Green Lantern Corps #17
This series covers make great use of a few succinct phrases (in this case, "Lethal Force Approved!" as the Lanterns blast their way through the Sinestro Corps).
Observing the structure of the interplay between Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps in this crossover, originally there was a fairly straight link from one issue to another, but recently GLC has begun doubling scenes with GL, and this issue plays out through the events depicted in the preceding issue of Green Lantern (Guy pops in briefly on the search for the painting, for example), so reading them together in collection will be a bit awkward. However, the level of attention to detail is impressive. Anyway, in this issue, we get various scenes of Lanterns duking it out with Sinestro Corpsmen on Earth, and the issue primarily concerns the debate on the use of lethal force. The use of lethal force has been shown to be extremely effective militarily (previously, the Lanterns were getting clobbered), and most seem to use it without qualm; some, like Guy and Kilowog, are for use when necessary, Soranik Natu is outright against it ("do no harm" seems to be a universal oath). One of the most enthusiastic in use is Sodam Yat, who, in what will come as a surprise to absolutely no one, becomes the new Ion in this issue, just in time for a face-off with Superman-Prime next issue (Primes face is drawn like, no joke, a drag queen when he appears at the end of this issue). The rematch between Kilowog and Arkillo is excellent, although it ends with Kilowog using his ring to hit Arkillo with an aircraft carrier and do so with sufficient control not to kill him.
Teen Titans #52
Yeah, this issue was a bit confusing. Still good, but this reads like a definite middle chapter (which it is, to be fair), and a lot of little moments are in need of further explanation to make sense.
Picking up where last issue left off, the Titans and their Evil Future Selves continue to duke it out with the Starro-controlled villains, and then, in some cases, with their future selves. None of the fights are especially long, and a lot of them look to be picked up directly next issue (it will probably look better in trade). Anyway, last issue it looked like Kid Devil was about to sell out Ravager, but here he does the standard cliffhanger backtrack and reveals he was actually saying "sorry" to Red Devil, whom he then throws at the villains to save Rose. Miss Martian and the Martian Manhunter get some good interaction here too. And then theres the most confusing segment in this whole story, when Blue Beetle manages to actually free the Justice League, who then promptly leave and tell the Titans to handle the situation. Huh? Now, theres presumably more to this, but its still weird (and Wonder Woman is written like a total ***** in her two lines). This arc has been a game of musical artists, with this issue done by Jamal Igle before Eddy Barrows comes on next issue; Igles work is excellent, and I wouldnt mind him penciling the series regularly.
X-Men #204
This is by far the best issue of Mike Careys run on this title, for a couple of reasons, and its also the most interesting that the "Endangered Species" mini-crossover has been since the first installment in #200 of this title; in the latter case, that doesnt mean a whole lot, because nothing really happens in a plot progression sense, which seems to be the whole point of this story, in fact.
Anyway, Careys story is better because, first, hes got an actual talented onboard, instead of Chris Bachalo or Humberto Ramos (well, Clayton Henrys fill-in back in the first arc was also coherent, but Henrys not particularly stylish). Mike Choi, who did excellent work on X-23: Target X, is onboard for this issue, and he draws characters in such a way that they have believable proportions and facial expressions (Emma Frost has some really great ones), and easily-comprehensible story-flow. See, was that too much to ask for during the preceding, what, fourteen issues? Second, Carey drops the Grant-Morrison-JLA-on-speed pacing and non-stop fighting (which was incoherently drawn most of the time). The characters spend the issue talking, mostly, about stuff that happened in previous issues of Careys run, or about the blockbuster event thats on the horizon (next week, in fact). There are also a number of flashbacks, and, this being Carey, theyre actual scenes from old X-Men comics, dialogue verbatim. Once again, Careys mostly using other peoples characters, since, as Cyclops points out in this issue, the actual X-Men team consists of two people, one of whom is in a hospital bed at the moment. The issue ends on an appropriately creepy note.
As for "Endangered Species", we get our second recorded sighting of the Scarlet Witch since House of M; Carey runs with Bendis "is she amnesiac, or is she not?" Wanda here, and theres some fairly good interplay between her and Beast. The point of this whole story seems to be that theres no hope for mutants that McCoy can develop, which was where he was at the start of this story. Its a rather odd crossover (miniature), to say the least.
