Don’t Mess with Orange

     The newest arc of Green Lantern introduces one of the only two remaining Lantern Corps: the one-man Orange Lantern Corps, led by Larfleeze, the creepy looking fellow in the picture above.  Hal Jordan is still wrestling with the fact that he simultaneously has a green and a blue power ring.  That blue power ring is really driving him nuts, because it keeps asking him what he hopes for.  The Guardians of the Universe keep trying to get it off him, but to no avail.  Meanwhile, the Controllers try to steal Larfleeze’s orange light, and we learn just how the Orange Lanterns work.  Larfleeze consumes a living being, and that being’s identity is stolen and turned into a semi-living construct, which acts as an Orange Lantern.  Creepy, huh?  Larfleeze goes ballistic, and we learn just why the Vega System is off limits.  Scar goads the Guardians into going into the Vega System, and a battle breaks out.  Larfleeze gets interested in Hal’s blue ring, and he tries to take it for himself.

     As anyone who has ever read this blog knows, I am unabashed in my love for Geoff Johns.  And this arc doesn’t change that in the least.  The whole emotional spectrum idea, while sounding quite silly, is actually really cool.  Larfleeze is possibly my favorite character thus far, because his greed knows no bounds.  The whole idea of all the members of the Orange Lantern Corps being grotesquely ugly is great, because it illustrates the idea that greed distorts you.  Then there’s the whole dialogue about Hal being a man of action, which is why he’s having so much trouble with the blue ring.  It’s great!  Now, Philip Tan is a good artist, but he’s not as good as Ivan Reis.  Not by a long shot.  Certain pictures in these two issues look less than pretty, including the occasional Guardian face.  Rafael Albuquerque’s work on the Larfleeze back-up story is extremely appropriate and a bit reminiscent of Patrick Gleason.  All in all, the Orange Lantern Corps are one of my favorites.  I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Plot: 9.6      Art: 9.1      Dialogue: 9.5      Overall: 9.5

It Only Comes Once A Year!

     No, not Christmas!  Well, yes, that comes once a year too.  But I’m talking about Free Comic Book Day!  And this year, Marvel Comics released an Avengers comic, featuring both the New Avengers and the Dark Avengers, and written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Jimmy Cheung.  The plot is really simple.  Ymir, the frost giant, has come to Earth, and it’s making New York really cold.  Spider-Man calls the New Avengers after he finds Thor completely trashed, and the Dark Avengers show up a short while later.  They’re teleported to another dimension, and Ares figures out that they need the Twilight Sword in order to stop him.  And there you have it!

     I like simple stories like this one.  Technically, it did involve some sort of apocalypse, but all it really did was illustrate the effect that Dark Reign has had on the Marvel Universe through these two teams.  Plus, it gave Ares another chance to be bad-ass.  So no complaints here.  I do find Bendis’ partial use of continuity a bit annoying, though.  I like the reference to the old Ymir and Surtur story from back in the old Avengers days.  However, both Ms. Marvel and Ronin would know what the Twilight Sword is.  Morgan le Fay used it, the Norn Stones, and the Scarlet Witch to alter reality in the first Avengers arc after Heroes Reborn.  You’d think he’d like a chance to reference actual support for his retcon of the Scarlet Witch’s powers.  Even with this little mess-up, this is an enjoyable issue.  Jimmy Cheung’s pencils are as good as usual, considering the fact that he’s one of Marvel’s top artists.  I’m not sure why the comic is physically smaller, but whatever floats Marvel’s boat.

Plot: 8.5      Art: 9.2      Dialogue: 8.4      Overall: 8.6

Twice the Grandstanding!

     Okay, so technically the newest issue of Booster Gold involves no grandstanding.  But it’s not like Booster’s never grandstanded before!  At any rate, this issue is the epilogue to the previous arc, and the biggest thing that seems to have come out of it isn’t the return of Rex Hunter, but rather Goldstar realizing the truth of what happened to her and what has happened to her brother since she was supposedly killed.  She leaves Skeets in a rather crappy situation and jumps off into the timestream in her hysteria.  Meanwhile, Booster Past and Booster Present try to finish solving all the timeline problems, and Booster Present manages to make it in time to save Rip Hunter from the aliens that originally kidnapped Starfire.

     Now, all this timeline fiddling is a bit of a problem.  Now, Booster Gold and Rip Hunter have inserted themselves into the origins of both Starfire and Barry Allen, the most famous of the Flashes.  That’s a problem that is probably inherent in this kind of story.  I do wish that aspect would be toned down, however, and more clever time problems would be created.  Nonetheless, this is a good ending to a fun storyline.  Booster Gold is far more interesting of a character than I ever thought he could be, and Dan Jurgens gets him extremely well.  The whole dialogue between the two Boosters was quite fun to read.  I’m looking forward to the upcoming storyline that features the mysterious Black Beetle.  Speaking of beetles, in two issues, we’ll also get a Blue Beetle co-feature.  Excellent!

Plot: 8.4      Art: 9.0      Dialogue: 8.5     Overall: 8.5

So Long, Dear Friends

     After years of writing Justice Society of America, Geoff Johns is finally moving on.  And Dave Eaglesham, the main artist for the recent relaunch, is heading over to Marvel Comics, where he’ll soon be doing a run on Fantastic Four with Jonathan Hickman.  This last issue is their swan song, a final story before they pass the torch on to Bill Willingham and Matt Sturges.  The story is simple enough: it’s the story of Stargirl’s birthday and the JSA’s celebration.  It’s full of great little character moments, like Wildcat telling his son, the other Wildcat, about Stripesy and the Star-Spangled Kid back in the day, and Starman’s failed birthday presents.  These were sadly missing from the previous arc, which was bizarrely under-par compared to a stellar run.  That’s why I’m glad that Geoff Johns had this last chance to tell a story with this group he knows so well.  The little twist at the end is cute, since which teenager doesn’t dread the idea of having to wear braces for another year?

     It seems like forever since Thy Kingdom Come, so it seems like forever since Geoff Johns was actually writing this series well.  The last arc was so mediocre that it threw off everything for me about this series.  I’m sad to see Black Adam and Isis in such dire straits, but that whole arc should have been handled better.  That’s why this one-shot story is so welcome.  It’s Geoff Johns at his best.  Dave Eaglesham’s art is also a welcome sight, since Jerry Ordway’s work before was not so good.  My only complaint is that Eaglesham now draws the Flash (Jay Garrick)’s head and face really oddly.  Aside from that and the occasional coloring issue, like people’s shirts and hair changing colors, the art was great.  I only ever started reading this series because of Johns, so it’ll be sad to see him go.  Nonetheless, from what I have seen and heard, his successors look like they’ve got some good ideas lined up.  They’ll have to be good if they want to match what he’s done.

Plot: 8.8      Art: 9.0      Dialogue: 9.0      Overall: 8.8