Comics are Awesome II

[Sparky Prime]

Green Lantern #20
Oversized anniversary issue indeed. This is quite a hefty comic.
With Hal dead, he is able to will Black Hand's ring to him, and Black Hand fades to dust. Volthoom now fully recharged, returns the Guardians emotions to them, wanting them to feel what's about to come. However, all of the Corps show up to stop him although Volthoom says they are only delaying the inevitable. The Indigo's arrive and because they can channel Black Lantern energy are able to open a doorway for Hal. But this seems to backfire as Volthoom immediately latches onto his inner child looking for a spark to change the universe. Sinestro then unleashes Parallax, and with an opening, Hal summons Nekron. Hal drains Volthoom of his power allowing Nekron to kill him. Hal then is restored to life (somehow), and is once again a Green Lantern. Sinestro meanwhile kills the Guardians (leaving one for Atrocitus), and tells Hal he is leaving forever. In the end, we get a glimpse of the future showing everyone lives happily ever after and that Sinestro actually spared Ganthet, and apparently Larfleeze saved Sayd from the Third Army.
Kinda felt like the glimpse into the future was a bit unnecessary, seeing as comic books rarely (if ever) stick to that sort of thing. I'm sure that's more of a 'how Geoff Johns sees it ending' type thing being his final issue and all. Nice to see the Yellow Lanterns back in action, and Sinestro in possession of Parallax. Hal as a Black Lantern seemed a little oversold. It gave him the ability to drain Volthoom of his power but that seemed to be the only reason he needed to be a Black Lantern. Not sure how exactly he was brought back to life either. I'm guessing it had to do with Volthoom creating Hal as a kid and then the two re-merge, but the story isn't that clear about it. There is a reference to the Templar Guardians becoming the new Guardians for the Green Lanterns, which honestly kind of disappoints me. I was hoping to see more of a new take on it. Overall, this was nice final issue for Geoff Johns, highlighting a lot of what he has added to the GL mythos during his run.

Red Lanterns #20
Atrocitus pursues the final Guardian while the rest of the Red Lanterns return to Ysmault where they find the Inversions trying to attack the Red Lantern Central Battery. It turns out to be invulnerable to their magic, but not the Red Lanterns themselves. Bleez is able to stand up to it though, and the Inversions decide they're out of practice and leave saying it will be different next time. Atrocitus kills the Guardian, and Rankorr returns to Earth, and discovers there is nothing left for him and embraces the Red Lantern side.
So Atrocitus finally gets his satisfaction of killing a Guardian, Rankoor finally embraces he is a Red Lantern, and the rest of the issue feels like just more filler sort of but not really wrapping up loose ends. Hopefully when the new writers take over next month they can find some direction for this book.

Green Lantern Corps #20
Waited to read this issue even though this issue came out two weeks ago...
Kilowog and Guy free Salaak from the Guardians citadel, and fill him in on what's happened. Elsewhere, John and Yrra (apparently she no longer goes by Fatality) have sex on Mogo. And that's all we see of John. Rest of the issue if focused on Guy. Salaak informs Guy that the Guardians were behind Xar's attack on his family. Guy then grabs Saint Walker to boost his power and vaporized Xar, who was once again attacking Guy's family on Earth. Guy then takes a 10 day vacation with his family.
So yeah, glad I didn't read it for the spoilers, but not being that big of a Guy fan personally, I was hoping for a bit more focus on other characters out of this issue and seeing a bit more about the Corps in the aftermath. Basically all this issue does is just wrap up some loose ends for Guy from the Third Army story arc and we see what he does in his down time.

Green Lantern New Guardians #20
Kyle's on his way back to Earth when he meets up with Saint Walker (taking place right after Guy used him for a power boost). We find out the Blue Lantern Corps have found a new planet to call home. Carol and Hal are happy now that they are reunited. Atrocitus, Kyle is concerned, seems even more focused, Larfleeze is having trouble getting Glomulus to obey him since his time with Kyle, and it seems the Yellow Lanterns have returned to the Anti-Matter universe as Kyle can't get a fix on them. Meanwhile, Kyle and Walker take a trip around Earth as Kyle displays his control over the spectrum to help people. Seems Kyle can still channel the individual powers as well as the white power. Afterwords, Kyle finds his dad and they have a heart to heart, while Ganthet and Sayd watch over him proud that Kyle has finally come into his own.
Now this feels more like a worthy epilogue. This issue touches on events going back all the way the first first issue when Kyle was selected by all of the rings and eventually leading to his becoming a White Lantern. It's also nice to get to finally see a little more of what he can do as a White Lantern.

[BWprowl]

Scarlet Spider #17:
In which I’m glad I’m all caught up on this series now, as it brings in plot lines that were established in the very first arc, and Kaine has to make good on his promise to the Assassin’s Guild. It’s interesting to see the cold professionalism with which Kaine goes about his assigned job, not protesting or whining about it, even though they’re asking him to kill a ‘hero’, and a respected figure in the Marvel community besides (Wolverine, FYI). Granted, this arc just started, so we’ll see how far Kaine really intends to go and what his full plan is, and how much *actually* killing Wolverine figures into that (he seemingly does the deed at the end of this issue, but come on, it’s Wolverine). Kaine’s solid focus on his murderous job in this issue provides an interesting contrast to the doubt and cynicism that characteristically plagues his ‘heroic’ actions in previous stories, which makes for good character definition. Kaine DID used to be a serial killer, after all. The other contrast though, is that while he often begrudgingly admits to feeling good about his heroic deeds, he’s very clearly ashamed that he has to turn to villainy one more time here in order to safeguard the life and loved ones he has in his new life in Houston. It’s a pragmatic situation befitting of Kaine, and it’ll be interesting to see how it goes, especially since the ends of the arcs in ‘Scarlet Spider’ often have no problem with skewing the book’s status quo in different ways. One thing I’m not sure how I feel about in this issue is Aracely donning a costume and effectively acting as Kaine’s sidekick now, even if she already proved to be effective in that role in the previous arc, it just feels a little forced. I’ll see if her ‘Hummingbird’ persona sticks around past this storyline, and if it does, how they handle it will be a factor after that.

All that said, come on, this is a comic book where *Kaine* fights *Wolverine*! And it’s GOOD! Go Yost.

The Superior Spider-Man #10:
Our first Peter-free issue, and after using the past ones to illustrate how and why Otto was ‘Superior’ to Peter as Spider-Man, Slott uses this one as an opportunity to show the places where Otto might have some shortcomings in the superhero gig. Specifically, how his over-reliance on his monitoring systems and his confidence can leave blind spots easy for villains to exploit. The Green Goblin is back, and he shows how easy it is to hack Otto’s Spidey-bots to leave him not even knowing that he’s missing something. Granted, Otto apparently picks up on a fire started by the repurposed Vulture kid henchmen and simply dispatches the firemen to deal with it (smart thing to do honestly, and he’s busy with the ‘bigger fish’ of taking down the various crime bosses of New York), but the point has been made: Otto’s web isn’t nearly as secure as he thinks it is, and his reliance on it is a major weakness. Similarly, his focus on the ‘bigger’ crime bosses throughout the issue means he completely misses the various loose henchmen being rounded up by the Goblin for some bigger plan. Otto goes on early about how he sees the ‘big picture’ and it seems the point is that he’s missing the forest for the trees, something Slott has made clear before the more ‘street-level’ focused Peter wouldn’t have had trouble with. It’s a nice change-up in the wake of the ideas Slott rolled out last issue, and shows that the point of what makes a hero ‘Superior’ isn’t as clear-cut as some people may have thought. I can’t wait to see what the fallout from this is, and how Otto reacts to it.

Side note on these: Kaine’s assassination job sees him temporarily travelling back to New York for the arc, with Otto/Superior Spidey even making a cameo appearance on one page. It’ll be interesting to see if Kaine sticks around to meet the new Spider-Man after his thing with Wolverine is done, and how the two Spiders interact, especially given what happened the last time Kaine and Otto bumped into each other…

July is apparently gonna be ‘Superior Spider-Month’ with more books tying into the Superior title than usual. Could be fun.

[andersonh1]

I hate what Geoff Johns has done to the Guardians of the Universe. Nothing like taking a group who set about to save lives and bring some order to the universe and turning them into psychos who are finally slaughtered by another psycho, Sinestro. Wonderful. We should all get such a happy ending. They used to be jerks and do some morally questionable things, but they had never resorted to universal genocide. Yeah, I've griped about this very topic, but it's worth repeating. Despite Geoff Johns' considerable success with Green Lantern and his many nice ideas and some good stories, there's also been a certain undertone of bleakness and violence that I won't miss.

On to the only super-hero comic I'm currently reading.

Daredevil #26
Matt Murdock is not the man without fear this time around. After being soundly beaten by an opponent last issue with all of his abilites and eyesight, who left him alive just to torture him, Matt is pretty paranoid. And rightly so, given several things that happen to him in this issue. The background story arc of the entire series is being tied up finally, and the villain who's been after Murdock is revealed. His condition and motivation go back to an older Daredevil storyline that I've never read, but there's enough of a flashback and discussion for me to be in the picture and avoid confusion. Mark Waid continues to keep me interested in a book about a character I've never read much of in the past. Good storytelling is important kids!

[BWprowl]

I hate what Geoff Johns has done to the Guardians of the Universe. Nothing like taking a group who set about to save lives and bring some order to the universe and turning them into psychos who are finally slaughtered by another psycho, Sinestro. Wonderful. We should all get such a happy ending. They used to be jerks and do some morally questionable things, but they had never resorted to universal genocide. Yeah, I've griped about this very topic, but it's worth repeating. Despite Geoff Johns' considerable success with Green Lantern and his many nice ideas and some good stories, there's also been a certain undertone of bleakness and violence that I won't miss.

While I certainly don't need a 'happy ending' in all of my fiction, I think I actually agree with you that the Guardians are more interesting as egotistical, morally-ambiuous douchebags who really suck at their job than they are as a definitely-antagonistic council-of-evil wannabe. It made them a decent allegory for other self-serving, red-tape-trapped systems of authority, and while we could all have a good laugh at just how BAD they were at Guarding the Universe (and it could be used well to contrast with how much good a lot of the GLs were able to do despite the incompetence of their system), there was still a sense that they were at least kinda TRYING to do the right things for mostly the right reasons. I guess having them decide to eradicate free will wholesale could kinda be seen as an end-sum of their self-centered, out-of-touch viewpoints, but I still can't say it's totally true to the purpose of the characters. Like, I didn't have a problem when one or two Guardians went rogue (Skar, fr'instance), but having the whole system bar, surprise, Ganthet and Sayd, being straight-up-evil kinda feels like they just ran out of places to go.

And yeah, Johns's ultraviolence can be a little much sometimes. It worked in-context in places in 52, but even in the horror-themed Blackest Night it felt gratuitous at times, and a lot of his stuff in Teen Titans was just needlessly excessive.

[andersonh1]

I tend to agree with you. Scar doesn't seen all that different than the rest of the Guardians in retrospect, does she? It's too bad.

I've always enjoyed stories where there's a conflict between the Guardians (who are looking at the big picture and long view) and the Green Lanterns, particularly Hal, who can see a more immediate concern, when both have a valid point of view. The Guardians tend to lack empathy due to their vast age and experience, and are in many ways the ultimate jerk boss that most of us have had, but they're essentially working towards a noble goal. They haven't always been written that way of course. Ron Marz wrote them as almost completely unwilling to take any actions, totally dependent on the Corps, while John Byrne wrote them as more than willing to keep secrets from their Corps, even to the point of erasing knowledge if necessary. There's room for a broad interpretation of their character without having them descend into out and out genocide.

Even Geoff Johns hasn't always been consistent. I think about the Guardian who sacrificed his life during the Sinestro Corps War to end the threat of Superboy Prime. How much did they change in just a few short years, under the same author?

[Sparky Prime]

I hate what Geoff Johns has done to the Guardians of the Universe. Nothing like taking a group who set about to save lives and bring some order to the universe and turning them into psychos who are finally slaughtered by another psycho, Sinestro. Wonderful. We should all get such a happy ending. They used to be jerks and do some morally questionable things, but they had never resorted to universal genocide. Yeah, I've griped about this very topic, but it's worth repeating. Despite Geoff Johns' considerable success with Green Lantern and his many nice ideas and some good stories, there's also been a certain undertone of bleakness and violence that I won't miss.

I think you're taking this storyline a bit out of context. The Guardians never resorted to universal genocide here either. The concept of the Third Army was somewhat like the Borg Collective. Individuals were 'assimilated' had their free will taken to become part of the Guardians 'hive mind' sort of a thing. A cold, emotionless, logical approach to calming a chaotic universe. What part of that doesn't sound like the Guardians? The Guardians lost sight of how to live and became their own worst enemies. A lot of what Johns has done with Green Lantern is to show characters as more than black and white, good and evil. It's a dynamic that adds depth to the story, not bleakness.

Like, I didn't have a problem when one or two Guardians went rogue (Skar, fr'instance), but having the whole system bar, surprise, Ganthet and Sayd, being straight-up-evil kinda feels like they just ran out of places to go.

To be fair, the Guardians numbers were dwindling, and they were having to put up more and more with insubordinate Green Lanterns and new threats that despite their best efforts to prevent (such as the War of Light, Blackest Night, Krona's take over of the Corps) kept coming. Ultimately they thought the only way to calm the universe was if they turned it into a dictatorship that followed their will alone.

[andersonh1]

I think you're taking this storyline a bit out of context.

I'm trying to keep it in context actually, taking past depictions of the Guardians into account as written by Johns and others.

The Guardians never resorted to universal genocide here either. The concept of the Third Army was somewhat like the Borg Collective. Individuals were 'assimilated' had their free will taken to become part of the Guardians 'hive mind' sort of a thing.

In these sense that converted beings were still alive, sure. But that man the Guardians changed early in the storyline, the one who protested "I have children, please!" as he was altered into one of the Guardians' creatures. Was he still alive? Did he exist? Or was everything that man was obliterated when he became something different. I would argue that he was essentially dead, and that's why I'm calling it universal genocide. That individual no longer existed, something that was even referred to in GLC as Gardner watches one of the Green Lanterns converted. "He's just gone" Guy says, or words to that effect.

A cold, emotionless, logical approach to calming a chaotic universe. What part of that doesn't sound like the Guardians?

The Guardians were never emotionless, not until recent years. And they armed their Corps with a weapon based on a part of the "emotional spectrum", which seems an odd thing for emotionless creatures to do. Johns changed the Guardians to fit his story.

The Guardians lost sight of how to live and became their own worst enemies. A lot of what Johns has done with Green Lantern is to show characters as more than black and white, good and evil. It's a dynamic that adds depth to the story, not bleakness.

As I said, I find it bleak when characters that have essentially been working towards a noble goal of protecting life and keeping order suddenly decide that the way to do that is to mutilate every creature in the universe and rob them of their free will. That's about as bleak as it gets, to watch good people go bad. And there's no Bombshell controlled cerebro shell to absolve them of their actions.

[Shockwave]

I would argue that he was essentially dead, and that's why I'm calling it universal genocide. That individual no longer existed, something that was even referred to in GLC as Gardner watches one of the Green Lanterns converted. "He's just gone" Guy says, or words to that effect.

It doesn't matter, it's comic books, he'll be back later on eventually as a Black Lantern or clone or time travel or something anyway...

And there's no Bombshell controlled cerebro shell to absolve them of their actions.

Oh SNAP!!

[Sparky Prime]

I'm trying to keep it in context actually, taking past depictions of the Guardians into account as written by Johns and others.

Honestly, it seems to me like you're favoring you own view of them rather than objectively looking at those depictions.

In these sense that converted beings were still alive, sure. But that man the Guardians changed early in the storyline, the one who protested "I have children, please!" as he was altered into one of the Guardians' creatures. Was he still alive? Did he exist? Or was everything that man was obliterated when he became something different. I would argue that he was essentially dead, and that's why I'm calling it universal genocide. That individual no longer existed, something that was even referred to in GLC as Gardner watches one of the Green Lanterns converted. "He's just gone" Guy says, or words to that effect.

That's the thing, you're only assuming being transformed into a Third Army soldier essentially killed that individual. Guy simply saying he'd lost someone isn't any sort of confirmation of that. I mean, it's not like Guy actually scanned any of them with his ring or studied them to any capacity. So how would he know for sure? Heck, not one person was ever shown attempting to help any of those people that got transformed or tried to see if they couldn't reverse the process. Except for Saint Walker, but I don't think we can count that given it was in a fantasy created by the First Lantern. But still, given the Blue Lantern's abilities to heal, or Kyle's new White Lantern powers, you'd think there would have been a way they could have helped those people given the chance. And if that's the case, then you can't argue those people were essentially dead. There's certainly no evidence to suggest that they couldn't be saved at any rate.

The Guardians were never emotionless, not until recent years. And they armed their Corps with a weapon based on a part of the "emotional spectrum", which seems an odd thing for emotionless creatures to do. Johns changed the Guardians to fit his story.

Even before they were written to be completely emotionless, they were still portrayed as being more logical than emotional. Somewhat like a Vulcan. And remember, the Guardians first attempt at a universal police force was emotionless robots. I don't see that Johns really changed the Guardians to fit the story here, when those elements have always been present.

As I said, I find it bleak when characters that have essentially been working towards a noble goal of protecting life and keeping order suddenly decide that the way to do that is to mutilate every creature in the universe and rob them of their free will. That's about as bleak as it gets, to watch good people go bad. And there's no Bombshell controlled cerebro shell to absolve them of their actions.

How is it Obi Wan put it...? "Luke, you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view." We'd see the Guardians (or the Borg to continue using that comparison) as evil for robbing people of their individual free will. From their point of view however, they still see it as protecting life and order throughout the universe, it's just their means of doing it has changed by assimilating everyone to follow one single will. Not that it makes it right, but you have to see it as how they are looking at it to really get their motivations here. I don't see that as bleak in the least, I see it as adding depth to the characters because it really isn't so black and white as simply 'good people going bad'. And no one is saying they should be absolved of their actions.

It doesn't matter, it's comic books, he'll be back later on eventually as a Black Lantern or clone or time travel or something anyway...

Not every character that dies get brought back, and these really weren't that big of characters that they'd do that for...

[andersonh1]

Honestly, it seems to me like you're favoring you own view of them rather than objectively looking at those depictions.

Even before they were written to be completely emotionless, they were still portrayed as being more logical than emotional. Somewhat like a Vulcan. And remember, the Guardians first attempt at a universal police force was emotionless robots. I don't see that Johns really changed the Guardians to fit the story here, when those elements have always been present.

Not at all. If you go back and look at the way different authors have written the Guardians, there's no way it can be honestly said that Geoff Johns has done anything other than what Ron Marz did, or Gerard Jones did, and that is to change their personality to suit the story. I'm entirely on firm ground in saying that in no sense were the Guardians ever lacking in emotion or governed entirely by logic. There have been many, many occasions where emotions guided their decisions, or where they acted on knowledge that they possessed which the Green Lanterns did not.

The Manhunters weren't (and aren't) emotionless. In their case, it was a classic sci-fi story of the machines coming to believe that they were superior to their creators. Indeed their current goals are largely revenge against the Guardians and Green Lanterns, and revenge is an emotional goal, not a logical one. They came to see organic life as inherently flawed, and sought to remove it from the universe entirely. The Guardians personally fought and destroyed most of them. Ironic that the Guardians in this latest storyline would almost do the same thing the Manhunters did, and decide that life in the universe was fundamentally flawed and should be altered beyond recognition.

That's the thing, you're only assuming being transformed into a Third Army soldier essentially killed that individual.

No, the Guardians' dialogue confirms it. That individual is gone.

There's certainly no evidence to suggest that they couldn't be saved at any rate.

Have any of them been restored? If that happens in future issues, I'll concede the point, of course. But all the evidence so far says otherwise.

We'd see the Guardians (or the Borg to continue using that comparison) as evil for robbing people of their individual free will. From their point of view however, they still see it as protecting life and order throughout the universe, it's just their means of doing it has changed by assimilating everyone to follow one single will. Not that it makes it right, but you have to see it as how they are looking at it to really get their motivations here.

I get the motivation, the problem is that I don't find it believable or consistent. It's like saying the way to end conflict in the world and protect life is to forcibly lobotomize every man, woman and child. That's not a rational scenario, for obvious reasons, but that's what the Guardians essentially chose to do. They might as well have allowed Nekron to end all life, it would have amounted to the same thing.