Comics I Read: Catching up, Part 2

Blackest Night 4: It’s a little disconcerting to have Hal Jordan yanked out of the story at this point, but it really can’t be helped (see below), and it does put an interesting spotlight on the rest of the characters. This is very much a middle chapter, but I loved all the Ray Palmer and JSA scenes and the twist with the Jason Rusch Firestorm. The Scarecrow scene, however, seemed bolted on for no apparent reason – maybe it will pay off in one of the tie-ins? (But not in “Blackest Night: Batman”, which is already done.)

Green Lantern 46-47: As much as Hal Jordan is missed in “Blackest Night”, you can’t blame Geoff Johns for wanting him front and center in this book for the story he’s been building too since he revived it. The Hal/Carol/Sinestro (Green/Violet/Yellow Lantern) triangle is really great, and adding the late Abin Sur and sibling into the mix worked really well emotionally. (I love that Hal is over his regrets: “Go ahead and play the universe’s largest violin for me.”) Doug Mahnke is also doing a terrific job; I especially like the way he draws Sinestro.

Green Lantern Corps 40-42: These issues are balanced nicely between Kyle’s emotional journey and the battle for Oa. Pete Tomasi and Patrick Gleason are outdoing themselves, especially in #42 which has some stunning single and dual-page splashes. Of course, everyone’s talking about the shock ending to #42, about which I will say only this: It’s very well done, and if there’s better evidence that those killed in “Blackest Night” will be back at the end I haven’t seen it.

Reborn 4: Other than my confusion about how the Red Skull got separated from Arnim Zola, which I don’t remember reading and at least one person I talked to doesn’t remember either, this is great stuff as usual. I should have seen the ending coming – it’s the most interesting thing that could happen, after all – and many of Hitch’s pages are really amazing (more so even than in his recent FF issues.)

Booster Gold 24-26: I liked the interactions between Booster and the new Batman, but the real gem here is the “Blackest Night” tie-in in #26. Jurgens does his best work yet on both story and art, as Booster revisits the day of Ted Kord’s funeral – a must-read for JLI and/or “Infinite Crisis” fans – and we’re let in on all his resentments about that event. Meanwhile in the present day, Black Lantern Ted Kord goes after Booster’s ancestor in the present with his personality just tweaked enough to seem the same, yet sinister. (You’ll never look at “Bwah-ha-ha” the same way again.) I prefer the “Blackest Night” tie-ins as separate miniseries instead of issues of the regular books, but if the rest of the regular book tie-ins are this good I withdraw my objection.

That’s all I have time for today. Tomorrow, I hope to get to all the “Dark Reign” issues I haven’t covered yet up through last week.