Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Blackest Night #6 vs. Siege #1!

Since the two mega events from the top two comic book companies in the world arrived at my home at the same time today, I figured I'd review the both of them in one post and see which company comes out on top. So, in one corner we have the 6th part of the Blackest Night x-over, written by Geoff Johns, arguably DC's top writer. In the other corner stands the first installment of Marvel's Siege, which is written by Marvel's golden boy, Brian Michael BENDIS. Both events(supposedly)have been in the works for several years now, and both should greatly shake up both companies status quo. So, who wins round one? Let's find out.

Blackest Night #6(of 8): Writer: Geoff Johns. Pencils: Ivan Reis.
We begin this issue with Hal Jordan and Barry Allen managing to outrun the black power rings that were trying to turn them into Black Lanterns. Upon returning to the battle in Coast City, Hal meets up with Ganthet, former Guardian of the Universe with the Green Lanterns and current head honcho of the Blue Lanterns. Ganthet uses a fail safe that was built into the power rings long ago to force Hal's ring to duplicate itself. Ganthet takes the second green ring and joins the Green Lantern Corp. From there, Ganthet gathers the heads of the other Corps(Hal, Sinestro, Indigo-1, Atrocitus, Saint Walker, Carol Ferris and Larfleeze)and uses his powers to make their rings duplicate and search out somebody on Earth who embodies each rings emotion. The orange ring of greed latches on to Lex Luthor, the yellow ring of fear goes to the Scarecrow(YEAH!), the red ring of rage connects to Mera, the violet ring of love breaks Wonder Woman free of her enslavement to the black ring, the indigo ring of compassion finds the Atom, and the blue ring of hope joins with Barry Allen. This issue ends with the new members of each Corps arriving at the battle in Coast City to take on the forces of Nekron.

Umm, that was it? Huh... I was expecting A LOT more... Basically, the only thing that happened here was Barry and Hal outrunning their designated black rings, and Ganthet duplicating each Corps power rings and giving those rings out for a period of 24 hours. I've got to say, this issue was a MAJOR disappointment to me... Granted, there were a few cool moments such as Scarecrow FINALLY becoming a member of the Sinestro Corps(even if it is only for 24 hours), Black Lantern Kid Flash attacking Barry and Ganthet welcoming himself to the Green Lantern Corps, but a few cool moments do not make a great comic book. This issue felt like a placeholder for the climatic battle yet to come between the combined Corps and Nekron, and I for one expected better here. Oh well, here's hoping the final two issues of Blackest Night make up for this one.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.I'm sorry, but Ganthet welcoming himself to the Green Lantern Corps is awesome on SO many levels!

Siege #1(of 4): Writer: Brian Michael BENDIS. Pencils: Olivier Coipel.
This issue begins with Loki and Norman Osborn tricking the Asgardian Volstagg into destroying Soldier Field in Chicago during a battle with the U-Foes. With that, Osborn has reason to invade Asgard(which is hovering over Oklahoma)and throw the Asgardians out of the United States, which is something both Osborn and Loki want. Osborn assembles his Avengers and the entire Initiative, and under the command of Ares, Osborn launches a major military offensive against Asgard, against the wishes of the President of the United States. Thor, who was caring for the injured Tony Stark in Oklahoma, witnesses the battle on Asgard, and goes to defend his home. Upon arriving on Asgard, Thor is promptly knocked a country mile by the Sentry. Thor and the Sentry engage in battle, and the Sentry is joined by Osborn, the U-Foes, Moonstone and a few others. This issue ends with Thor being defeated, while Captain America(Steve Rogers!)watches from the edge of his seat at the Avengers hideout.

OK, now THIS is the way to do a major company-wide crossover! Before I get to the good, allow me to get something off my chest first. I'm really sick and tired of Marvel constantly resorting to terrorist attacks as the rational behind many of their major x-overs... I didn't like it during Civil War, and I didn't like it here. However, that was pretty much the only thing I didn't like about this comic! The story was fast paced, the dialogue was perfectly done(I especially loved Ares war speech to Osborn's gathered forces prior to the battle for Asgard)and the artwork was beautiful. Man, BENDIS was firing on all cylinders for the first time in a long time with this one! Great first issue that has me salivating at the thought of the next issue!

Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.(By the way, I'd have given this comic a 10 out of 10 if not for the destruction of Soldier Field.)I know the Bears were lousy this year, but come on, they didn't deserve this!

Well, in the battle of the mega events, Marvel's Siege soundly thrashed DC's Blackest Night this month. Will Blackest Night be able to make a comeback in round 2? I guess we'll find out in two months time.

16 comments:

  1. I liked Lex and Scarecrow getting rings but Barry for Hope? Okay I guess...Mera for anger? Really? No one else is more angry than her? I was hoping Supes or Grayson or someone would get a ring...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lex and Scarecrow getting rings was the best thing about this issue! They were both tailor made for the rings they received. You know how long I've been wishing for Scarecrow to get into the Sinestro Corps!

    I totally agree with you on Barry and Mera though. Since when is Barry full of hope? Hell, during the beginning of the Flash Rebirth mini, the guy was borderline suicidal! Now he's bursting with hope? And yeah, I don't get Mera for rage at all... She's the angriest person in all of the DCU? REALLY!?!

    Supes did get a ring, a black one! :P

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lol @ a black one. Touche. I just hate that Mera has all the rage...I mean honestly more than everyone else? More Rage than any villain? More rage than Black Adam..or Tim...or Damian...or Jason even? Barry has more hope than Superman, Dick Grayson or anyone else? That just bothered me...

    But yeah, when we discussed Scarecrow getting a ring I already knew that he was getting one because I'd read BN 6 but I couldn't give it away...man THAT was eating away at me.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You know, I couldn't figure out who else I'd have given a red ring to... And then you said "Black Adam"! Damn, he is tailor-made for a red ring!!! How could Geoff have missed that!?!

    You know, I'd probably have given Tim the blue ring... He's STILL looking for Bruce(supposedly...). You've got to have a lot of hope to believe a guy who EVERYBODY else says is dead isn't!

    I just wish Scarecrow would be allowed to keep his yellow ring. Without question, he'd be THE greatest Sinestro Corps member EVER!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm baaaaaack :D

    Jeez, I'm very bad at making appearances on the web nowadays lol :D

    They wouldn't be able to use Black Adam as he's depowered atm.
    Tim's too conflicted (I think), Damian's a retarded kid on all Power Ring blacklists ;) and Jason. Er... His rage isn't so open, seems pretty good at keeping it under check, so to speak...

    Just ta throw some shrimp on the barbie, so ta speak...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hey Nagash, good to hear from you again! I still fondly recall our conversations on GA/BC. I don't know, even depowered, you'd think Adam would still be filled with rage. Plus the red ring could have given him some sort of powers again.

    I might have to agree with Tim, just due to the fact that while Jason sees him as a Red Lantern, I see him more as a Blue. Those Bat-family members go through some serious mood swings...

    The only thing that would have been worse then Damian getting a ring would have been if Cupid received one! ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yeah I feel even depowered Teth-Adam would be amazing as a red lantern. I do agree that Tim could have the hope but what would they call him Blue Lantern Red Robin? Lol but nah I do agree that Tim does have the Hope down, it should've been him.

    And yeah Cupid...do they even have a Crazy Corp? Because she needs the White Straightjacket ring asap.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Blue Lantern Red Robin... Hmm, I think that's probably a few too many colors in his name. Then again, Hal's been a Red Blue Orange Yellow Green Lantern, so why not!

    "Crazy Corps"? You know, if I read a few more comics starring Cupid, I'll probably become a member of that illustrious Corps!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hal's just a multi-colored Lantern at this point. Also I gotta say if he was still Nightwing I think Dick would;ve been a good ring wielder, maybe the compassion or Hope ring would have gone to him.

    Lol I don;t blame you X, it's issues like that that make me happy that Booster Gold hasn't went down hill yet with his series.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Yeah, sorry bout vanishing. You don't have an account and the posts just vanish in a backlog of other things to do :(
    Hmmm, yeah, but isn't he a stone statue atm? Last thing I read with him in was the Black Adam and Isis hardcover...

    That they do. They also go through mothers and fathers like nobodies business ;) well, the male ones do anyway. Barb still has hers (doesn't she? I forget what happened to her mum), and Steph has her mum.
    But isn't Tim really only hoping for one thing atm anyway? Or is that just Yost brutalising him...

    Well, the Star Sapphire Corps are already the Space Hooker Corps, and have done the Crazy Horny Possession Corps to death, so maybe they should just combine and become the Crazy Space Hooker Corps?
    And Damian features alot anyway in multiple comics (the best writer of him being either Brian Q Millar or Grant when he first wrote him in Batman and Son. And he wasn't so bad in Batman 666 either...), maybe if Cupid got a ring she'd fly away from GA/BC and leave it alone for a little bit. Sure, the story is actually getting better now, but she has featured too much.
    I mean, what's been, three arcs now and she hasn't had a break? That's alot for a villain. Plus Brick was a better villain then her anyway...

    ReplyDelete
  11. BTW, I just created this account, so I'll be able to properly keep track of things now ;)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Yeah BA is a Stone, I comepletely forgot about that stuff with him and Isis, but I just read about it, I never read the issues.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Jason: Yeah, I think it's prob safe to just call Hal a Color Lantern at this point and leave it at that! Yeah, Dick could prob lay claim to a Indigo, Blue or Green ring. Deep down I always liked the idea of Dick Grayson: Green Lantern.

    Nagash: First off, congrats on the new account! I think you may be right about the BA statue thing... The last thing I remember reading with him was near the end of Geoff Johns JSA run where Isis came back kind of crazy, but I'm blanking on how that storyline concluded... That's what happens when you read like 100 comics a month, you tend to lose track of somethings!

    I'm almost positive Jim is Babs uncle/adopted father... I'm not sure what became of her real parents... But I could be VERY wrong on this one. As for Tim, I always thought of him as a very hopeful character. After Jason Todd's death, it was Tim who reinstilled hope into Bruce, I just kind of see Tim as a beacon of hope.

    "Crazy Space Hooker Corps"?!?! Maybe Marvel would give that a shot, I'm not so sure about DC though! ;)

    Brian Q Miller's portrayal of Damian in the recent issue of Batgirl was the first time I actually liked the character. Instead of him just being rude and obnoxious, Brian added an element of humor, which was something a character like Damian sorely needed.

    Yeah man, that's my main gripe with Cupid, she's been in like EVERY issue of GA/BC since her debut, it's not like she's an A-level villain like Dr. Doom or Lex Luthor either... I always tend to grow resentful when a writer begins to ram a certain character down my throat... If Andrew would have given her a one story arc break, that would have been fine, but she's had as much face time as the main characters! And yes, Brick was most definitely a better reoccuring foe for GA IMO as well.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Well, it didn't take too look really :D I am lazy though >.<
    I am right about the statue thing, but I can't confirm whether it's his last appearance. It's the latest thing I've read with him in it, though it didn't end with something appearing by their statues, so, er, yeah...

    From wikipedia: "The conclusion of Crisis on Infinite Earths changed DC Universe continuity in many ways. Following the reboot, Barbara Gordon is born to Roger and Thelma Gordon, and she is Jim Gordon's niece/adopted daughter in current canon."
    Huh. Well that's just stupid. Barbara is Jim's daughter, I don't give a damn what continuity says...
    Yeah, Tim was the one who brought out the best in Bruce following Jason's death.

    Well, they do already have Starfire as a space hooker, so wouldn't be too much to ask for ;)

    That's the thing - Brian is a damn good writer I think, and yes, someone like Damian really does need the humour. Loved it in issue 5 with the "Omen fanboy" bit :D

    No, she's just, well, there. She won't freaking go away. Or, as Austin Powers once said: "Why won't you die"
    I miss Brick :(

    ReplyDelete
  15. Yeah, I thought that was the case with Babs. I honestly don't get why DC made that particular change, but I remember reading some Bat-comic where it was mentioned, and I was like, "WTF?!? Since when???"

    Exactly! If you play a character like Damian as a straight-up ass kicker, there's bound to be some backlash! He needs to look a little bit vulnerable(like in BftC)or humorous(like in Batgirl). And yeah, I think my favorite Damian scene EVER was him standing under that dead tree possessed style. That visual was just plain awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Somebody was high at the office, thought it was a good idea and then it got into the printers and then it's too late to correct it?
    Well that's my theory anyway. I mean, seriously, the brief summary of Barbara that any comic book person knows is:
    Redhead, was Batgirl, dad's Commissioner Gordon.
    Anyone knows that... And those key little points should always be true. I mean, even The Batman got that right...

    Hence me loving this current Batgirl series. It's got a bit of everything: action, comedy, a likable Damian! Well, I see likable, maybe the better thing to say would be tolerable cause of the funny ;)
    Knife scene was pretty good too

    ReplyDelete