Quick Hits: 2/19/11

Hey all, it's yet another installment of Quick Hits, this time a jam-packed, all-DC edition. We have 5 reviews to get through, and one of them is my undisputed FAVORITE DC comic. There are very few comics that bring a smile to my face the moment I see them, but REBELS is one of those comic books. And luckily for me, I get to do my monthly REBELS review now! I figure my best move would be to start off with REBELS, which should put me in a good mood before I move on to the other comics I've decided to read today. The only problem with that strategy is that after that first review, the only direction left to go is down...

REBELS #25:

Summary: Starro's two lieutenants continue their sneak attack from last issue with Smite taking out Vril Dox's most powerful LEGION member(not named Lobo), Tribulus, while Storm-Daughter captures Dox. LEGION tries to respond, but by the time Capt. Comet and Starfire respond, Dox and his two assailants are gone, and Tribulus is laid out in the street in a pool of blood. The rest of LEGION gather around Tribulus and Adam Strange decides that their best move was to immediately take the battle to Starro and rescue Dox. Lobo doesn't care to take orders from Strange and leaves on his own, wanting to find Storm-Daughter, who he mistook for a fellow Czarnians. Strange is initially infuriated by Lobo's actions, but Wildstar reminds Strange that she can also track individuals across the universe and offers to follow Lobo. Strange orders a Rannian officer to scour the city to make sure Starro didn't leave any of his starfish behind, and tasks Lyrl Dox(who demands to be referred to as Brainiac 3)with fixing Tribulus up before taking flight. Dox is presented to Starro himself by Smite and Storm-Daughter, and immediately deducts that Starro had conquered the Psion's homeworld. Starro threatens to put one of his mind-sapping starfish on Dox's face, but Dox buys time by telling Starro that the full wraith of LEGION would come down on him and he'd be summarily defeated. Starro decides to show Dox why he wasn't concerned, revealing that the Psion's had been cloning Czarnians before he conquered them, meaning he'd have an army of Lobos under his command. Dox is initially horrified at the prospect of Starro leading an army of Lobo clones, before he deduces that if Starro could control the Lobo clones he'd have already set them loose. With that last insult, Starro affixes a starfish on Dox's face(!), rendering him a mindless slave to Starro. From there we discover that Starro did indeed leave several starfish on Rann, and that they had already begun taking over many Rannian soldiers. This issue ends with Lobo arriving on the Psion homeworld and calling out Storm-Daughter. Storm-Daughter douses herself with some Czarnian pheromones and heads out to seduce Lobo again, but is surprised to see Lobo wearing a nose clip, thus negating the pheromones. Storm-Daughter moves to sap Lobo of his power, and Lobo responds by driving his hook through her skull!

Thoughts: And this issue once again affirmed what I've been saying. REBELS is the BEST comic coming out of DC. Batgirl is right up there, but if forced to choose between the two books, REBELS wins out every time. Where do I even begin? Starro trying(and thus far failing)to control the Lobo clones with his starfish, the massive battle in the opening pages, Starro beginning a quiet invasion of Rann with Adam Strange off-world to rescue Dox, Lyrl demanding to be called Brainiac 3(which got a rather hardy laugh out of me!), Dox getting his mind taken away(!!), and of course Lobo taking out one of Starro's top lieutenants with one mighty blow. Next issue should be INSANE, especially when Lobo realizes that the Psions had been cloning him, thus creating Czarnians. You KNOW how Lobo is going to react when he sees the clones... He doesn't proudly call himself the last Czarnian for nothing! Besides that, we have Vril Dox, possibly the smartest character in ALL of the DCU(yep, even smarter than Lex Luthor)having his mind stripped away by Starro. With Dox's mind shut down, there's nobody left to control Tribulus(who was under Dox's constant mental control). That fact could lead to two possibilities... One, Tribulus wakes up and goes on one hell of a rampage, tearing through Rann, or two, Lyrl... I mean Brainiac 3, finds a way to take control of Tribulus like his father had done and uses Tribulus to escape from his father's watchful eye. Whew! I could keep going, but I still have other comics to cover, so let me end this REBELS review now!

Score: 9 out of 10.Wow, I sure as hell didn't see that one coming!


Batman and Robin #20:

Summary: We kick things off with Bruce, Dick, Tim, Damian and Alfred sitting down at Wayne Manor to watch the Mark of Zorro... Um, okay... I guess... From there Dick heads to some opera performance and is nearly hit by a man with some weird wings affixed to his back plummeting to his death. Dick(as Batman)and Damian(as Robin, naturally)head to the morgue with Commissioner Gordon to look at the body. Damian gets roughed up by Gordon(what in the BLUE HELL is going on here?!?), before Dick and Damian see that the dead man had burned off his fingerprints as well as his footprints. Since the man's face was pretty battered from falling eighty stories, Dick takes some pictures of his head with the hope being that the computers at the Batcave could digitally reconstruct his face, thus identifying the dead man. From there Dick and Damian head to the spot where the man jumped(fell?) from and find a suicide note. Damian figures that would close the case, but Dick says it's never that easy and on cue, Man-Bat suddenly attacks the duo, ranting about saving his children from the light. Dick and Damian manage to put the crazed Man-Bat down and out, and hundreds of... oh hell... glowing white bats fall from the sky laying all around the Dynamic Duo and the fallen Man-Bat.

Thoughts: Okay, if those glowing bats are what I think they are then I'm going to be PISSED! And I mean pissed in all caps! When it's in all caps you KNOW I'm serious! I DO NOT want my Bat-books crossing over with the utter garbage that is Brightest Day. Please let those glowing white bats be ANYTHING other than what they seem to be. But of course Peter Tomasi is writing this(as well as co-writing the abomination that is Brightest Day), meaning that my fears are probably true. Damn it... Anyway, before the white bat nonsense, this comic was moving along rather well. Sure, the opening scene made ZERO sense(what the HELL was that supposed to show us? That Bruce is warm and fuzzy now? We know!), but I was enjoying the mystery of that guy's death. I'd have scored this comic way higher, but that potential Brightest Day link really drove down my enjoyment of this one.

Score: 6 out of 10.Damian may have been trained by the League of Assassins, Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne, but how could he hope to defeat the terrible skill of Commissioner Gordon?!


Gotham City Sirens #19:

Summary: After learning of the way Talia manipulated her last issue, Zatanna decides to take Talia down. The two do some quick sparring before Talia decides it's time to leave and fires two missiles at the Siren's headquarters, where Catwoman had been captured and tied up. Zatanna manages to save Catwoman with a force field, but that distraction gives Talia the chance to escape. Later on, Catwoman is prowling the night and Zatanna heads over to offer an apology. Catwoman doesn't even want to hear it, but Zatanna explains that she'll go away the moment Catwoman at least listens to her. Zatanna explains that while she was in Catwoman's head she saw Catwoman's anger and resentment at the way Bruce would often treat her, and offers to have Catwoman forget all about her romantic feelings for Bruce. Catwoman nearly says yes but in the end declines and heads to the Siren's new headquarters, an abandoned arboretum. Catwoman is naturally bummed and Harley Quinn offers to listen to her problems. Catwoman tells Harley about all of the times Batman would be with her, and yet be a million miles away mentally. These words cause Harley to realize that Joker was the same distant way with her, and she storms away. Catwoman and Poison Ivy track Harley to an abandoned amusement park and tell her to calm down before she does something rash. Instead of calming down, Harley tosses some Joker-bombs at her two Siren teammates and declares that she was going off to kill Joker for all of the crap he put her through.

Thoughts: Hey, I really enjoyed this comic! The battle between Talia and Zatanna was over WAY too quickly, especially since last issue built to it, and Harley's decision to kill Joker was kind of out of the blue, but everything else here really worked for me. I guess I can understand Harley's impetuous actions, since that's kind of her nature, but you'd think this would be the start of a new storyline as opposed to the continuation of a storyline that seemed to have concluded this issue(the Zatanna/Talia/Catwoman)stuff. Besides those little quibbles, everything else here was good. Oh, and Talia came right out and said that Bruce was Damian's father, so there! :P

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.And this was basically all Talia did in this one...


Batman #707:

Summary: I'm going to cover this comic in broad strokes... VERY broad strokes! After saving a few people(including himself) from a Sensei created deathtrap, Batman(Dick Grayson) manages to hunt down the Sensei, with some help from I-Ching and Luki Lo. Unfortunately for Bats, Sensei has manages to find and put on the Mask of the Beholder and is throwing around god-like powers. Luckily for Bats, Luki Lo is the chosen one(or something like that, just go with it...)and can call the Mask to himself telekinetically. This angers the Sensei, who moves in to kill Luki Lo, but accidentally splits the Mask in two with his sword, ending its threat. Bats moves to apprehend Sensei, but he gets away. From there Peacock(Luki Lo's sister)gives Bats half of the Mask and keeps the other half herself, hoping that would keep the Mask from putting itself together. We end this one with the Riddler giving a woman holding Two-Face's coin(who is hidden in the shadows) some information on the Jade Compass Society, in return for some gold and the promise of information on the Riddler's past.

Thoughts: Gah! Well I WILL say this much, this issue was better than the last issue, which I couldn't even will myself into finishing. That's pretty much the only compliment I can give this comic though... There was just SO many little things going on that I either didn't remember from the last few issues, or never bothered to figure out. If I never read the names I-Ching, Sensei, Peacock and Luki Lo again, it'll be too soon...

Score: 3 out of 10.Good GOD did Riddler get ugly!


Green Lantern Corps #57:

Summary: We start things off with Firestorm coming across the battle on Qward, thus reminding me of Brightest Day and automatically putting me in a bad mood... The Thunderers, under the leadership of John Stewart try to take Sinestro down with a heavy artillery assault, but they fail miserably because none of them are named Hal Jordan, and we ALL know only Hal “I Never Went Crazy!” Jordan can come close to defeating Sinestro The Great... See, I TOLD you thinking about Brightest Day would put me in a bad mood! The Weaponer and his White Lantern powered weapon also falls to the HORRIBLE might of Sinestro The Great. Sinestro The Great calls his Sinestro Corps over to mop up the Thunderers(why? he was doing a pretty good job of that himself!), which leads to the Green Lantern Honor Guard siding with the Thunderers and trying to fend off the Sinestro Corps... Oh, and the GLC members can't use their rings against the Sinestro Corps members(and vice-verca) because of their truce, so the GLC members use guns instead.... Which DOESN'T break the truce somehow... *sigh* Firestorm finally arrives and asks Kyle Rayner(or as Chairman Johns calls him, That Bastard) why the GLC members weren't using their rings, and Kyle tells him about the truce. Since Firestorm isn't a member of the GLC, he happily tears into the Sinestro Corps members WITH his powers. Sinestro The Great finally tires of decimating everything in his path and offers to leave Qward and stop beating up the Weaponer if the Weaponer agreed to join the Sinestro Corps. Realizing that he wasn't Hal “I Never Went Crazy!” Jordan and as such could never hope to defeat Sinestro The Great, the Weaponer joins the Sinestro Corps, going from a decent new villain to yet another faceless lackey. From there Sinestro and his Corps leave and the GLC Honor Guard decide to head to Earth to deal with Krona.

Thoughts: If I could sum this issue up in a single word it would be “disappointing”. I just don't see the upswing for making the Weaponer a member of the Sinestro Corps. It just doesn't make sense to me. Now he's simply another random face in the crowd as opposed to the threat he had been built into. Firestorm basically added NOTHING to this issue, as he wandered over, blasted a few random Sinestro Corps members and then left to find Deathstorm, making this the second most useless guest appearance I've read this month(only behind Catman's unnecessary appearance in Red Robin). As for Sinestro, what more needs to be said? He defeated an entire planet, beat a man who humbled the Green Lantern Honor Guard, including a Guardian of the Universe, and strutted away, no worse for wear... I think when I want my fill of DC's space faring stories I'll stick with the FAR superior(and written by the same writer, Tony Bedard)REBELS.

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.Pfft, an army against Sinestro? I'll take Sinestro's chances!

Green Lantern Corps #56

Review: This issue opens with the Sinestro Corps(minus Sinestro)preparing to attack the Weaponer and the Qwardians. The Green Lantern Honor Guard doesn't want to see any loss of life, so they step in to defend the Qwardians, without openly attacking the members of the Sinestro Corps, which would've restarted the war between the two factions. This leads to a stalemate, with John Stewart ferrying the Qwardians inside of the Weaponer's castle hoping to find something to help defend the Qwardians against the Sinestro Corps attack. By this point Sinestro arrives on the scene and is immediately attacked by the Weaponer. Sinestro shrugs off EVERYTHING the Weaponer throws at him(REALLY?!?!?)and prepares to kill him. However he is halted by the timely arrival of John Stewart and a bunch of Qwardians carrying weapons.

Thoughts: Okay, I have one MAJOR gripe with this comic... When the HELL did Sinestro become more powerful than Ganthet, who is probably the oldest and presumably the most powerful of the Guardians of the Universe?! I mean Ganthet was defeated by the Weaponer last issue in a matter of panels with a NET! A NET!!! This issue we get Sinestro standing through EVERYTHING the Weaponer threw at him, shrugging it all off, and then nearly killing the Weaponer! What gives? So I'm supposed to believe that Sinestro is more powerful than the Guardians(who have been established as some of the most powerful creatures in the entire DCU), and yet he can't defeat Hal Jordan(who works UNDER the Guardians)in a fist fight?!?!? My god is the DCU all sorts of messed up nowadays... Thank you Chairman Johns. Before Sinestro's no-selling antics, this was a pretty good comic. But after that? My enjoyment of this story whittled away to almost nothing. Please let Sinestro get just a little beat up by somebody other than Hal “The only Green Lantern that matters” Jordan next issue... That's all I ask. If Sinestro at least gets knocked down next issue I'll bump the score up an extra 1/2 no matter what I thought of the rest of it.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Um, really?!?

Green Lantern Corps #55

Review: Let us begin with the Green Lantern Honor Guard attacking the Weaponer in front of his castle(citadel? palace?)on Qward. Kyle Rayner(or as Chairman Johns calls him, “That rat-faced bastard!!!)races into the Weaponer's headquarters to rescue his girlfriend, Soranik Natu, while the Weaponer whups on the Honor Guard. His shield manages to counters each member of the Honor Guard(even Ganthet)and in a few short pages, he leaves them all laying around. By this point, Kyle has found Natu unharmed inside, but they can't figure out a way to free her GL ring from the force field the Weaponer surrounded it with. Luckily for them though, the Weaponer's castle is chock full of all sorts of deadly weapons. Back outside, Ganthet vomits(yes, really)and Atrocitus's face pops up in the puke, demanding Ganthet's presence on Earth to deal with Krona. John Stewart asks what in the blue hell THAT was all about, so Ganthet explains that he(along with Guy Gardner)made a pact with Atrocitus to deal with Krona, and that the best way to remain in touch with Atrocitus was via the powers of telepathic vomit... Uh-huh... The Weaponer stands around listening to the story instead of, you know, doing anything, so Natu makes her way outside with a giant gun and holds it to the Weaponer's head, demanding he release the Honor Guard. With that tense standoff going on, several Thunderers make their way over to the fight and tell Natu to do all of Qward a favor and shoot the Weaponer. Before Natu can do anything though, a large portal opens up in the sky and the entirety of the Sinestro Corps arrive(minus Sinestro himself), ending this issue.

Thoughts: Besides Ganthet's projectile vomiting, I really didn't have any problems with this issue. The story is moving along nicely, the Weaponer is being built up as a huge menace(he beat the GL Honor Guard PLUS a Guardian!), and the cliffhanger has me interested in checking out the next issue. Granted, there were a few little things that bugged me here(what exactly was the Weaponer planning on doing with the Lanterns he defeated? Why not just kill them?), but all in all, good stuff, as usual with this series.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.If I never see a blue midget in a dress vomiting blood again in my lifetime I'll be a very happy camper!

Origins and Omens flashback, part 1.

Hey again all, X here with what I think should be a fun little post. You see, last night I posted that I had been reordering my comic books to take a break from my various school related responsibilities. As I was going through my DC books, I came across a bunch of those “Origins and Omens” stories from early 2009 that ran right before Blackest Night began. What was “Origins and Omens” you ask? Basically it was Scar(of Blackest Night fame)looking into the future via the Book of Black. So I figured, why not post the O&O pages from the books I have and see just how accurate those “predictions” were... It turns out that I have 17 scans, so I'll post 9 today and 8 tomorrow. I'll be doing this in alphabetical order, so we'll have A-J today. Alright, let's get this show on the road.


First up would be Action Comic #874...-Guardian did run into that group of Legionaries
-He did team up with Nightwing and Flamebird
-And the Science Police building did explode.
-I don't recall his “daughter” dying
-Nor do I remember him flying on the wing of a plane, although I don't think anybody could blame me for forgetting about that...


Next is Adventure Comics #0-Well that's an easy one... Superboy did indeed come back to life!


Birds of Prey #127-That really bloody scene was from the abysmal Oracle/Battle for the Cowl mini
-Babs did break away from the Birds/Black Canary temporarily
-I don't recall Babs having one final battle with that awesome possessed Calculator
-And the Batgirl costume thing... Maybe that alludes to Steph becoming Batgirl?


Booster Gold #17-Booster did battle with/against the Teen Titans from the past
-But to my knowledge, Booster still hasn't learned the identity of the Black Beetle...


Green Arrow & Black Canary #17-Hey hey, I think every single thing from those scenes happened! Although to be honest, most of the stories were awful, so yeah...


Green Lantern #38-John Stewart had to deal with his dead ex during Blackest Night
-Hal and Sinestro DID have to team-up together(pretty much every other issue it seems)
-Black Hand also swore fealty to the Black Lanterns/Scar.
-I don't recall Alan Scott being called in front of the Guardians, which is pretty funny since Geoff Johns WROTE this issue, meaning you'd think it definitely would have happened!


Green Lantern Corps #33-Jade did indeed come back to life
-Sodam Yat did battle Mongul on Daxam
-I thought those children who attacked the GLC were Black Lanterns, not Sinestro Corps members, although I suspect I'm forgetting a storyline... Possibly with Kryb...
-I also don't recall the scene with Kilowog and Ganthet, although it easily could have happened somewhere along the line


Justice League of America #30-That Starbreaker guy did attack
-And Icon did help them during the Starbreaker battle.
-As for the half naked guy... No idea!


Justice Society of America #24-Obsidian did turn into a shadow egg
-Magog did leave the team
-The team did split in half
-And Mr. Terrific was stabbed by Kid Karnevil
-I don't recall Alan fighting the guy with the roots
-Nor do I recall the other battle with that giant thing with the sword


So there we go, that takes care of the first 9 scans. Tomorrow I'll post the rest, which include Nightwing, Robin and Superman. Until then, X out.

Green Lantern Corps #54

Overall: This issue opens with Sinestro and Kyle Rayner deciding to have a fist fight to settle their differences from the last issue. What differences? Basically the fact that Kyle's girlfriend/Sinestro's daughter Soranik Natu has been kidnapped by an insane Weaponer from Qward, and was demanding an audience with Sinestro, lest he kills Soranik. Sinestro shows no interest in going to Qward, leading to the aforementioned fist fight. Sinestro manages to win the fight, and once again tells Kyle that he wouldn't be helping him rescue Soranik. From there we head to Qward, where the Weaponer makes like any good villain and gives the captive Soranik his origin story. Basically he created the first yellow ring for Sinestro, things went downhill on Qward from there, so now he's hated by his people. The Weaponer's alarms begin to go off and he rushes outside expecting to find Sinestro, but instead discovering Kyle leading several Green Lanterns, including Ganthet, straight to his front door.

Okay, first a gripe. Once upon a time, in a world far, far away, Hal Jordan and Sinestro had a brutal fight to the death, which ended when Hal snapped Sinestro's neck. So logically that would make Hal the superior fighter to Sinestro. In this issue, Sinestro pretty much squashes Kyle in a fight, meaning that Sinestro is a superior fighter than Kyle. To that I scream, NOT SO FAST! Kyle has been trained to fight by both BATMAN(who is universally acknowledged as DC's top fighter)as well as Donna Troy, who herself was trained to fight by the frigging AMAZONS! Yeah, I get that nowadays DC/Geoff Johns loves giving Hal a never ending blow job, but to say that Hal, but not Kyle, can take Sinestro in a fight? I call BS on that. Rant over. Besides that bit of stupidity, I enjoyed this comic. The Weaponer continues to be an interesting new character, and his origin was well done. Next issue should give us an amazingly good fight scene between Kyle, Ganthet and company against the Weaponer, as we see just how powerful the Weaponer really is.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.What an odd thing to say in this situation...

Green Lantern Corps #53

Overall: We kick off with a flashback to the Qwardian known as the Weaponer creating the first Sinestro Corps ring for Sinestro. From there we head to the present, where Kyle Rayner is saving lives on Sinestro's homeworld of Korugar, while some disgruntled members of the Sinestro Corps watch. The Sinestro Corps members want to fight with Kyle, but are forbidden by Sinestro to start any trouble with Green Lanterns. After some smack talking back and forth, one member of the Sinestro Corps is prepared to attack Kyle when the Weaponer appears and kills the Sinestro Corps member with ease. He then goes on and squashes Kyle, which brings Soranik Natu(Kyle's girlfriend/Sinestro's daughter)into the fray, where she is also easily defeated. The Weaponer tells Kyle that he wants Sinestro to go to Qward, or else he'd kill Soranik. With that the Weaponer teleports away with Soranik, and Kyle rushes to Earth to tell Sinestro what had transpired. Sinestro listens and tells Kyle that he refuses to help because he wants Kyle to try to rescue Soranik himself(and fail), that way Soranik can see how unworthy Kyle is of her affections. With that Kyle rears back and pounds Sinestro in the face, ending this issue.

I definitely enjoyed this comic. It set up a new threat(the Weaponer), put a Lantern in jeopardy(Soranik), and is forcing Sinestro and Kyle to put beside their(MANY)differences to work together to defeat the Weaponer. I really can't say much more than a Kyle/Sinestro team-up will be flat out awesome.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.So remind me again, WHY do we need Hal Jordan around?

Green Lantern Corps #52

Overall: Thanks to the actions of rogue Alpha-Lantern Boodikka, Kyle Rayner, John Stewart, Hannu and Soranik Natu are able to power up their rings, since Cyborg Superman had drained the Lanterns of their powers last issue. This act seems to put Boodikka on the brink of death, but John is able to use his ring(as well as his architectural skills)to piece Boodikka together as best he can. In the meantime, Ganthet is able to remove the power battery from the chest from another Alpha Lantern at the behest of Cyborg Superman, who is hopeful that Ganthet could do the same to him, granting him the peace of death he so craved. However, the 4 Lantern's from earlier(along with the ailing Boodikka)attack Cyborg Superman's laboratory and are able to destroy his body. Cyborg Superman doesn't care though as he jumps into the nearest electronic source, Boodikka. On a battlefield in Boodikka's mind, Cyborg Superman battles the Alpha Lantern and after a bit of a struggle, Boodikka cuts Cyborg Superman in half, apparently killing him. From there the Lanterns head back to Oa, and the Guardians of the Universe reward them by giving the rest of the Alpha Lanterns their emotions back, as well as naming all of the Lanterns responsible in the defeat of Cyborg Superman a part of the Green Lantern Honor Guard.

Umm, wasn't Kyle already a member of the Honor Guard? Anyway, this comic was all right, although I was a bit bummed by Cyborg Superman's defeat. It seemed a bit too easy for my tastes. So far as I know, he can effortlessly dominate any form of robotic life, so I was a bit perplexed as to how Boodikka was able to fight him off when he attempted to enslave her body. Besides Cyborg Superman's loss though, this comic was a prime example of a perfectly acceptable comic book. It wasn't great, but it wasn't awful either. It was a fine way to kill a few minutes.

Score: 7 out of 10.What? Sometimes a happy ending is nice.

Green Lantern Corps #48

Green Lantern Corps #48: Writer: Tony Bedard. Pencils: Ardian Syaf.
Last Issue: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Review: And thus begins the Tony Bedard era of GLC. We start this series with Ganthet and Guy Gardner holding a clandestine meeting with the leader of the Red Lantern Corps, Atrocitus. Ganthet tells Atrocitus that he has a proposition for him, and Atrocitus gives Ganthet 5 minutes to plead his case. After hearing Ganthet out, Guy agrees to whatever it was Ganthet said(we weren't privy to the conversation), and Atrocitus also seems interested. From there, Ganthet appears before the remaining six Guardians of the Universe and resigns his status as a Guardian of both the Green Lantern Corps AND the Blue Lantern Corps. Ganthet then requests to be made into a common Green Lantern, who would look after sector 0(which is where Oa is located)and after some thought, the Guardians agree to grant Ganthet his wish. On Oa, a rookie Green Lantern is abducted by the Alpha Lanterns(or requisitioned if you will), while Ganthet meets up with Kyle Rayner and John Stewart to talk about rebuilding the thoroughly demolished Oa. While the three were discussing rebuilding, John is summoned to meet up with the Guardians. He heads in and finds Alpha Lantern Boodikka standing with the Guardians. The Guardians reveal to John that the planet Grenda had ceased all communications with the outside world, and when a Green Lantern was sent to investigate, they reported that there was nobody left on the planet, before promptly vanishing as well. John agrees to go with Boodikka to see what they could find, and this issue ends with the rookie Lantern from earlier “requisitioning” his GL partner into the Alpha Lanterns.

What I Thought: I liked it. Tony seems to have a definitive idea of where he's going with this series, and I for one am glad to see Guy Gardner replaced for John Stewart. I've never been all that high on Guy, and his oftentimes childish attitude tended to grate on my nerves at times. Granted Guy had been written a lot better the past few years, but he was never one of my favorite Lanterns. It seems that this book will be revolving around Kyle(who is my favorite Lantern), John(who I always thought was egregiously underutilized)and Ganthet(who definitely brings something different to the dynamic of this book). I don't have any complaints about those three characters carrying this comic at all. The stuff with the Alpha Lanterns forcing Green Lanterns into their ranks should lead to some great stories down the road, and I for one hope Tony slow burns this storyline, and has the Alphas gather a veritable army before their scheme is revealed, that way we can have a very strong(Manhunter-esque)Alpha Lantern contingent ready to take on the GL's. Regardless of what Tony does, I have some high hopes for this series going forward.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.I bet Atrocitus is probably a blast at parties...

The Best of the Rest!!! May 15th edition.

With the overwhelming success that is Flashback Friday(OK, “overwhelming” is probably a bit of a stretch, but it's my blog so humor me!), I've decided to bring back the feature that nobody has been clamoring for(well, except for JT)the Best of the Rest! Now I'm sure there are a few of you out there who are wondering, “Why gosh Jethro, what is this here Best of the Rest nonsense all about?” This “nonsense”, as you so astutely put it, is where I(and I'm quoting myself from several months back here), “give my uninformed and at times offensive opinion on comic books and their creators”. In layman's terms, I just do a bunch of hastily put together reviews, slap 'em into one post and call it a feature... It's my regular reviews, only worse! Expect lots of sarcasm. Horrible, horrible sarcasm... Well with an intro like that, who WOULDN'T want to start reading???

Green Lantern Corps #47: This issue pretty much wrapped up the Blackest Night portion of this series and put a pretty little bow on top. Basically, the GL's go about fixing up Oa, and we get to look in at a few of the characters who have been starring in this series. Since I have a very strong pro-Earth bias going tonight(don't ask... Trust me on that!), I'm only going to look into the two Earth-born Green Lanterns. Kyle Rayner manages to convince the Guardians of the Universe that they should repeal their ban on GL's having romantic relationships with each other, basically so he could get some of Sinestro's daughter in public. Hey, why not? Oh, and Guy Gardner's bar collapsed during the Black Lantern invasion, which proves definitively that zombies are real jackasses. And if that offends any zombies who may be reading this, TOUGH! And yeah, that's pretty much that. Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Yeah that's right, I didn't even mention this scene in my "review", but I decided to post it anyway... Go figure.

Justice Society of America #38: FYI(that's “for your information”, for your information), this entire comic takes place in the suck-tacular future where the Nazis have managed to conquer the United States, which probably surprised even the Nazis themselves... And if that offends any Nazis, TOUGH! After recapping how the Nazis won(hmm, I guess that means this comic didn't actually take place solely in the future...), we discover that the Fuhrer(that's Nazi-speak for leader I guess)is going to be visiting the prison camp where all of the de-powered ex-superheroes were living. In order to impress the Fuhrer, the top brass at the camp decide to execute a high profile prisoner, so they choose Batman(as well as the Joker, who doesn't want to live in a world with out Bats). The Fuhrer arrives and we learn that he is the all grown up All-American Kid/Kid Karnevil/that evil blond kid from Salvation Run. Bats and Joker get executed firing squad style, and the grown up(and still ultra annoying)Jamie Reyes decides to attack Mr. Terrific, who was collaborating with the Nazis. Don't worry, this was all a plan to get the Nazis to trust Terrific even more then they already do, he wouldn't REALLY collaborate with Nazis! So the Nazis shoot Jamie in the head for his lack of restraint, and take Terrific to the infirmary to get patched up. And that's literally how this one ends. Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.Gute Nacht Mistah J!!!

Action Comics #888: The evil Kryptonian, Jax-Ur(who is the host for evil Kryptonian god Vohc the Breaker)has managed to trap Chris Kent in the Phantom Zone, while Vohc's creation(a giant-sized version of the Kryptonian god Rao)destroys large portions of Pakistan. Flamebird tries to defeat fake Rao, but can't, so the Justice Society of America(and I guess Pakistan)step up to the plate to give her an assist. Mr. Terrific wins the award for the most obvious observation, when he announces that it looks like Rao has been growing every time he is being struck... Gee, thanks Captain Obvious... Terrific then spouts off a bunch of sci-fi mumbo-jumbo, that basically means that if Rao continues to expand, he'll become a giant black hole and destroy the Earth(much like my blog). So to combat this dread news, the JSA continues to attack Rao, and they are soon joined by Wonder Woman(and an ax!). WW(and the ax!)smacks Rao a few times and Green Lantern(Alan Scott)puts a big force field around Rao's head, which causes Rao to collapse. Well THAT was easy! Almost too easy... Hmm... The heroes all celebrate and congratulate each other, which allows Rao the opportunity to get back up again and continue his parade through Pakistan. By this time, the governments of Pakistan and India have had enough of Rao and his crap, and decide to launch some nuclear weapons at the giant Kryptonian god, which seems a BIT drastic to me, but what do I know? Before I get back to that cheerful little scene, I should probably go back to Chris and the Phantom Zone. Chris wanders around the Phantom Zone and winds up finding Nightwing(no not Dick Grayson, although that would have blown my mind!), and the two decide to bond(or whatever it is you do when you meet an ancient Kryptonian god)in order to halt the horrifyingly deadly march of Rao the unstoppable!!! Nightwing hops out of the Phantom Zone(not literally I hope)and disarms all of the nukes, ending this issue. Score: 6 out of 10.Hey look, it's Wonder Woman... And an AX!!!

Daredevil #506: Wow, it seems like AGES since I last read a DD comic... That's not a part of the review or anything, just a random observation... DD(who is the leader of the Hand)helps one of the Hand's bigwigs fight off an assassination attempt. The bigwig(whose name is Bakuto by the way)figures that DD was behind the attack(because they butted heads last issue), and storms away. DD mopes about this turn of events to his friend White Tiger, who acts weird... Foreshadowing much? Later on, DD calls a Hand meeting and Bakuto accuses him of shenanigans, which DD flatly denies, which causes Bakuto to storm away again, because that's what he does, much like how I tend to over use commas(and parentheses!)... Wow, that was the best run-on sentence EVER! After the meeting, DD falls asleep and is visited by Elektra in a dream, who proceeds to cut something out of him. DD wakes up and realizes that he was bleeding... Exactly where Elektra cut him! Ooo, creepy!!! We conclude this lovely trip to Japan with White Tiger revealing that she was actually in cahoots with DD's rivals for the leadership of the Hand! How UN-surprising! . Score: 7 out of 10.Gah, that's one UGLY ninja!

Mighty Avengers #36: This is the very last issue of this series, so I think a moment of silence is in order......... OK, that's long enough. Pym(taking a page out of Mr. Terrific's playbook)explains in sci-fi mumbo-jumbo that he's been attempting to revive his ex-wife/punching bag the Wasp, and that he's been using Jocasta to help with that feat. Jocasta, now realizing why Pym had been so nice to her, smacks him and calls him a fleshbag, which is my FAVORITE(or FAVOURITE for my non-American friends)robot to human insult. While Jocasta vents at Pym, Ultron and his ten billion brides(that's right, TEN BILLION)storm into the room and start tearing up the joint, Ultron style! Pym and his associates(Jocasta, a guy in a black mask named Ace, and a chick with an eye-patch named One-Eyed Jacquie)run away from Ultron while Pym tries to formulate a plan to defeat his angry robotic offspring. Ultron says nuts to that and flies in front of Pym, telling his “father” that he knows what Pym was up to, and reconfigures the Wasp's brainwave patterns so that she only obeys Ultron. Ultron gloats, figuring he's finally defeated Pym, but Pym reveals that he still has the only device that can free Ultron from Infinite Avengers Mansion, the Dimensional Inducer, which is trapped inside of Jocasta. Pym then calls Ultron a coward(them's fightin' words!), which causes Ultron and his ten billion brides to attack Pym. Pym grows in size to deal with the attack, while drawing Ultron's attention away from his allies. Finally away from Ultron, Jocasta manages to free her ten billion clone bodies from Ultron's control, and Pym flies away from Ultron to meet up with Jocasta. Ultron arrives and tells Pym that even without his ten billion brides he can STILL whoop Pym, so Jocasta offers to marry Ultron to halt his attack... Really?!? Ultron agrees, and then Pym marries the two robots... Yes, really! Ultron goes through Jocasta's files and realizes that the Dimensional Inducer was back in Infinite Avengers Mansion, so Ultron decides that he'll be using that to run rampant through the cosmos. Pym says, nuh-uh, and teleports every single Avenger ever to his side to deal with Ultron once and for all. Ultron(realizing that those were PRETTY bad odds)backs down and agrees to leave with Jocasta, heading to a completely secluded planet that was totally devoid of life. After Ultron leaves, we discover that the Avengers were only holograms, and that Jocasta could still project her consciousness to the Mansion, which means that everything that had happened was all for nothing... Hmph... This issue ends with Pym joining his Mighty Avengers at Asgard for the final battle against the Sentry. Jeez, that reviews was WAY longer then I would have liked... I'll have to short-change the next one now! Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.And I must be mad for reading this!

Action Comics #889: Hey look, it's another issue of Action Comics! Giant, evil, fake Kryptonian god Rao begins the long and arduous process of turning into a black hole(well, I think turning into a black hole WOULD be a long and arduous process!), while Nightwing walks around saving those losers from the JSA from being crushed by Rao. I kid, I like the JSA! There not losers... Most of the time... Dr. Fate shows up(gee, thanks for FINALLY showing up Doc...)and along with Nightwing, Flamebird and Wonder Woman(who has pretty much stood around and done nothing)attack Vohc the Breaker who was responsible for giant, evil, fake Kryptonian god Rao's rampage(but then you all ready knew that from reading about AC #888 earlier, didn't you?), and Nightwing and Flamebird force Vohc into the mini black hole that was opening up inside of Rao. The other heroes don't follow the Kryptonians because... Well, I'm not entirely sure why not, but they don't, which leaves us with Nightwing and Flamebird against Vohc inside of giant, evil, fake Kryptonian god Rao. Unsurprisingly, the two heroes vanquish Vohc, which is a classier way of saying they beat him like a rented mule. With Vohc done for, Nightwing banishes him to the destroyed Phantom Zone, allowing Vohc to build stuff in that secluded space... Aww, how nice of him! With Vohc gone, giant, evil, fake Kryptonian god Rao breaks into little pieces, which causes Wonder Woman to say, “Great Hera.”. I agree WW, “Great Hera” indeed! Nightwing and Flamebird emerge from the shadows and make out in front of everybody(umm, OK...)before flying off into the sunset together. Well, not literally, but I think you get my point. This issue ends with a bunch of scientists(led by that sneaky Lex Luthor)cleaning up the mess that was Rao, while Luthor almost definitely thinks of all sorts of nefarious uses for a broken giant, evil, fake Kryptonian god. Score: 7 out of 10.Sorry, I'm all out of quips. You'll have to come up with your own.

Annnd, that's it. I'm done and not a moment too soon I'd say. Feel free to leave your credit card numbers and/or false praise in the comment section of this post, and last but CERTAINLY not least, Long Live The Legion!!!

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...

A Quick Look at: Green Lantern #51, Green Lantern Corps #45 & Nova #34

Thanks to the massive amount of snow we received here in upstate New York, my school was surprisingly shut down today. I wasn't planning on going even if it was open, so I'm glad that my attendance is still unblemished thanks to the snow day. As for what I did today, I shovelled a LOT of snow(20 inches worth!), watched the American hockey team destroy Finland to make it into the gold medal game at the Olympics(Sunday at 3:00 Eastern time is the rematch against Canada for the gold!)and of course read a few comics. All in all, I can't complain. I'm hoping my package of new comics comes tomorrow, but with the snow, I'm not holding my breath. Hmm, I know there was something else I wanted to add here, but I'm drawing a total blank... Oh well, it'll come back to me eventually. As with the last batch of reviews, I'm going to try to keep the wordage down... Will I succeed? I guess we'll know soon enough!

Green Lantern #51: Writer: Geoff Johns. Artist: Doug Mahnke.

We kick things off with Larfleeze and Lex Luthor fighting over the Orange Power Battery(God do I wish Lex would have killed that pest!)before we head to the main event, a Parallax-possessed Hal Jordan vs. the Black Lantern Spectre. Parallax Hal tears out one of BL Spectre's eyes and hops inside the giant, finding the black ring that was corrupting BL Spectre and destroying it, reverting BL Spectre back to the plain old Spectre. Spectre decides to attack and punish Parallax Hal since Spectre hates Parallax, so the two once again begin to fight. Realizing that this battle isn't helping in the defeat of Nekron, Ganthet and Star Sapphire Carol Ferris manage to separate Hal from Parallax, and Parallax is pulled away by an unknown entity. Spectre decides to punish the one responsible for the whole Blackest Night mess, Nekron, but the Spectre is unable to harm Nekron, since Nekron is dead and has no soul. With that, Nekron banishes Spectre and rallies his forces to attack the New Guardians.

Although I did like this issue, it suffered from Blackest Night formula syndrome... In other words, we've seen this battle play out in almost the same way in dozens of other comics already. A Black Lantern attacks our heroes(in this case, the Spectre attacks the New Guardians), the heroes are hapless at first, but eventually they figure out a way to defeat the Black Lantern. The main Blackest Night storyline wasn't furthered at all here, so in a way, this issue(although enjoyable)was a waste of time...

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Why look, it's Nekron! It seems like so long since I've last seen him actually say something...

Green Lantern Corps #45: Writer: Peter Tomasi. Pencils: Patrick Gleason.

On Mogo, the Green Lanterns and Red Lantern Guy Gardner open this issue by having a good, old fashioned stand-off. Most of the GL's want to attack Guy, but Kyle stops them since he still wants to try to reason with Guy. That strategy doesn't work out, and Guy attacks his friends and teammates. Mogo decides to intervene, and uses it's emphatic abilities to draw all of Guy's good and bad memories from his head, with the hope that the good memories would overpower the bad, which would fix Guy. This doesn't work either, so the GL's attack Guy again and Kyle ties him up. The Indigo Lantern who was assisting the GL's explains that the only way to reverse a Red Lantern transformation is to either kill the Red Lantern, or expose it to the power of a Blue Lantern. Since the GL's don't want to kill Guy, and a Blue Lantern isn't available, Mogo decides to cleanse Guy's Red Lantern blood, temporarily curing him of his affliction and turning him back into a Green Lantern. This issue concludes with the Indigo Lantern getting the summons from Indigo-1 to collect as many GL's as he can find and bring them to Earth to attack Nekron, as seen in the Atom & Hawkman comic.

I really enjoyed this comic, although I will admit to being a bit let down by Guy losing his Red Lantern abilities. With that said though, I am glad that Peter left the door slightly open in case he wanted to turn Guy back into a Red Lantern, since his cleansing was only temporary. So until Guy is cured by a Blue Lantern, the possibility of Guy reverting back into a Red Lantern still remains. Next issue should give us the huge Black Lanterns vs everybody else issue that leads into the final part of Blackest Night, so if nothing else, the next issue should have some awesome action scenes.

Score: 8 out of 10.I'm sorry, but Red Lantern Guy>Green Lantern Guy.

Nova #34: Writers: Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. Mahmud Asrar.

This issue has the old Sphinx and the younger Sphinx deciding to pit their forces against one another, with the victor claiming both Sphinx's Ka stones. The old Sphinx's forces are basically composed of heroes, while the young Sphinx has selected more villainous characters. After a few one-on-one battles, the old Sphinx's side wins and Darkhawk tears the Ka stone away from the young Sphinx, robbing him of his powers. Old Sphinx then mentally takes control of Darkhawk and forces him to hand over the Ka stone, giving the older Sphinx two, which pretty much makes the older Sphinx a god.

I'm a sucker for one-on-one battles, ala the Contest of Champions mini-series, so it should go without saying that I enjoyed this comic. While the outcome of some of the battles definitely surprised/stunned me(Basilisk defeated Black Bolt? Really?!?), for the most part, the battles shook out the way I expected them to. I'm still not a real big fan of the Sphinx, but this storyline has been good enough to make me overlook my natural dislike of the Sphinx, which is definitely the sign of good writing.

Score: 8 out of 10.The Age of the Sphinx? Can we have another Age of Apocalypse instead?

Let's talk about: Post-Blackest Night DCU!

Due to the fact that a lot of different people seemed to enjoy chiming in on my Let's talk about: Batman post, I figured I'd give this concept another go. I was toying with a couple of ideas for this post, but in the end, since DC's Blackest Night has been monopolizing my comic reading time, as well as my wallet, I figured blogging about Blackest Night is the best way to go. I'd have liked to do a Marvel post, but I get the feeling that the overwhelming majority of my readers are primarily DC fans, and as such would prefer that I stick to DC topics. However, if some of you guys(and gals)want me to do a post on the Marvel U, I'd be all to happy to. Alright, let's get down to business.

I think most of the folks reading this probably already know what Blackest Night is all about, but for the uninitiated, here's the quick form. Blackest Night is basically a story about the undead in the DCU rising up under the leadership of a guy named Nekron, whose goal is to eliminate all life from the universe, returning it(the Universe)to its natural state of oblivion. In order to accomplish his goals, Nekron has reanimated dead heroes and villains with black rings, and has sent them loose to tear out the hearts of the living, which increases his power exponentially. The more full of emotion the victim is, the more power Nekron acquires from that heart. If not for the mass murder and heart eating, I could totally agree with Nekron's plight! The main protagonist in the Blackest Night x-over is Green Lantern Hal Jordan, and the story is being written by Geoff Johns, who is, in my most humble opinion, DC's BEST writer. There, now I think we're all on the same page. In two months(HOPEFULLY!)Blackest Night should be wrapping up, and since I somehow doubt that Nekron is going to be victorious and the DC Universe will be plunged into total darkness, it's safe to assume that the heroes are ultimately going to emerge the victors... But then what? That's what I hope to explore in this post. Feel free to chime in with your thoughts and comments, because that's what this blog is all about, comic book fans getting together and sharing thoughts and ideas. Let's start this look at the post-Blackest Night DCU by looking at the Green Lantern Corps itself.

Green Lantern Corps/The Guardians of the Universe: Once Nekron is defeated and gone, the Guardians of the Universe(the beings who command the GLC)have some explaining to do... They had advance knowledge that there would be a Blackest Night event, but chose to ignore all of the warning signs, putting not only their Green Lantern's in danger, but all of existence as well. Now, it's possible that Nekron kills off the Guardians before the conclusion of BN, but I doubt that, which means they will either admit they were wrong, and change their ways(doubtful)or continue to act like emotionless little overlords, which I think is the more probable occurrence. I kind of think the Guardians will face a revolt from their GL's, which will lead to the near break-up of the Corps... That is unless someone steps in to fill the leadership void...

Hal Jordan: When all is said and done, I think Hal is going to wind up as the leader of the GLC. Yeah sure, he may have nearly destroyed the universe a few short years ago himself, but characters in the DCU seem to have very short memories. I feel Hal will be instrumental in defeating Nekron, and such an act will solidify his place as the greatest Green Lantern of all-time. Now, since Hal is far from a genius(hell, in the past, he was practically a moron!), I don't think he'll lead the Corps alone. I can see Ganthet(the Guardian who left his fellow Oans and formed the Blue Lantern Corps)rejoining the GLC(possibly with the Blue Lantern Corps)to provide Hal with the help he would need to run the Corps. Since the Guardians are pretty much figureheads anyway, I really don't think they are necessary to the GLC, whereas Hal pretty much IS the GLC, and would have strong support from his fellow ring-slingers.

New Guardians: I guess I should at least pay these guys a lip service... These were the various characters who were deputized to work with a certain Corps in order to help stop Nekron's rampage. They consist of the original leaders of each respective Corps, as well as one deputy. Hal deputized Ganthet as a Green Lantern, Atrocitus deputized Mera as a Red Lantern, Sinestro deputized Scarecrow as a member of the Sinestro Corps, the Star Sapphires deputized Wonder Woman as a Sapphire, Indigo-1 deputized Atom as a member of the Indigo tribe, Saint Walker deputized Saint Barry Allen as a member of the Blue Lantern Corps, and Larfleeze reluctantly shared his powers with Lex Luthor. I don't think ANYTHING is actually going to come of this, the deputized characters will only be empowered for something like 24 hours, and then they lose their newfound powers. In a perfect world, Scarecrow would permanently join up with Sinestro(come on, they're made for each other!)and Lex would kill Larfleeze and steal away the Orange light. While I'd love that, I think that would make Lex WAY too powerful, so I doubt DC could allow something like that to take place.

Black Lanterns: Well, we can scratch the Black Lanterns off this list, since they should go away when Nekron is defeated, so I'll skip them.

Sinestro Corps: I figure the Sinestro Corps will continue to be the main thorn in the GLC side, especially since Sinestro rid his Corps of rival leader, Mongul. With Sinestro's Corps totally unified under his command, the Sinestro Corps should be the preeminent foe of the GLC.

Red Lanterns: The Red Lanterns will probably also stick around to pester the GLC, if for no other reason then the fact that they give off some of the coolest visuals out of all of the Corps.

Star Sapphires: I also don't see the Star Sapphires going anywhere, even though their Central Power Battery was destroyed by the Black Lanterns. I can see a weakened version of the Star Sapphires existing in the DCU, led by Hal's longtime sweetheart, Carol Ferris.

Blue Lanterns: As I stated in my Green Lantern summary, I think the Blue Lanterns will be folded into the GLC, and they will act as one Corps. Either that, or Ganthet will simply disband the Blue Lantern Corps, since the threat of the Blackest Night has passed.

Indigo Lanterns: I really don't know what to make of the Indigo Lanterns... They simply seem to be in the Blackest Night story to fill in missing story points for other characters, so I can't see any real place for them in the post-BN DCU. Let's just say when BN ends, they vanish back to wherever they came from.

Orange Lantern: All that's left is Larfleeze, the Orange Lantern... You either love Larfleeze or you hate him, and I most definitely fit into the later group. I can't stand him. Yeah, I'll admit, in the beginning, he seemed... dare I say cool? But now, he's simply an annoyance that I keep hoping winds up getting killed by Atrocitus(the Leader of the Red Lanterns). If I had things my way, Larfleeze would act completely out of character, and he would help Hal defeat Nekron at the expense of his own life, thus freeing up the Orange power to be used by a much less annoying character.

Kyle Rayner & John Stewart: I don't see Kyle or John's lives changing dramatically as a result of their Blackest Night experiences. Maybe John will be more melancholy thanks to his experiences on that Black Lantern planet, and Kyle has a ready made feud with Sinestro, since it was revealed that he is dating Sinestro's daughter... The eventual meeting between Kyle, Sinestro and Soranik should be great, since you've got to think Sinestro is going to take offense at the fact that his daughter is dating the "alley rat"!

Guy Gardner: Guy Gardner is a bit of a wildcard for me... I would actually prefer it if Guy were to remain a Red Lantern. To me, Guy is more a Red Lantern then a Green Lantern anyway. Now, that's not to say I want to see Guy running wild through out the universe vomiting blood at everybody, quite the contrary. I want to see Guy master his Red ring, and keep his violent urges(for the most part)in check. Give him his own series: "Red Lantern: Guy Gardner", and have it follow Guy around as he tries to master the power of the Red ring. He would naturally have enemies in the other more impulsive Red Lanterns, who would want Guy to just lose all control, as well as several misunderstandings with the GLC, and Earth's heroes, which would be fun to read. I can see making Guy a Red Lantern in order to further expand and grow his character.

Black Hand, Scar & the Anti-Monitor: In a perfect world, Scar and Black Hand would survive the aftermath of the climatic BN battle, and would vanish for a while, thus leaving them available to show up again down the road to further menace the GLC. As for the Anti-Monitor/Central Black Power Battery, let's hope this is the last we see of him... I think the Anti-Monitor has more then run his course. Now that's what I want to see happen, but what I think will happen is Scar will remain dead after her destruction at the hands of the combined Corps a few BN issues back, while Black Hand either gets killed, or when Nekron dies, he goes insane and gets locked up in an insane asylum somewhere.

Now, I'm going to separate the Black Lanterns into what I think will ultimately happen to them.

Black Lantern Group 1: These are the characters who were still alive when Nekron forced Black rings onto them, thus transforming them into Black Lanterns. Superman, Wonder Woman, Kid Flash, Superboy, Green Arrow, as well as a few others suffered this fate. Since these are DC's big names, there's NO way they're remaining dead, and as such, when Nekron falls, I see this group of Black Lanterns returning to the land of the living.

Black Lantern Group 2: These are the ORIGINAL Black Lanterns. They were dead, buried and forgotten about, that is before a Black Ring resurrected them. This group includes characters such as the Martian Manhunter, Ted Kord, Aquaman, Elongated Man and Sue Dibny, Ronnie Raymond Firestorm, Maxwell Lord, Dr. Light, Jade and many others. I think DC should allow these characters to return to life. My explanation for this? Well, while they were running around as angry corpses, tearing out hearts for Nekron, some of the life-force from the hearts were leaking into the Black Lanterns, thus slowly but surely filling them back up with life. Yeah, I know, that's a REALLY weak explanation, but that's the best I can do. However, the bottom line is that I expect to see most of, if not all of these Black Lanterns returning to the land of the living following BN.

Black Lantern Group 3: These are the unlucky Black Lanterns... These are the heroes who had their hearts torn out by Black Lanterns, thus turning the victim into a Black Lantern themself. Characters like Damage, Hawkman and Hawkgirl, Tempest, and the like. Since their hearts were actually removed from them, and went to feed Nekron, I tend to think that anybody who has had their heart torn out will unfortunately NOT be coming back to life. Sure Hawkman and Hawkgirl may figure out a way around that rule, but sadly, for guys like Tempest and Damage, I think it's game over for them and their ilk.

Batman's Head!!!: OK, if ANYBODY has a theory as to what the hell Batman's head has to do with the whole Blackest Night storyline, I'd LOVE to know! As far as I know, in Final Crisis #6, Darkseid tossed Batman way back in time, leaving a skeleton in Batman's place. Most of the DC heroes not named Tim Drake figured the skeletal remains were Bruce's, and as such, buried him at his family plot. Before BN really gets underway, Black Hand breaks into the skeletal remains, and steals the head of "Bruce Wayne". Throughout Blackest Night, Hand has used the Bat-head for numerous actions, such as spitting out new Black Lantern rings, giving off a creepy glow, and in one instance, reanimating the head so that it looked exactly like Black Lantern Batman would look. After Black Lantern Batman defeats his foes, Hand returns him to a simple skull again... There are a few questions here, such as, if the skull is truly Batman's, why hasn't Hand allowed it to run rampant like the other Black Lanterns? Why keep such a tight leash on "Bruce's" skull? The way I feel is that the skull CAN'T be Bruce's, because Bruce wasn't killed by Darkseid, he was simply shunted elsewhere in time. But if we follow that logic, and say that the skull can't be Bruce's, because he was seen alive and well several million years ago, we're stuck with the original question, WHOSE SKULL IS IT?!? I can't help thinking that somehow Darkseid is involved in this whole Blackest Night story, and that when Superman sang him to death, Darkseid's spirit went to the nearest safe place, "Bruce's" skull. And why not? Darkseid believes in anti-life, and Nekron believes in NO life, so in a weird way, I could see them getting along rather well. But out of everything, the skull of "Bruce Wayne" is by far the most puzzling aspect of the BN story.

Hmm, I think that's it... I think I hit on all of the major Blackest Night players, and I think I made it clear as to what I think will happen to these characters during the upcoming months. Alright, now this is the part of the post where I say, if you have anything to add, anything AT ALL, feel free to leave me a few comments, whether you agree or disagree with what I typed up here. If you think I forgot to mention an important character that you think will have a huge impact on the BN story going forward, drop me a line and let me know who this character is, and what your thoughts on them are. Basically, I'm practically begging for you, my faithful, and highly intelligent readers, to leave me as many comments as you can detailing what you thought after you finished reading this. Well, that's it. Thanks for reading, and Long Live The Legion!

Batman: Streets of Gotham #8 & Green Lantern Corps #44

Since I've got a few early classes tomorrow, I'm going to cut the small talk and get right into these two reviews. We'll start this post off with the most recent issue of Streets of Gotham, which is written by Mike Benson as opposed to regular series writer Paul Dini.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #8: Writer: Mike Benson. Pencils: Dustin Nguyen.

The gist of this issue is that some unknown party is killing several low-lives in Gotham City, which leads to Commissioner Gordon turning to Batman to figure out who's responsible. After checking out two of the bodies, Bats realizes that both of the dead men frequented the same sleazy nightclub. Upon further investigation, he discovers a picture of one of the dead men with one of the women who worked at the club. Bats decides to go undercover into the club in order to find the woman from the picture to see what kind of information he can glean from her. Upon finding the woman and setting up a "date", the two leave the club and are accosted by the woman's former boyfriend, who tells Dick that the woman will only bring him pain and misery. This issue concludes with Dick arriving at the woman's apartment just as an armed man prepares to kick the door in.

Eh. I was enjoying the Zsasz storyline, so I've got to say I'm a tad bit disappointed that nothing occurred in this issue to further that story. This issue was OK, but it's obviously a stock, filler issue to be used when the regular writer of a series is unavailable. I'll be looking forward to issue #10 when we get back to the Zsasz storyline. As for this comic, it was perfectly acceptable, nothing more, nothing less.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.NEVER get in Dick Grayson's way when he's on a *ahem* "date".

Green Lantern Corps #44: Writer: Peter J. Tomasi. Pencils: Patrick Gleason.

We open this issue with the battle between the forces of the Green Lanterns and their allies trying desperately to hold off the Black Lantern horde... Oh yeah, plus Guy Gardner is still a Red Lantern and is pretty much attacking everything indiscriminately! The Black Lanterns continue to focus their attack on the Central Power Battery, and actually manage to topple the entire structure. After the dust from the fallen Power Battery settles, Kyle spots Guy still cutting through the Black Lantern forces, and since it was Kyle's death that transformed Guy into a Red Lantern to begin with, Kyle decides to convince Guy that he isn't dead, and that Guy needs to let his rage go. Kyle is able to momentarily reach Guy, but before long, the red ring takes back over and Guy becomes convinced that the real Kyle Rayner is still dead, and that the man speaking to him is a Black Lantern trick, which causes Guy to attack Kyle. While this is occurring, Mogo(who had arrived near Oa last issue)decides to purge Oa, and sucks every organic being, Black Lantern and Green Lantern alike off of Oa and onto Mogo. Upon reaching the surface of Mogo, it sucks the Black Lanterns under its surface and sends them down to its core, where they would burn for all eternity... Wow, remind me to never piss Mogo off... Anyway, this issue ends with Red Lantern Guy Gardner approaching the Green Lanterns on Mogo, presumably to kill them.

As I usual, I thoroughly enjoyed this issue of GLC. While I thought the defeat of the Black Lanterns at the hands of Mogo was a little bit too neat and tidy for my taste, everything before that was top-notch. Peter has done a great job in his Blackest Night x-overs in showing the futility of the Green Lanterns when it comes to facing down their Black Lantern counterparts. If not for Mogo and to a lesser extent Red Lantern Guy Gardner, the GLC really had no answer for the Black Lantern forces. Next issue we get Guy Gardner vs the Green Lantern Corps, which should be a blast and a half!

Score: 8 out of 10.You know what? I think Guy is a much better fit as a Red Lantern then a Green one.

A Quick Look at Green Lantern Corps #43

Writer: Peter Tomasi. Pencils: Patrick Gleason.

What Happened: This issue begins with Guy Gardner and Soranik Natu(Kyle Rayner's girlfriend)heading to Kyle's dead body. Guy tries to keep Kyle's ring from leaving, while Soranik attempts to restart Kyle's heart. Neither one meets with much success. Guy, being Guy, flips out and starts ranting and raving about Kyle's death, which causes a Red Lantern ring to affix itself to Guy's hand, transforming him into a Red Lantern. Guy, now a Red Lantern, goes on a rampage and begins killing every Black Lantern he sees. While Guy is running amok, Natu is trying to fight off several black rings, which are trying to affix themselves to Kyle, which would turn him into a Black Lantern. Luckily for Soranik, one of the Indigo Lanterns arrives on the scene along with a few Green Lanterns and together they try to keep the black rings from transforming Kyle. On another part of Oa, Kryb and a Star Sapphire battle against an army of Black Lantern children. Kryb doesn't understand that the children are dead, and refuses to attack them. The Star Sapphire becomes aware of Natu's heartache over Kyle's death and heads towards her. Guy arrives on the scene and attacks both the Black Lantern children and Kryb, killing all of them. The Star Sapphire reaches Natu, and does some weird Star Sapphire magic, which ultimately results in Kyle coming back to life. Upon Kyle's rebirth, his ring returns to him, and he's once again welcomed into the Green Lantern Corps. From there Kyle's compatriots tell him what happened with Guy, and Kyle decides he's going to help Guy rid himself of the red ring. This issue ends with Mogo heading to Oa, apparently to lend a hand in the battle.

What I Thought: Well, Kyle's death sure didn't last long, did it! Obviously as a fan of Kyle's I'm happy about that, although I thought the way he came back with sort of cheap. But at least he's back. This issue was good, if unspectacular. However, I find myself wondering if I would've enjoyed this comic more if I wasn't reading a zillion Blackest Night books seemingly all at once... As of right now, I swear that I won't read another Blackest Night comic book until the new year. Seriously!!!

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Yeah, you definitely don't want to piss off Red Lantern Guy Gardner!