bought the big one.  A gym teacher, someone who had managed to rise above a pretty crappy childhood and put himself through college and make something of himself.  He even became friends with Hal, after Hal learned that he was almost picked.  Then when Hal was having trouble with this ring, he tapped Guy to take over on a temporary basis, and Guy was up to the challenge.

And then it all went sideways.



See, it wasn't Hal's ring that was going kaflooey, but his battery.  Which he had left with Guy, and which Guy was using to repower his ring, after being a Green Lantern for A DAY!  Followed by his supposed death, imprisonment in the Phantom Zone, being kidnapped and tortured by Sinestro, and falling into a coma for Three years, while his fiancee ran off to marry Hal, and then being brought out of his coma, but still suffering from Brain Damage, which the Guardians couldn't be bothered to fix, and becoming that complete raving maniac that we all know and love.  Well...some of us more than others.

And you wonder why he was a bit cranky with Hal at first?

Thursday's Reviews

It was...an ok week.  I'm still waiting for Green Lantern to come out.  And waiting.  Maybe next week. 

Batgirl #20

I...I just can't get into this anymore.  I love Gail Simone, and I am very fond of Barbara...but I think I am going to be dropping this book again.  Having Oracle...I mean BATGIRL, waffling, and whining and taking out her brother, and obsessing and whining some more...it's gotten a bit dull.  Too much angst.  Not enough humor.  Not enough BRAINS!  And I don't mean the zombie kind. 

Also I don't really like this new Ventriloquist  much at all. 

Dull.

Batwoman #20

This was much more to my liking.  Kate is playing hardball with the D.E.O. This is ok, because they are certainly playing hardball with her.  They managed to fish her sister out of the drink, and stuck her in a giant mystic sarcophagus which brought her back to life or something, and they will give her back, if Kate betrays Batman.  So...she goes for it, and goes home to Maggie, only to find that her entire family is there.  She has a hissy fit, Maggie tells her to get a grip, and they all know everything now, which is a good thing. 

I wonder if Batman would like the giant mystic sarcophagus for Damian? 

Pretty darned good.

Birds of Prey #20

Well, it turns out that Starling was the traitor, which probably isn't as surprising as it could be, since Canary DID find her working for the Penguin.  She's also into monologuing.  She and Freeze are mad at the Court of Owls, for using Freeze's technology on the Talons.  Dinah is cranky, because she liked Starling.  Barbara is much less angsty in this book than in her own. 

So it was pretty decent all things considered.

Fables#129

Nooooooooooooooo!!  Not Bigby!  Snow White takes on her semi-ex, in a duel to the death, and by gum, she does it...but not before he shatters Bigy's crystalline form.  Fortunately, Snow White had the witches on her side, and they are trying to get him back together.  They damned better!

I love Bigby.

Oh, and Therese shows up at the end, which is where her story ended a while back, and we are all connected up again.

Vibe#4

I fear that this book is not going to be around too long.  My beloved Comic Book store owner, said that I am one of exactly two people who are buying this.  I would assume that Scipio is the other one.  And that is sad, because it really isn't a terrible book or anything...even though it doesn't have him break dance ONCE!

But he comes across Gypsy, and ends up helping her of course, and naturally Amanda Waller is going nuts, and it turns out that Dale Gunn is married to a very nice man, but is trying to hide it, in order to protect him.  This probably won't end well, knowing DC.

Not bad at all.

Wonder Woman #20

Apollo really does seem to be in over his head.  Poseidon shows up to mock his nephew a bit, and Artemis has shown up to kill the baby.  Diana really doesn't seem to like Artemis very much, and who can blame her?  Ares takes Artemis back to Apollo after Diana beats her to a pulp, while Zora, and Hera and the baby run for it.

Orion doesn't show up at all, which I found to be disappointing.

It's still not THE Wonder Woman, but I'm still enjoying the heck out of it.

Oh Tuesday...wait it's Wednesday!

It's Tues...wait a minute...it's Wednesday!  I think I lost a whole day!  And of course Wednesday means new comics!

That is a good thing.  A sad thing is finding out that DC is going to be dropping Demon Knights shortly.  While it wasn't my absolute favorite book...I did like it.  Justice League Medieval, as it were.  So that's a bit depressing.  They are also dropping the Legion.  This doesn't bother me quite so much, since I have never been able to get past the whole "Snotty Teens from the Future, getting bored and staging tryouts, and then dumping the hopeful Applicants in the Cruelest Way Possible" routine. 

Stupid Teens from the Future!

However...in order to replace all of the books that they are dropping, DC, in order to maintain its self-imposed limit of 52 will probably be bringing out 12 more Bat Books.  Or Justice League books.  A few Green Lantern books would be ok, I would love to have Green Lantern Quarterly back...but make it monthly.

Which brings me to this.


I would so read a book about Bruce's Shrink.

Happy Mother's Day

Okay, so I am a day late.  I was too busy having a really nice Mother's Day.  My oldest made me brunch, which was divine, and then another one came over, and brought my car back.  Granted he left with it again...but it was the thought that counted!  And a lovely time was had by all.

I hope that all of our favorite Comic Book Characters treated their mothers well.  If she weren't dead, I am sure that Clark would have gone home to Smallville to visit with Martha and eat some of her pie.  Bruce is probably draped over his mother's grave sobbing to himself.  Obviously Talia won't be getting a Mother's Day card anytime soon...and it's her own fault.

The Reyes are having a nice barbecue in the backyard, and Jaime is taking the night off from Blue Beetle derring-do.  Guy would be hiding from Peggy Louise Gardner if this was the REAL DC Universe.  Kyle is probably sad.  John too.  Hard to know with Hal.  Although being dead at the moment...maybe...perhaps he stopped by to say hello to both Mom AND Dad. 

I sure wish that they would bring back Hippolyta, so that Diana could get a hug.  I know she has a whole huge new family now, but it's just not the same.  At least Batgirl has her mom back. 

So, I hope you ALL had a lovely Mother's day if you are Mother's.

Oh Why Not

Time for a little bit of Sinestro love.



This is what is known as hitting Hal where it hurts. 

Although, if I were Sinestro, I'd give Kari Limbo back.  Man, she's scary!

Thursday's Reviews

Now that was a pretty good week!  No Green Lantern, which has me slightly cranky, although they DID ship Green Lantern Corps...which is an epilogue to Green Lantern.  So I won't be reviewing it for a while. Except that it did tie up a loose end rather neatly.

Batman #20

Scott Snyder has actually made me into a Bat-fan.  I never thought I would live to see the day.  And Greg Capullo draws the prettiest Bruce Wayne that I have ever seen. 

Clayface of course, has been impersonating Bruce and other people, to the extent that he has actually lost all of his original DNA.  I am not quite sure how this would happen, but hey...Comic Book Science!  He is doing his best to kill off Bruce, and shoves him into an inescapable incinerator with Lucius Fox, who just happens to have a really cool Bat Suit that he was planning to...incinerate.  Naturally, the escape-proof incinerator is not quite as escape-proof as he thought, and building your own death traps is a sign that you have probably too much time on your hands.

Clayface actually discovers that Bruce IS Batman, but naturally nobody believes him, and Bruce has a clever way of getting out of things.  Also, Bruce and Alfred sit down to watch home movies in the Bat Cave, which was...sweet.

Fabulous!

Batman & Red Hood #20

In this issue, Jason takes over as Robin.  He and  Bats go off to fight some terrorists, after Carrie Kelley shows up again, looking for Damian.  Bruce tries to put her off, by claiming that Damian has gone abroad for more studies.  I don't think she's buying it.  Also, she and Titus have a bonding moment. 

Bats and Jason have a reasonably easy time of it, beating up the terrorists, and end up in Ethiopia, which is where Jason..."died".  This is  news to me, but apparently this is the way it is in the new 52.  Jason is less than thrilled at being at the site of his demise, but Bruce wants to know all that he remembers, so that perhaps he can figure out a way to bring back Damian.  I can't say that I blame him for trying every avenue possible to restore his son, but he's going about it in a particularly painful way to all of the people who he is close to.  Jason is NOT happy, and naturally, they start beating each other up,

I actually feel sorry for both Bruce and Jason.  Also, Two-Face shows up at the very end. 

Nice. 

Constantine#3

So there is a spell on John, so that he can't go home to London?  Interesting.  This doesn't stop him from going there anyway, in his quest for the compass thingie, and being John, he naturally manages to manipulate his way out of trouble...and then into more trouble. 

It isn't quite the same as Hellblazer...but it isn't bad actually.

Demon Knights #20

Although she was bitten by Cain, Sir Ystin seems to be fighting off the infection.  Hippolyta has forgiven Exoristos, who, although she wants to return to Themyscira, choses to stay true to Ystin.  They are still lookign for the Grail, and seem to have discovered a map that shows where it might be, on an unknown island in the middle of nowhere. 

Vandal Savage is along for the ride, which doesn't particularly please Jason Blood, since he's been torturing the latter for decades, but hey, no hard feelings, right?  And there is a giant octupus, and  who really doesn't like that?  It's been a good month for giant octopi, if you count Topo in Aquaman.

Nice as well.


Green Lantern Corps #20

I'll review this after Green Lantern comes out.   But not a bad swan song for Peter Tomasi and Fernando Pasarin.

Justice League of America #3

The league is using Catwoman as bait, to find out more about the Bad Guys, although Katanna seems to think that she's a traitor.  J'onn looks into her mind and says that she is not...but the mind meld process seems to go both ways, and she sees into his mind as well, which is something new. 

Green Arrow, shows up as Catwoman is "escaping" and is about to blow the whole scam, when Hawkman tells him to knock it off...so naturally he uses this as an opportunity to blackmail his way onto the team.  Oh Ollie...you really don't need to be so...so desperate.  Also Amanda Waller is mean to Courtney.

This isn't all that bad really.  Not great...but not bad.  I'm interested in seeing where it is going to lead.  It would be nice if they would put Fire and Ice on the team...not to mention Guy.  But that's just me.

Thor: God of Thunder #8

Gosh, this is a pretty book, with its painterly artwork by Esad Ribic.  All three time-displaced Thors have now shown up.  I rather enjoy Old Thor's sense of humor.  I can hardly wait to see where this is going to end as well.


I also managed to get my greedy little hands on the Alex Toth Reader, volume 2, and it is quite lovely.  Toth had such a talent for line-work...it's quite gorgeous.  I also managed to pick up a Fantagraphics Prince Valiant book, because I can never have too much of Hal Foster. 

I hope that everyone had a lovely New Comics Day!

The Doldrums

I...I am at a loss for words.  This doesn't really happen to me all THAT often, but it's true.  Nothing outrageous has happened lately, other than the much lamented shutting down of  Comics Alliance, which is STILL driving me nuts, because I keep forgetting and click onto it automatically, and then the disappointment rushes over me all over again. 

Damn.

I think that Green Lantern is going to be late, which might be awkward if the other coordinating books come out on time.  It all evens out in the end, but still.  I am looking forward to seeing how Geoff Johns wraps up his rather epic sojourn on my favorite books.  It is going to be so...weird not having him, or Peter Tomasi.  I can't say that I am all that excited about them turning Guy back into a Red Lantern, especially since it was established that he really really HATED being a Red Lantern.  Hopefully they won't kill off Kyle again to do it. Or Tora.  Or anybody with the exception of Volthoom, because I REALLY hate that guy. 

I did have a very nice chat with Justin at my beloved Comic Book Shop. He was patiently trying to show some young guys some of the older Roy Thomas Avenger books that they had expressed interest in, only to be disappointed because the art doesn't look the same as it does nowadays. 

Sheesh. 

So I went and picked up some Prince Valiant books, and a lovely compilation of Alex Toth, which made me feel so much better. 

On the plus side, it IS Wednesday, and Wednesday is always a delight.

Also...



It would be an absolute hoot if the new writers for Green Lantern decided to use THIS version of Hal!

Free Comics Day!

This is such a great idea.  Go to your wonderful local Comic Book Store, and browse amongst the shelves, and toys and cards, and back issues, and quarter bins and t-shirts, and trades and simply enjoy yourselves.  Oh, and pick up some of the free books as well.

Let me just state for those who may not have ever entered a real live Comic Book Store.  No...not ALL of the books are free...just the ones that are marked "free" on the cover.  No, you cannot walk out with a $70 Starman Omnibus for nothing.  This is more of a taste, a sample, a nibble...like those nice ladies at the Costco who give you little cups of cheese and kielbasa. 

I managed to get my grubby mitts on the Prince Valiant book.  It is quite beautiful, and has Hal Foster artwork in it, and really, what more can you ask for?  There is something for everyone!

Stuff That I Bought

A fairly small week, as is usual for me at the beginning of the month.  But not a bad week at all.  Because seriously...IS there such a thing as a bad week when you are getting comics? 

Action Comics #20

It is Superman vs Lex...and it looks as though Lex is winning!  The Kryptonian virus that he infected Superman with, has been exorcised, by left Superman seriously weakened by the experience.  Also...it seems to have acquired sentience.  That is one serious virus!  I have a feeling that Lex, for all of his brilliance, may have possibly bit off more than he can chew.  He is all set to put on his Lex-Suit, and swoop in to save the day, but c'mon.  This is Metropolis, and this is Superman after all.

Andy Diggle does a decent job, and I'm rather saddened that he's going to be leaving so quickly.


Aquaman #19

Topo!  It's got Topo in it!  Albeit a slightly different version of Topo than I am accustomed to.  A bit different for the denizens of Atlantis too, judging by their reactions.  Arthur is dealing with possible treachery at home, and abroad, as that old frozen guy seems to be horning in on his territory.  Also Orm isn't happy at all...and really who can blame him?

Mera goes home for a visit, and meets up with her...husband? 

Oh...this has intrigued me mightily.


Fairest #15

I am such a sucker for a swashbuckling talking fox/wolf/jackal. 

The middle eastern fables have lost most of their men, from fighting with the Adversary, so obviously this is a tale from some time ago.  Nalayani is the heroine, she is travelling from her village to seek help from the new Maharaja, and this is her story.  It's nicely done, and I was rather excited to see who the Maharaja turns out to be, because I'm also a sucker for Prince Charming.

The Movement #1

This is Gail Simone's latest book, and I'm not quite sure what to think of it...but it looks interesting, and I will be back to see where this goes.  Coral City is not a very nice town, and the some of the authorities are pretty  dubious.  The Movement seems to have taken over several blocks of the town, and are dishing out their version of justice with their rather...odd array of superpowers.  Such as the control of rats.  The police chief seems like a decent sort, but he's not about to put up with vigilanties. 

This could turn out to be sensational, or it could crash and burn.  At this point, I don't quite know which...so I will be staying tuned.

Hawkeye #10

This takes a rather odd turn.  You have Kate hanging out with a fairly charming young man at one of her Dad's parties.  It is obvious that there is more to this young man than immediately meets the eye, and that he's had a pretty hard time of it.  Kate doesn't know any of this however. 

Turns out he is an assassin hired by the "Bro's" to take care of Clint, and Kate unwittingly leads him right to Hawkeye's building.  Too bad about Gil. 

Dang.

Fabulous as always.

Just a reminder that this Saturday is Free Comics Day!