Green Lantern Corps: Edge of Oblivion #5 - A Review

Discovering they've been duped into aiding a group of world-devouring parasites, several of the surviving Green Lanterns are feeling pretty foolish. And nobody feels more foolish than Guy Gardner. Unfortunately for the parasites in question, there's few things Guy Gardner hates more than feeling foolish and one of them is anyone who leads him to feel foolish.


I loved the way Tom Taylor wrote Guy Gardner back in Injustice: Year Two, showing a true understanding of the character unseen in the monthly Green Lantern books for some time. There's a flashback sequence here that summarizes Guy's character better than anything I've ever seen. Taylor's script beautifully ties this into Guy's current conflict, while displaying the perfect balance of action and humor that has made Taylor so beloved as a writer.


Unfortunately, the artwork is all over the place this month.  This is primarily due to Scott McDaniel, who apparently did all of the layouts but none of the finishes. McDaniel can be a great artist, but it just seems strange to have the likes of Ardian Syaf and Cliff Richards (both good artists) trying to draw their work according to a McDaniel design. Three individual inkers only serve to confound the visual continuity further.

Batman/Superman #30 - A Review

Superman is the captive of an alien mad scientist and Lobo's out for Batman's head. And that was before Batman stole his ship! Still, they're not called The World's Finest team for nothing but they may need some help from the universe's finest heroes to get out of this one!



Tom Taylor's script for this issue is a wonderful throwback to the classic days of DC Comics team-ups, with stunning twists and a healthy dose of weird science. After seeing so many stories where he pitted Superman and Batman against each other, it's a real treat to see Taylor perfectly capturing Clark and Bruce as allies rather than enemies. And the cameo by the Green Lantern Corps is just the icing on the cake!


The artwork for this issue is largely excellent. This is the best work I've ever seen from Robson Rocha and the inks by Jay Leisten are accurately applied. There's a flew glitches in the coloring by Blond (note the unusually pale Superman in the final panel of the above page) but these moments are thankfully few and far between.

Batman/Superman #29 - A Review

The plot thickens as Superman and Batman investigate the murder of a giant alien on the moon and the victim's father appears on the scene. Signs indicate that the victim was seeking out Superman because of an astonishing bit of news... there is another Kryptonian who survived the destruction of their homeworld!


Tom Taylor has prove his ability to write Superman and Batman before on Injustice: Gods Among Us but this issue proves him equally capable of writing the World's Finest heroes as allies rather than adversaries. And while it's not surprising that Taylor fits a bit of his trademark humor into this issue, it's still shocking to see it here since most writers don't bother trying to make either Batman or Superman funny in their interactions. Here, they truly come off as old friends rather than allies who tolerate one another.


There's some amazing visuals in this issue's art. I was never impressed with Robson Rocha's work on World's Finest but their work here is amazing.  The same can be said of Julio Ferreira's contribution to this issue and the color art by Blond.

Batman/Superman #28 - A Review

Saving astronauts when something disrupts a spacewalk is all in a day's work for Superman. But when he discovers the cause of the disturbance - a giant corpse that's come to rest on the moon - it looks like a job for Batman! Yet The Dark Knight Detective's examination of the alien's body will lead to a bigger mystery still...

Given his history writing both heroes during his run on Injustice: Gods Among Us, it's no surprise that Tom Taylor perfectly captures both Superman and Batman in this issue. No, the surprise lies in the story and a murder mystery to end all murder mysteries. And who could object to any story that gives Batman a legitimate reason to wear a spacesuit?


Robson Rocha's pencils for this issue are the best I've ever seen him produce. Three separate inkers worked on this issue, but you'd never know it but for the credits page, so uniform is the shading. And the colors by Blond perfectly complete the final artwork.

Superman #43 - A Review

As pointless as it may be to put a SPOILER warning on this review, given that the "shocking twist" at the end of this issue was revealed over three months ago by DC Comics' preview for this series, nevertheless I am giving a warning.

If you haven't read Superman #43 yet, know that I enjoyed this issue immensely and would recommend reading it for yourself. Abandon this article now if you would remain unspoiled!


At last we learn how it was that Lois Lane betrayed Clark Kent's secret identity to the world. And to the credit of Gene Luen Yang, the reason she has is a darn good one.  So what could drive Lois Lane to expose Superman's greatest secret?  It is not, as many suggested, a desire for the fame or glory attached to such a big story.

It is fear that motivates her.  Fear of what Superman might do to protect the people he cares about from a cunning blackmailer who is three steps ahead of him. So Lois does the only thing she can to save Superman and all that he stands for as Clark Kent elects to play along with the blackmailer's demands while waiting for an opportunity to free himself later.  She reveals everything to the world, thus making Hordr-Root's threats worthless and freeing Clark to fight back against the master hacker.


There is a subtle parallel here between the conflict between Lois and Clark at issue's end and the Superman fandom. Clark idealistically believes that, given time, he could have figured a way out of this mess whereas Lois, ever the realist, makes a difficult choice to prevent what she sees as the greater (or at least more immediate) of two evils. Consider how this mirrors the argument over the idea that Superman should always find a way to win in the end versus those who feel Superman is at his best when he is faced with emotional conflicts that require more than physical strength to solve.

Doubtlessly some will say that this story is terrible because Lois' trust in Superman should be absolute. Others will say that this story is well in keeping with Lois' nature to be a proactive figure who does what she thinks is right and damn the consequences if the world disagrees with her. I think there is a grand discussion to be held regarding those ideas and hope this issue provokes such conversation rather than inspiring an army of Super-fans to rage quit the series.

Regardless of how you feel about the story, the artwork is exquisite.  John Romita Jr. is in fine form. And one would never know that this issue featured a team of two inkers and three colorists, so well does the team work together in maintaining a uniform style throughout the issue.

Batgirl #34 - A Review

I am sorry to see the team of Simone, Pasarin and Glapion leave Batgirl.  For the better part of three years, they have delivered one of the best books the New 52 had to offer.  And they deliver one hell of a satisfying conclusion in Batgirl #34.


Gail Simone's script ties up most of the on-going subplots from her run, as Batgirl moves to stop the gang-leader Knightfall from enacting her plan to cleanse Gotham City of all undesirables.  She does this with a team made up of darn near every awesome superheroine Gail Simone has written in the past as well as the heroes of Simone's recently canceled series The Movement.  Some may say this is indulgent on Simone's part but I don't care.  It's nice to see Misfit again, however briefly.


What can I say about Fernando Pasarin and Jonathan Glapion that I haven't said before?  Precious little, save that I will look forward to their future projects and am glad to see that Glapion will be taking over the inking duties on Green Arrow.  I can also say that Matt Ryan does a fine job on the two pages that he inks here and that if the title page didn't inform me there was more than one inker working on this book, I never would have known.

Batgirl #28 - A Review

The New 52 volume of Batgirl has seen Gail Simone create many new villains for Barbara Gordon to contend with.  This issue introduces another one, who is both an interesting character and a subversive satire of Batman himself.  Meet Mr. Uchida - a.k.a. Silver.  Silver is a Gotham billionaire with an interest in fighting evil and a loyal butler who assists his nightly quest to take back Gotham.  The twist?  Silver is a vampire hunter, who thinks Batman and his comrades are vampires!


Simone hangs a lampshade on the concept of Batman itself, pointing out how phenomenally bad it would be for a mentally unstable man with more money than sense to act on his heroic impulses.  But Simone is more than a dark comedian, showing her command of drama and ethos as well.  The scenes involving Barbara and the heroine Strix (who is hunting a missing girl) are quite touching and may be of interest to fans of the Cassandra Cain Batgirl.  I don't want to suggest that Strix is a substitute for Cass (though both women are mute, warped by a violent upbringing and have similar costumes) but the relationship between Barbara and Strix is becoming something similar to what Barbara and Cass shared.


Fernando Pasarin and Jonathan Glapion are back in fine form.  Ask me to name the most underrated and consistently excellent artists in the industry and I would include them among them.  Pasarin's pencils are detailed without being cluttered and Glapion manages to shroud the page in darkness without going overboard.  New colorist Blond also enhances the artwork by using highlights to outline the blacks and greys that dominate the color scheme.  In short, this book looks as good as it reads.