Attack of the 50-Foot Relic: a Review of Green Lantern Lights Out

 

Review:

Relic is a fifty-foot-tall sole survivor of the universe before ours. More super-scientist than super-villain, he tried to warn the light-wields of his own universe that the energy they channeled was a limited, finite resource. Those light-wielders were far more advanced in their constructs and other uses of the light than the coloured Corps originating with Oa and the Guardians, building whole cities and more in their societies and universe.

But when none heeded the scientist's unprovable theories, they eventually exhausted the finite supply of emotion-based light and everything collapsed.

With this as his back-story, Relic is both a villain, in his attempts to halt the Lanters of all colours and to steal their lights, emptying their central batteries, and also a hero, attempting in his own way to ultimately save their universe.

It is a narrative setup with imperfect parallels to our 21st century environmental concerns, with its obvious echoes of our own fuel-driven destruction. Yet unlike our world, with its melting ice caps and more, Relic lacks tangible evidence that using the Lantern power rings is contributing to the destruction of the universe. 

Into this grey area step all the colours, of course with different intentions. Hal Jordan and his Corps of Green Lanterns are bent on stopping Relic. The Red Lanterns, behind their new leader Guy Gardner, are bent on destroying anything they can. Kyle Rayner as the White Lantern, wants to help Relic while many of the Guardians themselves want to join Relic in his quest for deeper knowledge.

The complete story of this crossover tale, bridging all the Green Lantern-based titles of the New 52 era (around 2013 in this case), is collected here in this hardcover volume. Robert Venditti's Green Lantern books form the backbone of the story, from the backgrounder in the oddly numbered #23.1 to a couple other issues and the Annual. All the other contemporary Green Lantern spin-offs join the action with crossovers and tie-ins. Green Lantern Corps, Green Lanterns: New Guardians, and Red Lanterns all contribute to the unfolding tale, using their own creative teams and spins. One key element missing from this collection, however, is any indication of which series is which as the tale unfolds. Not that the attentive reader is terribly stumped, it's not too hard to figure it out, but frustrating that I have to do that work.

It all culminates in an ultimately unsatisfying final confrontation at the Source Wall at the edge of the known universe.

More than a dozen pencillers take turns telling the story with their visual touches. Most stunning among these pages are the series of full-page, poster-style images from Rags Morales illustrating the Relic backstory as told by Robert Venditti. Brad Walker's dynamic use of non-rectangular and overlapping panels also stand out in his work. And Alessandro Vitti's appropriately rage-filled visuals in the Red Lanterns chapter match the theme of that series very well.

This hardcover book gives the reader the entire story of Relic, in order, but lacks any extra features worth mentioning. We are left with a tale of intriguing possibilities behind the non-renewable nature of the light powers, without too heavy a political or environmental statement. The reader can judge if that is for good or ill.

3 capes for an interesting tale and above-average crossover with some visual highlights, even if the packaging leaves some things to be desired.

Description:

The epic event that will forever change the universe and the different color Lantern Corps forever!

Relic has arrived and the universe with shiver in his wake. The lights of the Lanterns are fading as the emotional spectrum is being drained. It is up to Hal and the Green Lanterns to rally the other Corps together if they are going to survive. Many won't and others will change allegiances, but one thing is certain--nothing will ever be the same.

Collects: Green Lantern New Guardians #23-24, Green Lantern #23.1: Relic #24, Red Lanterns #24, Green Lantern Corps #24, Green Lantern Annual #2

Authors:  Robert Venditti, Justin Jordan
Artists:  Billy Tan, more
Published By:  DC Comics
Published When:  June 24, 2014
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN:  978-1401248161
Pages:  192 pages

Hal in Charge: a Review of Green Lantern volume 4 Dark Days

 

Review:

In the early pages of this hardcover book, Hal Jordan Green Lantern is promoted to leader of the entire Green Lantern Corps. And while he brings the Corps through a serious challenge, including the destruction of Oa, there is room for growth in his leadership style and skills. His Command-and-Control style is not so out of place in a universe-spanning police force with military overtones. But there is no structure in place for leading the thousands of Corps members. He is more vanguard than general, leading a small, central team from the front lines.

Granted, the Corps is much in flux in this book. Collecting issues #21-26, including #23.1 and Annual #2, it spans the runup to the Lights Out cross-over, the three issues from this series that contribute to the cross-over, and some follow-up issues.

There is a lot to like about this book. Author Robert Venditti introduces several intriguing plot threads and interpersonal relationships to be mined. Relic is a fascinating new villain, and his quest to exterminate the ring-bearers before the source light is extinguished. Nol Anj is also a striking new Star Sapphire with a mean streak and legions of criminal followers who do truly love her. Tensions with Carol Ferris, and a dozen new recruits with scattered teasers about their back-stories round out the many little promises of future tales.

Billy Tan handles most of the art duties in these pages. I love the variety of panels and layouts he employs as he plays with the tempo of graphical storytelling made possible through his multiple techniques. He gives us a few classic Green Lantern constructs too, although most often the rings seem to simply shoot power blasts.

Somehow, the solid art and intriguing and daring plot hooks fail to gel into a strong book. Hal's need to grow up, if he is to lead, is obvious but not terribly compelling, and goes nowhere anyway in these pages. Like Booster Gold in his new leadership role in the pages of Justice League International, Hal needs a career coach or mentor. Nol Anj and her followers should clearly not have been such a large challenge, one needing the Corps leader to summon all available personnel to handle. It is just one of the leadership fails on Hal's watch in these pages, none of which seem to amount to anything.

So many strong ideas yet the overall result is disappointing.

Description:

Just as Hal Jordan, John Stewart and Guy Gardner are putting back together the Green Lantern Corps, lights across all of the different colored Corps begin to flicker. Lanterns from all over the universe begin to lose power, but unlike times' past, the reasons for the outage don't seem to be in-fighting between one another. Allying with enemies and friends alike, Hal links the answers to the mysterious alien Relic and their confrontations will leave all the corps forever changed.

GREEN LANTERN VOL. 4 begins a brand-new era for the entire emotional spectrum, from writer Robert Venditti (X-O Manowar) and artist Billy Tan (New Avengers).

Collects: GREEN LANTERN #21-26, #23.1: Relic, GREEN LANTERN ANNUAL #2

Authors:  Robert Venditti
Artists:  Billy Tan
Published By:  DC Comics
Published When:  April 29, 2014
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN:  978-1401247447
Pages:  200 pages

Assassin Vs Spy: a Review of Cinderella: Fables Are Forever

 

Review:

Creative team Chris Roberson and Shawn McManus join forces again to bring us another Cinderella Super-Spy story from the larger Fables universe created by Bill Willingham. With another titular nod to the James Bond franchise, this book collects the full limited series of Cinderella's ongoing and historic adventures.

This time, she must find and do battle with a villain from her past - the skilled assassin Dorothy. Long after she fled both Kansas and Oz, Dorothy became one of the most successful and dangerous hired guns to ever flee the Homelands for the Mundy world.

Cindy watched Dorothy fall to her death years earlier, and this tale is sprinkled with reminisces and flashbacks to battles past. From Russia to Thailand, from Switzerland to Burkina Faso and beyond, their epic confrontations spanned the globe and involved the narrowest of escapes - from each other and from other magic-infused creatures.

But these are memories, and the present has its own dangers. Roberson's writing strikes a superb balance between past and present. Even with the occasionally heavy narration, it successfully builds to a satisfying final confrontation.

On the visual side, McManus gives us a Cinderella who is strong, soft and sexy. Despite the occasional facial flop, his images flow smoothly between the normal and the magical. The book has a Mature rating, and I am not sure why - certainly not for the art. There is no nudity, only a panel or two of tastefully handled sex, and no more than a comic book level of violence. There are lots of hot ladies in various stages of undress but no peeping past well-placed objects.

Fables creator Bill Willingham gets one of his own Cinderella tales added as a special feature at the end. The collection would be stronger without it. It's the tale of Cindy switching from spy to diplomat and ambassador to the Giants and is goofy and light. After all the fun of Fables are Forever, the silliness does not compare well. Such collections often include special features or alternate covers or glimpses into the creators and their work, but we get no such thing here, only this weaker one-off tale.

Description:        

Fabletown's favorite secret agent and bon vivant Cinderella is back on the job again in this follow up limited series to CINDERELLA: FROM FABLETOWN WITH LOVE. Someone is killing sorcerers out on the Farm, and all signs point to Cinderella's archnemesis from the old days. The only problem is, Cinderella has always believed that her nemesis has been dead for years.

Collects: Complete 6-issue limited series

Authors:  Chris Roberson, Bill Willingham
Artists:  Shawn McManus
Published By:  Vertigo 
Published When:  April 24, 2012)
Parental Rating: Mature
ISBN:  978-1401233853
Pages:  160 pages

Cinderella Bond: Review of From Fabletown with Love

 

Review:

Cinderella, in the finest British tradition of dashing super-spies, moves with ease through the crustiest layers of modern society, both Fable and Mundy. With a titular nod to one of the earliest Bond films, this book easily sells her haute-society lifestyle. Little do any of her peers in the Bill Willingham-created Fables universe know of her real purpose - to find and retrieve any illicit magical artifacts before they can fall into the wrong hands.

In this adventure, she even encounters a sexy companion, Aladdin. His turn as a gender-flipped Bond Girl serves as both collaborator and dude-in-distress in need of rescuing. Together, they must find the source of the magical objects flooding the black market and put a stop to it.

From Dubai to the North Sea and finally the Fable-world Ultima Thule, they must dodge weapons of both the magical and Mundy varieties as well as shape-shifting monsters, harem girls and a not-so-friendly fairy godmother.

Writer Chris Roberson weaves a tightly plotted and fast-paced tale, befitting the super-spy genre. The comedic banter between Cindy and "Lamp Boy" Aladdin is delightful; her reflections on her past battles and training add depth, although they do become a touch repetitive. The result is a strong female lead character with a nicely balanced blend of brains, brawn, beauty and bewitching.

The biggest flaws in Roberson's spy tale are the "meanwhile back in Fabletown" interruptions. These moments, fundamentally intended for levity, fail to serve any real purpose in the overall story, nor do they contribute anything meaningful to the growth and development of these or other characters in the Fables universe. Given how well the Cinderella and Aladdin parts are written, there is no need to pull our attention away with these distracting asides.

Shawn McManus' visuals are soft and beautiful. He mixes clean lines and panels with exaggerated facial expressions to sometimes amusing effect, especially with the shapes of mouth and nose. The pages are sexy but discrete, with no nudity or on-panel sex scenes. Since the moments of violence are also tastefully done and far from the gore found in other Fables books, the "Mature" rating on the book is excessive; Teen would certainly be enough, and some more liberal cultures would classify it PG.

I give this fun, fast-paced, clever and beautiful book four capes.

Description:

When supernatural artifacts from the Homelands begin surfacing in the modern world, it falls to Cinderella, Fabletown's best kept (and best dressed) secret agent to stop the illegal trafficking. But can Cindy foil the dark plot before Fabletown and its hidden, exiled inhabitants are exposed once and for all? And how does her long lost Fairy Godmother factor into the equation?

Whether she's soaring through clouds, deep-sea diving, or cracking jaws, Cindy travels from Manhattan to Dubai and hooks up with a handsome, familiar accomplice who may be harboring secret motives of his own. Meanwhile, trouble brews back home in Fabletown when Cindy's overworked, underappreciated assistant decides to seize control of The Glass Slipper, Cindy's exclusive shoe boutique.

Collects: the complete 6-issue limited series

Authors:  Chris Roberson
Artists:  Shawn McManus
Published By:  Vertigo 
Published When:  Aug. 10, 2010
Parental Rating: Mature
ISBN:  978-1401227500
Pages:  144 pages