Convergence: Green Arrow #2 - A Review

To say that Oliver Queen wasn't prepared to meet the son he never knew he had would be an understatement. And he really wasn't expecting to meet an older version Dinah Lance from another timeline and her daughter when he and Connor Hawke were suddenly transported to an abandoned Metropolis. But this odd family reunion must be put on hold as one truth becomes clear - father and son must battle mother and daughter for their fate of their respective worlds.


Christy Marx wrote a wonderful script for the second half of this special. The fight between both pairs of heroes is a satisfying bit of action, but what really sells this story is the character work. All of our heroes are portrayed as being intelligent and competent, with Marx perfectly capturing both Ollie and Dinah as experienced strategists who know how to play off of one another's weaknesses. This is incredibly welcome given how often they're both portrayed as hot-headed idiots who can't plan their way out of a paper bag. And I really like Marx's take on Olivia "Black Canary III" Queen, who gets more characterization and personality here than she ever did in the Kingdom Come tie-ins.


I've been a big fan of Rags Morales since his work on Geoff Johns' Hawkman and the work we see here adheres to his usual high standard.  Hopefully we'll see him on another monthly title soon enough. Claude St. Aubin and Nei Ruffino also do a fine job in finishing up the artwork for this issue.

Convergence: Green Arrow #1 - A Review

I know I said I was done with Convergence last week. And yet, I felt compelled to give the Green Arrow tie-in a shot. Not just because it's Green Arrow but because I wanted to see how Christy Marx - who authored the excellent Conquests Of The Longbow adventure game - wrote my favorite Robin Hood inspired hero.


It is another place. Another time. And it came to pass that Oliver Queen found himself in Metropolis at a time when he was feeling lost and without purpose.  The raising of the dome gave him some purpose as the only costumed hero in town. But Green Arrow is not the only one protecting the city...

Elsewhere in Metropolis, a young monk named Connor Hawke also fights to protect the weak and helpless from a new gang - the racist Brothers Of Purity. Hawke is something of a Green Arrow fanboy and is overjoyed when he finds evidence that his hero is in Metropolis.  When circumstances force the two men together, a dark secret will be revealed - that Connor Hawke is Oliver Queen's long-lost son!


Marx spins a wonderful Elseworlds tale here about how Oliver and Connor might have met under decidedly different circumstances.  Both characters are written true to form, with subtle nods in the script and artwork pointing to hidden sides of both characters. For instance, I loved seeing Ollie crafting a trick arrow, as many writers rarely depict Ollie as being capable of making his own arrows and forget that Ollie was an amazing engineer when it came to weapon design back in the day.

The only real flaw with the script - and I can't fault Marx for it - is a subplot built around the idea originally proposed by Brad Meltzer in The Archer's Quest that Oliver Queen was a deadbeat dad who knew about Connor years before the two met. I've gone into the general impossibility of this conceit elsewhere so I won't repeat that rant here. Suffice it to say this storyline adds nothing to the larger narrative, existing only to create artificial tension before the action truly begins.


The artwork for the issue is generally good, though there are a few oddities. Rags Morales has been a favorite of mine since his run on Hawkman though some of his pages here seem rushed and I'm not sure Claude St. Aubin's inking style is a good match for Morales' pencils. And the color art by Neil Ruffino is uneven, with the shirt sleeves of Ollie's costume alternating in whether or not they match his jerkin.

Sword Of Sorcery #1-3 - A Review

I've somehow managed to go three months without reviewing what is easily the best original anthology comic released in recent memory.  I thought I had reviewed the first issue, but hadn't.  I just recently bought a copy of the second issue.  And the third issue came out this past week.  Know then that I only review these books together as a means of catching myself up and not because each issue isn't worthy of individual attention.

The main focus of Sword of Sorcery continues to be Christy Marx's revival of Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld.  Over the past three issues, Marx has slowly given us glimpses of The Gemworld. it's people and its' politics.  There are a number of houses, all with their own functions and magical powers.  There's allegiances, treachery and all manner of drama to equal anything one might find in the Game of Thrones series.  Imagine Tamora Pierce writing She-Ra and you might have some idea of what this book is like.


We've seen this sort of thing before in countless books, comics and cartoons aimed at young adults.  The hero raised in seclusion by one parent or a foster parent.  They discover the power that is their birthright as a teenager.  They learn of the villain seeking their destruction, because they are destined to overthrow them or take their power.  It's all very Joseph Campbell but Marx infuses this title with enough humor and personality to keep it fresh, though some of the fish-out-of-water humor as Amy adjusts to life in a fantasy world is equally familiar.

Thankfully, the artwork by Aaron Lopresti and Claude St. Aubin is always fresh and exciting.  Most recently seen on Justice League International and Green Lantern Corps respectively, both artists make use of thin pencils and light inks to give this book an open, hopeful appearance. Coupled with the vibrant palette utilized by Hi-Fi, this remains one of the best looking series on the shelves.



Less impressive is the back-up series Beowulf by Tony Bedard.  While the concept of re-imagining Beowulf as a genetically-engineered super-soldier in a post-apocalyptic future is a novel one, the novelty of the concept quickly wore off.  This story might have been serviceable as a one-shot but as a serial, it drags for anyone who knows the original story and can see this is all going even before the monster Grendel's "mother" appears to explain it all for everyone who hasn't read the original epic.  The gorgeous artwork of Jesus Saiz is wasted here.


Despite the back-up being a bit boring, the revival of Amethyst makes interesting reading and thus makes this book worth the buying.  The whole series is available for digital download if your local comic shop doesn't have any back issues.  It's well worth the tracking down and catching-up - believe me!

Green Lantern Corps #7-9: A Review

When it comes to books with large ensemble casts, I am hard pressed to think of any author who has been so consistently excellent as Peter Tomasi.  If Geoff Johns can be said to be the brains behind the resurgence of Green Lanterns in the DCU, then surely Peter Tomasi is the heart.  For when you pick up a copy of Green Lantern Corps, you can safely bet that whoever the issue focuses on, you will get a fascinating character study that is second to none.

Issue #7 exemplifies this principle, being primarily focused on John Stewart.   In the opening arc of the series, Stewart and several other Lanterns were taken prisoner and Stewart was forced to kill Kirrt - one of his fellow Lanterns.  Kirrt had broken under torture and was close to  revealing classified information to the enemy before Stewart snapped his neck.  Afterward, Stewart lied about the circumstances of Kirrt's death, not wanting his final moments to cloud an otherwise exemplary record..  This issue focuses upon Stewart as he takes on the responsibility of cleaning out Kirrt's quarters and delivering his body to his family, all while coping with his own growing unease..





A soldier in the US Marines before being recruited for the Green Lanterns, Stewart is not unused to death and is no stranger to making hard choices.  He is also not unused to having to kill in the name of a greater good but that doesn't make the choices any easier to cope with.  Stripped of the science-fiction setting and the alien characters, this story could just as easily be portrayed in a modern military thriller.  Such is the magic of Tomasi's writing, that he so easily tells stories about characters that, though frequently alien to us, are all too human.

Tomasi's script is well rendered in this issue by guest penciler Claude St. Aubin.  Indeed, until looking at the credits while preparing this review, I was unaware there had be a guest penciler!  I don't know if St. Aubin was intentionally aping the style of regular GLC artist Fernando Pasarin or if their styles are just naturally sympathetic.  Either way, the artwork is well sketched and well emphasized by inker Scott Hanna.  

Issue #8 opens with a re-introduction to The Alpha Lanterns - the Internal Affairs department of the Green Lantern Corps.  Once wholly organic beings, The Alpha Lanterns were created by merging living Green Lanterns volunteers with the robotics technology used to create the Manhunters; a group of robotic police men who marked The Guardians of the Universe's first attempt at creating an intergalactic police force. 

To make a very long story short, The Manhunters started taking their directive to keep order too literally, having concluded that life, by nature, was chaotic and so the obvious solution to maintaining order was to start killing everything.  So if you're starting to think that bonding this technology to a sentient being and charging them to watch the watchmen is an incredibly bad idea, congratulations - you are smarter than The Guardians of the Universe!





Issue #8 delivers another sign that The Gods (or Guardians) Must Be Crazy, as they create a special command position for Guy Gardner - another Green Lantern of Earth, whose reputation for even-handedness and respect for others is non-existent.  Most would consider it charitable to say that Guy thinks with his heart.  Actually, most would consider it charitable to say that Guy thinks.



Surprisingly, given his hot-headed nature and general disrespect for authority, Guy seems to take The Guardian's request to mellow out to heart and later stops a potential bar brawl without brawling.  And in one of the best character-building scenes I've read in anything ever, John and Guy bond in the bar Guy runs in his off-duty time while John builds a small building out of toothpicks.  Even before Guy calls him out on it, this is a subtle sign as to John's true nature - that for all his warrior training, he is still, at heart, a creative spirit who would rather build than destroy.  And Guy, for all his blustering and bravado, is a far more empathic man than he lets on.

Things come to ahead in Issue #9, as the Alpha Lanterns - armed with footage obtained through a secret spy-cam in the deceased Kirrt's ring - arrest John Stewart on charges of murder.  Naturally, the literally-minded Alpha Lanterns care little for the circumstances behind the killing.  The letter of the law says killing a Green Lantern is wrong, even if he was about to betray The Corps and everything it stands for.





Most of the rest of the issue details Stewart's trial and the efforts undertaken by his fellow Lanterns, Guy chief along them, to defend their colleague's actions.  There are also some scenes which focus on Guy Gardner, as he butts heads with a group of Lanterns out to destroy Kirrt'smemorial statue in the Hall of Honor once word gets out about what he'd nearly done in a moment of weakness.  Anyone who doubts that there is more to Guy Gardner than a buzz cut and an attitude would do well to read this issue, as he defends both Kirrt's honor and John Stewart's decisions with intelligence and compassion along with the threat of a good ass-kicking.

   

Regular penciler Fernando Pasarin returns for Issues #8 and #9 and further cements his reputation as one of the best Green Latnern artists in years.  Pasarin's ability to draw unique looking aliens and detailed constructs is second to none but he proves equally capable, in these issues, of rendering even more mundane stories with a certain unique energy.  Again, Scott Hannah's inks and Gabe Eltaeb's colors help complete these images that seem to glow on the page.

I enjoy all the Green Lantern books published by DC Comics right now.  But if I were hard pressed to pick a favorite, I dare say Green Lantern Corps would be it.  The writing is consistently excellent, featuring some truly heart-felt tales and classical drama besides the amazing action.  The artwork is always eye-catching and memorable.  Really, I can't recommend this book enough.