Annoyingly, some bright spark put some of the alternate cover of Rogues Revenge on the Legion pile this week, so me being in a hurry never noticed I’d accidentaly picked up both covers of Rogues Revenge #3 rather than one issue, and a copy of Legion of Two Worlds. Ah well.

The Rogues Revenge mini came to an end this month, with the Rogues finally managing to track down Inertia to get their revenge for the way he manipulated them into killing Bart.

However, Inertia’s been under the training of Zoom so the Rogues may get more than they bargained for, especially once Libra enters the fray.

I’ve enjoyed this mini series. Again it largely stands apart from Final Crisis (aside from Libra’s involvement) however the Flash’s Rogues have always made for good reading under the pen of Geoff Johns.

To a large extent at the end of this issue feeling like I’d been reading a clearing of the board for Flash Rebirth. Inertia is killed by the Rogues in an attempt to square matters over Bart’s death (drawing a line under that plotline) and the Rogues are warned about Barry’s return by Libra, prompting them to shelve any plans for retirement, as they know Barry will be coming after them (indeed the difference in approach towards the Rogues by Barry and Wally could be something interesting to be followed up from the Flash’s perspectives. Does Wally play the game with the Rogues? If so how will Barry react to it?).

A big event in this book though, was Inertia (then calling himself Kid Zoom) de-powering Zoom. Zoom’s been one of the best new villains (from any DC franchise) for years (well, in my opinion anyway), and to see him removed from the board is disheartening.

I tend to agree with the thoughts online that he’s been de-powered to make way for Eobard Thawne’s return. Not sure how I feel about that as the new Zoom was really a more interesting character. However, return of Barry Allen was a cracking Reverse Flash storyline (sort of), and there’s no denying how good a character Sinestro’s been since his return.

And of course, Zoom is simply de-powered. As he himself says, all he needs is the cosmic treadmill and he can be back in business. He is Geoff Johns’ character, so if Geoff feels the time is right to rest this character, then that’s his call, and I have to admit, in some other titles, Zoom was being used as a more generic evil speedster, which was a bit inconsistent with his motivation and his powers, so at least we won’t have that to worry about. The character has gone out on a high, and there’ll be a fairly vocal fan movement to have him return down the line.

Ok, time to fess up. I quite enjoy the Marvel Zombies stuff.

The original Ultimate Fantastic 4 storyline is probably one of the best comic book fake-outs ever, and the first Marvel Zombies series really worked for me because it didn’t take itself too seriously and had a dark, twisted sense of humour.

It went a bit off the rails for me after that. Army of Darkness vs Marvel Zombies recaptured the fun of the original (Zombie Howard the Duck!), but Dead Days I really didn’t like. For me, the Zombies worked because of the dark humour. By playing it straight, I found things like Peter killing MJ and May uncomfortable. Marvel Zombies 2 also didn’t quite work for me. It wasn’t as dark as the Dead Days one-shot, but it didn’t catch my attention either. For the last while, Marvel Zombies has had that whiff of a joke that’s gone on a bit too long.

So it was with trepidation I decided to pick up the first issue of Marvel Zombies 3. And I was surprised to find that:

a) its been played straight again, and
b) I enjoyed it.

While its being played straight, it lacks the uncomfortable reading of the Dead Days one-shot for me, and I found it a really effective horror book. This time, its set in 616 (the Marvel Universe) as Zombie Deadpool has fallen through a dimensional tear into a backwater town and infected the population.

Being set in 616 you know that things are going to be kept contained, and there can’t be any lasting reprocussions, but it works for me. But using a c-list cast they can still be wiped out fairly freely, and the Zombies aren’t focusing on a major population centre, which helps keep the story more contained.

It’ll be interesting to see where this goes. The idea of sending Machine Man over to the Zombie universe is interesting, and as I say, this worked well as a straight horror comic.

Just an interesting little thing I noticed recently.

I decided to re-read the Alpha Lanterns arc (largely for Laira’s transformation into a Red Lantern, a great scene) and one thing I noticed was that when the Lost Lanterns track down Amon Sur, he’s just finished killing off Keehan’s family.

Flashforward to recent issues of GLC and we’ve now got a plot thread regarding Sinestro Corps members wiping out the families of GL Corps members. Is this a case of Geoff Johns hinting at a future plot thread, or did Peter Tomasi just get inspired by those events?

Or is it just a big coincidence?

It was a Green Lantern week this week, with both monthlies falling on the same week (not quite sure how they got synchronised).

Both delivered solid reads, although I’m slightly more inclined to say that GLC was my favourite issue of the two. We get the Star Saphires revisited as their role in Blackest Night starts to be revealed, some quaity character time with Guy and Tora, and Kyle and Soranik joining a group of GLs trying to track down the Sinestro Corps member they think is masterminding the recent attacks on the family members of GLs. Peter Tomasi as usual proves he has an excellent grasp of managing the large cast on this book, and its impressive how he’s managing to provide such a dense read. There’s so much going on.

As part of the Star Saphire build up we find a couple of newly weds, who’re enjoying a trip when their ship runs afoul of Mongul (I love how his severed arm hovers beside him courtesy of his rings). Mongul kills the husband, and leaves the wife alone. Trying to kill herself, unable to face life without her husband, the depth of her love attracts one of the newly formed Star Saphire rings. And we also learn the Zamarons seem to be trying to get the Guardians attention, causing them enlist Guy, Arisia and Sodam to escort them to the Zamaron homeworld.

There’s a lot going on here, and its a testiment to Peter Tomasi’s writing that it doesn’t all end up a jumble. Can’t wait for the next issue of this arc.

Meanwhile, over in GL, Geoff Johns brings the Secret Origin arc to a close.

I’ve been a bit unsure about this arc. While the Blackest Night background has been very nice, and I’ve loved the new take on Hal and Sinestro, its still managed to feel like a bit of a diversion from the Blackest Night buildup. However, there’s still a lot of good stuff here. The scene with Hal standing up to the Guardians, and accusing them of being afraid of the Lanterns is a great one, and I loved how the seeds of Sinestro’s fall were laid by Atrocious. I’m really looking forward to the Rage of the Red Lanterns arc picking up on these aspects of this story as they’ve been the bits I’ve enjoyed the most. Its interesting to see the Inversions manipulate Sinestro into his own downfall, in the same way they did Abin Sur.

The interesting thing that keeps getting underlined, is the notion that Sinestro is the Greatest Green Lantern of all. In previous runs, this is a role that had been assumed by Hal (after Sinestro’s fall) with the implication that Hal had exceeded Sinestro’s accomplishments. However I’m getting the vibe that that’s not necessarily the case anymore. Its certainly interesting when you consider that Sinestro’s primary motivations at the moment seem to be to change the GLC to prepare it for the oncoming Blackest Night. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.

You can tell I’m catching up with the posts on Newsarama…

Final Crisis kicks back into gear this week (and my wallet starts to cry for the rest of the month) with the release of Revelations #3, and Newsarama has a preview up.

I must admit, as part of cost-cutting I was going to drop this series.  While I quite enjoy the new Spectre, I’ve never really bought Rene Montoya as the Question, and Batwoman has never really done anything for me either.  I usually really like Greg Rucka’s stuff, but the Crime Bible storyline hasn’t been my cup of tea, and while I enjoyed issue 1 of this mini, I wasn’t as bothered about issue 2.  However, it looks like that with issue 3, it starts tying in to Final Crisis in a big way, so I’m definitely picking it up to see how the story unfolds.

I’d blogged previously about this one shot and how much I enjoyed it, so I was very glad to see the news on Newsarama that Twighlight Guardian was one of the two one-shots to get picked up for a full series.

Congrats to the creative team, and I’m looking forward to reading what comes next

On the other hand, that’s another monthly I’ll be picking up.  So much for cutting down

Unusual comics post from me this week, since its been largely Marvel stuff that’s been catching my eye over the last couple of weeks. However with GL and GLC due later in the month, not to mention Final Crisis kicking back in at the end of the month, I don’t imagine it’ll be long until normal service is resumed

Captain America #42 wraps up Brubaker’s The Man Who Stole America arc, as well as many of the plots he began at the start of his run. With Bucky just having publicly launched himself into the limelight as Captain America to stop the Red Skull’s daughter assassinating the presidential candidates, he has to ensure she’s stopped, while The Falcon and Black Widow attempt to save Sharon Carter from the Red Skull’s stronghold.

Its a nice tie-up to many of the plots Brubaker’s been running. It was nice to see Bucky and Black Widow hook up at the end, and it’ll be interesting to see how Sharon’s memory loss is dealt with in later issues. I also liked the Red Skull’s fate: that scene really captured his horror at being trapped as he is. There’s still a few outstanding questions however, the exact plan that the Red Skull had involving Doom’s time machine for example. It seemed to be key to transferring the Skull to a new body, but what exactly they were trying to do remained a bit vague. We’ve also still got the 50s Captain America out there. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing where this series goes, now that Bucky’s establishing himself as Captain America.

One of my other favourite series to rave about is, of course, Avengers: The Initiative. Following up on last month’s issue, the Skrulls have arrived at Camp Hammond in force, and with most of the recruits out fighting in New York, only a few trainers, and Ant Man remain. Its yet another great issue from Dan Slott, and I just loved Ant Man. I missed his solo series from a couple of years back, but I’m definitely going to have to check out the trades. I loved his reluctance to play hero, and how his first reaction to trouble was to hide. I especially loved how that proved to give him an advantage against the Skrulls as he remains undiscovered while they took down the other heroes. It’ll be interesting to see what he’s discovered about their plans.

Playing catchup here a bit. Wizard Universe has a great glimpse at some of Shane Davis’ Red Lantern designs for the upcoming special.

I love these small sneak peaks, and enjoyed the Final Crisis sketchbook in the same way. It looks like Davis has had as much fun designing Red Lanterns as Ethan Van Skiver did the Sinestro Corps, and similarly, it looks like there’s some pretty nasty characters here.

As I’ve said before here, I was a big fan of Mystery in Space, and Shane’s artwork on that series, so I’m really looking forward to seeing his work on Green Lantern. One thing you’ve got to say about GL is that since its relaunch, its been attracting some of the best artists DC have. At least, its certainly been attracting most of my favourites.

Geoff Johns has also been dropping some teases about the Black Lanterns, and confirmed that Ronnie Raymond (the previous Firestorm) is going to be a Black Lantern.   It’ll be interesting to see how the various DC heroes end up encorporated into the various Corps.   Something I suspect will play heavily into the discussions that had been mentioned before (by Dan Didio I think) as to whether Blackest Night is going to remain a GL-specific crossover, or be branched out into a DCU-wide crossover.   While the prospect of seeing various familiar characters recruited to the various Corps could be fun, I’d hope that even if it gets pitched as a universe-wide crossover, the structure is kept similar to Sinestro Corps, with the focus remaining on the GLs and only a strictly limited number of books containing the meat of the story.

Last week brought us issue 6 of Secret Invasion. I’ll say this for Secret Invasion, they seem to be doing a good job of keeping the momentum going with releases.

To be honest, I found issue 6 a bit disposable. Whereas issue 5 felt like everything was back on track again finally, this issue seemed to largely serve to setup yet more big splash scenes. I don’t mind that for this issue, but if issue 7 doesn’t have a lot going on (and as the penultimate issue, I’d be surprised if it didn’t), then we’ll find ourselves back in the same situation as in earlier issues in this series, where one or two small things happening, doesn’t really seem enough to justify a whole issue.

We also finally get pay off for the Cap/Thor tease a couple of issues ago. Except that its basically a couple of panels with Thor commenting that Bucky isn’t Cap, and Bucky retorting that Thor’s supposed to be dead.

There’s also another reference to the Wasp, hinting back to the Hank Pym issue of Mighty (?) Avengers, and you get the feeling that whatever they’ve done to poor Janet, its going to be pretty nasty.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying Secret Invasion:The Event, but in many ways, the main mini-series seems to be in place largely for all the spin-offs to jump off from. Unlike Final Crisis, in which the story seems to be pretty well contained in the mini-series, Secret Invasion seems to require the tie-ins more to get more enjoyment from the larger storyline.

Singing the praises of Peter Tomasi’s work is a regular feature in this blog, and the latest issue of Green Lantern Corps is no exception.

If I was to make one complaint, then it would be that this arc felt a bit short. After the mammoth ring quest arc, the quick capture of the quintet was slightly jarring, but since we’ve got the Star Saphire arc kicking off next month, I won’t complain.

In truth, I’m looking forward to this next arc a lot. I liked the changes Geoff Johns introduced in the Green Lantern arc and I’m pleased to see them being picked up again. Not to mention, it’ll be nice to have an issue where the Sinestro Corps take a back seat. If you consider how much of this book was spent putting in place things for the Sinestro Corps arc (like Ranx) and now dealing with the fallout, I’ll be glad to see other factions in the Blackest Night getting some focus. Especially since I’ve been really enjoying the Red Lantern buildup over in Green Lantern.

This title was still good fun. I like the character of Saarek, and can’t believe I didn’t twig to how he could play into the Blackest Night until he was approached by the scarred guardian. There’s something going on there and I imagine it’s not going to be good for Saarek.

Nice to see Tora turn up on Oa as well. Nice and unexpected since our focus had been on Guy counting the days till their date