Stewart R: And so the weeks of the plump-pull list continue as the nights begin to draw lighter and the comic publishers begin to make their intentions for the rest of the year known. While Marvel seem to be rubbing their magic lamp and Fear Itself seems to be pouring forth for the Summer months, DC have two events ready to batter our senses. Flashpoint may well grab some of your attentions in 2011 but I will be staying on the sidelines for that particular jaunt through space and time and will instead be putting my brain onto full absorb mode for War of the Green Lanterns.Green Lantern #62 will bring to an end the entertaining “New Guardians” arc where Krona the Mad has been gathering all of the various emotional entities and avatars of the different Lantern Corps for his own devious revenge and will no doubt leave Hal Jordan in a precarious and troubled position for the trials to come. Geoff Johns has taken a very measured approach to the past half dozen or so Green Lantern issues and I’ve actually enjoyed the slightly reserved and slower pace that has been present in every other issue or so. Certainly after suffering a slight case of ‘Event Fatigue’ following slightly disappointing endings found in Marvel’s Siege and DC's own Blackest Night last year, I’ve enjoyed the more focused approach that writers like Johns seem to have taken in the subsequent months. With the War of the Green Lanterns brewing and various plot seeds having been planted by Johns, Peter J. Tomasi and Tony Bedard in their respective titles it will be interesting to see how it will all be brought together across the three different ongoing books and, should it see the (Green) light of day, possibly a main event title. Certainly early reports alluded to a WOTGL - as it shall now forever be referred to - #1 but it seems to be conspicuous by it’s absence in the solicitations and I would assume now that the event will simply be spread across the strong shoulders of the three ongoings.
If that is the case the success of the whole story could well rest on how Tony Bedard’s writing stands up amongst Johns and Tomasi’s already proven Green Lantern word-smithery. I’ve mentioned before that I had doubts from his initial offerings but I sit here eager to find out just what he has in store for us in Green Lantern Corps #57 as the last couple of instalments have been thoroughly enjoyable as the Green and Yellow Lanterns began to smack seven bells out of each other with some added needling from the army of Planet Qward. Certainly Sinestro’s introduction to the party at the end of the last issue should mean that an extra level of tension persists through this latest comic as the Weaponer continues his quest for vengeance against the true wielder of the yellow light.
Deathloks! Never had much experience with them and don’t really get what they’re about but tell you what, I’m going to bloomin’ find out this week that's for sure! Rick Remender put a sterling effort into the initial arc of Uncanny X-Force and for the second arc it looks like we could be in store for yet more brilliance. Fantomex has been possibly the highlight for me and in Uncanny X-Force #5 it looks as if the spotlight is going to fall upon his enigmatic shoulders somewhat as his Weapon Plus past comes back to trouble him and the rest of the team as the Deathlok virus takes hold of innocents across many dimensions. Jerome Opeña steps aside for this arc to let the talented Esad Ribic pick up his ‘uncanny’ pencil and his covers for this title have been impressive to date so it’ll be good to see what he can do with the interiors.Certainly one man who’s worth waiting for when it comes to interior art work is Dustin Weaver who has been delivering sheer eye-candy when it comes to Leonardo Da Vinci’s space-flying exploits, a Celestial conversing with Zhang Heng near the top of a giant tower or the adventures of Richards and Stark Sr in the distant future. I expect S.H.I.E.L.D. #6 to be no different as Jonathan Hickman brings the curtain down upon this first excellent arc as Isaac Newton and Leonardo Da Vinci face off to decide the future of the planet-protecting society. As usual for Hickman this has been a story of huge ideas and brilliant spectacle as he’s added new dimension to the history of the Marvel Universe and I’m looking forward to seeing just how he leaves things as we inevitably get ready for volume 2!
Skirting once more through the wealth of other titles I shall be picking up in only a matter of hours’ time I see one comic that certainly deserves a mention though maybe some cautious optimism should be employed. Oh yes folks, yet again we get a Silver Surfer #1 to thumb through as Greg Pak and Stephen Segovia get their turn to give the Herald of Galactus one more bite of the cherry. I have fond memories of Surfer comics from the late 1980s and with his upcoming appearance in Abnett and Lanning’s Annihilators title I’ve a desire to see just how the being once known as Norrin Radd is currently being portrayed and whether we could be on the verge of getting another attempt at an ongoing.
Before I sign off for yet another week I feel I should take a quick look at two IDW books that I will be handing over the cash for this week but with two very different levels of optimism set aside for each of them. I’m expecting good things from El Torres and Gabriel Hernandez’s Suicide Forest #3 as the first two chapters were dark, creepy offerings that really did offer something a little different to the usual supernatural fair and drew me in with some neat, emotional storytelling. Edge of Doom #4 however I have no idea about. Issue #1 was reasonable enough with it’s brutal fantasy element, issue #2 was thoroughly enjoyable with it’s sci-fi castaway vibe while issue #3 was quite terrible in this reviewers opinion and nearly undid all of the ground work laid by what had come before. It really is a comic sat on the very edge of its own doom this week; one more wrong step and I’ll be laying my boot into it’s back and waiting to hear the splat.
No comments:
Post a Comment