Dominic wrote: The scenes of Telos dropping the domes and pitting various cities against each other are definitely feeling repetitive at this point, but they're minimized in some issues this week, and used to good effect in others, but I do find myself skipping the very familiar speech.
That is why I am skipping the fight book more or less entirely. Stuff like this is more interesting for the after-effects than anything else.
Obviously for me, the attraction is revisiting old familar characters. I'm pretty sure I haven't bought this many comics in a single month since the mid-90s. Obviously I'm enjoying the event.
But I agree that what happens afterward is a subject I'm interested in. And I've been skipping the main series. It's pretty much a continuation of Earth 2, and I don't have any interest in those ersatz versions of the JSA characters. Not to mention that as I've flipped through the issues, very little seems to happen. I'll take short 2 issue stories over a decompressed 9-issue plot any day.
So, more reviews:
Green Arrow #1
One of last week's issues that I skipped but then changed my mind about. Green Arrow has been keeping up his usual activities while under the dome, trying to maintain order and help keep the criminals and desperate in check, but he thinks things are getting out of control. Meanwhile, Connor Hawke is also in the city, and he manages to arrange a meeting with Oliver Queen. The story is essentially an alternate version of the first meeting of the two characters. The dome doesn't drop until near the end of the story, so there's plenty of time to watch how both characters deal with crime and the increasingly dire situation. The villains are a hate group, so there's a touch of politics in keeping with Green Arrow's reputation. The end of the book has the two apparently pitted against Black Canary, so I can't see her and Green Arrow trying to kill each other. Rags Morales is the artist, and I've always enjoyed his art, so that was a nice bonus.
Hawkman #1
Jeff Parker's been doing a great job on Batman 66, and he writes a solid Hawkman and Hawkgirl issue this month for Convergence. I think Tim Truman drew the Hawkworld series, so this is a return to old characters for him. This is the pre-Crisis Katar and Shayera Hol, who are unaffected by any power dampening since their abilities come from technology. They find some Thanagarian Shadow Agents and begin investigating what they were doing in the city when it was encased in the dome. The trail leads to a fight with some Manhawks, and the discovery of the Thanagarian base, where the agents have constructed an Absorbacron to examine the situation. In a nice nod to the advanced technology of the Thanagarians, they've actually been able to see outside the dome and understand that they're on an alien world with other captured cities and inhabitants, though they can't tell where in the universe they are. But, as in the Superman issue, we get a glimpse of the future (from their point of view) Crisis on Infinite Earths, which the Shadow agents reveal will merge all realities of the multiverse into one. The dome falls on the last page, with Hawkman and Hawkgirl declaring that no matter what they do, it will all end anyway. Great issue, with the most likeable Hawkman in the many years that I've been reading the different version of the character. And in a nice touch, both Katar and Shayera reveal who they are to the people of the city in order to try and inspire them to keep going.
The Green Lantern Corps #1
This issue really could have been titled Guy Gardner #1, because he gets the vast majority of the page time. I've never been much of a Guy Gardner fan, so that's a definite negative. He's angry at Hal and blames him for ruining his life, and sets about to find him and let him have it. He goes to John Stewart, who has been working in construction and who doesn't get a very good showing, and then finally finds Hal. Hal had married Carol Ferris, but left when the dome came up and has spent the last year trying to contact the Guardians and the Corps. The issue really doesn't paint any of these three characters in a flattering light, and I'm thinking it's the loser of the week.
And finally,
Batman '66 #22
Jeff Parker takes the month off and Mike W Barr is the writer. It's a nice change of pace, with some of the funniest one-liners in some time for the Adam West and Burt Ward versions of Batman and Robin. The art is very cartoony, but it suits the tone of this book better than it would other books. The Penguin catches on to Batman's plot to catch him with a valuable umbrella, so he decides to turn the tables and trap Batman with some bat-themed crimes. We even get a death trap for a mid-book cliffhanger, and one of those "climbing the wall" scenes. After a fairly sombre issue last month, it's nice to be back in the lighter territory that the book usually occupies. I'd be in favor of Barr writing more issues in future if this is a sample of how he'd approach the book.
