Dark X-Men #5, Green Lantern Corps #46 & REBELS #14

I've got a few comics here tonight that I've been looking forward to for quite a while! The final part of the mini-series which returned my namesake, X-Man, in Dark X-Men #5, the final Blackest Night x-over issue of the always good Green Lantern Corps, and the final part of the Starro the Conqueror storyline in REBELS. Well, let's skip the rest of this introduction and get to the comics, because I can't wait any longer!

Dark X-Men #5(of 5): Writer: Paul Cornell. Artist: Leonard Kirk.
Last Issue: 8 1/2 out of 10.

This issue gets started with the Dark X-Men trying to defeat the Green Goblin persona in Norman Osborn's mind, while Osborn himself has a mental war against Nate Grey for control of Norman's body. Nate's plan was for the Green Goblin persona to keep Osborn and the Dark X-Men preoccupied, however, Nate made a severe miscalculation and Osborn and the Goblin team-up to rid Nate from Osborn's mind. With Nate weakened and back in the physical world, Osborn has him quickly captured and tortured. Before sending Nate into the Omega Machine where his powers would be siphoned off for various nefarious effects, Nate tells the Dark X-Men that they let themselves down by not assisting him against Osborn, since he, unlike Osborn, would have been willing to help them overcome their various problems. This issue ends with Osborn having Nate wheeled away while the Dark X-Men realize that they probably screwed up their best chance to get out from under Osborn's thumb.

I totally expected this to happen. There were only two ways this mini could have ended, considering how INSANELY powerful Nate is, Nate either gets captured by Osborn and put in the Omega Machine, or he “dies” again and returns to the astral plane as discorporated energy, because with Nate's power level, he wasn't going to be allowed to roam around the Marvel U. For me, being THE biggest Nate Grey fan anywhere, I'm OK with this ending. Importantly, Nate ISN'T dead, he's just imprisoned, which means there is always a chance he'll be back again someday(kind of like Frosty the Snowman...). With Osborn almost certain to lose his power at the conclusion of the Siege x-over, I'm cautiously optimistic that no more Osborn means that Nate will be freed and allowed to do stuff in the Marvel U again. By the way, I'd be ALL for Paul Cornell taking over the writing duties from either Matt Fraction(Uncanny X-Men)or Mike Carey(X-Men Legacy), because in just five issues he managed to put together a better storyline then either of those other two writers have been able to string together in YEARS!

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.I couldn't help but laugh when even the Green Goblin himself called Norman Osborn's hair bad!

Green Lantern Corps #46: Writer: Peter Tomasi. Pencils: Patrick Gleason.
Last Issue: 8 out of 10.

We open this one up with several members from all of the Color Corps combining forces above the Earth in an attempt to halt the thousands of Black Lanterns trying to descend upon the planet. While the Lanterns have some success, there proves to be too many BL's, and the Color Corps begins to lose ground. To make matters worse, Black Lantern Ice and Black Lantern Alex Dewitt(Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner's girlfriends)attack their respective boyfriends. Guy manages to freeze and destroy BL Ice, while Kyle, with some assistance from Indigo Lantern Munk, destroys BL Alex. From there, all of the members of the Color Corps arrive in Coast City just as the Anti-Monitor(!)is attempting to free himself from the Black Power Battery, where Nekron had imprisoned him. The Color Corps members try to pool their powers against the Anti-Monitor, but since he isn't a full Black Lantern yet, they can't effect him. Instead, the Lanterns devise a plan which consists of putting Dove in a Green Lantern bullet construction(since she is full of the White Light of life)and fire her at the Anti-Monitor's head. While Dove's bullet passes by, all of the Color Corps members add some extra power to it, and it winds up striking the Anti-Monitor, knocking him over and out. Unfortunately for the members of the Color Corps, the Black Power Battery is STILL draining the power of the downed Anti-Monitor, and when the Corps members try to pull the Anti-Monitor away from the Battery, the Battery cuts their lines and sucks the Anti-Monitor back in. This issue ends with the Color Corps members re-newing their attack on the Black Power battery, since they realize removing the Anti-Monitor from it would de-power all of the black rings.

There was a whole lot of action here, and for the most part, it was all good. I enjoyed Kyle's interaction with poor dead BL Alex, and I'm glad Peter decided to put that in there, because Alex's death was probably one of the key moments which turned Kyle into the hero he is today. Other then that, there's really not much more to say... This comic was a welcome addition to the Blackest Night story, and didn't disappoint.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Aww, seeing all of those Lanterns working together makes me want to break into a chorus of Kumbaya.

REBELS #14: Writer: Tony Bedard. Pencils: Claude St. Aubin.
Last Issue: 10 out of 10

This issue begins with the Omega Men(who had managed to procure the anti-Starro venom they went in search of)arriving at the Psimon's space station, but not getting any response from inside. Why is that? Because Starro himself was inside and ready to wage an all-out war against Dox and his REBELS. Adam Strange blasts Starro with a gun designed by Dox that was supposed to break Starro's hold over his slaves, but unfortunately, the gun doesn't work... With the gun a failure, the REBELS attack Starro, but even their combined efforts have little to no effect on Starro, as he easily brushes everybody and everything aside. During the battle, Starro falls into the Psimon's laboratory, and discovers all of his starfish that the Psimons had been experimenting on. This infuriates Starro, and he goes on a rampage, trouncing everybody and then using the starfish to latch onto everybody except for Dox(who was behind his impregnable force-field), Wildstar and Elu(who are both made entirely of energy). Before Starro can finish off Dox and his last two REBELS, the Omega Men arrive on the scene and shoot everybody full of quills containing the anti-Starro venom. However, the poison seems to have no effect, and Starro simply sends a few starfish at the Omega Men and enslave them as well. With his forces completely under Starro's control, Dox offers himself in exchange for Starro allowing Wildstar and Elu to go free. Dox puts his force-field down, and Starro grabs him by the throat in order to gloat a bit, because that's what any good super-villain would do! Before Starro can pop Dox's head off, Dox tells Starro that he happened to notice that when the Omega Men fired their quills, they only hit one starfish(the rest of the shots hit arms and legs of people), and that that starfish had died from the poison. With that, Dox pulls one of the quills out of Starro's arm and jabs it into the giant starfish on Starro's chest, which breaks Starro's hold over all of his slaves in all 9 galaxies he was under control of, as well as greatly diminishing his power. Before Starro can continue the fight, Despero grabs a hold of Starro, and restrains him, ending his threat. With Starro and his starfish army FINALLY defeated, Dox sends a transmission out to all of the planets which were taken over by Starro and tells them that he was responsible for saving them, and that he'd be organizing ways to assist them with getting back on their feet after their time as Starro's slaves. He ends the transmission by announcing that he would be reestablishing his LEGION peacekeeping force, and that he'd be getting in contact with the leaders of the worlds he assisted in order to discuss reparation... HA! This issue ends with Adam Strange deciding to stick around the REBELS for the time being in order to make sure Dox didn't take advantage of any of the newly freed planets.

Of course I liked this one! After 15 parts, the whole Starro story is over... While the end came kind of... easy I guess, I was still pleased with the overall story here. These past 14 issues(plus the 1 annual)have really led me to become a huge fan of the characters in this book, to the point where I've been collecting all of the past LEGION/REBELS comic series. The next few issues should deal with Dox and his now bigger then ever ego after ending the threat of Starro, and the more Dox we get in this series, the better this series will become which is a GREAT thing! I'm eagerly looking forward to the next few issues to see where things go from here. Long Live The REBELS!

Score: 9 out of 10.Hmm, I've heard people talk about poking their eye out, but I've never actually seen it happen...