Two events I got suckered into buying

I avoided Identity Crisis, Civil War, Infinite Crisis, Amazons Attack and all of the other recent crossover events because I figured they had nothing to offer me. I'm not their target audience. I don't care.

I am the target audience for World War Hulk and Sinestro Corps, however. Hoo boy, am I the guy they wrote these for. Hulk beating the crap out of our entire planet? Sinestro recruiting the evilest, scariest badasses in the universe? Where do I sign up?

Here are my thoughts on the latest installments from these crossovers:

Green Lantern #21 - DC (2007)

What the hell is up with repeating the same thing in every related issue of a crossover? This issue of Green Lantern isn't repeating as much as the first few WW Hulk issues did but it wastes a lot of space and time telling us what we've already read in Sinestro Corps Special #1. Once it's done with that, this issue gets cool but it doesn't tell us anything new or advance the story at all. If you've read the special you don't need to buy this GL issue.

Ivan Reis's art is excellent. He's good with action and it takes a good artist to make the crazy quilt that is the GLC work visually. However, there's no story here. We get a lot of backstory about Hal Jordan but it's nothing we haven't seen a dozen times elsewhere. If you're new to the Green Lantern story this will get you on the right track but for those of us who know about Hal it's just more of the same.


World War Hulk: Gamma Corps #1 - Marvel (2007)



Unlike many of last month's World War Hulk offerings this issue does not rehash the whole "Hulk beats up Black Bolt and Iron Man" thing. This is nice. Unfortunately, the team that the book is named after doesn't show up until page 12. General Ryker's backstory is a vital piece of exposition but it could have been handled in fewer pages thus leaivng more room for the cool Gamma Corps. Check out the cover above. If you know anything about Marvel's gamma-irradiated characters you can figure out what each of the team members does. Even if you don't, there's a nice scene which shows their powers and personalities.

The story is shaping up to be cool and I like the characters. To bad they're going to get their asses handed to them when they go up against the Hulk.

Quick thoughts on some stuff I bought

Dynamo 5 #5- Image (2007)

Another good issue. The bad guys are cool and the plot thickens. The writing and art are solid and this issue would not be a bad one to start with as long as you know that the characters are all the children of a Superman-like guy who screwed around a lot. In fact, Image does a really cool thing that I wish more comics would do. The back cover has a few words which state the premise of the book and tell you what's gonna happen in this issue. You can't judge a book by it's cover but the back cover of this one helps you out.

X-Factor #20 - Marvel (2007)



Best issue yet. I really like what Peter David has done with X-Factor. He gets the characters (especially Madrox, Siryn and Monet) and he can tell the hell out of a story. His run on this title has an excellent combination of "What cool thing can I do with this person's powers" and "What awesome story can I tell with these characters". This book nearly makes the whole House of M thing worth it. I miss Ryan Sook's art but Khoi Pham and Sandu Florea complement David's stories beautifully.

Green Lantern Corps #13 - DC (2007)



Here's another title which has turned in its best issue yet. I am a HUGE Green Lantern Corps fan and I have really enjoyed this book. Dave Gibbons has put a really cool collection of Lanterns together so they can use their various strengths to solve the Big Problem. The big problem this time involves Mogo who is one of my favorite Lanterns. His partner is a little fly dude! How awesome is that?

Sinestro Corps Special #1 - DC (2007)



This one didn't knock my socks off but it's still a really entertaining read. I'm a sucker for "mirror universe" characters. Sinestro has summoned the scariest mofos in the universe to be his new Corps. Seriously. The main criterion for membership in the Yellow Ring Brigade is the ability to instill great fear. Batman was on the list. I'm not going to pick up all of the related titles but I will follow the story because it's a lot of fun.

Faker #1 of 6 - Vertigo (2007)



This is a story about a bunch of college students who have weird stuff happen to them. The story is pretty cool but I don't like any of the main characters. This could be a problem. It's possible that they might do something with all these annoying character flaws. If they do, I'll stick with it.

Jonah Hex #21 - DC (2007)



This is one of those Jonah Hex stories where he's mostly an observer. Those can be as good as the ones where he's just shooting his way through the landscape. In the hands of Gray and Palmiotti it becomes an awesome, chilling tale of vengeance and death. And Jonah metes out bloddy justice all over the place near the end so it's all good.

Runaways #27 - Marvel (2007)



I am seriously digging Joss Whedon's run on this comic. It's fun to read and the stuff that's happening is really neat. The story has taken a turn which allows Whedon to go buck wild with the setting. This issue introduces a bunch of new characters and it sets up a storyline I can't wait to read more of.

New Comics Day: Parade of Mediocrity

Three of the mainstream titles in my holdbox were disappointing. Only one of them was bad enough to make me drop the book. Let's start with that one:

Moon Knight #8 - Marvel (2007)



I'm a big Moon Knight fan. He was the first inductee into the Badass Files. I've been enjoying this revival of the character by Charlie Huston and David Finch enough to keep it in my holdbox but no longer.

I read this issue twice and I have no idea what the hell was going on. The dick-swinging contest between MK and Captain America was boring and everything else was just confusing. I'm tired of this demon hallucination thing, I'm tired of the poorly-executed gritty tone and I'm tired of Finch's little-faces-on-big-heads art.


Jonah Hex #17 - DC (2007)



The Tallulah storyline gets wrapped up in a nearly-satisfactory manner. I would have preferred more meat to the story but it hit all its marks. The art is excellent but I liked the visuals from the earlier issues better.

The only big complaint I have about this title is the dialects. Just write actual English words. We get that they're in the old west. We're not going to mistake this for a P. G. Wodehouse story! Drop the occasional "g" but stop with the "yore" and "caint" stuff. You aren't even using them properly half the time.


Green Lantern Corps #10 - DC (2007)



First, the cover. Nothing even remotely like this happens in this issue. I know, I know, it's a comic book. I shouldn't expect a scene from the story but this one doesn't even reflect the tone or theme of the comic.

Speaking of tone and theme, this issue barely had one. It was a disjointed combination of two-and-a-half storylines which will probably get fleshed out in future issues. This wasn't a bad issue it's just that not much happened. The stuff that did happen involved my favorite Lantern, Dr. Natu! The cover of #11 features Natu and her new partner. Looks like fun.

That Yellow Bastard

The image above makes me happy. You know how much Tegan likes Aquaman? That's how much I like the Green Lantern Corps. There's a review of the latest GLC issue on the way but until then enjoy Sinestro Triumphant!

Click here for a bigger version from Newsarama.

Green Lantern Corps #9 - DC (2007)

The "Green Lantern Corpse" storyline is over and the ending was pretty cool. Keith Champagne writes Guy Gardner as a better-rounded character than others have. Gardner takes his role as a Green Lantern seriously even if he's the "rogue cop nobody wants to partner with". This storyline has Gardner mixed up with the GLC's black ops division. They're so secret they don't even know they're in it. It's a "plausible deniability" outfit for the Guardians of the Galaxy and you'd think that it would be right up Gardner's alley.

Not entirely.

That conflict is a lot of fun to read and Champagne never lets it get tedious.

Also, we get to see what a badass Durlan can do. For those of you with more of a life than I have, Durlans are shapeshifters. You see, Chameleon from the Legion of Super-Heroes is a Durlan and... Never mind. This Durlan subscribes to the "Disney Magicians' Duel" school of fighting and he kicks ass.

The art (Patrick Gleason on pencils, Prentiss Rollins & Ray Snyder on inks) is not spectacular but it works with the story. There were a couple of action scenes I had to look at twice to get what was going on but there were no major visual hurdles. Moose Baumann did an excellent job on the colors, as usual. The explosions and energy blasts really popped.

I don't care much for the current Green Lantern title but that's because it's not "Corps"-y enough for me. These guys are doing great things with the Corps and I'm looking forward to issue #10.

Green Lantern Corps: Recharge #5(of 5) - DC (2006)

This miniseries was almost everything I hoped it would be. I thought I was a big Green Lantern fan for years but it turns out I was a big Green Lantern Corps fan.

I discovered that stories about individual GLs didn't captivate me like those of the Corps. I'm sure Hal, Kyle and John are perfectly nice fellas but during the time that the Corps didn't exist I found their tales no different from those of any other mega-powerful superhero. The structure of the Corps, however, allows many different kinds of stories to be told. Stories about camraderie, stories about duty vs. "the right thing", stories about teamwork. Stories I really like.

Fortunately, Dave Gibbons and Geoff Johns like those kinds of stories, too. It's obvious that Guy Gardner is the favorite Lantern of either or both writers because he gets to Always Be Right but that's OK, he's a good character and in their hands he shines.

This mini had epic space battles, enormous power levels and reflections on the nature of morality and belonging. Hell, issue 5 had that. Oh, by the way, if you are even a little arachnophobic, you might want to read certain panels of #5 with caution.

I am quite pleased with the overall story but I do have a few quibbles with the writing. For example, much is made of how the Corps has brought beings from all over the galaxy together to serve a Greater Purpose. Corps members who were at each other's throats in issue one were bestest buds by the end of the miniseries. I have no problem with that, in general. In fact, that can be very powerful and touching when it's well-told. The turnarounds in this case were a bit abrupt. I would have liked it better if some of those rivalries and hatreds hadn't been so neatly smoothed over.

If I have a few quibbles with the writing, I have some major problems with the art. I don't know whether to blame the penciller (Patrick Gleason) or the inker (Prentis Rollins) but there are several panels in this issue in which it is nearly impossible to tell what's going on. In a comic featuring many, many characters who all dress pretty much the same it is vital to be clear with your visuals. Also, there's a weird forshortening/distortion effect that shows up on many of the faces which throws me off.

Having bitched about that, there are some moments of artistic brilliance, especially in this last issue, but for the most part, the lines are way too heavy which obscures the differences between individual faces. There were a few points at which I had no idea who was supposed to be speaking.

Despite these shortcomings, I can recommend this miniseries to anyone who likes the GLC or who would like to get in on the ground floor of this new incarnation. Flip through a few pages first to make sure the visuals are your cup of tea.

If you missed the individual issues, the trade will be out on June 21st. The new GLC ongoing series should show up around that time, as well. No clues about the creative team on that one but I'll keep you informed as I get news. Anybody else know?

In darkest night...

Comics Ate My Brain has some cool insights on my favorite comics subject: The Green Lantern Corps!

Green Lantern Corps: Recharge #1 (of 5) - DC (2005)

I thought I was a big Green Lantern fan for a while, there. Turns out I'm a big Green Lantern Corps fan. I mentioned a lot of the stuff I like about the Corps in an earlier post and the first issue of Green Lantern Corps: Recharge has quite a lot of it.

The GLC has a long history in the DC Universe and many writers over the decades have had a lot of fun telling its stories. Geoff Johns and Dave Gibbons have written a great opener to this miniseries. Hal Jordan and John Stewart are staying put in Sector 2814 (Earth's sector) while Kyle Rayner and Guy Gardner go to Oa to attend the reformation of the Corps.

There are some good scenes of various people across the galaxy being visited by rings and told to report to duty. I love that stuff. Everyone from surgeons to criminals to beggars is eligible for membership as long as they meet a single criterion: the ability to overcome great fear.

The three Green Lanterns on the cover (see above) are going to get some major screen time during this series and that's a good thing. Kilowog, Rayner and Guy all have different approaches and personalities which will give us some entertaining stories. We've been introduced to a few other new Lanterns (such as Soranik Natu of Korugar) who will be very interesting to watch.

The only complaint I have about this first issue is the art. The backgrounds and setting pieces are well done as are the aliens. However the humans (and human-shaped aliens such as Superman) are distorted and look quite non-human. It wasn't enough to distract me from the great writing but it really stood out the second time I read this issue. I don't know whether to blame Patrick Gleason's pencils, Christian Alamy & Prentis Rollins's inking or an unholy alliance between them all but I hope a new artistic team comes on board for the upcoming monthly Corps title.

The phrase "monthly Corps title" makes me happier than anything from the Big Two has done in a very long time.

Make mine Mogo!

I was really excited to hear that a new start-from-scratch Green Lantern monthly series was coming. However, I have read the first two issues and it's not grabbing me. It's neither the writer nor the artist, I now realize, it's actually that I don't really like Hal Jordan stories. That surprised me. I thought I was a big Hal fan. Turns out I'm a big Green Lantern Corps fan. Now that I realize that, I can stop buying the GL monthly and wait for a Tales of the GLC monthly.

Speaking of Hal Jordan, I now see what all the fuss about Kyle Rayner was. He was a much more interesting and better-developed character than Jordan. I don't have any strong feelings one way or the other but, if pressed, I would put myself in the camp that wishes Jordan had stayed dead. The story of his flipping out, killing everything and then redeeming himself through sacrifice is watered down now that he's back. On top of that, it doesn't look like they're doing anything interesting with his return. I'm glad there's a book on the shelves for the Hal fans but I'm not gonna read it anymore. I am, however, encouraged by the reformation of the Corps.

Back to the Corps: I like the GLC because it allows a really broad range of stories to be told. You can put a bunch of them together and explore the differences between their approaches. You can send one off on a solo mission where he or she (or it) has to be really smart and clever to get out of some situation. You can go completely batshit wacky and bring in Ch'p or Mogo.

I also like the sector assignments and the pseudo-military trappings of the organization. I'm a sucker for the whole intergalactic police force thing.

This is not to say that the GL monthly can't become a great comic and if that happens I'll pick it up again. For now, I'll wait for Tomar-Re or Katma Tui to show back up.

Green Lantern: Rebirth #6

This one went out with a whimper. The big showdown with Parrallax was dull. We already know what the differences between the various Lanterns are. It wasn't necessary to have Jordan's voice-over point them out because Ethan Van Sciver did a fine job of drawing them. I like Geoff Johns' writing but he sometimes falls back on the thing Claremont used to do: Show something in a panel and then write words over the panel which baldly state exactly what it is we're looking at.

A lot of comics writers don't seem comfortable enough with the visual medium in which they are writing to let the pictures do the talking. My favorites writers are able to do this. They know when to use words and they know when to trust the artist. Warren Ellis has this down. Even Brian Bendis, one of the most talky writers to hit comics since Kevin Smith, often has sections where the dialogue and the pictures are telling different stories simultaneously. That's a good thing. Johns hasn't written "Well, here we are back in JLA headquarters" yet but he's come close.

This issue has characters acting "out of character" for no reason other than Johns needs it to happen. What the hell is with everyone being out to take Batman down a peg, lately? I don't mean the other characters, I mean the writers. I'm not one of those "OMG Batman is unbeatable!!" types but, damn, why's everybody gotta punk on the caped crusader? That whole confrontation between the JLA and the Lanterns was useless. It didn't move the story along. In fact, it stalled it. There was no reason for them to show up in this issue.

There were good things about this issue. The art was great. I love Van Sciver's interpretations of the various Lantern's powers and he really handles the action well. The interactions between the Lanterns were good, especially Gardner and Stewart. Also, Jordan is written consistently for the most part and I come out of this series with a good sense of why he is worthy of one of the most powerful weapons in the universe.

Summary: This was a disappointing finale to a good series. I don't know if Johns didn't know how to end it or what but there just wasn't much there. I am a big fan of the Green Lantern Corps. I have always loved the legends surrounding them.Rebirth wasn't the best thing I've ever read but Johns did a good job of bringing Jordan back. Everything fits well as long as you accept that this is a comic and some things are just gonna be goofy. As long as the goofy is internally consistent I'll let it slide.

I'm going to get Green Lantern #1 (too bad Van Sciver's not drawing it) and I'll remain optimistic. Johns groks the old-school heroes and anything with green power rings in it gets extra points from me. We'll see.