Tag Archives: B’dg

Jan 20 2016

Green Lantern Corps: Edge of Oblivion 1

green lantern corps 1

Today, Mark and Patrick are discussing Green Lantern Corps: Edge of Oblivion 1, originally released January 13, 2016.

Mark: I have to admit, Green Lantern proper and the continuing adventures of Hal Jordan in the New 52/DC YOU, has not captivated me for a few years now. I was, then, incredibly excited when Green Lantern: Lost Army launched in the aftermath of Convergence. Cullen Bunn and Jesús Saíz’s series started as one of the strongest Green Lantern stories in years, and I was very excited to see where it went. Unfortunately my initial enthusiasm was not universal, and the story kind of lost the thread as it went on. So despite DC’s editorial promise to let all of their new books run for at least 12 issues, Lost Army was a victim of DC’s panic in the face of flagging sales. Cancelled after 6 issues, DC promised to wrap up the story started by Bunn in Lost Army with a 6 issue mini-series: Green Lantern Corps: Edge of Oblivion, with the departure of Bunn and Saíz, replaced by writer Tom Taylor and artist Ethan Van Sciver.

Edge of Skyrim

Well, “wrap up.” Because, while it may have been explained away as a continuation of Lost Army, Edge of Oblivion is a new #1, for all intents and purposes it begins a whole new story completely divorced from Bunn’s work before. For better or for worse, Taylor has taken the base core of Lost Army (Green Lantern Corps lost in space/time), and gone from there. No more pyramids, no more Mogo being a source for the entire ring spectrum, no more flashbacks to John Stewart’s life on Earth. Continue reading →

Oct 28 2015

Green Lantern: The Lost Army 5

green lantern lost army 5

Today, Michael and Patrick are discussing Green Lantern: The Lost Army 5, originally released October 21, 2015.

Michael: How do you value one life over another? Do the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few? Green Lantern: Lost Army 5 shows us the burdens of being the person in charge who has to make this tough decisions. It also does something that is equally difficult: making John Stewart interesting. Continue reading →

May 24 2013

Green Lantern 20

green lantern 20 wrath

Today, Patrick and Shelby are discussing Green Lantern 20, originally released May 22nd, 2013. This issue is part of the Wrath of the First Lantern crossover event. Click here for our First Lantern coverage. 

Patrick: Geoff Johns’ final issue of Green Lantern is framed with a narrative device I was first introduced to in the movie The Princess Bride: the old man reading the story to a young man. The flick is an adaptation of novel, and the novel proports to be a rediscovered classic, heavily annotated by the “editor,” William Goldman (who actually just wrote the whole thing). All three of these example serve to elevate the story itself – you don’t need to look to the real world to find a captive audience, there’s one right there in front of you. This issue takes the entirety of Johns’ run and gives it a reverent audience, promoting the nine years since Green Lantern: Rebirth to mythic stature. I’ve been following the entirety of that run, so I’m part of that audience, and I’m moved and affected in very real ways reading this issue. But the bright lights and decades-old mythology groan under the weight of so much self-congratulation. This is a victory lap – mileage will vary.

Continue reading →

May 20 2013

Cram Session: Avengers 1-10 – Origin Bombs

It can be hard to keep up with all the comics you love. But it’s damn near impossible to keep up with all the comics you’re interested in.

Retcon Punch got you covered.

Jonathan Hickman has been ramping up to some world-altering shit. We’ll be digging into Infinity with zeal, but it means catching up with both Avengers and New Avengers. We started our coverage of the bi-weekly Avengers with issue 11, and if you want to join us there – here’s a video recap to get you all situated.

Apr 22 2013

Green Lantern: New Guardians 19

new guardians 19 wrath

Today, Spencer and Drew are discussing New Guardians 19, originally released April 17th, 2013. This issue is part of the Wrath of the First Lantern crossover event. Click here for our First Lantern coverage.

Spencer: Tragedy and loss are inevitable parts of life. We can’t escape it, but we can deal with it, and how we do so tends to reveal our true priorities and who we really are deep inside. Continuing Green Lantern: New Guardian’s habit of turning crossover issues into journeys through its characters’ psyches, writer Tony Bedard uses not one, but two tragedies—the destruction of the planet Korugar and the “death” of Hal Jordan—to shine a light deep inside Sinestro, Carol Ferris, and Kyle Rayner.

Continue reading →

Apr 9 2013

Green Lantern 19

green lantern 19 wrath

Today, Mikyzptlk and Drew are discussing Green Lantern 19, originally released April 3rd, 2013. This issue is part of the Wrath of the First Lantern crossover event. Click here for our First Lantern coverage. 

Mikyzptlk: Last year, Geoff Johns gave us The Villain’s Journey in Justice League 9, 10, 11 and 12. While that story was mostly bemoaned here on Retcon Punch, Johns has been delivering a much, much better version of “the villain’s journey” since his Green Lantern run first began nearly a decade ago. Almost as much as Green Lantern has been the story of Hal Jordan, it has been the story of Sinestro. Just as we’ve seen Hal’s resurrection and journey of becoming the “greatest” Green Lantern, we’ve seen Sinestro’s resurrection and journey of becoming the greatest Green Lantern antagonist. However, Johns has also shown us that Sinestro, while a fantastic villain, is much more complex than just that. To Sinestro, his aptly sinister actions were always intended for the greater good of the universe, and while those actions were twisted, he eventually found himself wearing a green ring once more. Even with that ring, we’ve still gotten a mixed-bag from Sinestro. Issue 19 of Green Lantern dives deeper into Sinestro’s motivations, and attempts to explain why he’s capable of being the title’s greatest antagonist and ally all at the same time. Continue reading →

Mar 7 2013

Green Lantern 18

green lantern 18 wrath

Today, Mikyzptlk and Patrick are discussing Green Lantern 18, originally released March 6th, 2013. This issue is part of the Wrath of the First Lantern crossover event. Click here for our First Lantern coverage. 

Mikyzptlk: One of my favorite movies of all time is The Shawshank Redeption where Andy Dufresne is convicted of murders he did not commit. He spends twenty years in prison suffering one horrible thing after another until he decides he’s had enough. He no longer wants to suffer but knows that the only way to escape said suffering is to endure even more of it. He ends up crawling through the sewage pipe to escape, but on the other side finds freedom and a new life. I couldn’t help but think about Andy while reading the conclusion to Green Lantern 18 as Hal finds himself in similar situation. While Hal may not have to crawl through a river of shit to escape, his path to freedom may be even worse.

Continue reading →

Feb 22 2013

Green Lantern 17

green lantern 17 wrath

Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing Green Lantern 17, originally released February 20th, 2013. This issue is part of the Wrath of the First Lantern crossover event. Click here for our First Lantern coverage. 

Patrick: The end of an era is nigh: Geoff Johns and crew are stepping down as shepherds of the Green Lanterns. Wrath of the First Lantern is the grand finale, but it’s already showing signs that it’s really more of a victory lap. With concepts as grandiose as the creation of the universe and altering the past in play, the entire Green Lantern Universe — past, present and future — is exposed and vulnerable. I haven’t been this excited about Green Lantern in years.

Continue reading →

Feb 18 2013

Cram Session: The Rise of the Third Army

It can be hard to keep up with all the comics you love. But it’s damn near impossible to keep up with all the comics you’re interested in.

Retcon Punch got you covered.

You’re planning to read the Wrath of the First Lantern, right? It’s Geoff Johns and company’s last hurrah with those characters, so you BEST to pick it up. But if you want to understand every second of that even — and we know you do — you’ve got to get a grip on what came before. If you missed any part of the Rise of the Third Army (and we pay attention to our analytics – none of you are reading Red Lanterns), we’ve got like 20 issues worth of dense GL plotting to catch you up on.  

Feb 1 2013

Green Lantern Corps Annual 1

green lantern corps annual 3rd

Today, Shelby and Drew are discussing Green Lantern Corps Annual 1, originally released January 30th, 2013. This issue is part of the Rise of the Third Army crossover event. Click here for complete Third Army coverage. 

Shelby: The Green Lantern Corps is having a very “out of the frying pan, into the fire” kind of day. This issue’s got a lot of moving parts, so I’m just going to dive right in.

Continue reading →