10. Thoughts On This Week's Comics

Here's my thoughts on -- hey, you've read the title! You know the score.


Blackest Night: Superman #2

*yawn* The first issue showed promise but this was was SO boring. The only good thing about it? We finally get to see Superman out-and-out whip ass on someone without holding back (i.e. lots of punching off B.L.Superman's jaw scenes). It doesn't really have much of a dramatic impact when the villain continually regenerates though.

Superman: Secret Origin #1

*yawn* Damn sorry. Seems to be a trend this week. Superman's origin was already retconned a few years back with the 'Superman - Birthright' miniseries. The only reason this is being done is because the new writers for the Superman universe reshaped Krypton's appearance and reintroduced the Legion into Superman's past when he was Superboy (yes, he's Superboy again, gang). There really isn't anything in this you wouldn't and couldn't have seen on 'Smallville' already. I'll be fair though: the explanation they give for Clark's glasses here is a great one, and will probably be better than whatever 'Smallville' comes up with when they finally realize "Hey, we've got to give Clark glasses!" And knowing 'Smallville,' that storyline will happen when Tom Welling is around 45 or so.

Justice League of America #37

Boy, I'm gettin' sleepy! *yawn* Another bad bad issue. Oh and DC? Sticking Superman on the front cover to look like he's fighting alongside them when he's only in four panels -- of a flashback no less! -- is pretty bad form.


Amazing Spider-Man #606

No yawning with this! Not when the Black Cat is around, meeeow! This issue is all right; not great, but nothing bad either. Which is a vast improvement over the ones above. Good for you, Marvel!

Dark Reign: The List, X-Men

Honestly, the title would be more accurate if it was "The List, Namor" since he's the target in this issue. But it doesn't matter because it was a pretty good story! Norman Osborn starts targetting his enemies, which include former-ally Namor. I've always thought Namor was pretty cool, and Norman's been consistantly entertaining since Dark Reign began. Nice job. And also has one of the coolest moments of the week, when the head of the assassin Norman sic'd on Namor is tossed through his window:

6. Blackest Night speculation/theory

More Blackest Night thinking.


Okay, here's the current status of Superboy in a nutshell.


In 'Infinite Crisis' he was killed by the evil parallel-universe Superboy-Prime.


Over the course of various 'JSA' issues (and revealed fully in the 'Legion Of Three Worlds' miniseries), the 31st century Starman exhumed Superboy's body in the present day and put it in a Kryptonian regenerator (the same sort of device which healed Superman during his death). A thousand years later, the regeneration cycle was successful and Superboy returned to life. Just in time to put a beatdown on Superboy-Prime. At the end of that series he returned to the 21st century.


Which means there's versions of the same character on DC's Earth now: the dead Superboy being resurrected, and the resurrected Superboy from the future.


Why do I have a feeling we might see a Black Lantern ring resurrecting (however briefly) the dead Superboy.......

3. Blackest Night #3

Considering I'll be talking about comics occasionally here, I might as well start right off by saying "I'm a DC." I've loved DC Comics since I was a kid. Nothing against Marvel; I've just always felt more of a kinship with the DC line. DC's latest 'event' series is 'Blackest Night:' showing a dark force which is resurrecting dead heroes, villains, and others and bestowing them with Black Lantern Rings. The latest ish of this is #3.

This series rocks. A few people have compared it online to 'Marvel Zombies' but I can't agree with that. The first 'Zombies' story might've been interesting; but Marvel's bottom line is that they daren't do anything to show their cashcow heroes in a negative light -- even in a parallel universe. So they started making the Zombies emo and angsty, which took all of the, well, fun out of what they were doing. The Black Lantern dead here are totally heartless, willing to use the memories of the dead for their own uses to goad the living (such as BL-Sue Dibny attacking Ray 'Atom' Palmer emotionally with taunts how his wife killed her).





A few others online have said "DC is ruining their heroes again by making them do these unspeakable things." The thing is, DC isn't. This isn't Martian Manhunter, Ralph Dibny, Aquaman, et al doing this. The rings -- or more precisely the power behind the rings -- are doing it to the corpses. Ray put it best this issue:

The answer is simple. Well, a little. Each death and emotional attack on the heroes has been seen to increase their power levels bit by bit. To what end this is happening I don't know. But it does explain why such a great concept (having the most powerful heroes and villains resurrected for evil purposes) was apparently being dumbed down with senseless tie-in issues. Dick Grayson and Tim Drake's non-powered parents' resurrection are good examples. Can you imagine the anguish and torment having to fight them will do to those power levels?




The best testimony to this issue's outstanding comes from the death of Firestorm's girlfriend Gen. Long story short, Jason and Gen merge together to create Firestorm who can manipulate elements. Jason controls the body while Gen is a presence in his mind. The previous/now-dead Firestorm has forced Jason into his mind and is goading him as he attacks Gen.

I've never been a Firestorm fan. Never liked him, past or future -- but I actually felt awful for Jason at this moment. What a horrifying, awful thing.

That's not to say it's a perfect issue. We get the long-awaited introduction of the Indigo Tribe who can (temporarily) destroy the Black Lanterns. It's interesting, but it also gives us a throatful of forced exposition over two pages that is so uncomfortably done it lessens the impact.

Yup. Your classic "You had to ask" moment.

Another outstanding issue. What could've been a standard hero.v.hero slugfest is turning into quite a chilling piece of writing. Well done DC!