Comics NEWS! DCnU Captain Marvel

...and by DCnU Captain Marvel I mean Shazam!
That's right, there's going to be a name change.

Shazam! With one lightning-infused magic word, DC Comics has relaunched one of its most iconic characters, reviving the superhero known since 1939 as Captain Marvel and renaming and supercharging him with a heavy double dose of mysticism and magic.
“We changed his name [to Shazam] for a lot of reasons,” said Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns. “One of them is that Shazam is the word most associated with the character, so we just felt it made sense — a lot of people already thought that was his name, anyway.”
With a new origin, a cowl, a lightning bolt on his chest, and a penchant for causing electrical appliances to explode, Shazam still bears similarities to the original hero, including the power to change from feisty teen Billy Batson into a superhero by uttering the magic word that is now his name.  

The new Shazam debuts March 21 as a side story in Justice League No. 7.
“His place in the world will be far more rooted in fantasy and magic than it ever was before,” Johns said.

Since I'm a big fan of the character, I thought I had to make a comment regarding this new direction for the character.

Well, first off the new spine, with the play on electicity seems like a nice move.
...and that's all the good I can say about this reimagining.

This is the new
Captain Marvel
, excuse me, Shazam?!
Bleh... too much Assassin's Creed in the hood, not enough old school flying mystery man with a cape anymore...

And I'm not talking "nerd continuity" and stuff.
I don't need to know much about a character (which in this case...I'm mostly familiar with Jeff Smith's recent interpretation) to know you should always respect a minimum of its look and design before revamping him :/ 

But here...the more I look at it, the less I like it...
Look, Billy Batson's not supposed to be gritty, badass or any of that. Just a good hearted clean superhero.

This fancomic page summarize what i mean and is a lot more in-character than that pic released by DC officially -> http://1.bp.blogspot...tain-marvel.jpg

Anyways, here's two drawing I just did today (one for my "Daily Sketch Challenge").
Since I'm not digging the new gritty/mature/badass look, I decided to go full-cartoon here

I remade my original sketch (today's DSC), which was New 52-Billy, with the classic Billy Batson I like over it!

(if you want to see this and even more, check out my deviantArt gallery!)

ComicPageOfTheWeekend: Agent Green and his Corps

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Green Lantern © DC Comics

ComicPageOfTheWeekend: Dex-Starr: Secret Origins

Here's something different for a change!
The origin story of everyone's favorite Red Lanterns~

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Green Lantern #55 © DC Comics

ComicPageOfTheWeekend: Xmas with the JSA

That kid's right...

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JSA #55 © DC Comics

ComicPanelsOfTheWeek: Darkseid "New52"

So, here's the big baddie of the DCU redesigned by Jim Lee.

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Aww man...that's kinda bad.... I prefer the classic old school skirt wearing Kirby-esque Darkseid over this mess X__X
Call it Silver Age or silly, but it was much better than...this!

Justice League © DC Comics

CBR Untold Tales of Blackest Night

  

Remember DC's big blockbuster story arc Blackest Night?

Well here's something related, which I originally intended to post for Halloween, but kept delaying it...so anyway, here is...

(be sure to either known about or read Blackest Night before, or this book will seem pretty abstract to you :P)

Comic title: Untold Tales of Blackest Night
By Geoff Johns, Peter J Tomasi, JT Krul, Ehan Van Sciver, Ed Benes, Patrick Gleason, Sam Schlagman, Jason Fabok, Jeremy Love, Bret Booth & others.

Published by DC Comics
From 2010
Lineup Green Lantern/Blackest Night mega-event
Format: Halloween One-Shot special (as originally planned, but actually only later released on Christmas/December).

Did you like Blackest Night, did you want more of it, or at least one final look at that zombie invasion mega-event from DC?
Well, your in luck then, Untold Tales of Blackest Night is exactly here for that.

Claimed to be "deleted scenes" taken out of the blockbuster storyline. Deleted scenes they couldn't find any space on any of the other tie-ins book to squeeze these in.

Told via the "Book of Black" these stories are one last look at the longest night the DC heroes lived through this time from the point of view of some true underdogs, lesser known characters or simply the ones we forgot to stop by during the event.

Various creative teams worked on the several little chapters found in this One Shot.
The principal overlapping narrative is written by Peter J Tomasi and drawn by Patrick Gleason & Sandra Hope.
We're back with Sinestro Corps member Lyssa Drak. Trapped in Black Hand and Nekron's own "book", she narrates the tales (un)told in this book as she tries to get out of it...unsuccessfully.

The first actual deleted scene is a story about Shadowpact member Ragman, a magic based vigilante.
The story is by Geoff Johns, with the art provided by Ivan Reis & Oclair Albert.
Ragman tries to escape the Black Lanterns, the souls in his rags are awakening...
Nice little story that is a bit too short and doesn't go anywhere much. But it was a character I like I was intrigued to know what he was doing during Blackest Night, so at least it answers that.
Would have loved seeing the rest of his gang Shadowpact around though. (Blue Devil and the Phantom Stranger did appear a bit more in the actual BL story though...)

The second scene is another one done by the above crew.
It's about Flash's enemies called the Rainbow Raiders (I kid you not!), who stolen the technology of a previous enemy who called himself Rainbow Raider and who want to join the ranks of the Black Lanterns through...an odd original way....

Then there's a very nice Animal Man story by Sam Schlagman with Jason Fabok & Ryan Winn on the art.
Another characters I would have wanted to see during the actual event, very nice to finally see the adventure through his eyes.
His connection to the green and animals life is briefly touched upon, and distorted thanks to the zombie invasion.

After that is a Donna Troy story from writer JT Krul with Ed Benes lovely artwork serving it.
Well I said Donna Troy? Let's call it a Wonder Girl story, since it kinda changes direction mid-point.
This one's taking place near the end of "the night". It kinda showed a bit more but wasn't really a self contained story, more like missing pages.

A very nice little mini Scarecrow story build the bridge into the last moments of the event.
From Jeremy Love with art by Bret Booth.
At some point near the end of the event, the Lanterns elected some "deputies". This little story take place at that moment. And it was the most "Halloween-ysh" tale of the bunch.
Always fun to explore Scarecrow from time to time, at moments like these.

Finally a story that isn't taking place on planet Earth!
The last one is written, inked and colored by Ehan Van Sciver.
It follows Sinestro Corps member Karu-Sil as she battles Black Lanterns alongside a Green Lantern.

Most of these stories feel kinda rushed and either quickly end abruptly or end up leaving you for more.
They do feel like missing scenes moreso than actual "Untold Tales" as the title implies.

Lyssa Drak is back in the end for an epilogue after BN, which end up making her story seemed the more intriguing, you kinda wish you could have more and followed her onto the next coming epic story...

Overall, it was a nice little "Halloween" comic filler to read.
Though I gotta say, if you're a Green Lantern fan it might leave you wanting for more, since Lanterns barely appear in here...
(couldn't they squeeze in there, oh I dunno, a G'nort story for example??)

Most of the tales feel too constrained, some pages too close to develop anything... I wish Ragman had more than 2-3 pages!!
Strangely though, Animal Man  felt like the main story, as it counted the higher pages number of the whole bunch, (kinda ties-in to what was coming in Brightest Day after that...)

If you enjoyed the Blackest Night as a whole, you will definitively be in for a threat :P
Though consider these as some kind of "deleted scenes" spotlighting some under used DC Comics characters.

I think I would quite enjoy if DC could revisit the whole BN event for Halloween, once or twice again down the road..
(though the "New 52" reboot makes it unsure for now...we'll see in a year or two!)

I give it:

  2 / 3 Plastic-trophies!

15 years ago, a young Geoff Johns pitched future ideas in the letter column

Here's something fun!

In the early 90s, long before the important and leading figure he is at DC Comics, Geoff Johns was just like you and me. A comic book fan who used to follow the adventures of such characters like Superboy...

Superboy, part clone of Lex Luthor? Where did I read this...
Oh, right!

It was a big plot point of Geoff Johns relaunched Teen Titans comic!

It's fun seeing the concepts of a former fan-turned-writer being reused. It's great really, seeing the ideas and dreams he had for these characters when he was younger, being mostly the same nowadays.

"...I'm sick of the misunderstood meeting between superheroes (big slugfest), like if Batman and Green Lantern went to Metropolis to ask Superman about something, but Superman thinks they're going to try and arrest him, or something, so when Green Lantern puts his green wall up Superman just smashes through it. Then, like, what would he do? Fight Batman or something? That's totally stupid and lame, I hope no one ever does that again." - Geoff Johns

Huh... wasn't that the way you wrote Justice League #1 for this relaunch? XD

And here's one more...

Mmmh..
Bringing Zoom back?

A new Zoom-time traveler for Wally West (above).
The original Zoom back through time travel against Barry Allen (below).

No, I don't find any of this ironic XD

Flashfacts: How does a Boomerang work?

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The Flash © DC Comics

ComicPanelsOfTheWeek: Ambush Bug in 52

You know why they don't put Ambush Bug too much into regular comics or offer him appearances in events?
Because it always end up kinda like this:

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52 © DC Comics

ComicNEWS! War of the Green Lanterns

Straight from DC's blog the source!

There's a new Green Lantern event coming up soon!!

"From REBIRTH to SINESTRO CORPS to BLACKEST NIGHT, Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, John Stewart and Kyle Rayner have stood by each other and fought together to save our universe. After all that, what could possibly tear them apart? We’ll find out in WAR OF THE GREEN LANTERNS starting in March’s WAR OF THE GREEN LANTERNS #1 and throughout the Green Lantern titles in March, April and May. Every Green Lantern is about to be tested — and tested against one another."

The Green Lanterns are always at war! XD
This better be closer to the fun Sinestro Corps than the long epic Blackest Night...
So many events lately...

CBR:Quickies Green Lantern (3) BLACKEST NIGHT

Keeping with the Halloween theme, Zombies invade my review and the DCU today~
Here's the long overdue review of the Blackest Night comic book event.

Be sure to check out my previous Green Lantern reviews beforehand, easily found with the CBR link button at the top of the blog.

FLESH- FLESH-...Black Lanterns, Riiiiiiise....

"In brightest day, in blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight
Let those who worship evil's might,
Beware my power... Green Lantern's light!"

Well... This was bound to happen sometime...
The Blackest Night finally took place in a big game-changing event in the DCUniverse. From 2009 to 2010, the Black Lanterns invaded DC Comics and ran upon Earth itself.

The rise of the dead was always prophecized in the GL's own oath. But it was in the recent events that all the signs started to appear. First, the renegage Green Lantern created a corps in his own twisted image, the Sinestro Corps. Then Star Sapphire was revealed to be part of the violet corps. Red Lanters started their rampage in the cosmos. The mysterious Agent Orange was discovered. Finally both a wishful Blue Lanterns Corps and a careful Indigo Tribe entered the scene.

Now all the dead rise under the fist of Black Hand, former GL villain and now much more...
Nekron plans start to appear in the big picture....what else did the Guardians of the Universe hide or try to protect from mortals?

So, how to follow this mega-event created by mastermind Geoff Johns? What books to read, which order?
Well, I still think the order in which they were published is the best suited and more recommended way..but if like me, you mostly follow trade paperbacks, here's a Review:Quickies~

Below, the best order to read those as recommended by DC Comics at the end of each one of those.

Comic title: BLACKEST NIGHT
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Ivan Reis and Oclair Albert
Format: Trade collecting Blackest Night #0–8

The story begins with The Flash/Barry Allen and Green Lantern/Hal Jordan. Both heroes remember the past, their fallen comrades...

It's heroes day. While everywhere in the world people remember the heroes that are no more, while the four main human Green Lanterns light the sky on Coast City...somewhere, far away, the dead start to rise under the command of Black Hand who's back to torment the living....

Quickly, Black Lanterns start to attack all superheroes and any living creature they find. Like an infection, death grows fast in the heroes' ranks. The BL Martian Manhunter attacks Hal and Barry, Hawkman is killed by BL Elongated Man, Ray Palmer/The Atom nearly escapes...

Far away, at the centre of the Universe, the Guardians watch, as always, the events going out of hands. But then, even protected there the Black Lanterns corrupts and destroys...

Finally, all the Corps in the whole Universe try to fight back the invasion who seems to be directed on sectore 2814, on planet Earth...what is Nekron's ultimate goal? What did the Guardians really hide there? Who will fall? Who shall rise? And when will the Brightest Day finally bring peace to this madness??

Overall: Collected here is the core part of this event. If you only had to read and get one of thse books, this is it!
It's pretty fun to see all these pieces coming together. You can really see Johns' master plan being brought to life after all those past clues and references from his past run on Green Lantern!
The art of Ivan Reis is, like always, fantastic! He really surpassed himself this time, like only George Perez would have been. Tons of characters, hundreds of details and a thousands of these sort of epic panels!
Some moments seem to pass quickly or be fast overseen..it's natural, the following books below will help you see the bigger picture.
The TPB contains an intro, recaps, Black Lanterns sketches and a behind the scenes commentary by the Blackest Night team, discussing several panels and sequences of this event, noting cameos and allusions to the past. (all following BN books contain the rest of BL members sketches, so don't miss those out~)
Honestly, it's a must for newbie Green Lantern fans and long time ones too.
Plus the DC history which is affected in this event is simply presented for newcomers and this is a game changing story, meaning new status quo introduced in here!
Must read!!

I give this one a: 3 / 3 Score!


Comic title: BLACKEST NIGHT: Green Lantern 
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Doug Mahnke, Ed Benes and others

Format: Trade collecting Green Lantern vol. 4 #43–52

Since Blackest Night told the events from the DCU point of view, collected in here are the issues of Green Lantern to be precise.
The story opens with the Book of the Black making a small recap of the events to be, then it's the origin of Black Hand finally detailed. Who is he, where does he come from, how was he growing up?
It will directly unfold then into the same story as the main BN book.

We see different point of views. Same stories, same moments, only different eyes.

The Black Lanterns are merely secondary players here, the heroes are Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Sinestro, Carol Ferris. In the end, we have a new perspective on what happened exactly, much more emotion-centered.

Overall: Taking place at the same time of the previous book, it's a nice complementary book. Recommended too. If you only had to buy a second of these books and nothing more, this would be it.
I'm sure it will make new GL fans, it's very fun, dynamic and unique!
So much more than simply a "zombie infestation with Superheroes".

I give this one a: 2.5 / 3 Score!


Comic title: BLACKEST NIGHT: Green Lantern Corps 
Written by PETER J. TOMASI
Art by PATRICK GLEASON, REBECCA BUCHMAN and OTHERS

Format: Trade collecting Green Lantern Corps vol. 2 #39–47

In Green Lantern Corps are related what happened on the front side, battling the dead across space.
The main players here are GLCorps regulars, Kyle Rayner, Guy Gardner, Arisia, Soranik Natu, Kilowog, and many more~
While returning to Oa from Heroes day, Kyle and Guy meet up Princess Iolande and Natu. Suddenly, right from nowhere, an invasion of Black Lanterns start out.

The story deals with each of these heroes as they must survive the Blackest Night and their own personal drama. All must face what was really hidden in their hearts, be it Kyle and Natu's passion, Guy's rage or Kilowog's guilt..

In the later part of this book, the emerald corps confronts the other corps from the colored spectrum to finally face the dawn of this long, long night in a climatic final battle...

Overall: I've always been a big fan of the GLCorps book, and I wasn't disappointed by these eventful issues.
Tomasi really became a reliable writer for this book, and his story is as nervous and epic as Johns.
It's more fun to read this if you know a lot more about GL than who's the current "main" Lantern.
But it still is a fun approachable scifi superhero book. Probably the best team book currently on the shelve~

I give this one a: 2.5 / 3 Score!

Comic title: BLACKEST NIGHT: Black Lantern Corps: Volume 1
Written by JAMES ROBINSON, PETER J. TOMASI and J.T. KRUL
Art by ED BENES, ARDIAN SYAF, EDDY BARROWS and OTHERS

Format: Trade collecting Blackest Night: Batman #1–3, Blackest Night: Superman #1–3 and Blackest Night: Titans #1–3

In Gotham City, Deadman tries to fight back and help out the other people alive. But when you're a ghost, it's quite difficult to make others hear you...
The new and improved dynamic duo of Batman/Dick Grayson and Robin/Damian Wayne, join up with the Red Robin to fight back their family brought back from death.

In another tale, Superman, Superboy, Supergirl and Krypto face up against returned deadly foes and friends like the Earth-2 Golden Age Superman...

Finally, the Teen Titans from different eras have a shocking face off against old foes and personal dilemas. Donna Troy confronts her dead husband and child, Beast Boy a former love from the past, Hank and Dove an intimate threat...

Overall: Collected here are the tie-in regular on-going DC series that were released under the Blackest Night banner.
My own favorites are probably in this first book of tie-ins. While the Teen Titans was nice enough, nothing much, the Batman and Superman issues are quite amazing.
Batman and the Robins battle dead parents and creepy BL foes. Nice cameos by 80s underrated enemies like Deacon Blackfire (from The Cult), Blockbuster, etc...
Superman explores the relation of his close "superman-family".
Nice tie-ins, not too forced and also not bad..in fact, quite good.
You'd think writting Batman stories in a world of zombies could have ended a bit out-of-character... Nice work team Blackest Night ;)


I give this one a: 2.5 / 3 Score!


Comic title: BLACKEST NIGHT: Black Lantern Corps: Volume 2
Written by JAMES ROBINSON, GEOFF JOHNS & GREG RUCKA
Art by SCOTT KOLINS, NICOLA SCOTT, EDDY BARROWS & RUY JOSE

Format: Trade collecting Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #1–3, Blackest Night: JSA #1–3 and Blackest Night: Flash #1–3

The Flash has to face his BL Rogues, while the living ones try to stay that way! Then Barry is later joined by Bart Allen/Kid Flash and Wally West/The Other Flash (ah!)

In the cities, superheroes try to protect the people. The JSA has to survive the night against the worst deadly foes...good guys turned into Black Lanterns.

Wonder Woman tries to stop a deadly BL Maxwell Lord, gets turned into a BL herself and finally is saved by and joins the Star Sapphires for a special issue!

Overall: Despite the cover, vol. 2 doesn't cover the stories of the undead heroes turned into Black Lanterns, but it contains the rest of the tie-in issues.
The Flash issues are a great way to make the point on what's going on in The Flash these days. The speedforce works differently now, there's 2 Flashes, the Rogue villains aren't exactly the same membres these days.. Loved this part!
The JSA one, whiel the art looks great, is a bit messy honestly...
Finally Wonder Woman is the smartest of these tie-ins. They were released near the end of the invasion, so it succeeds in covering different aspects such as the proper BL invasion, WW turned into one of those (in the main core Blackest Night issues, some books above) and WW after that, as a Star Sapphire.
Check it out if you're completly into BN or are a die-hard fan of any of the characters represented in here.

I give this one a: 2 / 3 Score!


Comic title: BLACKEST NIGHT: Rise of the Black Lanterns
Written by GEOFF JOHNS, GREG RUCKA and OTHERS
Art by RYAN SOOK, DENYS COWAN and OTHERS

Format: Trade collecting Power of Shazam! #48, Catwoman #83, Question #37, Phantom Stranger #42, Weird Western Tales #71, Atom & Hawkman #46, Adventures Comics #7, Green Arrow #30 and Starman #81

With this book, DC decided to get into very interesting concepts.
For this event specially, several DC Comic titles were "resurrected" per say, for just this one time. Books that were cancelled (Catwoman, Hawkman...) or stopped since a long time (Weird Western Tales, Power of Shazam!) were brought back, continuing the old numbering and using similar art style on covers as their namesake.

First, the Atom & Hawkman doesn't explore their friendship, as the title implies, but explores this BN from Ray Palmer's tiny perspective.
But other issues tell the events of Blackest Night in a similar narration and construction of these revived series. The Phantom Stranger sees how magic is affected, with the help of a few guests.
Jonah Hex and a couple of other old west themed DC characters runs havock in the streets and pursue unfinished family business. Catwoman needs some resolution to what happened to Black Mask in the end of her series with the help of some Gotham Sirens.

Others, turned into these BL monsters, are now puppets in the hand of Nekron.
Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, as a Black Lantern, can only see him going through the night without a choice of his actions.
Superboy has a plan to lose the Black Ring, thanks to the help of his loved ones.
The new Question, Renee Montoya, has to face her old mentor and only her smarts will defeat this undead creature.


Overall: Loved the Green Arrow tie-in!
There! I said it!
I even would dare to say, I'd buy this for that single issue alone! :P
It was simply well written and amazing. A unique look at what's going on in the head of a Black Lantern.
The other stories are pretty good too, depending on your tast of DC characters. I'm still sad the writing duo of Jonah Hex, Palmiotti and Gray, didn't do the Weird West one....
Anyway, much better than the actual Blackest Night tie-ins above, these revived old DC titles are a great bunch to check out ;)

I give this one a: 2.5 / 3 Score!


Comic title: BLACKEST NIGHT: Tales of the Corps 
Written by GEOFF JOHNS, PETER J. TOMASI and STERLING GATES
Art by JERRY ORDWAY, IVAN REIS, DAVE GIBBONS, DOUG MAHNKE and OTHERS

Format: Trade collecting Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #1–3, "Green Lantern" #49 and "Adventures Comics" #4-5

Dive into the colored Spectrum of Emotions with this collection of Tales of the various Corps.
Explore the different emotions with GL members Kilowog and Arisia, have a look at some core members of the Red or Blue Corps. Another tale of the Agent Orange. A unique outlook on Star Sapphires, Sinestro Corps and even the Indigo Tribe.

Also collected here are texts from the Book of the Black. Like a twisted diary "written by Black Hand", it explores the various colored Corps as well, under his vision.

Finally, a fun two parter with Superboy Prime. It doesn't make much sense and breaks the 4th wall, but is a nice touch to end this TPB.

Overall: This is sort of a parody of the old Tales of The Green Lantern Corps I reviewed already in my past CBR: Quickies.
Surely the most bizarre of these books.
The Tales in the 1st part are your usual GL stories. For you fans who want some more background on specific characters and/or Corps. Some are more scifi-ysh, others less.
The Book of the Black is...well..it's a bit weird, but in a good way. Not sure it will please everyone though-
Finally the Superboy Prime is a mean for Geoff Johns of saying "Stop hating Prime, haters! He's just, you know, a comic book character!". And it sort of deconstructs in an almost parody-like way these tie-in comics.
I mean, really.
Though the ending is a bit, huh, open-ended to interpretation.

I give this one a: 2 / 3 Score!


And that is all for the Blackest Night!~


As a final word, I'd like to say, simply put, this is how you do a comic event! I haven't had so much fun following a big scale crossover like this since Marvel's Civil War.
Great. Fun. On a large scale. Effecting the whole set of rules. And playing with a ton of characters and well treating them.
The comic book equivalent of a blockbuster!

Other (similar) recommendations?
You might want to check out, before or after reading this mega-event, the book Green Lantern: In Brightest Day, which contained important issues specially selected by Johns, or his current run. Best picks? Secret Origins, Rebirth, No Fear, Sinestro Corps, Rage of the Red Lanterns and Agent Orange.

And all this story lead out into the current Brightest Day era, which some believe might lead itself to another GL even in ~2012...

But that, is for another time, until then...~

 

That's all for this time's Quickies!

CBR:Quickies Green Lantern (2)

Here's a 2nd feature about Green Lantern books!
(to check my previous one, use the CBR button above!)

I was going to review all the Blackest Night-event books...but before date, I wanted to have a look back at older comics~

Our heroes! Green mean ring-wielding space cops!

Since last time I talked about and explained a bit of the Green Lantern mythos and Hal Jordan, the "Greatest Lantern of them all", this time I'm gonna discuss about the other Earth Lanterns.

Hal Jordan wasn't the only Green Lantern to occupy the DC Universe.
Long before him, when comics where in their Golden Age, there was Alan Scott, the original GL.
When comics where being reinvented during the following Silver Age, Alan Scott was made GL of an alternate universe, Earth-Two (invented to keep older WW2 characters around more recent ones, despite the many years that separated them). Since DC restarted its universe in the 80s with the "Crisis", Alan Scott is now simply an older hero from another past generation.
Alan Scott isn't a space cop like the other members of the Green Lantern Corps and isn't directly linked to the Guardians of the Universe. He simply uses the power of the Starheart, a mystical-based green flame. Created by the Guardians when they were tried to understand magic.
Since Alan's power is organic-based instead of engineered, he can't arm nature, like wood and plants.

While Hal Jordan was travelling the USA with Green Arrow to get back to a more earthly plane and understand who he fights for, the Guardians decided to have another Lantern in the sector 2814.
Enters John Stewart. Former War veteran and architect. John filled in for Hal for a moment and became the second Lantern. More of a replacement for Hal when in need than a full-time Green Lantern.
He quickly grew on the fans and has been the official GL representant on DC's Justice League team (both in comics as in the cartoons).

But not John nor Hal were supposed to become Green Lantern when the alien Abin Sur crashed on Earth. Noo.
It was Guy Gardner who had the greatest willpower in the region where he crashed. Guy was a nice all-around person wh had been through a lot of jobs. Gym teacher for a while, he was destined to overcome great fear.
But when Abin Sur searched for a replacement, Guy was too far away while Hal was closer..since the time was running up, Abin called in Hal. And that's how Guy Gardner missed his first call to join the Corps.
The second time was after an accident, he ended up in a coma. That's when the Guardians pickled up John.
But finally, his time came and Guy Gardner became a GL. He after all that, he wasn't the sweet hearted nice guy anymore but an angry GL who had enough of being left out for second-bests.
The character's been through a lot over the ages - he became amnesic, lost his GL ring, used the yellow ring from the evil Sinestro for a while and was infected by a "warrior" virus for a while - but two little things never changed.
His good intentions at heart (and love for Tora/Ice).
And his unique  costume.

And last (but not least), Kyle Rayner.
We'll check Kyle a little in a future review.
For now, let's just say he became a Lantern when there was no more Green Lantern Corps. He kept the flame burning.

Currently, all four are Green Lanterns. Hal and John are the GL of Sectore 2814, most of the time hanging on Earth. Kyle was the Guardian's favorite Ion for a while and he and Guy are for the moment Honor Lanterns.

Comic title: JSA Presents: Green Lantern
Written by Steven T. Seagle, Tony Bedard and Junior Thomas
Art by John K. Snyder III, Dennis Calero, Staz Johnson, Mike Norton and others
Format: Trade collecting Green Lantern: BRIGHTEST DAY/BLACKEST NIGHT and JSA CLASSIFIED #25, 32-33

Before there was Hal Jordan, there was Alan Scott wielder of the Starheart mystical green flame.
In this recent collection, Alan Scott confronts memories of his dead daughter, Jade, in the dawn of new DC events.
Plus collecting Alan Scott's epic confrontation against Solomon Grundy.

Overall: It a great way to check out some Alan Scott stories, specially if you're not super experienced with Alan Scott's GL.
One of the first DC heroes (chronologically to appear), Gotham City's real first superhero.
The art's gorgeous on both stories and the stories basic enough to present clearly who and what is this Golden Age Green Lantern (which are their real purpose).

I give this one a: 2.5 / 3 Score!


Comic title: DC 1st: Green Lantern
Written by Ben Raab
Art by Jamal Yaseem Igle & Pete Woods
Format: One shot issue special

The retelling of Alan Scott's first team up with Hal Jordan!
Kyle Rayner is attending a special event at Alan Scott's radio company. There, with Jade, he meets up Alan Scott who tells him his first team-up with Hal.
It's a simple yet sweet story.

Overall: Two stories in one!
There's 2 different creative teams working on this book, one for the present day Kyle & Alan story. And another for the Hal & Alan flashback.
Around 2002, DC Comics made several of these "DC 1st" one shots. They weren't exactly all good. Only this GL one and a Batgirl/Joker story came out nicely.
The flashback story is actually the retelling of an ol' story, showing off new elements.
The art's a bit weird on the Kyle Rayner sequences... Anyway, a nice book, worthile to be in your GL collection if you come across a copy of it.

I give this one a: 2 / 3 Score!


Comic title: ION vol. 1: THE TORCHBEARER 
Written by Ron Marz   
Art by Greg Tocchini, Tom Grindberg and Jay Leisten
Format: Trade collecting Ion #1-6

After Jade died, Kyle Rayner was turned into Ion, the Torchbearer.
 He didn't realize what exactly was his new role nor the extend of his powers.
This first collection follows Kyle as he attemps to understand his role in the bigger picture.
Kyle tries to find back his roots, a break away from the Corps and the Guardians.

Overall: Kyle is possibly my fav GL (or one of my favs anyway), probably because he's an artists and uses the power ring unlike another member of the corps.
This miniseries give him a little spotlight, taking place simultaneously as Geoff Johns current GL and GLCorps books.
The story is pretty interesting and describes this unique character. It gives him some background, something we can relate too. It's a nice book!

I give this one a: 2 / 3 Score!


Comic title: ION vol. 2: THE DYING FLAME
Written by Ron Marz   
Art by Greg Tocchini, Fernando Pasarin and others
Format: Trade collecting Ion #7-12

In this follow, Kyle continues his search for an identity, a motivation.
Kyle finds "the bleed", a passage into other alternate dimensions. (not the recently revealed 52 multiverse, just "parallel universes to this multiverse").
He confronts alternate realities and finally find himself and his purpose.

Overall: Great conclusion. With a bit fan service in the cameo of the WildStorm Universe (for fans of this Inprint!). Also characters from the Elseworld Tangent Universe cross over, including fan-favorite very different Green Lantern.
I prefered the second half of this miniseries, so the score won't surprise you.

I give this one a: 2.5 / 3 Score!

Comic title: Flash & Green Lantern: The Brave and the Bold
Written by Mark Waid and Tom Peyer  
Art by Barry Kitson and Tom Grindberg 
Format: Trade collecting Flash & Green Lantern: The Brave and the Bold #1-6

This little spinoff from the Brave & the Bold crossover-comics focuses on the friendship between Hal Jordan and Barry Allen, The Flash.
Not really an on-going story and more like vignettes from various points in the past (when it was written, Hal was dead and Wally West was the new Flash).


They had nothing in common, one was a space cop while the other was a more earthly based speedster, one was a cocky adventurous rebel pilot while the other was a serious hardworker moderst police scientist...despite all that they formed an unbreakable friendship and truly were the Brave and the Bold.

Overall: One of my favorite non-Geoff Johns Green Lantern books!
It's well constructed and very unique.
The stories cover their early years, later points and nearly-recent events.
The dynamic between those two is great.
I really recommend this comic, be you a fan or no ;)

I give this one a: 3 / 3 Score!


Comic title: Green Lantern/Green Arrow Vol. 1
Written by Dennis O'Neil   
Art by Neal Adams & Dan Adkins, Bernie Wrightson, Frank Giacoia, and Dick Giordano
Format: Trade collecting Green Lantern (Vol. 2) #76-82

During the 70s people started losing their interest in Green Lantern. It wasn't the coolest thing of the moment anymore.
Came along Dennis O'Neil. Dennis wanted to try different things with comics. Movies and TV used greater-than-life subjects to talk about common subjects, why couldn't comics do the same?
After taking away all of Oliver Queen/Green Arrow's fortunate and growing him a beard in the Justice League comics, O'Neil decided to team him up with the other Emerald hero from DC and hit the road in a new direction.


Hal Jordan hasn't been in touch with his planet for too long. He kinda lost sight of what really matters as his role of GL, for who he fights for every day.With Green Arrow, his long time friend, they decide to travel the USA to check on the people behind sector 2814. The Corps depower Hal Jordan for this task and one of the Guardians tag along to have a look at of the creatures that they swore to protect.
They go from town to town, Ollie tries to put sense into Hal's head who was lost in military reflexes and rules for too long.

Overall: This award series changed and evolved Hal Jorda into a more human being. Gone was the sillyness of the Silver Age. Comics like the Watchmen or Batman Year One are what they are because of the changes O'Neil started doing in funny books.
Povery, drugs, racism...It touches every subject!
"Green Lantern" become "Green Lantern co-starring Green Arrow" (and later Green Lantern/Green Arrow).
And Oliver Queen got the attention he deserved. (hey! I love this character!)
The first Volume don't contain the more controversial stories but it's a great way to start aynway!
Plus it contains an introduction by Dennis O'Neil who give us his opinion and views on changes he started with this book.
A must!

I give this one a: 2.5 / 3 Score!


Comic title: Green Lantern/Green Arrow Vol. 1
Written by Dennis O'Neil   
Art by Neal Adams, Dick Giordano and Bernie Wrightson
Format: Trade collecting Green Lantern (Vol. 2) #83-87, 89; back-ups from Flash (vol. 2) #212-219, 226

In the first half of this book, Hal and Ollie continue their soul searching quest through America.
All the fan-favorite stories to have shaken both the GL and Arrow mythos are in this collection!
Since Hal's not protecting space sector 2814, the Guardians decide to give the power to another torchbearer. John Stewart's first appearance is in this book!
Plus Speedy helps bust a drug dealing black market..only to be found using some!!!

In the second part (from issue 89), it's the later stories of this GL/GA era. After a while, the sales started to slow down a bit. Maybe it was too critical of America, maybe the audience was getting tired.. Anyway, to help boost up sales a bit the story went more and more scifi again, like any GL book should always be about.
And finally, the second feature (mostly Green Lantern Corps stories that aren't reprinted in this collection) became a place for the other half of this duo. Green Arrow went in one direction and Hal Jordan in another.
While Ollie continues his social tales of urban America, Hal meets his successor John Stewart.
Finally the book became a solo GL on-going series again (about John Stewart mostly)...and the duo Hal Jordan/Oliver Queen returned as a second feature in the more successful Flash comics.

Overall: My favorites stories of this era are collected in this volume. Gone is the Guarding tagging along with the Emerald warriors. Instead, Black Canary joins in the duo for most of the stories in this paperback.
There's an introduction by Dick Giordano worth mentioning.
It's an era of change both for the culture awareness and the comic series presented here (it went back to scifi with a new lead character after that).
Great book, DC comics history.

I give this one a: 2.5 / 3 Score!


Comic title: Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Vol. 1
Written by Mike W. Barr, Len Wein, Paul Kupperberg, Robin Snyder, Kurt Busiek and Todd Klein
Art by Joe Staton, Dave Gibbons, Carmine Infantino, and others; Cover by Brian Bolland
Format: Trade collecting Tales of the Green Lantern Corps #1-3 and Green Lantern #148, 151-154, 161, 162 and 164-167

The Green Lantern Corps is not only composed of Earth heroes...There's also thousands of other people and creatures from all over the galaxy in its ranks.
This book is about them.
It starts with an event, an important event....The Corps and the Guardians are in danger...against a creature trying to break free into our dimension from the death realm! Nekron try using and corrupting the light of live to breach into the DC universe. From the point of view of Hal Jordan and Katma Tui we see and are introduced to a much bigger Corps like we've never seen before.
After the little arc from the GLCorps miniseries, the book offers second features from the on-going Green Lantern comics. Tales of various membres of the Corps.
Some are more mystic with touches of fantasy, others directly more scifi with bigger-than-life threats.
Different planets, various cultures, one Corps.

Overall: A great compilations!
The stories are well presented and go from one end to a completly opposed one.
They cover quite a large spectrum of type of comics, heroics one, adventure even some comedy!
I specially dig Dave Gibbons' contribution to the GL mythos, being a big fan of this artist.
Also it's a great way to see established some fundamentals GL elements, from the Corps, OA to even Nekron, one of the key players of the latest GL even, Blackest Night.
If you're a fan, know your GL-stuff and are motivated enough to check this compilation of 80s GL comics.

I give this one a: 2 / 3 Score!


Comic title: Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Vol. 2
Written by Alan Moore, Len Wein, Kurt Busiek, Dave Gibbons and others
Art by Dave Gibbons, Kevin O'Neill and others
Format: Trade collecting Green Lantern #168, 169, 171-173, 177, 179-183, 185, 187-190 and Tales of the Green Lantern Corps ANNUAL #1

More second-features from GL comics of the past!
In this second volume, the more important stories are collected.
And I mean it really.
More Dave Gibbons stories (art AND writing), Alan Moore entries in the GL universe, Ch'p stories, follow-up to some previous Tales...
It really depicts lots of very different members and the life of very different characters.
There's a story about Stel, a fan-favorite GL, a silent story, political stories, epic journeys...

Overall: More Tales is always a good thing!
My favorites are in this 2nd edition, including one classic "Mogo Doesn't Socialize" introducing the biggest membre of the Corps! :P
Dave Gibbons and Alan Moore started the collaboration in this series!
Very fun look at the GL mythos like the 1st volume. With a slight preference for this one.

I give this one a: 2.5 / 3 Score!


Comic title: Green Lantern: Tales of the Sinestro Corps
Written by Geoff Johns, Ron Marz and others
Art by Dave Gibbons, Pete Woods, Jerry Ordway and others
Format: Trade collecting Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps Special; Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Ion; Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Parallax; Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Cyborg Superman; Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Superman Prime; Green Lantern/Sinestro Corps Secret Files; back-up stories from Green Lantern #16-20

Playing on the previous Tales, "Tales of the Sinestro Corps" collects all the one-shots made around the Sinestro Corps War event (as seen in my previous GL review).
It's composed of origin stories of certain membres of the yellow corps as well as some sidestories.
Some are told through Lyssa Drak, guardian of the Sinestro book, which is a nice gimmick, it gives the story a sort of "Tales from the Crypt"-vibe.
What's the motivation behind the cybord-Superman? Who is Superboy Prime?
As well as some membres-specific stories that seem like a twisted tales on the original concept from the 80s.

Overall: Very fun book. Specially if you're a fan of the larger DCU or just GL.
It makes a great companion book to the event as well as perfectly introducing bizarre concepts like Superboy Prime and Cyborg Superman, key players of the Sinestro Corps.
Like the original Tales of the GLC, the stories varies from genre and feel.

I give this one a: 2.5 / 3 Score!


Comic title: Green Lantern: Legacy - The Last Will And Testament Of Hal Jordan
Written by Joe Kelly
Art by Brent Anderson and Bill Sienkiewicz
Format: Trade collecting Green Lantern: Legacy miniseries.

This is an in-between tale. After Hal was killed as a crazy Parallax and before being brought back in Rebirth.
It's not a retrospective of his life, as some may think.
But a story of redemption through Tom Kalmaku's eyes, a friend of Hal.
It tells how he was able to forgive and accept Hal in his heart again after he went insane.
We also see John Stewart and Guy Gardner. What did happen to them.
How a universe without the Corps was.
And finally how the planet Oa was brought back as well as Kilowog.

Overall: A very different story from all the space-opera usually around the GL characters.
Joe Kelly is a fantastic writer and he tells a great tale of redemption before Parallax was retconned as a creature possessing Hal's mind.
Great story that establishes how they so easuly forgave Hal on his return.
A must!
You may not even like GL and still found some love for this book.

I give this one a: 3 / 3 Score!


Comic title: Green Lantern: In Brightest Day

Written by John Broome, Alan Moore, Ron Marz and others
Art by Gil Kane, Dave Gibbons and others
Format: Trade collecting Green Lantern #7, 40, 59, 162, 173, 177, 182, 183 and 188, Green Lantern (vol. 2) #51, Green Lantern Corps Quarterly #6 and Green Lantern Corps ANNUAL #2.

A compilation of important Green Lantern stories, picked up by Geoff John himself.
See Hal Jordan's first meeting with the Guardians, or Sinestro, his first team-up with Alan Scott, when he was introduced to Guy Gardner (as well as a What if.. scenario if Guy had been chosen at that moment), John Stewart's introduction, the first hint at a larger prophecy and some GLCorps Tales.

Overall: Okay, I say right from the start my negative points. Some stories, already present in "Tales of the GLC" have been reprinted here. (as well as John Stewart introduction in GL/GA).
On the good part, Geoff Johns introduces the collection and makes a like introduction to each story of this book. Each one!
See the ideas and basic elements which Johns bases his own current series on.
The stories are taken from various eras, there's old school material in here as well as some 90sEXTREME art!
Great must have for all GL fans!
There's a ton of material and pages here!
As well as the seeds of Abin Sur's prophecy, the trend and direction the book is currently taking...

I give this one a: 3 / 3 Score!


As you see..I'm a big huuuuge GL fan.
Next time we'll dig into Blackest Night.....

The GL franchise is easily likable thanks to a great concept and the fantastic directions it can take depending on the characters and events.

Till next time~

 

That's all for this time's Quickies!