Fantastic Four #9 – Review

By: James Robinson (Writer), Marc Laming (Penciller), Scott Hanna (Inker, 4-6), Jesus Aburtov (Color Artist), VC’s Clayton Cowles (Letterer), Leonard Kirk & Israel Silva (Cover Artists)

The Story: Problems are always made worse when running into your ex-girlfriend.

The Review: First of all, the cover. It’s something quite fun and exuberant, and it’s not often you can say that for today’s comics. Partly that comes from the smiles on the children’s faces, which, again, is not something that you’re likely to see on any given cover nowadays. (Assuming, of course, that Franklin’s expression is, in fact, a smile. How unfortunate that the most prominent face on the cover is also the most poorly depicted.) Also fun? The Kirby-crackle in the Human Torch’s powers, with flames that are also more bubbly instead of edgy.

Inside, it’s artist Laming’s turn to provide art, and he has a key set piece in presenting an Escher-like scientific Eden. By contrast, one of the other scenes really require much else, such as a window-paneled SHIELD headquarters and gray walls of a prison. What I’d like to see more of, overall, is some variety of expression by the characters. In general, everyone just slightly opens his/her mouth, as everyone is in a constant state of saying “uhhh….” until there is an occasional subtle smile. Push those expressions more, please, and have characters act/pose in a greater variety than simply lifting a hand to indicate they are talking.

I count a total of eight blows given by supervillains, making the first time in half a year or so that there’s been a hero-villain showdown, thanks to the Thing being imprisoned. It’s all a set-up for a surprising reveal of the She-Thing, which promises some interesting interaction for sure, at least for those that remember she was once Ms. Marvel, a member of the Fantastic Four, and love interest for Ben Grimm. (Still, some part of me wonders if there is a logical piece of the story missing– as in the actual investigation of Grimm’s accusation of murder. I get the sense that this is just taken for granted since the story that is “important” is the Thing’s life in prison, but it reflects poorly on any other aspect of the FF’s world.)

Fantastic Four #8 – Review

By: James Robinson (Writer), Leonard Kirk (Penciller), Scott Hanna (Inker), Jesus Aburtov (Color Artist), VC’s Clayton Cowles (Letterer)

The Story:
Reed and Sue find Eureka on Eden, Lake Michigan; Johnny is no longer an American Idol; Valeria and Franklin think Dragon Man is Almost Human; and Ben will find out if Orange is the New Black.

The Review:
Things seem to be finally moving into place, which is an odd thing to say of course because the “place” is “rock bottom” for our heroes. I’ve criticized some of this narrative in the past since the moving process itself has often felt ham-fisted and maybe even illogical, all for the purpose of forcing characters and plot to go where the narrative dictated.

Such as in this issue. The Thing needs to be arrested, so he is. What’s not clear is exactly how he was apprehended. It’s reported that Reed found the Thing over the body of the Puppet Master and was “compelled to relay to SHIELD,” which I suppose also means they both just waited around for SHIELD to show up (in silence, because they aren’t speaking to one another) and didn’t look for clues or try to solve anything on their own.

Because it’s all just set up for what is supposed to really be important: the Thing’s reaction to his predicament so we can return to motifs where he feels monstrous. It’s disappointing that it’s a tired trop, but at least the silent resignation of Ben is reinforced with some nicely expressive art, including heavy shadows and mopey posture, and a nicely positioned final splash page where Ben is dwarfed by the prisons of actual monsters in the “Power House” wing at Ryker’s. I do wish, however, that some of the heavy-hitters were recognizable, but they just look like generic hulking aliens in jelly tubes.

Green Lantern: New Guardians #32 – Review

By: Justin Jordan (writer), Brad Walker (penciller), Andrew Hennessy with Scott Hanna (inkers), Wil Quintana (colorist)

The Story: “I didn’t want to but they know how to make you.”

The Review: The original adventuring party has splintered over the last few issues of Green Lantern: New Guardians, with Quaros leaving his brothers in between issues and Kyle separated from the group at the climax of GL: NG Annual #2. Appropriately each division has marked the entrance of uncertainty and powerlessness into this uniquely godlike group of wanderers. As this issue opens we still don’t know what’s happening to Kyle, what he truly saw beyond the Source Wall, whether Oblivion still exists, or even where our hero is really. This trend reaches, what seems to be, its lowest point this issue.

I’ve previous noted in my reviews of this series that the Templar Guardians have started to become a bit of a literal Deus Ex Machina, frequently appearing at the last-minute to save the day, rendering Kyle’s actions a mere distraction. Well this issue clearly answers that concern, at least in the short-term. Justin Jordan does an impressive job of hiding the Guardians’ panic behind their usual wisdom. While it’s not exceptionally complex character work, the execution is effective, immediately and fiercely conveying both their worry and their pride.

Jordan has always enjoyed homage to horror movies in his work, but New Guardians has never reached this level of eeriness before. The story plays with dramatic irony, feeding the reader little bits of information every so often without actually answering questions. In the meanwhile, Jordan takes a slow burn strategy, playing on the expectation that things have to come to a head. The fact that the reveal has to justify each page of suspense puts a time pressure on the book that becomes more stressful the further you read.

Justice League #30 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (story), Ivan Reis & Doug Mahnke (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Rod Reis (colors)

The Story: The bar for League membership gets a lot lower.

The Review: The history of superhero comics is so long and involved that I seriously doubt any kind of plot that appears in the genre is truly original anymore. All I can say is Johns may be onto something we haven’t seen in a while with his latest vision of the Justice League. Secret traitors and double agents have been done before, but I don’t remember the last time known villains have joined a team of such repute as the League, especially one as notorious as Lex Luthor or as smalltime as Captain Cold.

Of course, your first thought at the very idea of Luthor joining the League is he’s got to be planning something. Make no mistake, he’s playing the game amazingly. “If there’s anything I want people to take away from the tragedy that befell our world,” he says in his first statement post-Forever Evil, “it’s that even with aliens, Amazons, and Atlanteans among us—a single human being can still make a difference. Police, firefighters and soldiers risk their lives every day to help others without the benefit of super-speed or a magic ring. I’m humbled to stand alongside those brave men and women.”

Justice League #28 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (story), Ivan Reis (layouts), Joe Prado & Scott Hanna (finishes), Rod Reis (colors)

The Story: These robots have awakened with a singular purpose: watching wrestling on TV.

The Review: Much as I love old-timey, slightly odd comic book characters, I sometimes think the Metal Men are a concept that, like the Doom Patrol, Sea Devils, or Challengers of the Unknown, seem like they’re best left in the Silver Age.  These concepts almost pull the complete hat trick for failure, in some respects too simplistic and silly for the sophisticates, in others too weird and niche for a popular audience.

In these cases, the only writer I trust to revive these characters and preserve their appeal for another generation is Johns.  Whatever critiques I have of his particular writing style, there is no one who has a better success rate at updating properties long thought obsolete.  So it goes with the Metal Men.  Johns tackles them with such genuine enthusiasm and heart that they feel fresh and enticing again, without compromising what made them popular in the first place.

Earth 2 Annual #2 – Review

By: Tom Taylor (story), Robson Rocha (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Pete Pantazis (colors)

The Story: And the new Batman is…

The Review: While the beauty of a Multiverse is in its endless variety, people are most times attracted not to seeing wide-swinging differences between each world, but rather the fine alterations—the What If’s of already familiar stories.  It’s easy enough to see how the reversal of moral polarity on Earth-3 turned it into such a grim, stricken planet; it’s not so easy to pick out where things diverged on Earth-2.

As we move further back into Earth-2’s history, the differences become even harder to spot.  By all appearances, Batman-2 has the same origin story as his Earth-Prime counterpart.  So what was it that set his life off course, so that he could become the well-adjusted vigilante who found love, marriage, and family?  Before now, the only culprit you could have pointed to was his boyhood friendship with Clark.  This annual gives us a bigger, better reason for Bruce’s growth, but more importantly, it gives a good reason for Batman’s legacy to continue.

Captain America #10 – Review

by Rick Remender (Writer), John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson, Tom Palmer, Scott Hanna (Artists), Dean White, Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorists)

The Story: Jet has second thought about the plans of her father as Steve and Sharon tries to convince her that perhaps her father was an enormous and villainous jerk.

The Review: Conclusions are hard. A lot might say that it’s never the ending that actually count rather than the journey itself, but let’s be honest that it’s always kind of disappointing when a story hit a lots of notes right only to end in a way that feels off.

This issue of Captain America does not actually reach a level of disappointment that makes it unpleasant to read, yet there are several elements that, considering the level of talent here, could have been handled better.

One of them is the pacing, as the issue seems to differ in the space it amounts to several scenes. While many of the previous issues went full speed ahead through the chaos that is Dimension Z as Steve Rogers fought the many monstrosities of science that inhabits it, Remender always kept it full of action and crazy concepts. Those issues were crammed with lots of ideas and most of the scenes never wore their welcome. Here, though, there are mainly three things that happens: Jet fly toward the rocketing city in doubt about what her father was doing, Sharon Carter confronts Arnim Zola and Steve gets out of Dimension Z as he is still in shock over what happened. There are myriads of details to these scenes, of course, yet it all boils down to those three key events in the issue, plus an epilogue.

Of course, the length of these scenes is to make sure the emotional impact is relevant to the readers, who spent the best of 10 issues in this mad landscape created by Remender. It arguably work for Sharon Carter as she faces down a giant Arnim Zola, giving her a moment for her to shine in this arc, but not so much for Jet Black. For this character who has been introduced quite well in this series, the sudden turn she does seems a bit too quick. She had been so eager to live to her new found principles and to forsake those taught to her by her father, yet when she thinks he’s dead and that his plan is about to succeed, she turn around and try to make it work? It is explicitly said, in a way that does sound a bit credible, that it is he grief talking, yet the way she acts seems a tad excessive considering what little we know about the character and her evolution throughout the Dimension Z arc.

Captain America #9 – Review

Rick Remender (Writer), John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson, Scott Hanna, Tom Palmer (Artists), Dean White (Colorist)

The Story: Sharon Carter enters the stage, explaining what has happened all this time as Steve Rogers bring the fight to Arnim Zola.

The Review: Camp isn’t exactly an easy thing to do. To retrieve the nostalgic factor or to simulate it in a way that feels respectful is a hard task, as a writer need to satisfy both the readers that can remember such times without leaving those that didn’t behind. It’s a balancing act that need to be efficient in order to keep the momentum and the tone floating around at all time.

I have to say that I do not envy the task that Remender had set upon himself when writing Captain America, a character that is, without the shadow of a doubt, very campy when analyzed. A character that represents the goodness of America, a leader that has indomitable courage and will and that will never wield during fights, despite how outclassed he might be sometime. This creation of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, a superhero, one of the genre most attached to nostalgia at times, is always attached to the past in many ways. To see Remender use him in a sci-fi setting, especially one that looks like a twisted B-movie version straight from the 70’s and 80’s, is something that is colossal in its connection to the past. It is quite something to see Remender deciding to use this kind of story to decide the future of the character, as to use the past and nostalgia to propel a character forward seems like a great challenge.

In many ways, he does succeed in no only creating a connection to past materials, most of them being unrelated to the stories featuring the Sentinel of Liberty, working with subjects that the character wasn’t associated with. One of the notable strength of this huge storyline, which is still very present here, is the sci-fi vibe that is present everywhere. With monsters, robots, big flying buildings, dimensions, time-alternance and the like, Remender plays with a lot of concepts worthy of pristine movies that would pale a bit with the audience of today. Revelling in the past in terms of narrative tropes, he brings excitation and a lot of big moments to the story as the climax of the story arrive.

Green Lantern Corps #20 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Fernando Pasarin (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

The Story: Guy experiences his most excruciating trial yet—a sabbatical.

The Review: In addition to the anomaly that was Aquaman #19 amidst its #20 brethren, we have another bit of scheduling weirdness that resulted in the epilogue of Wrath of the First Lantern released before its final chapter.  I don’t begin to understand how or why this happened.  My best guess is that since Geoff Johns is the undisputed architect of this current era of Green Lantern stories, DC felt he should have the last word rather than Tomasi, his right-hand man.

This does result, however, in a few significant spoilers (alert), though probably none you couldn’t have predicted: Guy and Kilowog belching blood under Red Lantern influence, the appearance of Black Lanterns, and Sinestro in some slick armor killing one of the Guardians (it’s unclear whether it’s Ganthet or not).  Thankfully, Tomasi refrains from any hard information, and we know nothing of the First Lantern’s fate at all.

Captain America #6 – Review

By: Rick Remender (Writer), John Romita Jr., Tom Palmer, Klaus Janson, Scott Hanna (Artists), Dean White (Colorist)

The Story: Captain America assaults the stronghold of Arnim Zola, as Ian is being held by the mad scientist himself.

The Review: There is nothing more fearful than a man scorned, it seems, as the very presentation of the whole conflict shown in this newer volume of Captain America so far has been turned upside down, for the better it seems, as we get to see Captain America being much more proactive than reactive here. This kind of event and direction leads to several developments that builds on what the series had shown so far, adding to the building blocks while respecting a whole more about Steve Rogers.

Green Lantern Corps #19 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Fernando Pasarin (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

The Story: It would be embarrassing to lose a battle to yourself, wouldn’t it?

The Review: I might have said this before at some point—in fact, I’m sure I have—but when a comic basically boils down to all action and little plot, that gives a reviewer very little material to work with, no?  You can’t very well analyze a battle sequence for deep meaning or symbolism, nor can you offer much more of an evaluation other than it’s simply good or bad, which is more of a reflection on the art than the story.

This issue is essentially all action, and little plot—or at least plot that makes much sense.  As we get closer and closer to the final battle with the First Lantern, it becomes clearer that the central players are going to be Hal, Sinestro, and possibly Simon, while the rest of the Corps once again get relegated to important but minor back-up status.  Guy and John will no doubt carry out some crucial task along the way, and their fans can take solace in that, but the fact that neither of them have every been the ultimate hero in a Green Lantern crossover speaks volumes about their actual place in that franchise.

Captain America #5 – Review

By: Rick Remender (Writer), John Romita Jr., Tom Palmer, Scott Hanna (Artists), Dean White, Lee Loughridge (Colorists)

The Story: Zola invades the Phrox ground and kills the tribe while his daughter tries to kill Steve Rogers during the attack.

The Review: Is it already the time for more science-fiction goodness from Rick Remender? It seems so, as another issue from this definitely different take on the adventures of Steve Rogers is upon us and this one is decidedly great in many ways, but suffers in other parts.

What is pretty great here would be the story, as many of the points developed by Remender during the first four issues of the series meet here. Jet Black, Zola’s daughter, along with her dad comes head to head with Steve, Ian meets his father, Steve manages to find a way to remove the Zola virus and the fate of the Phrox tribe is all shown here, to great dramatic effect. Although it had been kind of chaotic at times, many of the threads introduced by Remender manages to get even bigger and weirder in this issue, showing us that we cannot even begin to see what is ahead for the series.

Green Lantern Corps #18 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Chriscross (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

The Story: John displays a tradition of planets dying on his watch.

The Review: No one who works in a creative field can produce greatness all the time.  We all know that, and yet it’s still a little shocking how someone can produce a masterpiece one day, then deliver a total dud another day.  It’s even more baffling when someone actually does both in the very same day.  A couple days ago, with Batman and Robin #18, Tomasi delivered what is now widely regarded to be one of the finest Batman issues of his or anyone’s career.

That same day saw the release of this issue of Green Lantern Corps, which presents Tomasi at his absolute worst.  This is unfortunate on a lot of levels, not the least being that it reinforces John Stewart’s status as DC’s least-favored Green Lantern.  In a title where he’s ostensibly co-leading with Guy Gardner, he already has a tough time competing with the more flamboyant and memorable antics of his partner.  This was an opportunity to give readers an idea of what makes him tick, and Tomasi almost completely fails in that regard.

Uncanny X-Force #2 – Review

By: Sam Humphries (Writer), Ron Garney (Penciler), Danny Miki with Scott Hanna (Inkers), Marte Gracia with Israel Gonzalez and Wil Quintana (Colorists), VC’s Cory Petit (Letterer)

The Review: One of my big comic book regrets of late is that I didn’t pick up Remender’s run on Uncanny X-Force. I borrowed the odd issue from friends but didn’t get the big picture, and from what I hear the whole run is an epic Must Read; I’m basically waiting for Marvel to package the whole thing up in an Omnibus edition so I can try and read it all in one massive sitting. Anyway, the point is that as well as missing out on some great storytelling, I also feel that I’ve missed out on some key moments which inform Sam Humphries’ turn on the title.

This feeling was a bit more pronounced with the first issue (lots of vague plot points discussed between Storm and Psylocke and glimpsed in flashback panels) but the sense still lingers here. This, along with the general bluster that dogs the books composition, makes things a little hard to follow. I can’t quite work out whether I like it or not. There’s good and bad, and I’m not sure if any one side really wins out.

Green Lantern Corps Annual #1 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (Writer), Chriscross, Scott Hanna, Marlo Alquiza (Artists), Wil Quintana (Colorist)

*Spoiler Alert*

The Story: Guy Gardner gets in gear to bring the fight to the guardians after being saved by Simon Baz and B’dg.

The Review: This is a big comic in nearly every aspect of the word. It is a long read, jam-packed full of action and intense development touted as the final chapter of Rise of the Third Army, bringing all the meticulous planning from all Green Lantern titles to a head. It is big, it is important, but is it any good?

From the very first page, one must not forget that it is a continuation of Green Lantern Corps, even though it incorporates many plot points from the other books. As such, most of the focus is on Guy Gardner, John Stewart and the other Lanterns. Considering the fact that it is a vital chapter, the final one in the storyline going on in the other books, does it make it kind of inaccessible to those who haven’t followed Green Lantern Corps?

Green Lantern Corps #16 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Fernando Pasarin (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

The Story: Can a jailbird, a felon on the run, and an alien marsupial save the day?

The Review: You know, with Hal Jordan out of commission and a new guy in his place over in Green Lantern, that leaves his usually second-banana pals to deal with the Guardians’ crazy plan on the living side of things.  My hope is that Tomasi and Tony Bedard use this opportunity to show that Lanterns like Guy, John, and Kyle are just as crucial to the mythos, that they’re not just the dudes clearing the way for Hal to steal all the thunder in the end.

At least the Guardians see Guy as a major threat nearly on par with Hal.  If their current shenanigans don’t make them seem malevolent enough, they underscore their malice even more by continuing to target Guy even after they succeeded in taking everything away from him.  “It seems his tribulations continue unabated,” one Guardian muses.  “Guy Gardner’s fall is complete.”  And then to seal the deal, they send the Third Army after him specifically.

Green Lantern Corps #15 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Fernando Pasarin (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

The Story: America just added one more to its unemployed statistics.

The Review: You know what I’ve realized from all this drama around Guy leaving the Corps?  Green Lanterns don’t really retire, do they?  The closest they ever get, going from events of the last year or so, is either outright dismissal or resignation (which is still dismissal, but sneakier).  That means the Lantern survival rate is effectively zero; once the ring comes to you, prepare for an early death, and probable a pretty horrible one at that.

So maybe Guy should be thanking his lucky stars that he got out when he did.  Resigning in disgrace doesn’t seem half as bad as, say, getting assimilated by a mouthless creature in the dead of space.  But that’s just me being a total wuss.  Guy is a cop without fear, not to mention something of a thrill-seeker with a lot of unaddressed anger issues; he lives to put these kinds of threats in their place.  Without that channel for his energies, retirement means death for him.

Team Seven #2 – Review

By: Justin Jordan (story), Ron Frenz (breakdowns), Julius Gopez (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Nathan Eyring (colors)

The Story: It’s hard to tell if everyone’s gone crazy because of a Jekyll serum or severe jet lag.

The Review: Even though Jordan gets to work with some pretty recognizable characters, it’s apparent that some intensive work needs to be done to make them stand out in people’s minds. Team Seven ostensibly works within a much more realistic framework of conflicts than, say, the Justice League, and so they tend to come across a little more realistically than their superheroic peers.  However, the closer characters get to reality, the harder it is to make them memorable.

After all, you’re dealing with a whole group of people who are pretty darn smart, intellectually, street, or otherwise.  Not only that, but they are all of them professionals in their field.  Smart, professional people tend to react reasonably in crisis situations, and so has Team Seven.  In such circumstances, there’s no meaningful opportunity to show off your colorful personality.  So even though there are obvious differences between Amanda Waller and Cole Cash, you don’t read this issue and instantly recognize a totally Waller or Cash “moment.”

Green Lantern Corps #14 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Fernando Pasarin (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

The Story: Of all the days for Guy to not have access to his own bar.

The Review: It’s easy to fixate on Guy’s anger issues and in-your-face attitude, but one should never overlook his incredible sense of dedication.  While Hal Jordan’s clearly the golden boy of the Green Lantern mythos, I actually don’t think anyone has as much loyalty to the Corps as our Guy.  He probably has tighter bonds with more of his fellow Lanterns than any of the human ring-bearers, and I daresay even the Guardians probably prefer dealing with him than Hal.

But that could just be the their preference for folks they can manipulate.  Guy’s bristling personality aside, he is, as the Guardians observed last issue, amazingly predictable.  If you know the right buttons to push, you can get whatever response out of him you want, and that makes him easy to control.  No wonder the Guardians let Ganthet call the shots on their plan to oust Guy (and John).  Even stripped of his emotions, he still knows how these humans tick.

Green Lantern Corps #13 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Cafu (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

The Story: Even in dead space you gotta watch your back.

The Review: A lot of people have already compared this Rise of the Third Army storyline as a thinly veiled rip-off of Blackest Night, and I can see why.  You are dealing with yet another series of dronish Lanterns who multiply by infecting others—and then you have the similarities to the Rot over in Animal Man and Swamp Thing, who are conceptually a hop, skip, and a jump away from Marvel Zombies, but for the nature themes.

So no, I won’t give much weight to Rise of the Third Army for originality.  Still, I’d be remiss in my duties if I don’t point out the slight, but important differences between these Third Army creatures and their counterparts elsewhere.  For one, it’s unclear if the assimilated people actually die in the process, notwithstanding the disposal of their hearts.  For another, the assimilation itself is a creepier, more traumatic experience for those involved.

Justice League Dark #0 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (story), Lee Garbett (pencils), Cam Smith, Jack Purcell, Scott Hanna, Walden Wong (inks), Pete Pantazis (colors)

The Story: A threesome is messy and complicated enough without magic thrown into it.

The Review: Everyone loves a man of mystery.  That’s about the only explanation I can come up with for why, no matter how unscrupulous and contemptible he gets, Constantine retains such magnetic appeal, for the characters around him and for us as well.  Since he’s the very epitome of the antihero, you need faith that his choices will lead to good in the end, rather than place any trust in the nobility of any given action.

Even though Constantine’s always had a personal gain element to his character, I don’t know if reducing his motives to pure ambition makes him all that interesting.  Lemire lays the bottom line for John’s entire future of dirty dealing and manipulation from the first page: “I wanted real magic.  I wanted to be the best.”  Granted, we’re talking about a younger (therefore gutsier—and dumber) mage here, one more geared toward punk wear than the private eye outfit of later years, but you’d think his goals would be more subtle than that.

Green Lantern Corps #0 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Fernando Pasarin (pencils), Scott Hanna & Marc Deering (inks), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

The Story: When being an interstellar space hero still leaves you the family disappointment.

The Review: What I’ve appreciated thus far from the #0 issues is they’ve avoided retelling the same old origin story of characters you’ve heard a dozen times before.  There’s no point seeing again Batman’s parents getting shot, Superman arriving on Earth in a rocket, the Flash cooking in lightning and chemicals, or Green Lantern coming upon a dying alien with a ring.  If anyone’s origins are ripe for revisiting, it would be those of the “other” Green Lanterns in the DCU.

Tomasi only gives you one of them.  No doubt the choice was made out of economy and to deliver a meatier story, but I still raise my eyebrow at the focus on Guy instead of John.  I suppose there’s an argument to be made that of the two, Guy has the edge in popularity, but stacked against John’s five years as primo Green Lantern on the animated Justice League series (and big cameos on Young Justice), I wonder at the truth of that.

Green Lantern Corps #12 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Fernando Pasarin (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

The Story: Mark my words, heads are going to roll from all this chaos.

The Review: By now, the Green Lanterns have become such an established and important part of the DCU that we just take it for granted they deserve to be there.  Now before you get your mob on, I’m not suggesting they don’t; I’m just saying it’s been a long time since we considered for what purpose the Lanterns were originally created.  To merely police the universe?  To be symbols of hope?  To ultimately bring peace and order to all sentient creatures?

The question seems particularly relevant for this issue, what with the Corps falling apart at the seams and veteran corpsmen questioning themselves.  Granted, the Alphas were never the most popular force even from their introduction, but their total, tyrannical meltdown has to be somewhat disillusioning for the other Lanterns, not to mention the broken justice system we all had to witness with our very eyes.  In these circumstances, how can anyone have confidence, then, that their goals are just?

Green Lantern Corps #11 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Fernando Pasarin (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

The Story: Apparently, some people do escape the Alpha Lanterns.

The Review: If you’ve never had a violent quitting experience in your life, let me just say I recommend it.  It’s actually one of the more satisfying and empowering moments you’ll ever have.  Besides giving you the opportunity to stand up for yourself, which requires you to summon up some necessary-for-life backbone, it also scratches every itch you ever had to stick it to your overbearing, crazy-pants boss.

Totally different context, but that’s the general sense of satisfaction and empowerment you get out of watching the day-to-day Green Lanterns rebel against the increasingly brittle Alphas.  Even Salaak, of all corpsmen, gets in on the game.  At first he uses a pretense of regulation to disobey Boodika’s orders, not even flinching when she threatens dismissal and incarceration, then he goes beyond passive resistance, downright ordering other Lanterns to “Engage Alpha Lanterns!”  And when Salaak gets uppity with you, you have to be on the wrong side.

Green Lantern Corps #10 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Fernando Pasarin (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

The Story: Generally, it’s not a good idea for prosecutors and judges to be one and the same.

The Review: I think I’ve said this before about a couple characters, but the reserved, purposeful type of people can be difficult to connect to.  Let’s not mince words here; most of us are impulsive, confrontational, part-time morons.  We like to stand out somewhere in the spotlight, rather than linger in the shadows.  We flail around, making a ruckus, and get a lot of attention, while the reserved, purposeful people actually make the sacrifices to get the job done.

John Stewart easily lands in this category.  Think about it.  He’s an architect, so the whole of his work involves not only having a vision of his end product, but figuring out the means to make it come to be—and ultimately, people will admire the results more than the work or worker that goes into it.  He’s also a soldier, so his instinct is to think through even the most chaotic situation before making a move, and he knows when to lay down his life for the greater good.