Weekly Comic Review for 1/11/12
I’m finally catching up on my comic review and I have a list of other things I want to post about. Hopefully I can start getting the stuff going soon. For now, here’s last week’s comics and I’ll be picking up this week’s in a few hours.
Demon Knights #5 – The war continues and Mordru projects himself into the camp to tempt the main cast. Sadly for him, they each have their reasons to stick to their paths. We continue to learn more about the team, like the fact that Exoristos is from Paradise Island and that the Horsewoman definitely has some interesting connection to her horse and the saddle. One other revelation is that Vandal Savage is still evil and untrustable, even this far back in time period. Things are keeping interesting in this book.
Green Lantern #5 – Sinestro, Hal, and the citizens of Korugar break out of the jail and take on the Sinestro Corps. We find out what Sinestro’s plan was by sending Hal into the battery as they take down corps members on his home planet. The reaction to Sinestro is mixed but he leaves the planet taking the Sinestro Corps and the yellow power battery with him back to Oa. As he does this, he sends Hal back to Earth with a power ring, but it has no charge on it. Hal turns to Carol who he realizes is who really matters. I’m not sure if this means the book is going to focus on Sinestro now or if Hal will still be part of it.
Legion lost #5 – Tellus and Dawnstar take on Alastor while Timber Wolf escapes with the hypersapien body containing Yera. Tyroc and wildfire head off to help Dawnstar but it’s Tellus’ mental powers that take Alastor down. In the end, Gates also shows up, but it looks like he’s been merged with something else with his face and left arm/hand looking messed up. And who else shows up but Martian Manhunter who seems to be becoming the Wolverine of the New 52.
Resurrection Man #5 – Suriel killed Mitch last issue and the body doesn’t seem to be regenerating. We do see Mitch on a stretcher with a nurse over him and get flashbacks to how he came to get his abilities in the New 52. It’s pretty lame really and has to include Deathstroke. (He’s an asshole experimenting on people with a regenerating formula and has to use it on himself.) As the issue ends, we find out Mitch is being driven off to Arkham Assylum. How he got into the ambulance, I have no idea.
Scarlet Spider #1 – Kaine is trying to get away from everything that his life has been. We get a little history on his connection to Peter Parker (not even counting the 4 page “Scarlet Spider Saga” at the end of the book) for those who don’t really know where the character comes from. We get into his head as he tries to fight between being all about himself and being a hero. Kaine even redoes his look, shaving and cutting his hair. It’s interesting that he doesn’t have a spider-sense but he can spin his own webs from his wrists. Seeing where things go with this book will be interesting.
The Shade #4 (of 12) – This is a Times Past issue going back to 1944. The story tells of how Shade met Caldecott and guest stars Vigilante and Madam Fatal. I’ve never heard of Madam Fatal before but “she” is a cross dressing male so it may be someone new created for the story. I can’t imagine a character like that being created years ago. Seeing Shade playing between the lines of the hero and the villain is interesting after remembering him as just a bad guy for so long.
The “Sneak Peek 2012” this week shows a bunch of character sketches but you’re just supposed to guess where they might show up. There’s one cowboy/western character with a bird on his chest who might be a prior incarnation of Hawkman. Other than a Blue Beetle-ish character, I have no idea where the others might fit in since we have little to work with in this new universe.
As for the top picks, I think Scarlet Spider has a lot of potential and I’m looking forward to checking it out even though I’m not a Spider-Man fan. Shade being done by James Robinson, is definitely a winner and I can’t wait to see where the next 2/3 of the mini-series goes. I’ll give the last spot to Demon Knights. It’s not the strongest of books but it is fun in its own way.
