Threshold #7 – Review

Keith Giffen (Writer), Phil Winslade, Tom Raney, Timothy Green II (Artists), Hi-Fi, Andrew Dalhouse (Colorists)

The Story: Jediah has to do his duty and tries to save the bottled city by getting it back to Tolerance as some of the players on the board make their move. In the backup, Star Hawkins get closer to the answer to the mystery of just who is the first player of ”The Hunted”.

The Review: I’m not exactly sure what to make of this comic. Is it a building story that unfortunately got cancelled and so need to rush things out? Was it just one with too many players in it, resulting in an unfocused story? Perhaps it merely was an experiment to see if Keith Giffen could revitalize the cosmic side of DC comics, diversifying from the Lantern focus it always had?

In a way, it seems like a little bit from all these options here, which is unfortunate, as there are several elements here that could very well be exploited in order to create something expansive and interesting. There are some characters that had some genuine growth during these seven issues, which had been due mostly to the fact that there was a spotlight on them. Jediah Caul is a perfect example of this, as he was first just some rogue trying to save his life, until we got some explanation why he was a Green Lantern, which made him immediately a much better character, as we had some more perspective on the character.

This makes it all the more unfortunate then that all those other characters just aren’t as interesting as Jediah. I have close to no idea why I should actually care about Stealth, Blue Beetle or Lonar, as we have only seen glimpses of them during all these issues. This feeds a bit the first theory written earlier that Threshold was supposed to be a longer ongoing, building on every issue in order to create familiarity with these characters in order for them to develop. Sure, we knew who Blue Beetle was and Captain K’Rot was mostly used as a comic relief, yet those characters never had an actual chance to shine and this issue is not different in any way. Basically, we are thrown a huge number of characters that we know close to nothing about, that each have their own plot going on with them, yet we can’t be sure if they will ever pass from the ”scenery decoration” state rather than become actually interesting characters with a past and proper motivations. Considering the fact that the next issue is the final one, it seems unlikely.

There is also another thing that is missing rather much and it would be the plot. Even though the exploration of the society living on Tolerance and how ”The Hunted” game compose their economy, the game itself never really connected itself to a coherent plot, merely serving as the setting. Sure, we had glimpses of some of the players trying to gather some of the key prisoners in order to forge a rebellion, yet like the cast itself, it never received enough of a focus to make it the main direction of the book.

Threshold #5 – Review

By: Keith Giffen (Writer), Tom Raney, Phil Winslade, Scott Kolins (Artists), Andrew Dalhouse, John Kalisz (Colorists)

The Story: In The Hunted, Jediah Caul gets back his lantern battery as he prepares to save everyone from the situation they are in. In Larfleeze own backup, we get to see just how and why he has lost all of his stuff.

The Review: In a strange way, it is a good thing that I had decided not to review this title first, as I can now write it in knowledge that this title will meets its demise come August, in its 8th issue. While this does not influence the actual quality of this issue, it does mean that this kind-of transformed into an ongoing to a mini-series of some sort, as now Giffen will have to tie and conclude everything in three issues after this one.

Here, we get to see the fallout from what just happened to a good chunk of Tolerance, thanks to Brainiac. As the series had been built slowly in its inception, it has started to move much faster now, as we get to see bigger things happening, such as the death of certain characters and the accomplishment of certain goals first introduced a few issues earlier, one of them being the retrieval of Caul’s green lantern battery. It also has improved a bit in delivering the goods, so to speak, as we get plot advancement, twists, action and some actual goals for some characters. While it had been nice to see The Hunted and how it affects Tolerance as a game, the arrival of Brainiac did some good for this series.

Threshold #4 – Review

By: Keith Giffen (Writer), Phil Winslade, Tom Raney, Scott Kolins (Artists), Chris Sotomayor, Andrew Dalhouse, John Kalisz (Colorists)

The Story: Jediah Caul and other players are moving toward the prized green lantern battery that belonged to him as a huge new player enters the story. On Larfleeze side, we get some more craziness with his simulacrum as we get to know who is behind this entire thievery.

The Review: With last month’s issue, I have to admit I had my doubts. While there were some new players introduced and some neat concepts being shown to us, it seemed like close to nothing was explained or moving in meaningful and interesting ways in the series so far after three issues. Having high hopes for this series, it seemed like my thirst for the cosmic excellence of Keith Giffen was never to be satiated with this latest effort on his part.

With this latest input in the more cosmic aspect of the DC universe, it seems like Giffen is going for surprises and further development, getting to a much more satisfying place in the span of an issue. Here, we get a bit more action and a newer mission statement for Caul, the main protagonist, one that is much more different than simply surviving in Tolerance for as long as he could. With the need to retrieve his confiscated lantern battery, we get some more activity from Jediah Caul than reactivity, something that is much more pleasing to read. Of course, there is also a new player in the story that leads to a huge climax that I will not dare reveal*, but it was thoroughly unexpected in the most delightful way, showing that Giffen had access to some of the bigger cosmic players as well.

Threshold #2 – Review

By: Keith Giffen (Writer), Tom Raney, Scott Kolins (Artists), Andrew Dalhouse, John Kalisz (Colorists)

The Story: Stealth shows what she can do, Jediah talks about potential alliances, Captain K’rot and Blue Beetle are introduced, while ‘’The Hunted’’ show goes on. In the Larfleeze back up, the greedy ring-slinger tries to hire people to retrieve his stuff.

The Review: Well, Keith Giffen has my interest here. With the way the whole thing started (the first issue, not the abysmal New Guardians annual), it seemed like he had a good hold on things, with a solid story and characters that could become quite interesting in their own rights. I, however, had no idea that this title could go farther in its own setting and theme. Even though the characters are central, there are quite a lot of other things that are developed and further explained here.

One of them would be ‘’The Hunted’’, the game that is shown on Tolerance, which is also the name of the opening arc of this title. In this issue, we see the political fallouts of such a show, how the head announcer feels all about it and how Lady Styx is seen by the important people on the planet. It shows how the game is explained to children with the hilarious first page of the comic and it shows just how other people might feel being introduced to such a violent game, courtesy of the introduction of Blue Beetle to the game. There is a lot of information about the society and its political nature introduced here, most of it being very interesting and well thought-out.