Well, this week saw the return of Peter Tomasi to Green Lantern Corps, and Part 2 of Ring Quest.

Its another cracking issue. Once again, Tomasi juggles the large cast admirably, showcasing most of the main characters with a page or two showing them being hauled back to Oa by the Guardians, as they are recruited to hunt down the remaining Sinestro Corps rings.

Mongul, meanwhile, has wasted no time in recruiting other Sinestro Corps members to follow him. Well, by that I mean he’s killed them all and taken their rings, as they refused to join him. We also get a taste for his larger plans, and that they involve the infamous Black Mercy plants.

Prior to this, Mongul I’d always viewed as a fairly generic alien war lord. However with this arc, Peter Tomasi’s infusing him with a real sense of menace. He’s been nicely setup as a formidable threat, as we know he’s already taken down Sodam Yat and Arisia.

Pat Gleason’s art continues to shine as always. Special mention must go to a panel of the assembled GLs, as they go to face the Guardians and get their orders. It was incredibly effective.

The other big release this week was Titans #1. A book reuniting the New Teen Titans from the Wolfman/Perez run. I’m not a huge Titans fan, but I enjoyed this book well enough. It did a good job of introducing the characters (although after reading Geoff Johns’ Teen Titans, this take on Raven felt a bit off to me - I understand its more rooted in the cartoon series). The art was pretty (with some really nice inking), conveying the action scenes well (such as Nightwing being attacked at one of Batman’s safehouses), but also amusingly cheesecake for the Starfire sequences.

It was nice to see Starfire still living at the Baker’s house following Countdown to Adventure as well. Nice little bit of continuity. I’m not liking Donna’s new costume though. I far preferred the starfield effect, rather than these red stars on it.

Booster Gold continued the Blue & Gold storyline with Booster and Ted trapped on a world where Max Lord managed to eliminate most of the meta-humans. To be honest, most of the issue still felt like setup for getting the gang back together next month. JLI reunions always go down well. It was great seeing Dan Jurgens drawing Superman again though.

I also picked up Countdown. I must admit, Mary beating the tar out of Donna with Kyle’s unconscious body got a laugh out of me. JSA was a good read too, although I feel I’ve lost some momentum with this story. Great scene with Alan grabbing Gog though as the pair of them are surrounded by the green flame. I’ll be intrigued to see how Alan reacts next month as well, when faced with his Kingdom Come self.

There’s not much really I can say about Countdown #04. As I’ve already really made clear, I’ve found the series a dissappointment overall and I’m basically only sticking with it because there’s only a few issues to go. I’ll say this though. Jamal’s artwork was really nice this issue. And Darkseid waiting on Mary’s sofa was a classic moment. However Mary going evil again was just daft. We did this plotline and resolved it. And now its back for no real reason other than obviously “Mary is evil” was on the end of Countdown checklist.

And Earth-Kamandi is explained in pure exposition an issue after we left that storyline. That felt badly “oops we forgot to explain that” tacked on.

Is it too much to hope that this series can pull something out of its bag in its last couple of issues?

Whatever they do, 52 had the awesome “Booster Gold saves the Multiverse” ending. They’re not going to beat that. Especially with only 3 issues left.

Said way more than I intended to about Countdown there.

I’ve sung the praises of Peter Tomasi’s Nightwing run, and I’m going to do it again. Whereas Countdown (nuts I’m talking about it again) forces characters to contort themselves around its plot, Nightwing remains focused on great characterisation.

I don’t even care what the plot was. All I know was I read page after page of great dialogue between Nightwing and Robin. Peter Tomasi really nailed they’re relationship as brothers, and made the issue an absolute joy to read. My only complaint is that its another month till the next issue.

One thing I am looking forward to though, is seeing more of Nightwing’s day job. With this arc, Tomasi’s spent a lot of time re-establishing Nightwing’s place in the superhero community. He’s really brought out the idea that Nightwing is a focal point for all the heroes and teams and it works brilliantly. But now he’s established that, I hope we get an arc more focused on Dick Grayson’s new status quo to bring some balance.

Alternatively, another issue of Nightwing/Robin banter and I’ll be happy.

Right, catching up with my comics ranting

Countdown #5 continued the transformation of the Earth to the world of Kamandi. While this and issue 6 were an interesting read, they also felt like a diversion from the main event of Countdown. I realise the Great Disaster’s been what the Search for Ray Palmer storyline was playing towards, but these issues, while fullfilling that, just didn’t seem part of the main story to me for some reason. Possibly this is related to the decision to focus on this Earth’s Buddy Blank for the narration, a character only in these two issues, while every other character in Countdown took a back seat. Given that we should be firmly in the “wow! This is finally paying off!” stages of Countdown, frankly it just served to underline the disappointment of the title for the last 45ish issues. I’m pretty much sticking with it because there’s only 5 issues to go, but frankly, there’s no chance of me picking up the next weekly, and Countdown’s left me fairly unenthusiastic for Final Crisis. If they’re smart Superman Prime’ll turn up next issue and blow something up, because those were the best issues.

The other Countdown monthly I’ve been picking up was Countdown to Adventure. I’ve really enjoyed this epilogue to the Space Team’s adventures in 52. I’m a sucker for Adam Strange stuff and he, Animal Man and Starfire work well together. The Forerunner backups seemed fairly pointess, just serving a character that appeared briefly in Countdown. Its a structure that was handled much better in last year’s Mystery in Space title. Talking of which, I’m now really looking forward to Rann-Thanagar Holy War. Adam Strange and Captain Comet. Two characters I’ve really enjoyed the last few years. Although I see they’re still trying to drop the “Captain” from Captain Comet’s name. Gah!

Next week’s Countdown should be a lot of fun. There’s definitely a sense its been building to this. Tricked by the Monitor Solomon into thinking that Earth-51 is “his” Earth, Superman Prime isn’t too happy to find Monarch laying waste to the place.

“I’m going to kill you to DEATH!” is just such a great silly line. Suits the character right down to the ground.

With Countdown heading towards the endgame now, its interesting to see which stories seem to have worked and which haven’t. For me, although the Trickster/Piper storyline was initially fun, it ultimately just seemed to drag and doesn’t seem to have gone anywhere.

The Karate Kid/Brother Eye storyline seems to be building towards Final Crisis, but I’ve also just found it really dull. The Jimmy storyline also seems to be a big piece of the Final Crisis story, but as someone who isn’t much of a fan of the Fourth World/New Gods stuff, I’ve not been that interested. However, the fact that it seems to be setting up such a big part of Final Crisis has me concerned. If it does turn out to be a big part of it, then does this mean that Final Crisis may not be for me? But if so, can I really afford to skip a title that’ll be setting up the DCU for the next few years? I’m sure it’ll be fine, and I’ll enjoy it, but still its a thought.

The Mary Marvel storyline’s been another misfire for me. The official stance in DC seems to be that she hasn’t killed anyone, but reading the issues, I really don’t get that. It seems to me that the character’s got a lot to make up for. Of course, you have to wonder why she was abandoned by Billy and Freddy in the first place. Not exactly brotherly…

For me, the main meat of Countdown has been the Search For Ray Palmer/Monarch/Multiverse stuff. With the “52″ multiverse only recently established, its been great fun seeing the different worlds. And noticably most reviews seem to agree that Countdown’s firing on all cylanders when this is the story its focusing on.

I still maintain I reckon this multiverse will be nuked by Final Crisis though. I think the fact that Earth-2 has been all but avoided will be key however to the fact that the Multiverse will not be collapsed again. Throughout Infinite Crisis, it was noted that Earth-2 was different to the other resurrected worlds, and we’ve still got the “Missing Kryptonians” mystery. I’m betting Final Crisis will end with a new multiverse.

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.

Ok, I’ve caught up a bit more on my reading.

Green Lantern Corps #19 provides another great epilogue to the Sinestro Corps War, and also gives us the first proper taste of new writer Peter Tomasi’s take on the title. I was really impressed with this, and it was an enjoyable read. I must admit, while the previous writer (Dave Gibbons), did some good stories (especially once the war kicked off), on the basis of this issue, I think we may be in for a stronger run here.

We see a lot of the aftermath of the war. Kyle is dealing with what he did while possessed by Parallax, and the other Lanterns are all remembering the dead, and trying to move on with their lives. Itsa big cast to juggle, and as such most characters only get a page or so to themselves, but in this issue its a format that works well. We really needed to see this aftermath, and especially with the wall-to-wall action of GL #25 this issue provides a great counterpoint, showing everyone coming to terms with what’s happened.

I especially like the glimpses of the GL’s “home lives”. This is something which has been missing from the title (again, the perils of having a large cast to juggle) and it felt really welcome to me and added a lot of depth, seeing the characters “off duty”. I hope this is something Peter Tomasi manages to slot into the title now and again.

While I felt that Countdown this week was a bit of a let down (after the highs of the Superman Prime issues, returning to some of the original plots hasn’t done this title any favours I fear), Countdown Arena continued to provide a fun read. Monarch still proves the master of his domain, easily undermining any attempt by the heroes to escape from his clutches, and the fights themselves prove interesting. I must admit,the victor in the GL battle was a surprise to me.

I (like writer Keith Champagne) figured GL-Batman was a shoe-in to win this, but I found the Earth-5 GL a more interesting prospect as he seemed like more of an unknown, and I thought there’d be interest in seeing if his powers were Shazam-based, or more traditional. However, it was the Hal from the Batman Beyond Earth that…well won isn’t quite appropriate.

I’m still waiting to see if there’s a twist with the whole Monarch/Captain Atom thing, but in the meantime this title’s a great ride. I’m looking forward to part 3 next week.

So, the latest entry to the Countdown stable was released this week.

Countdown Arena continues the plot that’s been slowly building for a while (since Ion?), of Monarch building an army to take on the Monitors.

Countdown Arena is a weekly event whereby Monarch has captured various versions of the DC heroes from across the multiverse, and is forcing them to fight to the death so that’ll he’ll have only the best for his army.

Its an interesting book this. The premise is a bit contrived, with the heroes fighting each other to the death, so its a case of “switch your brain off and enjoy”. On that level it definitely works. We’re also presented with the idea that the Supermen are refusing to comply and are going to be masterminding a breakout, so that will probably more interesting to follow than the bouts themselves.

However, I’m left waiting for the twist. For a couple of reasons:

1. The current Monarch is actually Captain Atom. Monarch, as presented here, will happily wipe out millions of people, purely to further his goals of building an army to fight the monitors. It seems to be wildly out of character for him, so I really hope there’s a twist coming.

2. This ties into my feelings of the death of Earth-15 a couple of weeks ago. The new multiverse is partly built up by incorporating various Elseworld’s titles. Yet in this comic, we see the main characters from those Elseworld’s stories killed off. So the question becomes, is there a point in having a Gotham By Gaslight Earth, if there’s no Gotham By Gaslight Batman?

I wonder if there’s a twist coming here, but as it stands, I really think Final Crisis will remove the current multiverse. Whether it replaces it with a new one, or we end up with a single universe again, I don’t know, but it seems to me that the “52″ multiverse has already had most of its worlds revealed, 1 of which is destroyed, and we’re now losing title characters from the others. My guess is that the “52″ multiverse has been a bit of a stopgap, with Final Crisis revealing what the makeup of the DCU will actually be for the forseeable future.

If so, that’s a pity, because I quite like the current multiverse, but DC seem to be deconstructing it at the moment.

The previews for this week are now up at Newsarama, including the latest installment in the Search for Ray Palmer series, based on Gotham By Gaslight.

I actually re-read the Gotham By Gaslight trade last night, and its a cracking read (although the first story is a lot better than second I felt. So it’ll be interesting to revisit that world with the Challengers.

Sadly, it looks like Jason Todd is narrating this one. Makes sense, since its a Batman-related world, but still, he’s just not that interesting at this point in the story. I do like the direction he’s currently taken in Countdown however, where they seem to be playing up his untrustworthy-ness a bit more, and perhaps trying to bring back some of what made the character great to read as the Red Hood.

Special mention to the art though. I hadn’t realised that it was being done by Greg Tocchini. While his art in the Ion series took a lot of flak, I really loved it, so I’m glad to see him back working on another DC project. While his style may not have the clean lines of Ivan Reis (for my money the best artist working on GL these days), there was something almost painting-like about his work, which I thought suited Kyle really well (especially the scenes in the artists retreat).

Check out his blog, with some of his other work and the original Ion pencils and sketches here.

Well, the spoilers are all over the web now for Countdown #24 and it seems the Countdown itself has now finally kicked into gear. I’m due to nab the issue tonight, but Prime’s rampage through Earth-15 sounds fairly brutal, and also gives me pause for thought.

Earth-15 was one of the (many) interesting new Earths that we’d met via Countdown. The idea of a utopian Earth out there was an interesting one, that would’ve made for more interesting stories.

The fact that its now gone, with the heavy implication that more of the 52 (51 now I guess) are going to bite it by Superman Prime’s hands makes me think more and more that the multiverse as it currently stands, isn’t going to be around by the time Final Crisis wraps up. Of course, that doesn’t mean that some kind of multiverse won’t be around. It would seem strange to reintroduce the idea to the DCU just to revert back to the single universe again, and the “52″ multiverse as we’re seeing in Countdown is an interesting place.

Again though, I think the fact we’ve not seen much of the new Earth-2 will be key to this. It was specifically hinted to be different to the other revived Earths during Infinite Crisis, and it currently is the only Earth we’ve seen that directly ties into events from the main DCU (the missing Kryptonians).

Of course, this also means that in my eyes, Superman Prime is now completely irredeemable. He’s now gone from “messed up kid”, to planet-slaughtering adult. While the chances of him being redeemed were slim before, I reckon the only way out for him now is the noble self-sacrifice route (or imprisoned again until the next Crisis).

It’ll definitely be interesting to see where this all takes us. Its good to see Countdown’s finished its meandering and kicking off. I think I’m definitely starting to get excited for Final Crisis.

Remember all the fuss when DC ruined Kyle’s fate in the Sinestro Corps War by having him turn up in Countdown?

Remember everyone being really hacked off at DC for ruining part of the most successful event of the year?

Lets just say, anyone that’s not already seen the Countdown #24 preview might want to avoid it.

Honestly, do DC care at all about spoilers these days?