Action Comics #886, Adventure Comics #7 & Green Arrow/Black Canary #29

Since I've gotten a lot of my Marvel comics out of the way lately, it's time to dig into the ever growing pile of DC's I have. Since I'm feeling particularly lazy tonight, I have no idea how many reviews I'll be doing before I call it a night. I guess I'll take it one comic at a time...

Action Comics #886: Writers: Greg Rucka & Eric Trautmann. Artist: Pere Pèrez.

We open things up with Nightwing(Chris Kent)acting like one of Marvel's mutants by decrying the fact that no matter what he does, the public still hates and fears him. Flamebird(Thara Ak-Var)tries to cheer him up, but they wind up arguing about her being possessed by the Kryptonian god, Flamebird, while Chris is possessed by nothing. Hey, I'd be more then happy if an ancient Kryptonian god WASN'T taking me over, but to each his own I guess. Thara decides to give Chris a Kryptonian crystal to explain why she is possessed, while he isn't. Annnnnd, que flashback sequence! Chris gets a LONG lesson in Kryptonian mythology, and since I like you so much, I'm going to spare you the excruciatingly boring details. All you need to know is that the Kryptonian gods Nightwing and Flamebird have an enemy god called Vohc-The-Breaker, and that Vohc was responsible for imprisoning Nightwing in the Phantom Zone, because he's EVIL! After learning this, Chris does what any reasonable twenty-something would do, he sleeps with Thara... Sure, why not? Afterwards, Flamebird takes possession of Thara while she was sleeping and speaks to Jax-Ur, who is demanding payment for assisting Flamebird and Chris a few issues back. Flamebird reluctantly agrees to betray Thara and Chris the following day by sending them into a trap Jax-Ur had set for them. That is exactly what happens, and this issue(mercifully!)ends with us learning that apparently Jax-Ur is the host for Vohc-The-Breaker.

What the HELL was that?!? You know, I've defended this title since Greg took over. I liked the Chris Kent character since the AMAZING Last Son storyline, so I was more then willing to put my neck out and try to find the good in this series... Sure, it's been getting tougher to actually find good in this series with each passing month, but I still tried... That is until I finished reading this comic. What a frigging mess! A lesson in Kryptonian mythology? REALLY!?! The Nightwing/Flamebird myth was hokey and boring AND it went on for PAGES! Then there's the "shocking" revelation the Jax-Ur is apparently some evil Kryptonian god who has never been mentioned or shown before this issue. Um, so what? It's not like Greg and Eric have been building towards the Vohc reveal, they just sort of threw it in there, and as such, I could care less about it. After reading this, all I want is for Geoff Johns to write one issue of this series returning Chris to a seven year old kid, while getting rid of everything that's happened here recently...

Score: 2 out of 10.If you're a fan of Kryptonian mythology, then this is the comic book you've been waiting for!!!

Adventure Comics #7: Writer: Tony Bedard. Pencils: Travis Moore.

This issue gets started with Black Lantern Superboy fighting Wonder Girl. Superboy tries to fight off the influence of the black ring, but is unable, and he is forced to watch helplessly as his body tries to kill his girlfriend. During the battle, WG manages to wrap BL SB up with her lasso and shock him, which allows SB to regain control of his body for a second. SB takes that time to whistle to Krypto, who rushes over to protect WG from BL SB. BL SB makes quick work of Krypto by freezing the dog, something SB was never able to do, before returning his attention to WG. SB manages to take control of his body AGAIN, and he writes the word "fortress" into some rocks near WG, which causes her to head north to the Fortress of Solitude, with BL SB and Krypto in hot pursuit. The three arrive at the Fortress, and BL SB immediately attacks WG, while Krypto notices something peculiar buried under the floor of the Fortress. Krypto winds up digging up SB's body, which was buried under the Fortress after the events of Infinite Crisis. BL SB's Black Lantern ring becomes confused by the presence of two Superboys and finally decides to abandon SB for his corpse. Before the ring can latch onto his dead body, SB uses his freeze breath to freeze the ring in its tracks, while WG throws it into space, where the two hope it will remain frozen forever. This issue ends with SB re-burying his corpse, before returning to the battle against Nekron with WG and Krypto by his side.

Hmm, I've seen a few reviews that gave very high praise to this comic, and after reading it for myself, I have to disagree!(sorry JT!) As a matter of fact, I didn't like this comic at all! It was bad enough that Wonder Woman was able to shake free of her black ring, but Superboy? No way! If SB can maintain some form of control over his body while he's a BL, then why can't Superman or Kid Flash? Sure Tony tried to sell that SB had extensive mental training to resist being mind controlled(which is doubtful, since SB quit the Titans after being mind controlled by Lex Luthor, and then "died" soon thereafter), but you can't expect me to believe that SB's mind is better conditioned to avoid telepathic assaults then Supes, who's been a hero forever, or a speedster like Kid Flash... I will say that I really liked that Tony used SB's dead body in this issue, because I was wondering what became of it, but even that part seemed somewhat off to me. I've seen Black Lantern rings free themselves from many different types of prisons, they've even been shown to be capable of puncturing Green Lantern constructs, but this issue ends when SB's black ring is unable to escape some ice? The damn things travel through the universe without freezing, but they can't escape frozen spit?!? And on top of that, why didn't a black ring attach itself to SB's corpse right from the start? If Nekron is the all-knowing embodiment of death, how come he didn't know a very powerful corpse was buried under the Fortress of Solitude? I don't know, maybe I was looking too far into things here, but some of the events in this comic just didn't add up for me.

Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.So because Superboy has had telepathic coaching from Raven, he's able to counter his black ring... Uh-huh...

Green Lantern/Black Canary #29: Writer: Andrew Kreisberg. Pencils: Mike Norton.

We kick this issue off with Green Arrow learning that his cop friend, Lt. Hilton, was stabbed in the back of the head by Cupid, but is inexplicably still alive, even with the knife handle jutting out of his head... Well, that's just weird. The doctor explains that Hilton is awake, and coherent, but that he may be slightly off-kilter and brain-damaged... Well, I would say so! GA tries to talk to Hilton, but unsurprisingly, Hilton doesn't feel like talking, so GA leaves the hospital and meets up with Black Canary and Speedy. The trio head down to police headquarters, and GA begins to look into any strange crimes that may be the handy work of Cupid, when he comes across reports of a stolen eighteen wheel truck. Speaking of Cupid, she has loaded the truck full of "love potion" chemicals, which she plans on dumping into the Star City drinking water. Oh, and Hilton(with the knife STILL planted firmly in his head)gets up and leaves the hospital... Cupid makes it to the waters where she plans on dumping her chemicals, but she is interrupted by her former army buddies. They try to kill her, but GA and company arrive on the scene and make the save. GA winds up in the army helicopter, while Cupid ends up battling BC(after Speedy was knocked into the waters below)in the GA copter. GA's copter explodes, while BC and Cupid's helicopter crashes into a nearby dam. GA emerges from the wreckage of the army helicopter just in time to see Cupid hanging onto the edge of the dam, with BC hanging on to her leg. Before Cupid and BC fall into the waters below, GA manages to shoot Cupid through the hand, pinning her to the wall, as well as curing her insanity... Umm, what? The now sane Cupid helps BC climb onto the dam, saving both women. A little later, GA and BC question Cupid, and learn that she is back in control, and with that, they leave her to the authorities. Lt. Hilton, who was quietly watching from a distance, shoots a man in the head and steals his car, driving away, all with a knife handle sticking out of the back of his head! This issue ends with GA and BC being summoned by Hal Jordan to meet him up at the JLA Watchtower, setting the stage for the Cry for Justice mini-series.

Well, that's it. This was the last issue of Andrew Kreisberg's GA run. Before I get into my thoughts on this issue, let's take a look back at Andrew's GA work. First he introduced us to Cupid. Then Cupid became obsessed with GA. From there, Cupid began killing GA's enemies. Cupid then gets arrested, breaks free, is revealed to be a member of a top secret black-ops project, does evil things, then is cured of her insanity... And that's pretty much Andrew's run in a nutshell! See the problem? If used properly, I think Cupid could have been a welcome addition to GA's rogues gallery, unfortunately, this series became more about Cupid then it was about GA and BC, which completely turned me off of the Cupid character. All right, with that out of the way, I can get back to the comic at hand. Surprisingly, this issue wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. Sure, there were a few REALLY bad parts, such as Cupid getting shot through the hand and regaining her sanity... I have NO idea how the hell THAT works out! However, this comic did something that I've been waiting MONTHS to see happen, it FINALLY gave us a conclusive ending to the whole Cupid storyline. Sure, I probably would have preferred to see her die, preferably at the hands of Lt. Hilton, but at least this comic ended with Cupid's tale over, because if this comic would have ended with Cupid once again sneaking away or outsmarting everyone, I think I would have thrown this comic book across the room! As for the next issue... I'm not sure what to expect. I guess it will pick up after the events of Cry for Justice, but I'm not positive. All I know is if Cupid shows up next issue, I'll riot!

Score: 7 out of 10.Wait, Green Arrow doesn't kill? He must have forgotten his series from the 1980's, because all he seems to do in those comics is kill people!