Green Lantern Corps #58

I'm just not feeling Tony Bedard's take on these GLs. This went from being one of my favorite comics to one I'm reading out of habit. Kyle Rayner still comes across as a whiner, John Stewart is still a jerk, and neither one of them seem at all like the characters I used to like.

This crosses over into War of the Lanterns pretty obviously when the entire Qward team returns to the normal universe. Parallax takes over the lot of them, only it seems that all the GLs are full-on zombies. (In a neat side-effect, the Alpha Lanterns shut down.) Rayner and Stewart last a few moments longer, but they do manage to spout off a bunch of hurtful, damaging stuff at each other. Ganthet lends a hand and manages to break them free of Parallax's control, but the issue ends with the Earth GLs on the run and Ganthet facing down the oncoming horde of mind-controlled GLs.

Oh, and it couldn't be more obvious that Kyle Rayner is going to become a Blue Lantern, further distancing him from what made him cool back in the early '90s.

Tyler Kirkham's art is fine, but again, I'm just not loving his style. It's a nice change from the house DC style in so many other titles though.

Average

Justice League: Generation Lost #22

Look, I'm happy that Judd Winick is able to tie Wonder Woman into this arc, but let's face it, we need the Martian Manhunter. I keep waiting for J'onn to make a triumphant appearance as Professor Ivo or someone else that Max Lord has mistakenly trusted, but now I'm just holding out hope that J'onn shows up for the finale. He really needs to take a stand with his old team.

Winick does a nice job bringing Bruce Wayne and Power Girl into the mix. They were both very important to the JLI, so linking them up makes a lot of sense. And this team was already great. The new Rocket Red gets three or four laugh out loud moments, and seeing the Blue Beetle's reaction to his team was wonderful. I loved that he was totally befuddled seeing Captain Atom being so happy. Good stuff.

Joe Bennett does love drawing Fire and Ice, and as always, I have to say he's good at it. He still does his best work on the two of them and Blue Beetle; I still don't love his Booster or Cap Atom.

Fair

Green Lantern #64

I should have learned my lesson by now! After last month's snooze-fest in GL 63, I was considering dropping the Lantern titles. I just couldn't make myself care about what was going on, and to be honest, I had no idea what War of the Green Lanterns was even about. I'm glad I powered through, because once again Geoff Johns was saving up for the big-time arc. It seems the War of the Green Lanterns is the fallout from Krona releasing the emotion entities (referred to here as parasites... hmm). While most of them end up in the bodies of different Guardians, Parallax the yellow space bug is more than happy to resume residence in the GL power battery.

This is awesome for a few reasons. First, it means that the rings don't work against yellow any more; order is restored in the universe. Second, it lets Parallax dominate the wills of a ton of GLs, setting up our little war. Well played, Geoff! This book delivered in the smaller moments too. I liked seeing the Story Vampire (although she was quite like something out of the Unwritten, huh?).

The coolest moment for me was seeing Stel and a few other GLs immediately stand down to give Hal Jordan a chance to explain. Of course some of the corps would back up their most famous member.

And Doug Mahnke comes back to save the day on art. Look at those possessed Guardians! Look at the wonderfully diverse GLs! This comic just bounced back.

Good

Last Stand of the Wreckers TPB

Wow, they weren't kidding about the title of this one. I expected another fun chapter in the world of IDW's Transformers, but this really is a goodbye to Transformers UK. The Wreckers were the long-time stars of Transformers UK, and a lot of those same characters get spotlighted here. Springer, Kup, Perceptor (a childhood fave of mine), Topspin, Twin Twist, and some new rookies make up the current team. (Where is Broadside?) The creative team does a fine job building up Overlord, a new Decepticon boss, as the main foe for this story. While parts of the story don't ever become totally clear (I'm fuzzy on what the MacGuffin actually does, and I don't understand why Prowl makes some of the decisions he does) the action is clear-cut and brutal.

This feels like a Transformers action movie, complete with a ton of casualties on both sides. The majority of the bots in this trade are new characters, so they are safe to kill, but some long-time folks get taken out too. (The writers do a nice job with the rookie Wreckers too, especially new fave Guzzle.) I've never been a big fan of Springer or Kup, they seem like they toe the line too much, but I love Prowl, so who knows. Top Spin and Twin Twist get some nice development; it's rare to see Transformers brothers.

The art is wonderful. The 'bots look like the cartoon of my childhood, and that's all I'm asking for in my Transformers comics. It's wonderful seeing back-ups like Perceptor getting so much time in the spotlight (and being awesome!), I'd love to see more work like this for more of the obscure folks I actually know like Windcharger or Warpath.

This trade has some nice bonus features; sketches, a short story, and some notes. But where are my alternate covers?

Good

Xombi #1

Sometimes the hype is justified. I'd been seeing nice stuff about this re-launch all over my normal blogs, and since I'm a sheeple when it comes to hot comics, I decided to check this out.

I've never read the original Xombi, but wow, this is good. The only way I can think to describe John Rozum's fun yet spooky book is to say it reads like Grant Morrison if Morrison didn't skip pages of story. David Kim/Xombi is a neat character, and still a pretty normal guy even while immortal and blessed with weird powers. But what sells the book for me is the rest of the Dakota (Milestone) setting.

He teams up this issue with Catholic Girl (with faith based energy powers), None-the-Less (a shrinking nun that Xombi flirts with) and Nun of the Above with mental powers. That's AWESOME. And then that last page...

We all know Frazer Irving is a genius (even if DC had a typo with his name in the credits). That closing page is simply brilliant. I love it when I can still get a shiver of fear from a good comic, and that last page does it. Check out this comic.

Excellent

Parker: The Outifit OGN

This graphic novel has a lot more action than the first, so it grabbed my interest a ton more than the first Parker story. Part of what Darwyn Cooke's novel so interesting this go round is the time he spends explaining each robbery that Parker and his gang make on the organized crime "Outfit." I think I'm ready to go off on a crime spree! I know I never give organized crime the credit for such complicated and brilliant schemes as I see in this collection.

And I love the sense of justice that Parker carries through the whole story; sure, the Outfit tried to kill him, but I'm not positive that justifies any and all actions in retaliation. Parker's crew tries not to hurt anyone (until the end) so they aren't all bad, but the shades of gray are pretty darn fine.

I loved the speech from the Outfit accountant about having a generation of employees. Sure, they all work in illegal activities, but the bulk of the folks working for organized crime in this era treat their work like a job, not something they want to risk their lives over. It's a fascinating look at what happens when any organization gets big, even if they start out lean and illegal.

Cooke's time spent building up both the supporting cast and the antagonists is well spent. This feels like a caper film and is a very satisfying read. Of course, his art is stellar. The art deco and dated styles all look wonderful. This feels like a movie storyboard.

Good

Ex Machina v10: Term Limits

Brian Vaughn delivers a couple "wow" moments in this final trade for his acclaimed Ex Machina series. Some pretty important people get turned or killed off when Mayor Hundred has to go up against the alternate Earth that has been plaguing him for a few trades now.

So the first shock, a death in the family. It makes sense, and I thought Vaughn did a good job showing how the death affected Hundred, but how Hundred is able to put his feelings aside for the greater good of New York. He's been doing this since the first trade.

I LOVED seeing Hundred get back in his Great Machine gear. Vaughn made us wait for it for a LONG time, so when this briefly becomes a super-hero story for a few moments, how can I not love it?

I'm not sure I buy Bradbury's quick descent. Unless Hundred totally dropped the guy who saved his bacon on multiple occasions, Bradbury didn't seem like the type to fall as far as he does here. His declaration of love was weird and seemed like it was more for shock value than in line with the character. Or maybe I just missed the signs.

Kremlin's fate fascinates me. Vaughn basically pulled the rug out of all of his readers with this one. For this entire series, Hundred seemed like he was there to show how Vaughn is smarter than the reader. He has it all figured out. Maybe I was mis-reading (and I see now I was), but I figured this was political book for Vaughn to put his beliefs out there. But no, this book was about something else entirely. I don't want to ruin it, but this is not a super-hero story at all.

Tony Harris art is wonderful, as it has been all series long. I need to check and see what he's doing next; he's the only artist out there who actually draws people who look like they could exist off the comic page.

Good