Well, Newsarama have got the January solicits up and there’s some good looking titles that month.

In Green Lantern terms we’ve got our first (albeit hard to make out clearly) look at an Alpha Lantern from the arc in the main title. I must admit, I’m intrigued to see how this arc goes. I’m betting the Alpha Lanterns are some Ion-derivative, but given that Hal and John are against it, its a fair bet there’s something more sinister than the power-boost Kyle got. It looks like Boddika certainly is one of them. Will all the Lost Lanterns become Alpha Lanterns? I can’t see Arisia being involved (and she’s part of the GLC title anyway).

I’m unsure what to make of the GLC solicit to be honest. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m sure it’ll be a good story, and there’s only so much you can tell for a solicit, so there are a lot of assumptions involved. However, the image of Mongul with a Sinestro ring does automatically make me wonder how many GL foes are going to end up in the Sinestro Corps. I can’t help but think its possibly going to be too soon after the event to revisit it, and a couple of issues dealing with something else (or the fallout from the war in another way that doesn’t involve actually bumping into someone with a yellow ring) might’ve been an idea.

I suspect I’ll be eating those words come January though

Various other non-GL things catch my eye as well. I’ve enjoyed the first two issues of Countdown to Adventure a lot, so I’m looking forward to it. I notice that Adam Strange seems to be in his original outfit, as opposed to his Planet Heist makeover, so I presume he has to dig some of his old kit out of storage at somepoint. I hope he gets his Planet Heist look back at the end of the series though. A really good updating I thought.

I’m looking forward to seeing how the Black Adam mini wraps up and I’ve been enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. I’m hoping it gives us some indication of why Adam’s powers seem to be driving Mary evil, and I can’t help but think something happens to his powers during this series that leads him to give them to Mary as an act of revenge against Billy.

Booster Gold #6 should be a good issue as well. I like how they’re dealing with the issue of Ted in this first arc and getting it out of the way. I don’t think anyone’s actually been expecting him to save Ted though, so I suspect this issue will be a bit of a tearjerker.

Well, another week, another part of the Sinestro Corps War, as we’re now into the final push towards the end.

At this point, it probably goes without saying that I enjoyed the issue.

We pick up where both last month’s GL and the Parallax one-shot left off. This issue is primarily dealing with freeing Kyle from Parallax, and Parallax’s ultimate fate. For me it works well. The yellow weakness is now permanently removed from the central battery, and will only affect the four Earth GLs, who’ve all been overcoming it for the last couple of years anyway.

This issue really feels like a turning point in the War, as much as last week’s “Lethal Force Enabled” scene in GLC was. With Kyle now free, the final page with the 4 musketeers of the GL world back together, you do feel that next issue is going to be great, with the 4 Earth GLs proving why they’re the best. I do like how the 4 Earth GLs have been used since Johns came back, in that when they’re brought together its a big deal, and you know the bad guys are in trouble.

Another great thing about this issue was John once again getting the chance to shine. One of his lines falls flat if you’ve never seen “Lean On Me” (I haven’t), but as the GL who’s probably been the worst treated since Rebirth, its nice to see him getting some panel-time. Certainly, the scene on Oa where he takes out Bedovian back in the special is still one of the stand-out scenes of this whole thing for me. Geoff Johns is also promising a good moment in #25 with “Guy, John and a grenade the size of the moon”. Sounds good

However, despite all this, for me, the comic of the week was probably Booster Gold #3. This issue really nailed a great blend of serious story telling and comedy. While the Jonah Hex crossover was largely throw away, there’s some great humour in a drunken Booster telling Skeets how Superman banned him from wearing a cape, and then drunk-driving Rip Hunter’s Time Sphere. Dan Jurgens’ art is on top form, and this really seems to be a title that’s finding its feet and starting to fire on all cylanders. Next issue the Supernova mystery is due to be revealled, and I’m glad they’re not dragging it on too long. I’m also intrigued to see what happens with Daniel. We’re presented with the possibility that they may have mucked up Booster’s personal ancestory when they recruited Daniel back in 52 so hopefully its something they’ll revisit, especially once the Supernova mystery is solved.

Mmmmmm. Cheesecake.

I like Benes’ artwork a lot, but that splash page is possibly going a bit over-the-top

http://www.newsarama.com/dcnew/Oct07/previews/JLA_14.html

http://www.bass10.com/flash-games/puzzle-games/bloxorz-puzzle-game

And its bye-bye to productivity Great little game this.

This week’s DC previews are now up at Newsarama. Looks to be a great week with GL #24 and Booster Gold #3.

I love the panels of Hal racing to his brother’s house to stop Parallax. Since Kyle’s shown in his new GL duds on the cover to the next issue, hopefully this week will see Kyle and Hal exorcising “the bug”.

Looks like Superman Prime might be getting some action in this issue as well. I’m really interested in his one-shot as there are a lot of questions under this character’s current direction. Although I can’t help but feel that his and the Anti-Monitor’s involvement in this storyline will end up as a tease towards Final Crisis.

Also of interest is this week’s Lying in the Gutters, which has a green-lighted rumour for the Red Lanterns making there first appearance in next month’s GL #25. I must admit, while excited to see how it plays out, I’m also concerned that the Green Lantern Corps itself is going to end up diluted by all these other Corps kicking around. Although given that Geoff Johns has said we’re only on part 2 of a 3-part event, I imagine by the end of it, we’ll be left with the GL Corps as a unique entity, at least in this universe.

Booster Gold looks great as well. I’m really enjoying this title so far, and the mystery regarding Supernova is hotting up. I must admit though, I find the idea of Daniel just using the suit to get really good at X-box Live, and possibly mucking up Booster’s ancestry as a result quite amusing

Well, I’m going to get some stick for this, but I caved the other day and bought an iPod.

Traditionally I’ve always tried to keep up a teasing air about the Apple vs PC thing. My main actual beef has always been that they get away with stuff that MS are frequently hauled over the coals for, that the iPods were hideously overpriced until the market got a lot more competative, and those “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” ads (some of which are genuinely funny, some of which are just smug and annoying) which just re-inflamed the bitter Mac/PC war needlessly.

But in terms of their products, there’s never been any doubt in my head that they’re good pieces of kit, just by-and-large not suited to my needs, or too expensive.

So, when my trusty Creative Zen developed a fault in its headphone jack, the best buy for me to replace it turned out to be a new iPod Nano.

As I expected its a great piece of kit. I’m unsure about how useful video playback on such a small screen is actually going to be, but the nice hires screen is great for flicking through album art and the like.

I’m also starting to appreciate the iTunes software more, whereas before I’d struggled to get to grips with it. The iStore is lethal though. Going to have to stay away from it lest I bankrupt myself in multiples of 79p.

Don’t know if anyone else is watching this, but I’ve seen the first two episodes and its great. Well worth a look

Green Lantern Corps #16 is out this week, and its a great continuation of the Corps War storyline. It brings the Ranx/Mogo story to a head, and also deals with the fallout from the Guardians enabling lethal force in the last issue of Green Lantern.

Gleason’s art once again shines, and the issue does a great job of showing the differing reactions to lethal force. Old school Lanterns like Kilowog and Salaak are clearly unhappy with the move, but none-the-less do their duty and start despatching Sinestro Corps members. The more military recruits (Vath, Isamot and Sodam) revel in finally being able to cut loose, while Arisia flat out refuses to kill. It’ll be interesting to see the wider fallout of this move.

The character who shines in this issue though is Sodam Yat. He’s been hyped for the last few issues (and the fanboys have been going nuts over him because he’s a Daxamite) and we finally get to see him earn some of the love. As he ends up spearheading the assault in Ranx itself, we get to see why he may eventually earn the title of “The Ultimate Green Lantern”.

It’ll be interesting to see the fallout of this issue in next month’s. The solict says that one of the prophecies finally comes true. With Ranx destroyed and the white lobe neutralised by Kilowog’s team, it leaves few of the predictions. As it stands neither Sodam Yat or Mogo look likely to fall, so I wonder if it’ll reveal that the Empire of Tears are standing with the Sinestro Corps, as they are the only remaining ally mentioned in the prophecy we haven’t seen.

Or it could be something else entirely

Well, the first full story of the first season of Sarah Jane Adventures finished this week, and I loved it. Unlike Torchwood, which (while I enjoyed it) seemed to struggle to find its footing, this spin-off has hit the ground running, first with the Invasion of the Bane pilot at New Year, and now with its first 2 parter. The Slitheen were a great choice of villain to use as well. I’ve felt for a while that the new Dr Who series should maybe focus on bigging up the new monsters to create some new “big bads” instead of exclusively relying on the classic monsters (let’s see the Judoon come back a few times - they were a great concept). Having the two spin off shows strikes me as a great way to spread the load, allowing all three shows to give us recurring threats, as well as develop new monsters.

Here’s hoping SJA keeps up the momentum, but so far I’m loving it.

(As a side note, if the K9/Jetix thing falls through - here’s hoping he gets brought back into this show)

The DC previews for this week are up on Newsarama including the previews for the Cyborg Superman one-shot, and the latest issue of Green Lantern Corps.

Both previews look excellent, and it looks like the Cyborg one-shot is maintaining the high level of art set with the Parallax one-shot from a couple of weeks ago. Judging from these pages it looks like we’re going to get a first look at the Sinestro Corps’ assault on Earth, and the look into the thoughts of the Cyborg looks interesting.

This week’s GLC issue continues the story of the Sinestro Corps’ attack on Mogo. This has been a really high-octane story for the last few issues, and it looks like this issue will be keeping the pace up. I’m loving the epic scale of the conflict with the upgraded Ranx hovering over Mogo. The artwork’s great as always. I really loved this panel with Arkillo facing off against Kilowog. Heck, it even looks like Sodom Yat is finally getting built up properly, leading the attack on Ranx (I love the reactions of the other GLs, being ordered around by a rookie - hopefully we’ll get Sodom’s character a lot more fleshed out to explain why he’s so good tactically).