Comics are Awesome III

[andersonh1]

Random question from today's comic shop visit: how can Marvel punish a book called "Iron Man" when the main character is apparently not a man? False advertising? Shouldn't it be "Iron Woman" to more accurately reflect the contents and main character?

Sparky, you called it on Sarko. Here's hoping we get some long term consequences for Kyle and Soranik that feel realistic and not contrived. I generally agree with your assessment that the resolution of this story was too easy. I'm happy to see these plots not drag out for six issues (the old "writing for the trade" problem so common in comics), but all Hal has to do is dig up the gauntlet and rip it in two? And even that's not a bad solution to a time travel paradox, but it seems like he should have had to work harder for it than he did, and the sentient Gauntlet was an utter non-entity. I could have settled for one more issue to this story, or less of the Corps fighting and more of Hal struggling to win the day.

Action Comics #980
The Superman Revenge Squad wants to recruit General Zod. Apparently Cyborg Superman, Blanque, the Eradicator, Mongul and Metallo aren't enough! But they want Zod to get them into Superman's Fortress of Solitude. The problem is that somehow Amanda Waller has coerced Zod into working for the Suicide Squad? Seriously? I assume there's a story behind that, but I don't read that book. There's a barrier around Belle Reve prison that incorporates Phantom Zone technology, meaning that it adversely affects anyone who passes through it... except for a machine like the Eradicator, who helps Cyborg Superman through. Cyborg Superman is disoriented, and we get a summary of how he came to exist, retelling the story from WAY back in the triangle-era Adventures of Superman days. It's a story I remember fairly well. After going to the Justice League satellite to track down the Eradicator, with Batman's help, Superman refuses to involve the League because it's a "Kryptonian problem". Superman also gets caught in the barrier, and though he fights off the Eradicator and Cyborg Superman, he's seriously affected by the mental delusions. End of issue.

[Sparky Prime]

Random question from today's comic shop visit: how can Marvel punish a book called "Iron Man" when the main character is apparently not a man? False advertising? Shouldn't it be "Iron Woman" to more accurately reflect the contents and main character?

Yeah, I have to wonder why they kept the "Iron Man" title, when there is no Iron Man in it. The main character apparently goes by the name "Ironheart". Why not give the book that as a title? If you get the book expecting to see Iron Man, you'd be disappointed to find Stark only appears in the book as a holographic AI.

Sparky, you called it on Sarko. Here's hoping we get some long term consequences for Kyle and Soranik that feel realistic and not contrived.

I hope so but I can't say I'm very optimistic about it at this point. So much of the Green Lantern titles these days feel like missed opportunities, or detours from plot points you'd think they'd address sooner rather than later.

[andersonh1]

I hope so but I can't say I'm very optimistic about it at this point. So much of the Green Lantern titles these days feel like missed opportunities, or detours from plot points you'd think they'd address sooner rather than later.

There are a lot of missed opportunities, but I'm generally enjoying what we do get on the Corps title. It's nice to have all the main characters in one title, and I like the mix of older and more modern villains. Starro, robot Brainiac and Larfleeze all in one storyline worked well for me. And having the best of the yellow and green corps work together is a nice idea.

On the other hand, if they'd just get around to addressing all of those dangling plot threads.....

[Sparky Prime]

Star Trek: Boldly Go #7-8
Following the incident with the Borg, the Romulans have decided to open up peace talk negotiations with the Federation. The Romulan ambassador is assassinated the first day of the conference however. The Romulans are quick to blame the Federation for it, especially when they find he was poisoned with something from Andoria, and an Andorian cadet seems to be a likely suspect (based entirely on circumstantial evidence), who also happens to be the son of the Andorian ambassador. Kirk and crew go searching for the real killers while Spock continues the investigation on Babel. Turns out a Tellarite was one one who actually killed the Romulan, fearing that the Romulans would eventually stab the Federation in back if they were to have peace. But Spock points out the Borg are a bigger threat and that it's in their best interest to work together.
Another good story from this series. It's really interesting to see how a threat from the Borg early on in this timeline has motivated the Romulans into opening peace talks with the Federation. I love the references to the original series as well with the conference taking place on Babel and so many of the classic Star Trek aliens that first appeared in that episode. I really feel that this series highlights some of the elements missing from the reboot films.

[Sparky Prime]

Green Lanterns #24
Volthoom (in Rami's body) is attempting to locate the original 7 Green Lantern rings, but finds the records on several of them are not found or redacted. He only manages to find one, which is currently Jessica Cruz's ring. Ganthet asks if he has what he needs, which he replies that he does, but he needs a security dial from the Vault of Shadows (which he intends to use to steal Jessica's ring). Meanwhile, Jessica and Simon complete their training and the Lanterns celebrate.
This felt like an oddly short issue... Most of it is spent on Jessica and Simon fighting with Guy and Kyle for their training. Finding it a little annoying how they keep reminding us Rami is possessed by Volthoom. I mean, I understand the need to do so, but I feel Humphries is being overly blatant about it. I'm also a bit surprised the original 7 Green Lantern rings are still in use. I guess there is really no reason why they couldn't be, but I was expecting them to be locked up. And it's a little too convenient the only one Volthoom can locate just so happens to be Jessica's ring.

[andersonh1]

Aquaman #24
I can't help but feel there's some anti-Trump subtext in this issue as the Atlanteans feel that Aquaman is to progressive to be king (does that make him Obama?), and they pick extremist (and traditionalist) Corum Rath as their new king. He quite literally builds a wall around Atlantis in the form of the "crown of thorns", a physical barrier that grows from the seabed to surround the city. His plan is clearly to "make Atlantis great again". Or maybe I'm reading too much into everything. I try to avoid politics here, but in a book that embraces politics, it's hard not to draw some parallels. But that's as far as I"ll go. Before the city is cut off, Mera is urging Aquaman to just accept the situation and return to the surface with her to get married and live quietly in Amnesty Bay with each other. They're cut off from each other when the barrier rises, and Aquaman is wounded by Murk, chief of security. Aquaman is in a bad place when the issue ends, isolated from any allies, hurt, and surrounded by enemies. It's about time he called in the creatures of the sea to help him, I'm thinking.

Superman #24
Manchester Black's schtick has always been that real heroes are the ones who do whatever is necessary to end a threat, including killing enemies. He looks down on Superman as out of touch and unwilling to do what has to be done, but he thinks he has a chance to turn Superboy into the killer he feels is needed. He's been manipulating the situation in Hamilton County all this time, and it comes down to a confrontation between him and Superman, which goes back and forth. Lois is in the hospital, having lost her leg (apparently) last issue. At the end of the story, Black has taken control of Jon, and is using him to attack Superman and his allies that have been freed from Black's prison.

Batman '66 meets Wonder Woman '77 #5
We had two issues in the 40s, two in the 60s, and now we've moved ahead to the late 70s. It's a little grim for the Adam West Batman continuity, as apparently Bruce has stopped being Batman because he ended up killing the Joker after the Joker broke into the house and it was too much for Alfred, who was in ill health. Dick has become Nightwing (in a variant of the original "disco" Nightwing costume), Barbara Gordon is police commissioner (with Chief O'Hara's daughter as the new police chief, b'gorra!). Wonder Woman comes to town as the Ras al Gul plotlines begin to reach some sort of conclusion. There are eight Lazarus Pits all around the world, and one is under the Arkham Institute in Gotham. Talia confronts Nightwing, Catwoman and Wonder Woman while Ras invades the Batcave itself, ready to kill Bruce. To be continued...

The Lone Ranger meets the Green Hornet #1
This series is actually a year old, but I pulled the first issue from the back issue bin out of curiousity. I've been on a Lone Ranger watching spree lately, since I got the first two seasons on DVD for Christmas. I love the old Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels series, and none of the remakes have ever gotten the characters right. The comics usually don't either. This book comes reasonably close, though I still can't imagine Moore playing the Ranger this way. It does use the fact that Britt Reid, the Green Hornet, is the grandson of the Ranger's brother, to good effect.

The book is set in the 1930s, mixed with flashbacks to the Ranger's time in the old west. He was the only survivor of a band of Texas Rangers, led by his brother Captain Reid. They were ambushed and all killed by members of Butch Cavendish's gang, with only the man who became the Ranger surviving the attack. He recovers with the help of Tonto, an indian who he had helped when they were both younger. Hitting on the scheme to let the world think he was dead and to wear a mask as an anonymous fighter for justice, the Lone Ranger is essentially a non-powered superhero like Batman, set in the old west. HIs mask was cut from the vest his brother was wearing when he was killed. In this story, the vest is something he passed along to his newphew Dan, who in turn plans to pass it to his son Britt. The Ranger is an old man in the 1930s, and when Dan dies, he takes it upon himself to try and inspire Britt to step up to the plate and be a hero. This being the 30s, there are Nazis involved, and the state of the world has the Ranger questioning whether he really made much of a difference during his life.

I may have to track down the trade and see how the rest of the story went. I don't really want to pay inflated back issue prices for the whole series, but this first issue wasn't too bad. No idea where Tonto is though. He's mentioned but not seen at all, though I'm sure he has to turn up at some point in the storyline. Putting an old west character in the 1930s reminds me of pictures I've seen of Civil War veterans looking at airplanes. It's like men from one era dropped into another, and it's a little jarring, in a good way.

[Sparky Prime]

Green Lanterns #25
Rami, Jessica and Simon arrive at the Vault of Shadows, where they encounter the tombs of the first 7 Green Lanterns. Although one of them is empty, and they are attacked by Tyran'r, the last of the seven. He somehow recognizes Simon and Jessica, and knows the truth that Volthoom is hiding inside Rami, but Volthoom freezes him before he can do anything. Inside the Vault, Volthoom finds his original ring, the First Ring. Using the ring, he leaves Rami's body and regenerates his original human body. The Lanterns try to stop him, but his ring is able to negate their constructs and overloads Simon's ring, causing it to explode. Volthoom then activates the Travel Lantern programming in Jessica's ring, but it says he doesn't have permission to use it. Instead Jessica is able to command it, and tells it to get her and Simon out of there, which teleports them out...
Pretty interesting issue. Not sure why he's still intent on going after Jessica's ring when he's now got two of the first seven Green Lantern rings there, when he's already incapacitated Tyran'r. Also seems strange to me the ring would still have the capabilities of the Travel Lantern if it was cannibalized to build the first seven rings.

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #22
A banking planet comes under attack, which the combine forces of the Green and Yellow Lanterns stop. During the interrogation of the raid's leader, the Lanterns realize it must have been an inside job and want to know who that person is. But instead, he tells them he wants to make a deal, knowing that a Green Lantern has murdered a Sinestro Corps member.
Basically just a set up issue for the upcoming story arc. But I do find it interesting, Kyle and Natu may still be perusing a relationship. Not sure if Natu realizes what becomes of their son, but Kyle returns her Green Lantern ring to her. She says she can't accept it as the Sinestro Corps leader, but it does match the history we'd seen in the previous arc.

[andersonh1]

Both of this week's books are a dollar higher than usual and touted as "Anniversary Issue!". When you restart the numbering, does an "anniversary issue" really mean anything? Still, both books were pretty good. Aquaman in particular has a great new artist and it feels like a completely different book.

Superman #25
The Manchester Black storyline wraps up with an all out battle. All the guest characters that have shown up over the past 24 issues are involved: Frankenstein, his ex wife, Batman and Robin, and the "Super Elite", Black's current team. Pretty much all of them turn against him by the end, as he controls Superboy in an attempt to kill Superman and add Jon to his team. He pretty much wants him to grow up to be a Superman who is willing to kill, to "do what has to be done". In the end it is the love between family that breaks Jon free from Black's control as he responds to his father's attempts to get through to him (something Batman picks up on) and then when his mom appears, having not lost her leg at all. That was an illusion projected by Manchester Black, who has always been established as a very powerful telepath. He's defeated by telepathic feedback (just go with it) as all the people he's been controlling turn on him at once, with a little help from "Kathy", Jon's friend from next door.

And if I understand it right, Jon is pretty much fully powered... his stops and starts were due to Manchester Black suppressing his abilities. He's in full flight by the end of the issue, and all is well with the Kent family. It's a lot of grimness for anyone to go through, but I suspect they'll snap back and move on. It's been a good year on the Superman title, and I've enjoyed the Superman, Lois and Jon family story and interaction more than I ever liked angsty, angry, single New 52 Superman.

Aquaman #25
Aquaman has been deposed and is believed dead by Corum Rath, the newly crowned king of Atlantis, who is digging out all the magic and weaponry he can find to protect Atlantis and make it stronger. Meanwhile Aquaman is of course not dead, though he's trapped in the city. Enough time has gone by for him to grow out his beard and long hair, though he's still wearing the classic orange and green costume, thankfully. He hasn't gone full movie on us. Aquaman is living in the depths, working to provide an honest living for himself, and staying off the radar, though he's taken some inspiration from Batman ("a friend from another life" as he characterizes it) and is taking on the criminal elements of the somewhat lawless lower depths of Atlantis. He keeps his face hidden and finally puts his ability to communicate with fish to good use in fighting the criminals, attacking them with schools of tiny fish. The rumors about "the Aquaman" are spreading, and even the king has heard them. Some wonder if it's Arthur Curry's ghost, thanks to all the magic Rath has been unleashing that hasn't been used for centuries. Meanwhile Mera believes Arthur is dead, and she's deeply depressed, until a message from Vulko tells her otherwise. And a person I can only presume is meant to be Dolphin is introduced in this issue. She has white hair and doesn't speak, which immediately brings Dolphin to mind.

The change in artist is long overdue. The one flaw in this book, in my opinion, has been the art. It's been more than adequate to tell the story, but that's all. Stjepan Sejic is the name of the new artist (I've never heard of him before), and his rendition of everything in the book, from characters to landscapes, is a delight to look at. The book feels more like a sequential fantasy painting than a superhero comic book. I've read that the book is going monthly rather than bi-weekly, and if that means we get this great art on a regular basis, I'm all for it. It's worth the trade-off.

Newsarama has a few pages that give a flavor of what it looks like: https://www.newsarama.com/35039-best-sh ... an-25.html

[Sparky Prime]

Green Lanterns #26
Following the events that lead to Volthoom obtaining the First Ring, the Guardians have begun to run experiments on him and the Ring. However, Volthoom has yet to make it work. Rami begins to work him with, and together, they figure out the ring needs more power, and is tied to the emotions Volthoom feels. He finally makes it work remembering the Fear he felt when his mother died. To solve the power issues and attempting to give him better control, they implant the Great Heart, which contains all of the Guardians emotions, into his chest. Rami begins to notice Volthoom's behavior is becoming more erratic, and is contributing less and less as a scientist. Rami decides to use Volthoom's Travel Lantern to visit his home and witnesses Volthoom himself is responsible for the destruction of Earth-15. He and the other Guardians confront him to prevent him from destroying his own world, which sends him over the edge. Rami smashes the Travel Lantern to prevent Volthoom from destroying his world, and uses it's parts to create the first Green Lantern rings.
--
Kinda don't feel this issue was necessary. I mean, it was nice to see the development of Rami and Volthooms friendship and Volthoom's decent into madness, but they've basically already covered all of this already. It's a nice touch to see the colors of the Lantern energy change depending on Volthoom's emotional state. Also interesting to note the Guardians start to shrink after they put their emotions into the Great Heart. This contradicts what we saw when Krona said the Guardians had used evolution bandages or something like that, although honestly I like this idea more.

[andersonh1]

Batman '66 meets Wonder Woman '77 #6
The series ends with Batman putting on the costume again, and showing up with a sleek new 70s Batmobile. Nightwing hasn't quite grown out of his "Holy (fill in the blank)" habit, and Barbara Gordon is now Batwoman, and proves that 70s women can hold their own, though she's appreciative of Nightwing's chivalry. And of course, everyone was kung-fu fighting. Just like all the other issues in this mini-series, the issue is heavy on plot, light on humor, but it's still a fun read as Batman and his allies stop Ras Al Gul's plot to immerse himself in the Lazarus Pit under the Arkham Institute... or rather fail to stop him, only for Ras to see himself de-aged to about 12 years old, which he finds humiliating. All in all, I think with Batman '66 there's a balance to be struck between the absurd humor typical of the Adam West series and the plot, and the more recent comics have erred towards too much plot and not enough absurdity, in my opinion. I hope if more mini-series are forthcoming that balance will be remedied.

Action Comics #982
Revenge part 5 juggles quite a few characters and introduces more at the end. The plot concerns Cyborg Superman putting together a group to kill Superman and, as we learn this issue, to take something from his Fortress of Solitude. The final group is Cyborg Superman, the Eradicator, Mongul, Blanque, Metallo and General Zod. As you can imagine, this group of massive tempers and egos is barely held in check by Cyborg Superman's promises to each, but he convinces them to see things his way and they head down to attack the Fortress, where Superman, Lois and Jon are currently trying to find a solution for Superman's blindness. When they attack, his first thought is to distract the group long enough for Lois and Jon to escape, but he also sensibly calls for help. In the end, Lex Luthor, Supergirl, new Super-Man and Steel show up to help him, and I presume next issue will be the big showdown between all of these characters.

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #23
Bolphunga says he has proof that a Green Lantern killed a Sinestro Corps member in cold blood, and that such a revelation could fracture the alliance between the two groups. This issue is largely a series of revelations as Guy and Arkillo retrieve the evidence, Hal discovers what Tomar Tu is hiding, and in a follow up from the last storyline, Soranik learns why Kyle is so upset. The characters and their goals and beliefs are what drive this particular chapter, which makes the whole thing a satisfying read, in my opinion. It's a good ensemble piece, with Hal, John, Guy and Kyle all getting some good scenes, which is no mean feat with so many characters to juggle.