Comic Book Case

Green Lanterns #1 (Wolverines?)

This was a fun issue and the first time in a while that I had seen the Lanterns acting like the police as Jessica and Simon go to investigating a call on their rings of an unauthorized alien on Earth. They find the alien but not before they find a crazy guy with red eyes and red lantern symbol on his shirt in blood. The situation gets worse when after they knock him out they find the dead alien along with a lot of dead people in the basement. When they talk to the police, the families of the dead start raging out, in a way similar to the first guy and their rage sets off an explosion of red emotional energy that reveals a really intense tower. Before Simon and Jessica can investigate A.R.G.U.S. shows up and tells them to leave. Later we see Atorcitus in his sector and says that the tower that appeared on Earth is crucial to the return of the Red Lanterns to Earth, calling the operation "Red Dawn".

What really makes this issue really good is two things: the build up and the constant character moment with Jessica and Simon. The story doesn't take away from the issues they still have with Simon still dealing with pressure from Waller and government as well as Jessica dealing with being outside. The tower was awesome and even better was how it seems to be affecting people as Jessica gets attacked at the mall by a bunch of people apparently corrupted by Red Energy.

Superman #1 (Superman, Super son, super guilt, and DOCTOR MANHATTAN!?)

Clark stands at the grave of the previous Superman, ready to take over as this Earth Superman but with the conversation with OZ in Rebirth still on his mind. Later Johnathan goes to fill the Corn Harvester but when a falcon swoops up his cat Goldie, Johnathan accidentally triggers his heat vision, killing both Goldie and the Falcon scared of not only what he has done but also by the girl who sees him, Johnathan retreats to his room, not telling his parents what happened and passing up training with his dad. Later that night Johnathan sees Batman and Wonder Woman talking to his father and his father shows up telling him to come with him.

I was really hoping this issue would be bad so I wouldn't have to buy it but this was really good. It's very easy to make it just about Clark and becoming this Earth's Superman but instead we focused on Johnathan as well. He's a very interesting character as he is both excited and now afraid of his powers. The scene where he kills the animals is just awesome and his fear of his powers and shame over what he's done after promising not to use his powers is not only believable but brilliantly done. There is a scene in the kitchen where he lashes out after the girl he saw, named Kathy visits bringing milk as a neighborly gesture.  This was just a really brilliant issue and I can't wait to continue going broke reading it.

Batman #1 (now were talking!)

Last issue felt like a bit of a waste as other than introducing Duke Thomas nothing important really happened. It felt more like Snyder wanted to write just a little more so I was really glad that this issue felt like it's own. A plane has been shot with a stolen surface to air rifle and the entire issue is Batman working his tail off trying to keep the plane from crashing and killing everyone in and out of the plane. As Batman prepares to make a really touching sacrifice, the plane is stopped by a mysterious blue clad super hero calling himself Gotham and Gotham Girl.

This issue was not big on story. Instead of a lot of story points we get one which is saving the plane and it was awesome. It's hard to make any threat Batman faces to feel like he won't find some way out of it but the scene where Batman is prepared to die was totally believable. There was also a bit of set up with the plane scene with one of the passengers freaking out and saying that if they were in Metropolis or Star City they would have someone with actual super powers to save them, not seeing Batman working to save them. This makes for an interesting concept for a story that I don't think has ever actually been done: what if Gotham had it's own legitimate super powered hero? 

Civil War 2 #2 (So Tony is totally right is what I'm hearing)

Tony goes after Ulysses and takes him to his lab where he begins to study his brain to better understand his power to see the future and this honestly should have been what happened when they found out about him. When Carol and the others find him they have a bit of a discussion calling into questions Tony's actions but Tony also fires back that the death of Rhodie and the crippling of She-Hulk makes the risks too great but before anything else can be said Ulysses' powers evolve in the middle of flash. Instead of just him seeing it he can now show others and what everyone saw was all of them being killed by the Hulk. The issue ends with Carol facing Bruce Banner in his lab.

This was a decent issue and it's more about how well written it is over how good a story it is. What made the first Civil War story good was that it had a lot of characters within the main book telling us where they stand. This keeps it so focused on Tony and Carol that the book doesn't feel as alive as  as it's predecessor. Let's also take a moment to point out some problems with Carol's handling of the two visions Ulysses has had that she's acted on. First is the one with Thanos attacking Earth, they stopped Thanos from doing too much damage but they locked him up on Earth so he can still do damage on Earth. Second is Ulysses seeing Hulk killing everyone (Tony, Carol, Thor, T'challa) but Carol then goes after Bruce, presumably to kill him. Engaging Banner would only make him angry and if Carol fighting him won't set him off then the reveal about his cousin being crippled for life will, and She-Hulk was crippled because they fought Thanos. It's all one terrible circle. However I do like a lot of things about the book though if the next issue doesn't win me over I may just review this at the end as opposed to monthly.