Preludes: Sins of the Star Sapphire

"For hearts long lost and full of fright,

For those alone in blackest night,

Accept our ring and join our fight,

Love conquers all-- with violet light!" ~ Oath of the Star Sapphires

The Green Lantern Corps have, despite the odds, emerged victorious from a war with the wielders of the yellow light of fear, the Sinestro Corps - but at a price. Hundreds of Lanterns are dead, and the scattered members of Sinestro's band of terrorists wreak havoc on the loved ones of their willpower-wielding adversaries. Meanwhile, the Guardians of the Universe, in their attempt to prevent the passing of the Prophecy of Blackest Night, journey to Zamaron, the home of the Star Sapphires; a corps of ring-bearing women who draw their energies from the power of Love. 

Dramatis Personnae:

Kyle Rayner

Guy Gardner

Soranik Natu

Amnee and Matoo Pree

Arisia

Sodam Yat

Queen Aga'po

Miri Riam 

The Zamarons

The Guardians of the Universe

Guardian Scar

Mongul 

Kryb

Plot Summary:

After the events of The Sinestro Corps War, Green Lanterns across the universe are engaged in huntng down and capturing the remaining members of the Sinestro Corps. One such wanted criminal is Kryb, who has gained a terrible reputation for murdering married Green Lanterns and kidnapping their children. Kyle Rayner, now a simple Lantern once more, is aiding two such Lanterns, Amnee and Matoo Pree, capture her before she can do any more harm. 

Meanwhile, Newly-weds Kered and Miri Riam are attacked by Mongul, who has escaped from the Mercy Planet; in the ensuing confrontation, Kered is killed. Miri is utterly submerged by her grief, but before she can commit suicide and join her husband in death, a violet ring locates her and offers her a choice: die, and fade from the universe, or accept the ring and the powers that go with it, and devote herself to protecting love from those who would destroy it.

Verdict:

Sins is a very brave and worthy addition to any Green Lantern fan's collection, in my humble opinion. 

One of my favourite things about this collection is that it is brave enough to deal with some very dangerous issues; the role of parenting, and the kidnapping of infants is always shaky ground, and if this had been mishandled it could have been disastrous. As it is, however, Sins has delivered well using these topics, and has done so in a way that does not cheapen the themes or events. That, in itself, is quite an achievement, and I remain impressed with it even now.

On to the characters. We see the development of the Guardians as they plunge further into their paranoia over the Blackest Night, and as a result, they begin to make ever more radical decisions over the Book of Oa, and the laws of the Green Lanterns. This, again, impressed me a great deal; the value of emotion and what emotion truly means is often questioned in this series, and it opens the reader to the debate; do emotions really cause chaos?

Miri Riam is a great new addition to the Green Lantern mythos, and is a very appealing and likeable character. Like all Sapphires, she is motivated by love, but hers is a love born out of tragedy; unwilling to allow anyone else to suffer in the manner that she did, she becomes a Sapphire simply to protect love. It's hard not to like such a character, even if some of the things she says sound naive now and again. 

And the Green Lanterns? Well, they're as cool as ever. Guy always has some solid dialogue, no matter the situation, and let's face it, he's just an all-round badass. It was interesting to see the return of Soranik Natu, whose role has increased dramatically in importance since the Sinestro Corps War, and her growing association with Kyle Rayner, hinting at things to come. Well, not quite hinting as much as out-and-out declaring at the end of the series, but hey; it's not as simple as you might think at first.

Throughout, the art is of good quality; if anything, it's actually slightly superior to Sinestro Corps War, in that it is more consistent in quality. The character designs for both Miri and the Zamarons are excellent, with Miri avoiding the stripperific look of some of the earlier Sapphires, which, as appealing as it may be to the male demographic, gets a bit tiresome in the end.

Sins of the Star Sapphire is, as I said, a very worthy addition to any Lantern Fan's collection, and at £11.99, there's plenty of reasons to buy it.

Rating: 

8/10

The skies are Blackening...

...and all across the universe, the dead shall rise.

SPECIAL REVIEWS SOON

SPECIAL: Captain America Reborn

Captain America. In many ways, he is the most famous of Marvel's superheroes; proudly wearing the Red, White and Blue of the USA, he fought the nations' enemies in the 1940's, and has continued to do so throughout the decades. We've seen him crusade against agents of Communism, fight off alien menaces and face down his arch-nemesis, the Red Skull, countless times. We even saw him defend all that he believed in, even when his country insisted he was wrong. Finally, we saw the unthinkable.
The death of Captain America, gunned down by a sniper as he was about to stand trial.

But after the truth of these events are revealed, Captain America may not be as dead as we thought...

Join me for the return of the Star-Spangled Avenger; Captain America: Reborn.

Dramatis Personnae:
The Avengers
Special Agent Sharon Carter
Sin
Crossbones
Red Skull
Doctor Zola

Plot Summary:
One year after the death of Captain America, the US public is still torn between whether to honour him as a hero or hate him as a traitor. Bucky, who has since taken up the mantle of the Star-Spangled Avenger, is desperately trying to live up to his friends' legacy, but with him and his friends declared outlaws, it's increasingly more difficult to keep fighting.
Meanwhile, the Red Skull, trapped within a robot body, has hatched a new plan for power. Using the technology of Doctor Doom and Arnim Zola, he will do the unthinkable; he will recreate Captain America's body and take it for his own.

Verdict:
Well, now, this was a difficult one.
Let's start with the best bits.
The first three quarters of this series are magnificent. With the discovery of Cap's possible survival, Sharon and co. leap into action, and the plot is driven apace excellently; the Avengers take risk after risk in order to rescue their great friend, braving the government "Avengers" and worse, and as a result the reader is sucked right in. This is further enhanced by the narrative of Cap himself; he is forced to relive every failure of his in a horrible purgatory, able to act after a fashion but unable to change events or save his friends and loved ones, no matter how much he tries. In terms of value, these sections are magnificent; not only do we pity Cap's predicament, we are shown the lengths to which the Red Skull will go to torture and humiliate his opponent, truly solidifying his evil nature.
The tension builds up more and more as the series progresses, really lending the whole thing an excellent air of suspense. Finally, the last of the three "Great Quarters," a hectic rush to save the life of Sharon Carter and rescue Cap, is pretty much the peak of cool in this comic collection.

Unfortunately, this series is let down by two things; the anticlimactic ending and the Red Skull's representation. Though the audience may be expecting a dramatic face-off, that is not what they get; indeed, I'd say the final quarter was too standard and clichéd, following the traditional routine you'd expect of a super-hero comic. I mean, everybody likes a happy ending, but this felt rushed and too neat and tidy, if such a thing is possible. Then there's the arch-villain, the Final Boss of Captain America, the Red Skull. The artist's representation of his face was horrible. Just horrible. He looks like a cross between a chimpanzee and that damn owl from Ocarina of Time. What they hell were they thinking? That wasn't anything like the Red Skull we saw in the first few pages; a man with, funnily enough, a red skull for a face. How is that so hard to achieve? Gah.
Overall, then, a good series with great elements, which is unfortunately let down a bit by a lacklustre ending and one ugly looking piece of art. It's till worth getting, by all means, just be aware of the downsides.

Rating:
7.2/10

Batman: The Curse of King Tut

A series of gruesome killings preceded by riddles has attracted the attentions of the Dark Knight. However, the infamous Edward Nigma is still in captivity; indeed, he shows no signs of knowing who or what is behind the murders. But if the Riddler isn't behind it, who is?

Plot Summary:
One by one, members of Gotham's Museum are being murdered, with riddles being told to the people who view their deaths. When Batman begins to investigate, all the evidence points to one person; the infamous Riddler, who is currently residing in Arkham. However, Edward Nigma appears not to know of the crimes, and even offers to help solve them due to what he calls "professional pride." When Riddler escapes, Batman hunts him down, only to find that Nigma was in fact telling the truth; a new villain, dressed in the garb of an Egyptian Pharaoh, is behind the murders. King Tut, as he is labelled, is on a quest for revenge, and as Batman and his unlikely ally Riddler race to stop him from killing his next target, the reasons behind his hatred of the Museum's board of trustees is revealed.

Dramatis Personnae:
Batman
Commissioner Gordon
King Tut
The Riddler

Verdict:
This is a very slick and well-executed re-imagining of an old supervillain. For those of you who don't know, King Tut first made his debut as part of the 1960's TV rogue's gallery; to see him re-imagined from a comical and clumsy criminal to a sadistic killer. The plot itself is very well done, and the initial intrigue caused by the riddles adds to the sense of urgency. In general, the tension between the Riddler and Batman is very well done; despite their common cause, there's a lot of bad blood here and believe me, it shows. For everything the Riddler says, Bats has a sarcastic put-down, and even when it is clear that Nigma is not the threat, he is still just cold and uncaring enough for both Batman and the readers to question just how trustworthy he is.
The art in this series is very good, as art goes, with the colouring and positioning of the characters being natural and seamless between panels, which is only a good thing. The rendition of Tut's new costume is very impressive, too; gone is the stupid headress, replaced by a sinister and emotionless face mask styled after the death-masks of the Pharaoahs. Creepy.
Overall, then, a very fine read and a solid addition to anyone's Batman collection, especially if you like riddles.

Rating: 7.8/10

Why Captain America is Awesome: run-up to Reborn

And this is why we love you, Cap. 

The Programme (Vol. 2)

The second part of Wildstorm Comics' series The Programme finishes with a bang, with the Russian super-beings entering the USA and beginning their campaign of destruction. But can Max defeat them? Who is the so-called "Senator Joe" and what does he stand for? And does America have an answer to the renegade Doctor Korovin?

Plot Summary:

With the invasion of Las Vegas by the ex-USSR super-soldiers, the US government puts ever more pressure onto the shoulders of Max to defeat them. Meanwhile, the other American superman, known as Senator Joe, goes in search of his roots, and finds the horrible truth behind his creation.

Meanwhile, Agent Chivers prepares to force Max's original programmer, Mike Hinks, into transforming Max from an average human into the ultimate American fighting machine. Little do they know what the effects of this will be...

Dramatis Personnae:

Max

Mike Hinks

Agent Stella 

Agent Chivers

The President

Professor Korovin

Spirit of Lenin

Pradva

Revolution 

Stalingrad

Senator Joe

Verdict:

I have to say, I was slightly disappointed with this one. Though there was some excellent fight scenes, and the art in itself was a treat, the introduction of two new subplots (a race war and the subversion of liberty in the US) distracted me somewhat from the action, and as a result this whole thing felt somewhat rushed. However, having said that, I thought the backstory for Senator Joe was very clever, as was his new-found identity as a defender of the Black American community. He went from a right-wing nut I couldn't really emphasise with to a character with as much depth as the protagonist, Max, and I felt that the issue of racism and civil rights was dealt with well, considering the dangerous nature of the subject. The other sub-plot, in my humble opinion, was a lot more rushed, and in some places felt scrappy and almost too blunt. Yes, we get the idea that the US has become more hardline in recent years, but we don't need it rammed down our throats. 

Overall, not too bad, but it could really use some tweaking here and there. Oh well, at least it was enjoyable.

Rating: 6.7/10

The Flash: Rebirth

Barry Allen, the second Flash, died saving the universe from the infamous Anti-Monitor. Now he's seemingly back from the dead, to the jubilation of his friends and family. But what brought Barry back, and why does he not seem to want to slow down?

Plot Summary:

Many years after he seemingly died thwarting the Anti-Monitor, Barry Allen has returned to life. Though his family and friends are thrilled, Barry feels that something is missing from life. He embarks on a crusade to catch up on everything he's missed out on, whilst wondering why he was able to escape the Speed Force - the energy that gives the various Flashes their powers - when other deceased speedsters could not. Unbeknownst to Barry, however, he is not the only one to have escaped death. The Reverse-Flash too has cheated the reaper, and has launched a plan to destroy Barry's mind and reputation as a hero once and for all.

Dramatis Personnae:

The Flashes

Barry Allen

Bart Allen

Wally West

Jay Garrick

Others

Linda West

Iris and Jai West

The Justice League

Reverse-Flash

Jesse Quick

Max Mercury

Verdict:
Like Green Lantern: Rebirth before it, I found this mini-series to be an excellent, well-written resurrection of a very popular hero from the silver age of comics. The art in the series is just phemomenal. Every scene is lovingly brought to life by the talents of Ethan Van Sciver and the result is fantastic to read; coupled with the excellent writing of Geoff Johns, who clearly is very familiar with the second Flash, I found myself unable to put it down once I had begun. This is only a good thing, especially considering that Barry Allen has not been used as a main character for 20 years, since he was written out in 1985, and such a long absence deserves a momentous return. This was achieved, and achieved well.
The main villain of the mini-series is, of course, the Reverse-Flash, Eobard Thawne, and as villains go, he is diabolical. Though I can't say too much here without ruining the plot, it is revealed that he is far more twisted and sadistic than we as the readers ever realised; he truly is "the motiveless malcontent" and boy, is it awesome to see him work.
Overall, then, I would say that as an introduction to the Flash, or even for old fans, this is not a collection to be missed.  It's about £18.99, though I can't quite remember.

Rating: 9.3/10