Hello everyone! It’s that time again! Time for what you say? Well, yesterday was New Comic Day, so this has to be new review day! This week I tackled a largely DC stack, with Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors, Justice League: Generation Lost, New Avengers, and Green Lantern to finish up the GL bookends. Follow the cut for the reviews!
0: Uwe Boll will direct the adaptation of this comic
0.1 – 1: Burn upon touching
1- 1.9: Abysmal
2.0 – 2.9: Art. Writing. Editing. All bad.
3.0 – 3.9: You’d be a masochist to pick this up.
4.0 – 4.9: “I’ll give it another month…but that was not good.”
5.0 – 5.9: “Really? The Watcher? In the face? I guess it was fun.”
6.0 – 6.9: “Hmm. That was decent.”
7.0 – 7.9: Well made but a few problems
8.0 – 8.9: Nearly flawless
9.0 – 9.9: Outstanding
10: Perfection. Issue of the year contender
GREEN LANTERN: EMERALD WARRIORS #3
WRITER: PETER J. TOMASI
ART FERNANDO PASARIN and CAM SMITH
COVERS: RODOLFO MIGLIARI; FELIPE MASSAFERAThe power of BRIGHTEST DAY surges through EMERALD WARRIORS as Guy Gardner, Kilowog, Arisia and Red Lantern Bleez travel to Odym to pay the Blue Lantern Corps a visit. What is the purpose of this venture — and what does Brother Warth want with Gardner?
Oh Guy.
People thought Guy was a strange choice for a lead, but since I read his solo book as a kid, I knew he was capable of holding down a series and be engaging. Well he can.
The best part about this issue was the plot momentum. Even though the arc is shaping to be a long epic, the story in here moves at a brisk pace, even through talking heads, which almost never happens. We know more about Guy’s motivations and why he’s doing what he’s doing, plus the reintroduction of a character thought dead to the DCU at large. We also know why Bleez is doing what she’s doing, even if she was hinted at doing more last issue (major fail on their part). Even the mystery floating man seems to be pulling the strings a bit more obviously, which is nice. My only gripe?
“Mount Snhoj.” They named a mountain after Geoff Johns, and they weren’t subtle. Sure it’s a little cute, but when I saw it, it took me out of the story for just a moment. It was just silly.
But the art was rather spectacular. While this isn’t Tomasi teamed with Gleason, Fernando Pasarin is someone who can handle the same kind of art that Tomasi demands in a Green Lantern yarn. Everything was fresh and clean, with bright colors that are demanding in a War of Light book.
Save a minor gripe, the book was as someone else described “complete tits.” I agree.
Final Verdict: 8.0 — Buy
JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST #11
WRITER: JUDD WINICK
ART: AARON LOPRESTI
COVERS: CLIFF CHIANG; KEVIN MAGUIRE
DC’s biweekly JUSTICE LEAGUE event continues! In issue #11, Max Lord’s trail has gone cold, forcing the JLI to split up and follow new leads. While Booster Gold, Blue Beetle and Captain Atom stumble across a secret cell of OMAC experiments, Fire, Ice and Rocket Red are forced into battle against the Metal Men. But what happens when Ice is pushed too far?
While this title has been consistently one of the best titles put out by DC, I can’t help but feel like this one stumbled just a bit. You know why? There’s no real reason The Metal Men are attacking our poor beleaguered Justice League, they just are. We even know WHY they’re attacking them, but it’s only that they were brainwashed by Max Lord and his evil minion. How did the Metal Men come into his possession? How did they manage to shut them down to reprogram them? They just did, you say? Oh.
Continued belowUgh.
But to its credit, the action is well placed and there’s even a special trick up the sleeve of Max that makes the Metal Men have something in common with The Power Rangers (three guesses as to what they can do.) The art does what it can to tell the story, and it does a great job, considering there isn’t a whole lot of plot to go around in this episode. We did see a nice twist at the end, which ups the stakes and promises to make issue #12 a real blast.
I just hope they aren’t doing this to inflate a series to the full 26 issues. If they do, it’ll be a really disappointing sex or so months. There was nothing in this issue that you absolutely NEEDED read. It was largely filler.
Final Verdict: 6.5 – Browse
NEW AVENGERS #5
WRITER: BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS
ART: Stuart Immonen
COVER: STUART IMMONEN, STEFANIE PERGERWith everything on the line, Wolverine volunteers to make the ultimate sacrifice to save our dimension. Magic is being reinvented in the Marvel Universe and it is happening here!! Plus: another chapter in the oral history of the Avengers!
People either love or hate Bendis. I can kind of see why, his books don’t really follow continuity and he can be a bit talky. But to me there’s no doubt he can write a damn fun book.
This book is no different in my view. Bendis’ words are immensely fun to read and really help fill the smaller moments so you know these people are…people. Sure they fight unspeakable evil and have super powers, but when Bendis uses them, they feel like a real family. They joke, they bicker, they live in a mansion. What’s not to like?
The story here continues to roll out, and while I still think last issue was really more like a half an issue, this one provided a lot of hints as to what’s going on, and gave Spider-Man the “ah HA!” moment of the issue, giving new purpose and an actually place for the story to end. And speaking of the end, what an ending! It teases the next issue will end with a bang, and possibly a scratch or six.
My only gripe with the issue was a total disregard for power levels. In one scene, Clint Barton easily lifted a car that had pinned him down. When I saw this, IO had no idea what to think, as Clint isn’t even an empowered human, he’s just a guy who’s really good with a bow and has some peculiar yet amazing fashion sense.
But other than that, it was great. There’s not even anything I can say about Stuart Immonen anymore. He’s so consistent it’s frightening. I’m starting to believe he’s a secret robot Bendis has locked up in a closet somewhere.
I don’t know what else to tell you other than this is the best book with the “Avengers” name emblazoned on the front, go get it now!
Final Verdict: 8.0 — Buy!
GREEN LANTERN #58
WRITER: GEOFF JOHNS
ART: DOUG MAHNKE & CHRISTIAN ALAMY
COVERS: DOUG MAHNKE & CHRISTIAN ALAMY; ALEX GARNERBRIGHTEST DAY continues as Adara, the Hope Entity, finds a host in a young girl who may be destined to be a great savior. Can this young student hope to contain such a powerful force — and what will drive Hal Jordan on a spiritual journey unlike any he’s ever taken?
Plus, the Spectre sets his sights on the Rage Entity!
This New Guardians arc that started in the main Green Lantern title post-Blackest Night has had a few ups and downs, and to be honest, this one kind of falls somewhere in the middle. I love the whole idea of the Green Lantern Corps starting to get more involved in the whole mess on Earth, and even the end with the appearance of a certain friend of Hal made the next issue a wonderful tease, along with the tagline.
Continued belowBut on the flip side, I’m getting a little tired of the entities joining with random humans every month. Why didn’t they do this before? The only one we can safely say had been taking over people was Predator, which predates even Parallax in Geoff Johns’ head canon (which is now canon, not that I’m opposed to that), and even then, where has Adara been? How about Butcher? Ophidian is a logical entity to have infected a multitude of people in history, but we’re just now seeing this?
I honestly think it’d have made more sense if our mystery antagonist already had the entities in his (or her) possession. Then this nagging question wouldn’t be in the back of my head, wondering what they’ve been doing all this time.
But like I said for Stuart Immonen, Doug Mahnke is off the chain. There’s nothing else I can say other than his pencils continue to be among the best in the DCU, with alternately beautiful (see Carol and *cough* Hal) and horrific images (see Atrocitus, Predator, etc,) and the oddly adorable (Larfleeze). His pencils are among the most versatile out there, and he’s definitely a favorite.
Aside from my issues with the story, it’s still a fun read. It makes me wonder if these entities have been influencing the world seemingly in secret (like for instance, did Adara groom Superman into being bastion of hope for the world? How about Ophidian grooming Lex Luthor? It’s an interesting thought, but at the same time, I can’t imagine these things doing it without being noticed at one point or another.
And just where was The Spectre?
Final Verdict: 7.0 — Buy
