Wednesday, December 23, 2009

A Quick Look at REBELS #11

Writer: Tony Bedard. Pencils: Claude St. Aubin.

What Happened: Having become a member of the Sinestro Corps at the end of last issue, Dox's first act as a member of the Corps is to completely disregard a distress signal being sent out by Sinestro himself... HA! Black Lantern Stealth tries to attack Dox, but he simply blasts her in half with his yellow power ring, figuring that would be enough to end her menace. BL Stealth regenerates from that and for the first time maybe ever, Dox seems truly surprised. BL Harbinger murders a Sinestro Corps member which causes Adam Strange to teleport the non-flying members of REBELS to a nearby planet away from the BL's. Dox blows a hole through BL Stealth's head, and takes the two remaining Sinestro corps members to the nearby planet to regroup. Dox meets up with his REBELS teammates and they try to figure out a way to kill the BL's, but end up being assaulted by BL Harbinger, BL Stealth and the dead Sinestro Corps member from earlier. Meanwhile, Dox's son, Brainiac 3, creates a huge intergalactic teleporter for his new master, Starro the Conqueror. Starro demands that Brainiac 3 opens a portal to his missing Vanguard members(they were killed by BL Stealth last issue), and upon the portal opening, the four members of Starro's Vanguard rush through the portal, now Black Lanterns and prepare to attack their former master. Dox and company continue to try to hold off the BL's, but are rapidly losing ground. At that moment, a teleportational portal opens near Dox, and Brainiac 3, Starro, and Smite(Starro's bodyguard)leap out, followed closely by the four Black Lantern members of Starro's Vanguard. Dox gets over to his son and the two put their heads together and try to figure out a way to damage/destroy the BL's. The two Brainiacs decide to create a device that will alter Adam Strange's gun to emit a green blast that would mimic a Green Lantern's ring, have Wildstar pour energy into Adam and at the same time have Dox add the power of his Sinestro ring to the attack. After this gambit fails, Dox simply decides to throw all of the Black Lanterns as well as Starro and company back into the intergalactic portal in the hopes that they would all kill each other. Dox tries to reason with his son, but is unable to thanks to Starro's influence, so he tosses Brainiac 3 into the portal as well before sealing it up. Sinestro once again sends a distress signal out through Dox's yellow power ring, and Dox once again disregards it. This second refusal to follow Sinestro's orders causes the ring to reject Dox for insubordination, and it leaves to locate a more pliable individual. This issue ends with Dox deciding he's had enough of Starro and that instead of hiding from him he will take the fight directly to the Conqueror.

What I Thought: Although this comic was basically a battle royal between the REBELS and the Black Lanterns, it did manage to further the Starro storyline, which is an impressive feat. After witnessing his son under the thrall of Starro, Dox now seems determined to confront and kill Starro once and for all. The eventual confrontation between Starro and Dox should be spectacular. Although Dox simply teleporting the Black Lanterns away was a bit anti-climatic, I can live with it. Let's face it, it's not like I haven't seen a Black Lantern get killed before!

Score: 8 out of 10.Hmm, I've GOT to try to work the term "organic trash" into a conversation somehow tomorrow...

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