Rage of the Red Lanterns Review

Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Shane Davis and Sandra Hope

The problem I have with Rage of the Red Lanterns is that is a remake of the Sinestro Corp War one-shot with Red Lanterns instead of yellow ones. I think another big problem is the fact that there seems to be no reason for the Red Lanterns to form. Johns teased us with the forming of the yellow lanterns as he would make yellow rings appear and you would see it building so when you saw the full numbers it was believable to the reader but here I believe you have seen one example of recruiting in the form of the former Green Lantern. I would hold the fact that there is no explanation for the Red Lanterns’ power source but I think that will be addressed later so I’m willing to let that go. Scar the Guardians continues to provide plenty of intrigue as she pushes her agenda through and you notice in the art how her eyes switch allegiances between the various established corps. I thought it was a nice little touch for the Red Lanterns to be as brutal as they are. Since they deal with anger there can’t be any finesses there and the choice of them not being able to make fantastic constructs but instead they just spit fire. The flip side of that is that they are unable to have complex stories with them are the Superboy-Prime corps in the sense that they are one-sided. Green Lanterns often have a break since “will power” is there emotion that you allow yourself to explore the various other motivating factors of a Green Lantern but with a Red Lantern, they’re just mad. The inconsistent art along with what seems to be a trend in epic war story telling makes me weary of the direction Green Lantern is heading but Geoff Johns has some real bright spots which is the complex villain he has Sinestro along with some great character moments from Hal Jordan. The Blue Lanterns look interesting but I think making so many corps may be a bad idea as there could be a limiting factor in what you can do. This was a dependable read and is worth a look even though it suffers from inconsistent art.

Art: HIT AND QUIT IT

OVERALL:GET IT

Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge #3 Review

"Rouges Revenge: Book Three"
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Scott Kolins

Out of all the miniseries so far this one has been the best. The greatest thing about this whole series is the character work that Johns has performed. Johns has a great understanding of the Flash and the villains he fights and he puts it all on display. The greatest thing he does is that he makes this title accessible to new readers but if you have read his previous run in Flash way back when it adds another dimension of understanding that most new readers do not get. I thought it was an interesting take on the character of Zoom. I always thought he was just the generic evil version of the hero but Johns did something interesting but instead saying that his purpose is to make the Flash better. It is something that doesn’t happen too often in comics and took me by surprise. You also have the emergence of Piper who after the mess that was Countdown was kind of written off or something. They make reference about his ability to do the Anti-Life Equation but this issue does not expand on that role or if he has any ties to Darkseid. As a matter of fact he just kind of shows up which is fine and proceeds to beat down both Zoom and the Rouges. The real topper is Libra showing up. We really don’t know much about Libra other than he is the high priest of Darkseid’s religion and since Final Crisis is taking an unbelievable amount of time to ship, I speculate that this is where we will see a majority of Libra since he won’t appear on the big title. The events that play out after he arrives on the scene are a bit confusing. We get a great moment with Weather Wizard as he sits there and weights his option about his kid. It was a really great character moment and thankfully he didn’t have to make the call, Reverse Zoom did. I am confused on what he did to the baby which could be really heroic sending it away or really dirty, real dirty. The artist really does wonders especially in that scene when he draws Weather Wizards’ eye. It communicates a lot. The speedsters always had a special place in DCU and Johns does somewhat examine that when Libra speaks about the powers the speedsters have to go across the multiverse and such in not so many words. Reverse Zoom manages to beat up on Libra which was really surprising to see and then it is followed up by the big showdown between the Rouges and Reverse Zoom and boy was it climatic. If Flash Rebirth does deal with half of the stuff that is set up here I think it could be as equally amazing. I hope DC has a talented enough writer to continue working with the Rouges and it would be a disservice to ignore all the character work that Johns has done with these villains. This mini is a testament to show what can happen when a writer gets to write characters that he loves. Enough about the plot points though, the dialog is great, the characters are amazing, the plot is awesome, and the art especially the inking is really nice to look out. Despite what some say about Action Comics being Johns best work I would have to disagree and say that this Johns at his best right here.


Art: PHENOM
Overall: OWN IT

Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #2 Review

Writer: Geoff Johns
Art: George Perez

This was kind of a weird issue with a lot going on. Johns, who I praise continually for being the most accessible comic book writer right now, is tackling some high concept and convoluted stuff. The Legion of Superheroes has its fan (I am not one), and involves tons and tons of characters. Johns is bringing in 3 different Legions, as well as a Legion of Super Villains. We start the issue in a different world, where the Legion of Villains has been taking over. Led by Superman Prime, they have pretty much taken out every good guy out there, and all of the Green Lanterns except for one. This GL is really valiant, and sacrifices himself to save the other heroes. I found the whole Green Lantern subplot to be the most interesting in the book. Whatever Johns does with GL, I am ok with. The reveal at the end that Sodam Yat is really the last GL left, and he has all the rings is really interesting. I can't say I am too impressed with the Legion. I like how Rokks has taken a leadership role in this version, but I am not buying into the other characters, partly because there are just too many to keep track of. I don't trust Brainiac though. He gives me a bad vibe. Unlike many pundits, I do like Superman Prime. Johns does a good job with the character, and I am glad he is in this story. He plays an unlikable heel, and that makes me want to root for Superman and the Legion more to kick Prime's ass. Solid issue. George Perez is a good artist.

ART: Ballin
OVERALL: GET IT
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I haven't been a fan of this mini series as much as Rouge's Revenge. While that being said, I haven't been as high on Action Comics as the majority of the internet has been. Johns is the most technically sound writer in all of comics and i think that counts against him sometimes specifically in this issue where it feels that "paint by numbers". Citing Rokk over at the comicbook revolution (conveniently located on our blog roll) Johns sometimes has a habit of slaughtering characters for the sake of drama thus I too am skeptical about the role the big roster plays in this. Another thing that caught me off guard was one of the Brianic-5 who treated his older counterpart really bad because he has an adult. I know that was the premise at first of the current Legion title but they have kind of moved away from that and by Johns putting that in there it was clearly some manufactured tension because you know it won't lead anywhere so why even mention it. The big thing that I feel has to analyzed is the use of Superman Prime. He is definitely a tragic character without a doubt but his time has come. As a character it doesn't seem that you can do anymore stories with him rather than a big villain wants to do something and attempts to use Superman Prime as lackey before things go arwy and everyone starts all out brawling. I do agree the Green Lantern storyline is facinating as I've never had an understanding of what happened in the future to the Green Lantern Corps. It is a part of the DCU that has never flushed out (while on the subject where do the Guardians stand in the hierachy of DCU, are they above New Gods or below them?). It is worth a look at but Rouges Revenge is the better of the Johns mini.


Overall: SKIM IT

DC Universe: Last Will and Testament Review

Conversion
Written by Brad Meltzer
Art and covers by Adam Kubert and John Dell

No matter how dark Meltzer's storylines are there is always a silver lining to them and this comic is no exception. The way he writes is very subtle and quiet, I imagine if it was a movie there will be no sound. I enjoyed how much of this was character driven. Geo-Force really worked as the central character of this issue. The premise was really interesting since in comics the big events happen and things the heroes get caught up in the flow and at the end of the day they reflect on what happened, but here it is different. The sky breaks one day, Clark says the end of the world is coming, so what do you do now? There isn't anything to punch, no giant group of villains asking for it, and there isn't thing for you to do. Geo-Force's storyline is compelling particularly his relationship with Deathstroke. It is a tough decision to decide to kill someone right before the rapture starts since pretty much everyone else is going to be dead along with you. One fundamental problem that some readers may have is where this issue fits in relation to Final Crisis and honestly it doesn't at all, doesn't fit into continuity in the slightest. I don't mind that since this issue was so well written. Seeing what the various characters do right before the world ends. There are a lot of little things that shine in this issue. You notice the change of Robin's demeanor when Nightwing enters into the picture. There is also Starfire who misinterpreted the situation pretty bad. The ending though was special because it really shows the hero mentality. A lot of things went into it making really good. The sky is pitch black and Hal Jordan glowing green flying. The dialogue is also nice as he says it doesn't matter what happens that they will do this again because they are meant to. It would have been easy to end on the scene with Geo-Force and Deathstroke but there has to be some hope and the Hal scene captures that hope. The art is solid nothing spectacular here and is disappointing since I imagined it would be like Kubert's Batman.

Art: HIT IT AND QUIT IT
OVERALL: OWN IT

Next up some New and Mighty Avengers

Final Crisis: Superman Beyond #1 Review [In 4-D]

"Superman Beyond"
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Doug Mahnke and Christian Alamy

I didn't get it. That is the review there. It starts off simply enough with a flashforward then following up on the Final Crisis storyline in which Superman gets recruited by the Monitor lady to help save the universe from something. I enjoyed Morrison's vision of the Multiverse as a living entity and all part of the body. That was a very neat twisit. One minor thing is if Morrison continues to use German regulary he should have translations somewhere. I believe he is saying something important but I won't ever know. The issue makes sense at the end as you learn that the thing that attacked them is the Dark Monitor and Superman has to go toe to toe with it. This does deliever on what Morrison promised of expanding the scope of Final Crisis to include the Multiverse because Final Crisis has been contained within New Earth. The vampire Monitor moment threw me off and I felt bad for Nazi Superman whose cousin died over in the original Final Crisis and the he gets vamped so the lady monitor can do something. It still seems fuzzy to me for some reason even though I understood everything that happened within the issue to a certain extent. The book of infinity for example was a very difficult reading to understand what exactly it was saying. Superman saying Great Kyrpton every couple of words seemed was really campy and everytime he said that I couldn't help buy groan. I trust Morrison though so I believe he is capable of making this mini series great and the 3-D was pretty balling. Morrison has been hyping this up for a while now and states that this will bring to the Multiverse into the fold. I liked the use of Captain Marvel and the throwback to the Limbo that all superheroes go to when creators don't have stories for them. The last page was pretty awesome with Ultraman going fucking crazy holding the book and the Dark Monitor getting ready to waste everything.

Art: BALLIN (The 3-D was awesome but it felt like a cheap gimmick)
Story: GET IT

Next review is Meltzer's Last Will and Testment....

Final Crisis #3 Review

Written by: Grant Morrison
Art by: J.G. Jones

I find that a fundamental problem with reviewing Final Crisis is that there are unknown unknowns as well known unknowns. Morrison's writing style requires the reader to read the entire story to make a proper judgment thus no single issue can make or break as other speculate. It is all part of the larger picture because Morrison keeps things pretty close to the vest. That being said, I did not enjoy this issue as much as I enjoyed the first two. Morrison succeeded in crafting a lot of tension and anticipation for the moment when the Anti-Life equation is released upon the world and it seems anti-climatic as it was only the last couple of pages within the issue. The first two issues did a great job of providing a sense that whatever bad thing happened to any of the heroes, the Anti-Life equation was still to come. This issue almost devalues all that sense of anticipation and foreboding as the execution of the equation seems anti-climatic [a is that it kind of moment]. I understand that you don't need to show the villains prepping and painstakingly/continually point out to the reader that is how we do it [or show the process of the Skrulls replacing everybody including minor characters that people may or not care about even though I am perfectly willing to accept both Electra and Pyme as Skrulls without any backstory] and I also understand that the villain releasing the equation would not strike hard and fast because it is the most effective way. I can accept all logistical issues presented by such a method of execution [such as the fact the E-mail most likely came with an audio attachment that automatically downloaded onto your computer and opened up your default media player and played itself because such an evil plan requires such things as that. I can come to terms with the fact that the equation will somehow take over all of Earth even though it should primarily only affect the US/Europe while such countries like the Democratic Republic of the Kongo is fine because let's face it, when you look at the world map in the Halo 3 matchmaking lobby there are no dots in Africa but everyone in Tasmania has an X-Box 360 with Halo]. All those logistical problems are summed up by the simple fact a month will elapse since the equation has been unleashed and I assume that major networks will broadcast it because they are now controlled by Darkseid so that is no longer an issue. I sense that Morrison is trying to go for subtlety here because you don't need to see every character falling victim to the equation but it didn't stick. That moment the equation is unleashed should be the moment you see the world stop. This is where you get a different kind of broken hero where they no longer can inspire people to be their best and every symbol of hope and justice dies along with free will. Those are the implications of the release of this equation, this is what it means "the day evil wins." We don't see that. I believe this to be a very important theme and this scene at the end should be that but it isn't. Aside from that point, it is all good to demand the reader to think and not spell everything out but German? That is like challenging a handicap person to twister, just plain mean. I enjoyed seeing the old Legion of Doom headquarters which takes me back to the Super Friends days. Another key point is the Mary Marvel heel turn and based on what I know from Countdown, an educated guess is that Darkseid offered her a chance to be powerful again after waking up from her coma and being weak for a bit. I imagine there is a logical explanation there so it doesn't bug me too much. Morrison is a master storyteller and no matter what happens in the issue there is a thought process behind it. In my experience he just doesn't do stuff on a whim and there is something we don't know going on. I am really enjoying Final Crisis and after venting I think four will be a monster issue that will blow the lid off everything. J.G. Jones art is amazing and while it may not look as good as issue one did that just means it's still amazing.

Art: BALLIN
Overall: OWN IT

Final Crisis: Requiem Review

"Caretakers of Mars"
Written by Peter J. Tomasi
Art by Doug Mahnke and Christian Alamy

Final Crisis Requiem was a very interesting tie-in. It really expands on the events of what happened in the first issue of Final Crisis and is really beautifully written and truly moving. I enjoy it when I get to see characters narrate their own death because it adds a greater sense of closure to John’s life. I enjoyed the approach DC used within this tie-in in that the tie-in actually expanded the story of John and wasn't just a way to cash in on John's death. I can't stress enough how much I enjoyed how Requiem expanded the story from Final Crisis. It really works in tandem with what Morrison started. The one fault in this issue is that some of the flashback scenes seem to drag a bit. It is very hard to review this issue because I will just end up pointing out the fact that I liked pretty much everything and then I would throw in one minor critic to keep myself honest. Rather than do that I'll be as concise as possible and a bit redundant as well. This comic will probably win best of the week, it was very well written, the art is fantastic, and Requiem really does give Manhunter the best sendoff. The best moment was John rallying and making the villains think that they are being killed by their enemies [or getting felt up by Batman in Talia's case], the worst moment was the "My favorite Martian" joke by Green Arrow which wasn't that bad but just cheesy. This was a great comic that really expanded the first issue of Final Crisis and was a worthy tie-in. Hopefully DC does the right thing and let John stay dead for a bit longer as to not negate this issue within a year or so which would really be a crime.

Art: PHENOM
Overall: OWN IT

Final Crisis #1 Review

Writer: Grant Morrison
Art: J.G. Jones

Final Crisis is here and it kicks off with a silent but deadly BANG! This isn't a flashy Vince Carter kind of them but a more solid fundamental Tim Duncan approach. The first thing this issue strives to do is completely rebuild some of the assumptions we were supposed to take from Countdown. He completely revamped the whole Death of the New Gods series by making a war occur off-panel and having Darkseid win. That was a good move because if the New Gods would wage a war it would not be in your own realm it would be in heaven and I appreciate the phrasing that heaven is broken, that is just awesomely ominous. The Monitors themselves have also become more appealing as they now actually seem to serve a greater role in the universe. I enjoyed the little comment on how they had finally had to deal with time as well as their new plane of existence because the Monitors on Countdown were apparently very accessible to anybody in DCU. The artwork was awesome, I enjoy the photographic feel of it as well as a red sky, you know an event is epic when they sky is red. I want to know more about the relationship between Libra and Darkside, if Libra is going to be a big player then I want to know more about his role. As for Darkside, that is just awesome, using the anti-life equation with kids is pretty evil. Darkside is a great bad guy and I'm glad he is finally living up to his evilness if that makes sense. He lost a lot of epicness but he is coming back. I'm glad Morrison is revamping DC because it needs it, this issue sets up Final Crisis well.

Art: PHENOM
Overall: GET IT