Reilly2040’s Blog

After the fun, widescreen-style action in the first issue, the second issue of Grant Morrison’s new Batman and Robin series shifts the focus back to characterisation.

We see the fallout from some of the events in the first issue.  I quite enjoyed the rooftop scene between Gordon and the new Batman and Robin, with Gordon admitting its not Batman, but that he does find him familiar.   Although personally I find this a bit frustrating when you take into account the events this saga is compared to, namely Knightfall and Prodigal.

There we saw a widening gulf between Batman and Gordon, as Gordon was increasingly put out by the new Batmen turning up with no explanation, and their continued attempts to treat him like an idiot and pretend they were the originals.   While, what happens here isn’t as severe (Dick makes no real effort to claim to be the original Batman), I’d still like to see Dick show Gordon some respect and quietly have a word with him in private, explaining that the original Batman died, but he’s Nightwing and he’s taken on the role.   A little bit of honesty would go a long way with Gordon, given the characters long history together.

This leads into a great scene with Robin.  The Circus gang attack the police station, looking for Mr Toad.  Batman and Robin get separated when Robin goes after one of them alone.  Dick tries to order Damian back, but Damian won’t listen.   Dick’s outnumbered, but manages to break free with the help of GCPD, and heads off to help Damian.   However here we get a neat twist on the “Robin is in over his head and Batman bails him out scenario”.  When Dick catches up, Damian is in the process of beating the hell out of the gang member, before Dick manages to get him to stop.

Its great, because it underlines just how dangerous Damian can be.  There’s a great scene where Dick is talking to Alfred and really questioning everything he’s done, trying to both take over as Batman and taking Damian under his wing.  Certainly Damian doesn’t respect him, seeing Dick as a poor copy of his father, an attitude that hits deeply with Dick, who really agrees with Damian, and felt happier when he was Nightwing.

The Dick/Damian relationship was always the main draw of this title for me, and Morrison’s letting it play out beautifully.  Exactly how the GCPD are going to react to what Robin did will be interesting, and partly why I think it’d be nice to have a quiet scene between Dick and Gordon.

Captain America Reborn is Marvel’s big summer mini-event.  A culmination of plots put in place by Ed Brubaker two years ago when Captain America was shot.

Firstly, to the negative.  The truth of what happened to Steve is revealed (only partially to the other heroes, but we find out the truth from a conversation between Norman Osborn and Armin Zola).  However, the reveal proves to be disappointing, as its a direct lift from this year’s season of Lost.   Steve has been displaced in the time stream and is hopping between different points in his own history.  Much like Sawyer and co jumping around the Island’s history.  Sharon even points out that the Red Skull and Zola referred to her as the Constant.  A term intricately linked to Lost’s time travel shenanigans.

I really don’t know what to make of this.  Ed Brubaker has given us a tightly written story this far during his run, so I’m inclined to believe that what we’re seeing is what’s been planned all along.  Which would mean that the similarity between this and Lost is a coincidence (since it would have been in place long before this season of Lost aired), and Brubaker’s in the unfortunate situation of another story having used his plot just before he did (similarly, the cliffhanger reveals in last month’s Captain Britain and Green Lantern issues).  However, this doesn’t explain the use of the term “Constant” in this context, which Lost has been using for several years.

However, aside from that I found this to be a really enjoyable issue.   Bryan Hitch’s art is as great as ever.  Initially I wasn’t sure about his redesign of Cap’s WWII uniform, however, as I looked at it more throughout the issue, I grew to really like it.  It is a bit of a rip-off of his Ultimate Cap look, which I dislike, but some of the details are nice, such as the wings painted on the sides of his helmet, and the way his traditional folded boots are actually fake and are over the top of traditional boots.

Ed Brubaker nicely works a large cast into the story as well.  Alongside the usual cast, the Avengers become involved with the reveal of the strange gun Sharon used to shoot Steve.  Falcon and Sharon take it to Hank Pym (who then admits they should let Reed look at it), but its a nicely written scene.  There’s also good action as well, with Bucky and Natasha infiltrating HAMMER in order to try and retrieve the remains of the device the Red Skull and Zola were using to retrieve Steve (although why they were trying to retrieve him after stranding him remains to be seen).  Norman’s figured out the device was significant though, and while discussing it with Zola, he’s sent the Dark Avengers to deal with Bucky and Natasha.  Looking forward to seeing Bucky and the Black Widow versus the Dark Avengers next issue.

So, overall a bit of a mixed start.  Its nice seeing Steve again (although with the various flashbacks in the main Cap title, he’s rarely been away) and this issue does setup nicely the level of impact his resurrection will have, by including Osborn and both the Avengers and the Dark Avengers.   The art’s great, and the story nicely brings together events from the last two years.  The similarities to Lost do drag down what would’ve otherwise been a great first issue for me though.  I’m definitely looking forward to the next issue.

This issue brings to a close Emerald Eclipse, and leads us straight into the events of Blackest Night (again, I’m left wonder when exactly Final Crisis happened in the current GL timeline).

As seen in the preview, the issue is largely interested in the fallout from the riot on Oa.  This probably leads to the main disappointment of the issue, which is the events on Daxam.  Whereas previous issues in this story arc had played out those events as a major part of the story, here they’re effective resolved with a single two-page spread of the Daxamites attacking the Sinestro Corps and Mongul saying “Stuff this, we’re off”.  Its a disappointing ending to what had been a very powerful arc.  Interestingly, Sodam Yat is left as “dead” here, which leads me to believe his return could be a big part of Blackest Night.  Surely Arisia will twig with all the Black Lanterns around that Sodam’s not among them, and he can turn up to save the day at somepoint?

I don’t have the issue in front of me, but in Legion of Three Worlds, I’m sure Sodam mentions failing the Corps during the Blackest Night.  Perhaps this could be a reference to the fact that he was not able to help out, due to recuperating in Daxam’s sun?   It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.

The main thrust of the issue is the events on Oa.  After turning up to quell the riot last issue, the Alpha Lanterns waste no time ferrying the prisoners away, leaving the Corps to handle the rebuilding.   We also get a great “WTF???” moment from the Guardians when they return from Vega to find Oa’s armour smashed to bits (I could just imagine one of them saying: “Honestly, we leave you alone for five minutes…” ).

Things then go from bad to worse on Oa.  Kyle and Guy discuss their mutual distrust of the Alpha Lanterns, but are still horrified when they discover them executing the prisoners who rioted on Oa.  Arguing that killing defenseless prisoners is against the spirit of the Corps, they intervene, but are overruled by the Guardians who teleport them back to Earth (putting all four Musketeers back on Earth together for the start of Blackest Night).

Its a great scene.  You really feel its going to turn very nasty with Guy and Kyle getting between the Alphas and the prisoners, only to then discover its all condoned by the Guardians and showing their disgust.  Here Kyle and Guy really become the mouthpieces for the fans who’ve been watching everything the Guardians have done since the Sinestro Corps War.  Its a powerful, great scene that’s been brewing for a while, and doesn’t disappoint.

Many people are starting to argue that out of the two Green Lantern monthlies, this book is actually better than its parent title, and while I’d probably still rate them both equally (Geoff has the advantage of getting first shot at the new Lanterns), its easy to see from the events on Oa in this book why people are thinking that way.

So, I’ve now been running this blog for over 2 years, so I felt it was time to freshen it up a little.

I really love the Mandigo theme I had been using (and may yet go back to if this theme doesn’t work out). Its got a nice look, and behind-the-scenes its hugely configurable, with an option screen that lets you tweak the look and behaviour without needing to know any PHP or CSS. Its great theme if you’re just starting out.

For now I’ve gone with Daleri Sweet as my new theme.  I quite like the layout and split column approach to the right hand sidebar.  I have tweaked it slightly, to add in the borders around images, and a separator between the post content and the sidebars.  I’ve also added in a nice new image resizer, so clicking on the pictures in posts will show the full size version in a swish new way

So, thoughts on the new look?

DCU Blog had a treat for us today, with the first look at the new Superboy-starring Adventure Comics.

It looks like a great start to the series, with Kon in much the same place as he was at the beginning of Geoff’s Titans run.  In Smallville, trying to live the life Clark had growing up.  Although I suspect that Geoff intends to spin things on their head, with Kon now relishing this life, rather than fighting against it.

One thing I really liked about this preview, was the appearance of Bart.  Its nice to see him and Kon back together again, and them trashing their statues at Titans Tower seems very appropriate   What I really loved though was Bart’s attitude.  He comes across much more Impulse-like in his dialogue, which is something I felt had been really missing from the character since Teen Titans.   Its nice to see him enjoying himself again.

I very much like the look of Francis Manapul’s art, and the colouring along with it.   There’s something almost painted looking about it that looks different to most of the other books I’m getting.

All in all, I’m really looking forward to this one

IGN does it again.  This time an interview with the guys at DC Direct about the upcoming Blackest Night figures, including a look at the range, with many figures we hadn’t seen.  Including a brand new Kyle figure

I’m going to be so incredibly skint.  Loads of these look worth having.  Kyle and John are obvious picks to complete the four musketeers, but most of the others look great as well.  We’d obviously seen Atrocious and Saint Walker before, but the Arisia figure looks good, and the Black Lantern Firestorm is wonderfully freaky-looking.  I’d been very choosey about who I picked up from the previous Green Lantern waves, but I can see me nabbing most of these.

These previews seem to be coming out earlier and earlier

I’m guessing its part of DC’s hype and build up to Blackest Night that they’re releasing them early or something.  As usual these days, IGN have the scoop with the Green Lantern #43 preview.

Anyway, there’s been comparisons made between this preview and Geoff’s Rogue profiles during his tenure on the Flash, and I definitely think that’s what I’m expecting from this issue.  I’m not really expecting Hal to turn up much at all.

The look into Black Hand’s history promises to be pretty disturbing and twisted.  Geoff Johns seems to be having a lot of fun with just how sick and twisted this character actually is, right from the initial shot of him in the grave with the bodies (ewwwwww).

I’ve also got to mention Doug Mahnke’s art.  I’m really loving it in this preview, especially that little glimpse of Scar.  Its a really nicely detailed image that jumped out at me.

I’m very enthusiastic for this issue.  Its just a pity its another week to wait.

Meanwhile IGN also have a preview for this week’s GLC #38.  Its the last part of Emerald Eclipse, picking off right where we left off, with the Lanterns reeling from Oa’s armour being destroyed.  I’m really looking forward to this conclusion of a fantastic story arc.  It’ll be interesting to see if Sodam Yat’s fate is revealled here.  Obviously, we know he survives, but is his presumed death going to be left hanging as a plot thread to be addressed during Blackest Night?

Its also nice to see a short scene with Soranik trying (and failing) to remove the tatoo Sinestro gave her.  She fails and acknowledges she’s stuck with it, but I have to wonder if they’ll at least address the tracking device Sinestro had implanted within it.

Its another cracking finale to a Green Lantern arc, this time offering a little more closure than the Rage of the Red Lanterns arc, which followed much more directly into Agent Orange.

The resolution to last issue’s cliffhanger caught me by surprise, but made complete sense given what we’d previously seen of the blue rings.  However, it was also a slight disappointment, probably in part due to having seen the exact same trick pulled off by Paul Cornell’s Captain Britain and MI13 last week.

Talking of Hal’s Blue ring, we finally got the reveal of his hope which activated the ring, and it was a great moment.  Whereas most had been speculating about his Dad’s final words or something, instead it turned out to be something fairly inconsequential that activated the ring.  A throwaway thought.   Again, its something that rang very true.  However, we also see that the ring shows Hal a glimpse of the future (suggesting that’s his true hope), and aside from the glimpse of Sinestro we saw, I have to wonder what else might be revealled that he’s seen later down the line.

Hal specifically glimpsing Sinestro saying they need to work together may also provide some insight into Hal’s hopes.   We know from Secret Origin that prior to his fall, Sinestro and Hal were friends as well as mentor and student, so perhaps this also hints that Hal still secretly hopes Sinestro can be redeemed one day and he can have his friend back (although granted this flies in the face of his “KILLKILLKILL” Red Lantern moment).

There are various other nice moments as well.  We get a good character piece with Fatality and John Stewart where she tells him he must forgive himself for Xanshi, but also interestingly hints that Xanshi wasn’t as innocent as he might’ve believed when it comes to the war of light.  Intriguing, and obviously Geoff must have a plan in this direction.

The ending of the issue also gives us two big moments.  The Guardians sell out the Blue Lanterns by telling Larfleeze where Odym is and we see the Blue Lanterns about to come under attack.  Of course, this is very bad, as despite the blue light’s effectiveness over the orange, we know that beyond basic life support and flight, blue rings are inactive unless there’s a GL in range.  Wonder if we’ll see Hal or Kyle get an SOS from Ganthet.   Of course, we also know that Atrocious was last seen leading his Red Lanterns to Odym as well.  Since Larfleeze has a love of new, shiney things, I imagine he’ll be wanting a red ring as well as a blue, so that may buy the Blue Lanterns a chance.

You do wonder what’s going to happen with the Guardians after Blackest Night.  Really their actions in recent issues have been unforgivable.  Kyle’s going to be regretting resurrecting them after the damage they’re doing.

And the final pages of the book give us a great lead-in to Blackest Night.  I loved how they picked up directly from events in GLC with Ash and Saarek.  Sadly it looks like these are another two classic GL casualties, but the giant arms reaching out to grab them was a great scene.  Again, we’re also given a tantalising hint, as the ring identifies the planet with the Black Lantern as “Classified”.  So its definitely charted by the Guardians.  Do they already know of the planet’s significance and are hushing it up from the Corps?  Or has Scar quietly classified it without the other Guardians knowing?

Sci-Fi Channel UK have been doing pretty well lately with some high-profile premiers, and the latest is this Christian Slater vehicle.

Christian Slater stars as both Edward and Henry. Edward is a black ops Goverment agent. Henry is a normal family man working for a financial institution. Sadly for Henry, it turns out they’re also the same guy, with a chip implanted in his brain which allows Edward’s superiors to decide which of them is the active personality at any time.

Then one day, things rapidly go pear-shaped after the chip malfunctions and the two personalities start swapping over randomly with no control. Edward wakes up in Henry’s home and instantly knows what’s wrong, as he knows about his dual identity. However Henry gets a much more rude awakening, taking over during a mission and finding himself targeted by Russians.

We’re two episodes in, and I’m enjoying this series immensely. Our main focus between the two characters is Henry, as he has no idea what’s been going on or his dual identity. I get the impression that a key part of the series is going to be finding out who exactly Edward (I like the Jekyll and Hyde nod BTW) is. We know there’s something unusual about him, as his boss notes they only knew about the flat he owns within the last year and it was a surprise to them, and on investigating Edward’s place, Henry uncovers a hidden room, filled with weapons.

Edward’s relationship with his employers seems to have more to it as well.  There’s an implication that this kind of malfunction should’ve resulted in Henry’s “death”, however instead the boss is helping to cover up what’s happened, and has been helping to guide Henry where necessary.

Its an intriguing setup.  The riff on the classic Jekyll and Hyde is well played and has a bit of a twist to it.   The exact nature of the program that would create agents like this, as well as who Edward is and his motivations are interesting mysteries that have been setup.

Dark Reign rumbles on in the Marvel Universe, and it still sucks to be Tony Stark, as he’s quickly shot down after wandering into Russian airspace on his way to the latest of his private facilities.

The person doing the shooting turns out to be Tony’s old friend, the Crimson Dynamo who’s unimpressed by this person wandering into his country in an outdated armour that’s easily taken down.  He’s even more surprised when he realises it is indeed Tony Stark in the suit.

This is something Matt Fraction’s doing that I really love.  In the past, whenever Tony’s armour has been trashed, its been almost cliche that he’d spend 5-10 issues running around in the classic 60s armour, before its overwhelmed and he’s forced to build a new suit.   This rarely made sense, as in some of those situations he could’ve easily gone with a suit more advanced.   In this story, Tony’s reasons for adopting such an old suit make perfect sense, as his intelligence is compromised, and his reaction times slowed.

The other thing Fraction does which was previously ignored, is address that in the modern Marvel Universe, the 60s armour is rubbish.  Yes, it looks good.  But its old technology.  In previous instances where Tony’s worn this suit as a substitute, he’s generally held his own to a point, until becoming overwhelmed.   Here there’s no pretence that he can hold his own.  He’s quickly shot down by the Crimson Dynamo and his armour rendered useless.  Fortunately once the situation has been explained, the Dynamo is more than happy to lend Tony his armour to help him out.

We also go back to Pepper, who’s more than happy to flaunt Osborn’s authority in order to track Tony down.  Sadly, she’s playing straight into Norman’s hands, as he’s been watching her, waiting for her to run to Tony.

Talking of Norman, there’s a great scene where he contacts the Russians for permission to chase Tony in their territory, only to be bluntly told to shove off.  Its a nice scene, and its interesting to see that internationally, other countries seem to be well aware of Norman’s past, and don’t trust him one iota.

Meanwhile War Machine #7 continues Jim’s quest to shut down the research into the Ultimo virus.   Having successfully distracted American Eagle in the previous issue to allow him to get to the US military base housing the research, Jim quickly begins dismantling their defenses only to discover that the head of Ultimo is being used to house the project.

Again, a real part of the fun here is the Dark Reign setup, mainly with American Eagle’s interactions with Norman Osborn.  Again we’re seeing someone in authority tell Osborn to get knotted.  Its  a situation that’s sure to escalate, since as more and more people tell Osborn to take a hike, you can see him getting further and further out of control and throwing around his authority.   As a direct result of this issue you see military personnel questioning exactly why there was an alien superweapon hidden on their base by Osborn.  Hopefully these are hints that Osborn’s ascendancy to power isn’t nearly as all-encompassing as may have first appeared, and there’s still a good few people out there questioning what’s going on.

The other thing that really surprised me in this issue is the cliffhanger.  Jim manages to hack the Ultimo project’s database and discovers the locations where Ultimo’s main processor has been stored (after being split up).  To stop him, Osborn calls in his latest line of defense against Jim. Someone who looks a lot like Tony Stark, leaving the Stark Solutions offices.

I’m really wondering who this is going to be.  Assuming I’ve not missed any issues where there was a clone of Tony kicking around or something, this is hugely interesting.  ”Tony” is carrying his signature briefcase, so it seems to be hinting towards another War Machine/Iron Man confrontation, but what’s the twist here?

A really nice part of this issue is that we finally see the sequence of events that resulted in Jim’s injuries.  Interestingly, he was serving as an advisor to the military (in something reminiscent of his role as a liason in the Iron Man movie).  We quickly see Jim’s determination to save others no matter the personal cost.  Its nice to finally see what actually happened there.