Loved the 2-page parody in this week’s Lying in the Gutters (first item, headed Brand New Art)

So, this week brought us Peter Tomasi’s third issue of Green Lantern Corps.

And it was another cracker. I’ve loved the fact that he’s picked up on the GL’s lives “off-duty”. It was something that was sorely missing (at least as far as Guy was concerned) from the previous run. While Kyle quitting Earth is nothing new (third time now?) I like the idea of him setting up a new bar with Guy on Oa. Granted it doesn’t really play to his role as an artist, but there’s nothing to say he won’t do that in his free time while using his bar work to bring in some cash.

He and Guy play off each other well, so I think this move will definitely play to their strengths. Kudos to Tomasi as well for acknowledging and dealing with Guy’s past with Tora. I can’t help but think that some other writers would have ignored that in favour of going straight to Guy setting up the bar.

I guess my only lingering concern with GLC is that its now got an awful lot of characters to juggle on a regular basis. Are Kyle and Guy going to remain the main stars, with Soranik etc turning up as guest stars on a rotating basis? It’ll be interesting to see how its tackled.

Prior to Sinestro Corps, GLC was a book that was losing me slightly. Of course, with hind-sight we can see how much of it was setting up the Sinestro Corps arc, but for my money, this feels like a much stronger book at the moment.

Enjoyed Countdown this week as well. As a book its been incredibly hit-or-miss, but when its focusing on the multiverse stuff it seems stronger. And as a Kyle fan, I can’t help but like the fact that Kyle’s become a pivotal player, since it was his appearance that messed up Soloman and Bob’s plans.

Still slightly uncomfortable with Captain Atom being Monarch though. I like the villain, but I have trouble reconciling the two characters.

A couple more Knight Rider promos have aired in the States. And we’ve now got a confirmed (US) air date of February 17th.

30 Second Teaser:

2 Minute Preview:

Must admit, I’m really looking forward to this. Stories that the production crew are keen to get David Hasslehoff and the Knight 2000 to make guest appearances should the show go to a full series are very heartening.

Saying all this, the recent disappointment of the new Flash Gordon series is still hanging in the air. And Bionic Woman’s been floundering after a strong start in the ratings (although I’ve been enjoying it). I hope this series lives up to the hype.

Marvel have just put this up.

Clear as mud really. Presumably Norman Osbourne is one of those who remembers that he used to know Peter’s identity. Harry doesn’t remember ever being the Goblin (so is he now in a similar situation to Norman’s pre-death stories?).

Spider-Man is an unlicensed, unregistered hero. So bin those issues of Civil War then. No one knows his identity, even those who had discovered it pre-Civil War. So this seems to confirm that pretty much nothing JMS wrote still stands as one of his big story moments was Aunt May finding out the truth. Even MJ is clueless, despite being his girlfriend for all those years they were previously married. Hmmmm.

And the Coffee Bean is back.

It makes me wonder why they didn’t just completely regress Peter and the supporting cast back to college. Bring back Gwen and everyone else. As far as the rest of the Marvel Universe is concerned there was a previous Spider-Man (but his real ID is changed in their minds).

I still like the fix I saw on a forum post somewhere. Change the victim of the shooting from May to MJ. Suddenly the story is a lot more palletable (even if the continuity is still messed up).

Wizard have accidentally posted full spoilers (including some scans) of this week’s issue of Green Lantern Corps.

Without getting specific, it sounds interesting. Its a direction that Kyle’s gone in before, but the pairing of Kyle and Guy should be good fun. Can’t wait to see how it pans out.

http://www.wizarduniverse.com/magazine/wizard/006997316.cfm

Newsarama have a good editorial on the final issue of One More Day here.

I used to collect Spider-Man back in the days of the Clone Saga, and ironically at that point, using Mephisto to sort it out was deemed an unsuitable solution.

The flaws in One More Day are so staggering its unbelievable. By creating his new “more relatable” Peter Parker, Joe Quesada has badly damaged the character in the worst ways. Is there anyone here who could honestly say that Peter made the right choice in throwing his loving marriage out the window? I can’t see how that character is relatable in the slightest. In fact, most of the online community seem disgusted at the idea of Peter Parker at the moment.

I dropped Spider-Man, not after Ben Reilly was killed off (despite loving the character), but when Aunt May was sloppily resurrected the first time. Her death in Amazing #400 was a beautiful issue, and it was undone so callously, and unnecessarily that I couldn’t bear to support the title anymore. I occassionally try to get back into the books, but everytime I do, I find a glaring reason not to keep reading them, and its invariably had nothing to do with the marriage.

There’s an absolutely cracking bunch of creative teams coming onboard Spider-Man with “Brand New Day”, and I just feel sorry for them. Its a waste of good talent having their run tainted in this way. And poor JMS, who has just been forced to write a story retconning his entire run out of existance.

Make Mine Marvel? Not likely. Think God I dropped Spider-Man years ago, because it means I didn’t waste money on this dross. DC readers may complain about Dan Didio, but I don’t think anything he’s done is half as bad as this.