DC Comics And Beyond: Comics Reviews
Written by Wayne Hall on November 12, 2009 – 12:00 pm -This week, the three books I want to talk about are all Blackest Night. (You knew that was going to happen eventually, right?) I did get my Agent Orange and Indigo Tribe power rings, so I’m a happy guy. All three titles that were released deserve some attention, so here goes (in alphabetic order):
1. Booster Gold #26. It wasn’t that long ago I reviewed this title by Dan Jurgens, but now that this issue is a part of the Blackest Night event, I couldn’t overlook it.
Blue Beetle/Ted Kord is back, but he’s now a Black Lantern. And he’s laughing the old “Bwah-ha-ha” the character used to make in the Justice League International comics. But it just isn’t the same.
The first half of the comic has Booster time-travelling back to Ted’s funeral, and he watches himself grieve and struggle to find anything to say about his close friend. Booster’s recent encounter with the Black Beetle from the future has apparently revived old feelings.
When Booster gets back to the present, he finds Ted Kord’s flying machine (called the “Bug”) plowed into the home of his ancestor, Daniel Carter. The current Blue Beetle is also there to help fight the revived Ted Kord, who begins a killing spree and attacks Daniel in his identity of Supernova. Booster is stunned when he finds Ted fighting his ancestor and Skeets. And it even sounds like Ted.
Next issue: Old friends fight it out.
2. Green Lantern Corps #42. What makes this issue note-worthy is the apparent death of a well-known Green Lantern. I won’t spoil just who, but some folks won’t be happy, I have a feeling.
The battle on Oa, the home base of the Green Lantern Corps, has taken a turn for the worse. The Black Lanterns have finally reached their maximum power level of 100 percent, and they begin an assault on the main power battery, using the interesting phrase, “Devour Will.” In order to at least slow the Black Lanterns down, the Green Lanterns release Vice, a powerful Red Lantern, and get out of the way so he’ll attack the Black Lanterns. The plan works until one of the Alpha Lanterns takes Vice out.
That leaves it up to one of the GLs to encase himself with as many Black Lanterns as possible and detonate the battery inside the Alpha Lantern, obliterating everything near it, and it seems to take the life of the GL. Is that hero gone for good? We’ll have to keep reading to find out.
Next issue: A different GL becomes a Red Lantern.
3. R.E.B.E.L.S. #10. I know this is a team book, but the only character you really need to know about is Vril Dox, who leads the group. He’s a Brainiac from Colu, where all Brainiacs come from. He actually mated with a woman named Stealth, and they had a baby Brainiac. But Vril could tell his son Lyrl would eventually become a threat, so he chemically lobotomized his own child.
As the book begins, Stealth, who has been killed by robots sent by Vril, is revived and becomes a Black Lantern. She immediately proceeds to hunt down her former mate.
At the same time, however, Lyrl is captured by soldiers from Starro’s army (who the group has been fighting the last few issues), and taken before the head Starro. He places one of the smaller Starros on Lyrl’s back, which reactivates his intelligence and turns him against his father.
There is an extremely cool cover with Vril Dox examining a Black Lantern ring, but that’s a huge ruse. When Stealth catches up with Vril and the R.E.B.E.L.S. in their ship, she chops it into bits and confronts Vril, who is encased by his force field. But what happens next is a very nice surprise I won’t spoil.
Next issue: Old lovers fight it out.
Also out this week from DC Comics are Batman and Robin #6 and Action Comics #883; Walking Dead #67 from Image; Jon Sable: Freelance: Ashes Of Eden #2 from IDW; and Sky Doll: Doll’s Factory #1 of 2 from Marvel/Soleil.
The biggest item of the week for me was Absolute Justice, a slipcover edition of the Alex Ross and Jim Krueger. Originally, this was a monthly mini-series from DC Comics focusing on the Justice League, and it had some excellent art and great story twists to make it worth my $99. There are lots of extras and, like all the Absolute line, it comes in a much larger format which I appreciate more and more as I grow older.
As always, don’t miss this Sunday’s SciFiPulse Radio on blogtalkradio.com. I’ll be talking with host Ian Cullen about even more new comics, including Batman and Doc Savage #1. Don’t miss it!
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- ‘Blackest Night’ Shines Brightly For DC Comics
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Tags: Batman and Robin, Blackest Night, Booster Gold, DC Comics, Green Lantern, R.E.B.E.L.S.
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