JT's Take: Green Lantern #10

Hey guys and gals, JT back once again with a new review, this time we're gonna check out Green Lantern. Now due to X's hatred of CHAIRMAN JOHNS (Dun dun dunnnnn!!!) there hasn't been any reviews of what I think are two of the best books currently coming out of the DC Reboot that aren't Batman, Green Lantern and Aquaman. So, consider that over, X still has beef with Johns but I do not, so I plan on reviewing Green Lantern and Aquaman from this point on. So, I know present to you, the first issue of Green Lantern written by Geoff Johns reviewed here since February 2011, Green Lantern #10!

Green Lantern #10

Quick Rundown: Just a quick catch-up for people that haven't been reading Green Lantern since the reboot. Following War of the Green Lanterns, Hal Jordan was stripped of his ring and title and they were awarded to Sinestro, who had helped the Green Lanterns become victorious. Hal moped for a while and his life sucked until he finally manned up and things started to look up for him, until he was recruited by force by Sinestro to help him take back Sinestro's home planet of Korugar from the Sinestro Corps. After defeating the Sinestro Corps, Sinestro seeks Lyssa Drak and discovers the plans of the Guardians third army to get rid of the Green Lantern Corps. Sinestro and Hal search for answers until they are confronted by the Indigo Tribe who make Sinestro join them as punishment. We then learn that the Indigo Tribe are a group of murderers and villains who were brought together by none other than Abin-Sur and a being by the name of Natromo, who create the Indigo Lantern and give compassion rings to the world's worst killers. This was done because Abin knew one day the Guardians would turn on the Corps and they would need help. The team was led by Abin-Sur's worst enemy, the woman who killed his daughter, Iroque, who would become Indigo-1. Upon finding out from Hal Jordan that Abin-Sur was dead, Natromo destroyed the Indigo battery, which not only freed Sinestro but also the murderers of the Indigo Tribe, and even our old friend Black Hand. There, now you're all caught up.


Summary: This issue starts with Hal grabbing Sinestro and running from the former Indigo Tribe, explaining why the Indigo Tribe are after them. We also see William Hurt, The Black Hand, wondering where he is, where his black ring is, and why he has on a Indigo ring, which he promptly throws off. (Keep in mind he's pretty much been out of it since Blackest Night, and now he finally has consciousness.) Sinestro decides he's going to stay and fight the Tribe but Hal forcibly takes him since Sinestro's ring is all-but dead and Hal's is running on fumes. While escaping they run into Natromo and try to convince him to restart the Battery, but he believes with Abin-Sur dead all hope is lost. After being persuaded by Hal, he agrees to try, and Sinestro goes to buy them some time by fighting the Indigo Tribe, that's right, Sinestro engaged in fisticuffs everyone! Back with Hal and Natromo, they try to reconstruct the battery but can't without any of the Indigo light, which is long gone by now. Surprisingly, they are approached by Iroque, the former Indigo-1 who says they must repair the battery. She says while she wore the ring it showed her how much she hurt Abin-Sur by killing his daughter, and while wearing the ring she felt sadness. The compassion she feels while recounting this causes her ring to spark, which is all Natromo needs to rebuild the battery, which brings the Indigo Tribe back online. All except The Black Hand, his ring seeks him and Black Hand continues to run from it and jumps from a ledge, falling to the rocks below which instantly kills him. The ring scans the bloody body of a now deceased Black Hand and flies off to find a replacement in the area. (Wonder who that will be...) Back with Hal, we see that Sinestro is back online too, and Hal has to ask the Indigo Corps to release him. Indigo-1 says she will release him if Hal believes he will find redemption without the Indigo Ring. She then asks Hal if he thinks Sinestro can become a hero again... Hal thinks and says he wants to believe he can. From there we cut back to the dead body of The Black Hand, as his body spits out a Black Lantern ring that flies out of his mouth and onto his hand, telling him to RISE. The issue closes as a Black Lantern Black Hand says he wants to go home.



Thoughts: See, it's issues like this that I still have faith in Geoff Johns after that Brightest Day debacle. I loved the reveal of the Indigo Tribe consisting of villains a few issues ago but the fact the rings actually work and helped changed Iroque for the better is a very interesting thing. I'm also wondering who that Indigo ring will go to, hopefully someone we know already because that will be interesting to say the least. Sinestro was awesome as usual here and I love seeing him and Hal play off of each other, with Sinestro clearly wanting to be more like Hal, even if he won't admit it. Add that in with the way Black Hand was written here, clearly showing that everything between Blackest Night and now to him was the equivalent of blinking was an awesome idea. I was wondering why he killed himself as opposed to being lobotomized by that ring but him having a trick up his sleeve is great, plus I can't say I mind having a Black Lantern ring or two around.


Score:  8.5/10

Sinestro: I'll hold them off.

Hal: WITH A POWERLESS RING?!

Sinestro: *whispers* It's what you would do.

Summer School Blues!

Ugh, between the 95 degree weather outside today and the first day of classes, I am a wreck tonight! I have to say, I don't foresee myself posting many reviews here during the next six weeks, because summer school is HARD work! But then again, I kind of expected that since I'm trying to learn 5 months worth of material in just 6 weeks. Tonight for example, I have 8(!)pages of Spanish homework, and I have to try to learn about 100 vocabulary words for the first test, which is on Friday... That's THIS Friday! Oh, and I have a test every single Thursday after this week for the next 5 weeks... This is going to be a LOOOONG summer! Well, I really have to start doing some flashcards, and finish up my homework, BUT, I'm gonna post a random scan just to break up the monotony of my schoolwork.

Before I go though, I'm still trying to think of easy little posts I can put up every now and then... You know, something that I can put together in 10-15 minutes just to stay connected to the blog. I'm thinking about more random scans, or a versus type post(you know, X vs Y, who should win and why), but if anybody can think of something quick and easy, I'm more then willing to entertain it. So anyway, enjoy the scan and X out.You've got to laugh at Hal's confidence here... "She IS a woman"...(From Trinity #1, Aug. 1993)

The Random Scan of the(middle of the)Week!

Since I'm still putting the finishing touches on the paper I have due tomorrow, I'm just not going to have the time to post anything substantial tonight. But it's still all good, I'll instead put up a Random Scan! Once I'm finished posting here, I'm going to head over to the pic site and throw a new Venom pic up there. Then it's back to work on that paper... Once I finish it up, I'll check out and respond to any comments you guys have left for me, and then it's off to bed. All right, enough time wasting, here's today's random scan!From Justice League of America #7(May 2007)

Well, I can honestly say Kyle has looked better...

I think the look on Hal's face pretty much says it all here!

Spotlight on Batman, Day 4.

It's Batman and Hal Jordan in the Batmobile. What's not to like?

Damn that Hal Jordan!

Hey, wait a minute, isn't that Hal Jordan swapping spit with Kyle Rayner's dead girlfriend Alex DeWitt??? That IS Alex!!! So, Alex really seems interested in Hal, but Hal knows that Alex was Kyle's girlfriend... Hal wouldn't move in on the love of Kyle's life, right?GAH!!! Poor Kyle...

Hal Jordan, making women cry since 1959.

First off, I love Black Canary's "boyfriend" remark. I'm glad SOMEBODY finally said it! Besides that, how about Hal pretty much blaming Dinah for the deaths of the Martian Manhunter and Batman? Hal sure was pretty harsh to poor Dinah here.

Evil Hal Jordan!!!

This image of the Parallax-corrupted Hal Jordan standing over the fallen body of Superman, while the rest of the DC heroes watch in horror is just magnificent. I love this picture! This was one pic I had to add to this blog.

Oliver Queen + Hal Jordan = Best Friends?

These pics show the tail end of a camping trip between best friends, Oliver Queen(Green Arrow)and Hal Jordan(Green Lantern). Ollie had just accidentally killed some kid(if my memory is correct)and Hal decided to take Ollie camping in an effort to help Ollie forget about his troubles. Naturally, since it was Ollie and Hal surrounded by a whole lot of nothing, the two of them get into a massive brawl that lasts like 2 to 3 pages. You can tell these scans are from a Green Arrow comic book because after this epic brawl, Hal looks like he was hit by a truck, and Ollie looks just fine!

So, they beat the living hell out of each other for a few pages, and then they end things with a hug. You've got to love Ollie and Hal's friendship!

Shooting the breeze on current DC comic events.

It's been kind of quiet around the old blog lately, so I figured instead of posting another comic review or some scans, I'd just talk about some of the recent events going on over at DC comics lately. Hopefully, this will spur some interest up around here.

First and foremost, the return of Bart Allen is some of the most welcome comic related news I've heard in quite some time. I've followed Bart from his Impulse days, and couldn't be happier to read his return in "FC:Legion of 3 Worlds" #3. I even went so far to search for some Bart related spoilers, something I NEVER usually do(I hate spoilers!), and was pleasantly surprised to find out that Geoff Johns seems like he intends to bring Bart back to the present and put him in the upcoming Flash: Rebirth mini-series. Honestly, when Barry Allen came back, there was that childish part of me that was pissed that Barry was getting a second chance, but that Bart wasn't. Now, those feelings are a distant memory. Now the question is, where exactly do Barry/Bart Allen go from here? Where do they fit in? Bart's identity was revealed at his funeral, and I'm pretty sure that Barry's identity was revealed to the public soon after his death. I wonder how exactly DC/Geoff plans to tackle those issues. I've got some thoughts, but I wonder what everyone else thinks.

Next up is the possible return of Superboy. During the "Origins and Omens" part of Adventure Comics #0, it was pretty strongly hinted that Superboy might be making his return soon, probably during the "Blackest Night" event. Personally, I've always liked Superboy, but I really didn't approve of Geoff Johns relating Superboy to Lex Luthor. That seemed so unnecessary to me, since Lex Luthor would always be involved in Superboy's life based on the fact that SB wore the big red S on his chest. I will admit that I like practically anything Geoff writes, but that revelation really bothered me. I'm not sure about anybody else, but I wouldn't mind seeing SB return from the dead and the whole Lex Luthor/Superboy relationship retconned.

Another favorite topic of mine is the upcoming "Battle for the Cowl" storyline that is set to shake up the Batman family of books. Personally, I'm guessing that DC is going to make Dick Grayson(Nightwing)the new Batman, like they should have done back in the 1990's. I actually have VERY mixed feelings about this move, because I feel that anyone who becomes the next Batman is only going to be a temporary fix, since we all know eventually Bruce Wayne will return from where ever Darkseid sent him(the past?)to reclaim the Batman identity. Obviously, we're not going to have two Batmen running around, so when Bruce comes back, what becomes of his replacement? I don't know about anyone else, but I have a feeling that whoever becomes the next Batman won't be surviving the experience...

Then we have poor Tim Drake. I don't think it's a secret that Grant Morrison doesn't like Tim and that Grant has been grooming Damien Wayne to become the new Robin. With Damien taking the Robin mantle, where exactly does that leave Tim? I can't imagine DC would make him the new Batman, so he seems headed for comic book limbo. My best hope for Tim is that DC repackages the character with a brand new identity and he gets his own solo book with his own cast of characters. I mean Tim as Robin managed to last 183 issues, why not set him up in a new book with a new identity if Grant is hellbent on handing the Robin outfit over to Damien. I think Tim could survive under a new name in a new comic, the question is does anybody else?

Besides that, I'm currently reading through the current Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps comics. I'm roughly 13 issues into Hal's comic and I'm just starting the Corps comic. I can't say I was overwhelmed by the earlier issues of Hal's series, but the last few issues have really picked up steam. As for the Corps, I'm still way to early in the series to have a definite opinion of that comic yet.

Off the top of my head, that's all the stuff I can come up with right now. If you'd like to comment on anything I've written about here, feel free to post away. If there's something else in the DCU(or even Marvel)going on you want to shoot about here, be my guest. Like I always say, the more I can get people talking about comics, the better!

Valentine's Day, it's not pretty...

So, lately, I've been filling this blog with pictures of some of my favorite comic book characters in nice, tender moments. Well, now that Valentine's Day has come and gone, here are a few of my favorite less than tender moments... Enjoy.

First up is Green Arrow and Black Canary. Yeah, I have to agree Dinah, you must be out of your f###ing mind to marry Oliver "I've never met a woman I didn't like" Queen!
Next up is Hal Jordan and the Goddamn Batman. Where's the love Hal, where's the love???

Finally, we have my favorite dysfunctional comic book marriage, Hawkeye and Mockingbird... What more do I need to say? These two were CRAZY!

And for the record, the scene with Hal Jordan and the Goddamn Batman is one of my favorite comic book scenes EVER! Hal's temper tantrum was just legendary, and the fact that the Goddamn Batman was painted from head to toe in yellow paint just made the whole scene that much more surreal. I really love "All-Star Batman and Robin, The Boy Wonder"...

That blasted junkie Speedy!

This is one of my all time favorite images in comic book history, only because of the reactions of Hal and Ollie. Ollie is in obvious shock, because since it's Ollie we're talking about, he misses all the signs of Roy's ongoing drug abuse. Hal on the other hand is just one mean SOB here! Hal just seems totally unfazed by Roy shooting up and rips into Ollie. Remind me to never piss off Mr. Jordan...
Ollie being the kind hearted and forgiving individual he is(Yeah right!!)deals with this revelation by trying to knock the drugs out of Roy... Sorry Ollie, that's not quite how it works...
Finally, Ollie has enough of physically abusing Roy and throws him out to live on the streets with the rest of the "sniveling punks" . Speaking of a mean, cold-hearted SOB...
Anyway, Hal, feeling badly for Speedy, tracks him down living in an alley near a dumpster and takes him to Black Canary, since as Hal puts it, "I don't have any experience in helping someone with your problem." Why would Hal think that Dinah has experience in helping recovering junkies??!! That's really typical of Ollie and Hal back in the day, when they didn't want to deal with something, they'd dump it in Dinah's lap!
Thanks to Dinah's efforts and care, Roy is able to cure his addiction cold turkey, putting poor Dinah through hell in the process. Ollie, ever the idiot, decides that since Roy isn't an addict anymore, everything is fine again, even though he abandoned Roy, and forced him to LIVE ON THE STREETS! Roy, understandably doesn't forgive Ollie and gives him a well deserved shot to the face. It would take many years for the wounds between Ollie and his ward, Roy to heal. To this day, Roy is still much closer to "Uncle" Hal and Dinah thanks to them helping him through his most trying period.

Wow, this story was pretty heavy stuff for comic books back in the early 70's! I can't believe that the Comic Code Authority would even allow a story like this to see the light of day. Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams really put together a great story, and everyone should definitely try to get their hands on these issues(I wound up picking them up in a TPB)if they haven't already. It was really fascinating to see the way each character interacted with each other and themselves, concerning Roy's addiction.