CaptainCanada
Shield of the True North
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2006
- Messages
- 4,608
- Reaction score
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- 31
Green Lantern Corps #18
The penultimate issue of the highly successful "Sinestro Corps" crossover has arrived on the stands, promising a showdown between Sodam Yat, the new Ion and "ultimate Green Lantern", and the all-growed-up Superman-Prime. And that's what we get; all-fighting in the present, intercut with Yat giving us some details of his origin story. Once again, there are two pencillers here, Gleason and Igle, and I marvel that DC didn't see fit to schedule one consistent penciller for this whole story arc, given that it's the title's big chance to reel in new readers. There's a new writer too, Pete Tomasi; this is a rather inauspicious time for a new writer to come on, a crossover issue that centres around someone who's not even a part of this title's main cast at the moment, but Tomasi's writing is very good. The fight is not especially interesting as fights go, but Yat's backstory is quite good, establishing what made him so interested in venturing beyond Daxam. Yat loses in the end, of course, since Countdown already spoiled that Prime gets away, although he seems to have lasted much longer than anyone else has against Prime.
Teen Titans #53
Sean McKeever's opening story arc enters its final phase, by now on its fourth artist in as many issues (and that's not counting the three other guys who illustrated parts of #50). However, I've liked each new artist more than the preceding one, so that's a bonus, at least, even if this will look somewhat chaotic in trade (although Green, Garza, Igle, and Barrows aren't that dissimilar). Anyway, Evil Future Lex arrives with the Titans Army (including a grown-up Misfit as Huntress II, which I'm sure would cause Helena to gag; also, at least two people who were just offed in the Titans East special) to help the Titans proper, while Starro regroups, and the bickering between the Teen Titans and their Evil Future Selves continues. Honestly, I get the feeling that all these intercut scenes will read better in trade, but it's still quite good. There's a completely out-of-left-field tie-in to "Sinestro Corps" as well, as Starro seems to being working for Sinestro, and staging this assault for him (perhaps that's related to the JLA hightailing it away last issue). Miss Martian really seems to be the focal character of this story, and in this issue she hits a pretty big turning point; it'll be interesting to see what happens with her.
X-Men #205
Begin with a crossover, end with a crossover (and the middle is a tie-in to a crossover): "Messiah Complex" is on its fifth issue, and, after an underwhelming start in the first issue, and the additional setup of UXM #492, it's been roaring along ever since. In this issue, a team of X-Men confront the Marauders and the Acolytes, and the New X-Men are ambushed by the Reavers, leading to a brief battle and confused retreat, which, along the way, messes up Cyclops' battle plan. I mentioned last issue that sending only five X-Men against the combined forces of Sinister seemed rather foolish, and this issue opens with Bishop saying the same thing; Cyclops, however, has a secret weapon: Emma psi-shields everyone, and temporarily downs Sinister, allowing the rest of the team to brawl. The fight is quite good, especially because it gives the X-Men a bit of respect as a team, so much so that the bad guys are worried about fighting them (Storm gets an especially cool idea; channeling her lightning through Harpoon's harpoon, which she confiscated last issue). The New X-Men don't do as well, although they escape, and X-23 looks set to tangle with Lady Deathstrike at a later date. And Nightcrawler and Hellion both need to get to the infirmary. But the final revelation (that many had guessed) is that Cable, who is (surprise surprise) not dead, is the one who has the baby. If the remaining eight issues are as good as the first five, this will be the most successful Marvel event I've yet read.
The penultimate issue of the highly successful "Sinestro Corps" crossover has arrived on the stands, promising a showdown between Sodam Yat, the new Ion and "ultimate Green Lantern", and the all-growed-up Superman-Prime. And that's what we get; all-fighting in the present, intercut with Yat giving us some details of his origin story. Once again, there are two pencillers here, Gleason and Igle, and I marvel that DC didn't see fit to schedule one consistent penciller for this whole story arc, given that it's the title's big chance to reel in new readers. There's a new writer too, Pete Tomasi; this is a rather inauspicious time for a new writer to come on, a crossover issue that centres around someone who's not even a part of this title's main cast at the moment, but Tomasi's writing is very good. The fight is not especially interesting as fights go, but Yat's backstory is quite good, establishing what made him so interested in venturing beyond Daxam. Yat loses in the end, of course, since Countdown already spoiled that Prime gets away, although he seems to have lasted much longer than anyone else has against Prime.
Teen Titans #53
Sean McKeever's opening story arc enters its final phase, by now on its fourth artist in as many issues (and that's not counting the three other guys who illustrated parts of #50). However, I've liked each new artist more than the preceding one, so that's a bonus, at least, even if this will look somewhat chaotic in trade (although Green, Garza, Igle, and Barrows aren't that dissimilar). Anyway, Evil Future Lex arrives with the Titans Army (including a grown-up Misfit as Huntress II, which I'm sure would cause Helena to gag; also, at least two people who were just offed in the Titans East special) to help the Titans proper, while Starro regroups, and the bickering between the Teen Titans and their Evil Future Selves continues. Honestly, I get the feeling that all these intercut scenes will read better in trade, but it's still quite good. There's a completely out-of-left-field tie-in to "Sinestro Corps" as well, as Starro seems to being working for Sinestro, and staging this assault for him (perhaps that's related to the JLA hightailing it away last issue). Miss Martian really seems to be the focal character of this story, and in this issue she hits a pretty big turning point; it'll be interesting to see what happens with her.
X-Men #205
Begin with a crossover, end with a crossover (and the middle is a tie-in to a crossover): "Messiah Complex" is on its fifth issue, and, after an underwhelming start in the first issue, and the additional setup of UXM #492, it's been roaring along ever since. In this issue, a team of X-Men confront the Marauders and the Acolytes, and the New X-Men are ambushed by the Reavers, leading to a brief battle and confused retreat, which, along the way, messes up Cyclops' battle plan. I mentioned last issue that sending only five X-Men against the combined forces of Sinister seemed rather foolish, and this issue opens with Bishop saying the same thing; Cyclops, however, has a secret weapon: Emma psi-shields everyone, and temporarily downs Sinister, allowing the rest of the team to brawl. The fight is quite good, especially because it gives the X-Men a bit of respect as a team, so much so that the bad guys are worried about fighting them (Storm gets an especially cool idea; channeling her lightning through Harpoon's harpoon, which she confiscated last issue). The New X-Men don't do as well, although they escape, and X-23 looks set to tangle with Lady Deathstrike at a later date. And Nightcrawler and Hellion both need to get to the infirmary. But the final revelation (that many had guessed) is that Cable, who is (surprise surprise) not dead, is the one who has the baby. If the remaining eight issues are as good as the first five, this will be the most successful Marvel event I've yet read.
