Thursday's Reviews
Oh, I am ON this, this week! Also, I only bought four books, which does make things so much easier. A bit of a mixed bag, as the beginning of the month is wont to be.
Green Lantern #40
What the hell?
Seriously, I have no idea what the heck is going on, because NONE of it makes any sense whatsoever. We had the issue where the new New Guardians send Hal back to earth to sulk for a while, and Barry and Guy show up and have a wonderful bar fight, and then Carol yells at him for a while. That was actually an okay issue, because of Barry and Guy.
Then last issue, we had the new New Guardians apologizing to Hal, and saying that he is just the bestest ever...which is of course, music to Hal's ears. Now this issue, we have Hal deciding, that since the old Guardians made such a mess out of the Universe, and since his feelings have been hurt that so many of the planets that used to like the Green Lanterns are now a tad on the suspicious side...he is going to go rogue, and...well, that's his plan apparently.
Hal doesn't believe in buckling down and working at improving things, because doing it the old fashioned way is Too Hard. He wants results NOW! So he steals Krona's lantern thingie, and beats up Kilowog, for no apparent reason, and flies off solo to do...something. Salaak is bemused, Mogo is bemused, the new New Guardians are quite confused, as is everyone else.
I...don't get it. I mean, I get that they desperately need to start wrapping things up for next months Convergence stuff, but seriously? I suppose having Hal be a quitter, is actually a nod to his history, he does this sort of thing all the time, at least he used to, back in the day, but considering how much he misses having the ring the minute he quits, I am a little surprised. Not sure why he felt the need to tell Kilowog of his hair-brained plan, which involves going out and...doing things...will restore the good name of the Green Lanterns. Kilowog naturally NOT being stupid considers this to be a moronic sort of thing to do, but knowing Hal, he plays along, and dares him to beat him up to "prove" how tough he is.
Seriously.
It makes not sense, and it's poorly thought out, and although Hal is an idiot, I never considered him to be quite THIS stupid. Oh well, I guess it won't matter in a few months anyway when everything is rebooted...yet again.
Dumbest Issue Ever.
Justice League 3000 #15
I've only been picking this up because of Beetle and Booster and Ice. Ice is now an immortal Ice Goddess,and on the cranky side. Fire ended up in hell in her place and is shagging Etrigan, and they are now mortal...or immortal enemies. Etrigan wants her Ice Castle...for some reason. Superman continues to do his best moronic Guy Gardner impression, and the whole is pretty silly...and not necessarily in a good way.
Etrigan sends Fire to beat up Ice, which works for about three seconds before they start slopping all over each other, and crying how much they love each other. That's very nice of course, but considering how their "battle" was built up to be this huge cat fight, it all ends pretty tamely. There are demons, and Wonder Woman,and some other stuff going on, but it's not all that compelling.
Hawkeye #1
I'm not quite sure how we can have a new Hawkeye book, when the old one hasn't finished yet, but at least I don't have to worry that Clint and Kate make it out okay, because obviously, they do.
It's a very nice issue, with Kate and Clint fighting Hydra goons, interspersed with flashbacks to when Clint and his brother were children. The art is lovely, the story is interesting, and it's a worthy successor to the old series, so I'm quite happy with it.
Saga #26
The best of the bunch this week, with the continuing story of Alana, Hazel and Marko, which is getting to be quite...complicated. Marco is still chasing Alana, and is horrified at his own loss of control, Prince Robot is a jerk, and the guy who stole baby prince Robot is in over his head. Klara continues to be one of my favorite characters, Alana is trying to talk the kidnapper out of doing the really really stupid thing that he is doing, and Gwendolyn is trying to get some Dragon stuff to save the Will. She is also quite rude to Sophie is, which may just come back to bite her on the butt, since Sophie is the one who actually saves theirs. Butts that is.
It's a little hard to explain to people who haven't been reading it, but the art is exquisite as always, and although the story does jump around a bit, between all the things that are concurrently going on, it is all still skillfully done, and as usual...I am enthralled.
So one great, one pretty darn great, one so-so, and one just awful. Par for the course, I suppose.
posted by SallyP @ 6:12 AM
5 Comments:
After last month's issue of Green Lantern, I figured Hal had been caught in a Black Mercy. I'll stick with that assessment, but I'm going to add that Hal was hammered drunk when it got him.
Either that, or they've been inbreeding the Black Mercys too long and it's starting to reduce their efficacy.
Or, Hal simply has no idea what his dream world would be, and so his competing desires are fighting among each other for dominance. He's not a GL any more, now he is and the Guardians love him, now he is, but he's a rogue cop GL doing as he pleases, but without all the deaths that happened when Parallax had him. Take your pick, I guess.
I had a long rant about why I don't read Green Lantern anymore, but deleted it deciding it was sidetracked with irrelevant charges, but I saved this:
Unless Hal going rogue could be written with logic this time around, I don't think he earns it based on what you're telling me or what other people are discussing elsewhere. Hal has to earn going rogue instead of turning on a dime with no provocation (or worse getting mind controlled, ugh.)
This is why I wish I had an alternative for Green Lantern and other favorite characters the way Batman gets to have so many.
3000 didn't live up to the Booster/Beetle promise from its solicits. Glad this Fire vs. Ice nonsense is done, but there's a lot of explanations they'll need to explain come post-convergence when the title becomes Justice League 3001. It can't possibly be as terrible as One Year Later if it's not editorial driven and company wide right? We'll see.
I can see that the book has lost your interest and this is a good time to jump off. I'm sorry for getting your hopes up and anybody who jumped on late for JLI and couldn't stand the rest of the cast. They either grow on you or leave you cold depending the reader. I like Hal and Wonder Woman, am mixed about Superman and Flash. Batman's usually fine (often better than broody regular Batman), but is not my favorite character.
Really Sally, I'm sorry. This is JLI's third chance to prove viable and it's as mixed as Generation: Lost or New52 JLI. I would say at least Ice doesn't have repressed anger issues or have a lame racist X-Men origin, but that's not a consolation if long immortality makes you desire moody solitude and solve every problem with freezing people.
Oh, Jimmy, it's not your fault! I love these characters! I'm just not really buying what the story is all about, and that is firmly on Giffen and DeMatteis who seem to have lost a bit of their wit and charm.
Green Lantern has just lost its way recently. I know that Johns was getting a bit tired towards the end of his epic run on the book, but still, I can't say that Venditti has done more than just go through the motions. It has just been...adequate.
But this latest issue just stunk.
Man, I'm crabby!
Newsarama has an interview up with the GL writer talking about what his means for June, and I think they are sticking with it.
Sarongs, I just went to Newsarama and read the interview. Thanks for the heads up!
However, I have to say that I really fundamentally disagree with Venditti's opinion of Hal. According to him, Hal is offering himself as a focus for everyone who is upset with the Corps, because he is such a heroic and standup sort of guy. I... really can't see it that way at all. Hal is heroic, but he is also a bit of a glory hound, and monumentally self-centered. And I still think it's a really weird idea.
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