Tag Archives: Green Lantern

Jul 23 2013

Green Lantern: New Guardians 22

new guardians 22

Today, Mikyzptlk and Shelby are discussing Green Lantern: New Guardians 22, originally released July 17th, 2013.

Mikyzptlk: As you know, all of the GL books have recently begun new directions with new creators. Kyle Rayner’s new direction involves babysitting the “New Guardians” and he’s recently run into some trouble. Sure, there’s Relic, but while I’m enjoying much of this book, the real trouble that Kyle has run into is that his book has been hijacked (again) by the main events of another book. Continue reading →

Jul 19 2013

Justice League of America 6

JLA 6 trinity

Today, Patrick and Spencer are discussing Justice League of America 6 originally released July 17th, 2013. This issue is part of the Trinity War crossover event. Click here for our complete Trinity War coverage.

trinity war divPatrick: Did any of you guys ever play Warhammer? If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a table top war game where you assemble an army from your race of choice and battle against your friends’ armies. It’s the least pick-up-and-play game you could ever imagine – understanding the basic rules means reading a 100+ page manual, and keeping a cheat sheet with charts and tables with you at all times. And then there’s understanding your own army, for which you need yet other book completely dedicated to that race. Then you need the little metal figures to represent the members of your army (sold separately), and if you’re really hardcore you can paint them. Then you need a surface large enough to play on – one time my friends and I took a door off its hinges and used that when we were denied the dining room table. Ideally, this surface will be populated with trees and terrain and stuff like that. Setting up the Trinity War has felt an awful lot like setting up a Warhammer game. Everyone’s been reading extra books they don’t really want to read just so they can play in the big game. Now the event is actually here and I can’t believe I’m surprised that all the characters feel like pieces in a game. Continue reading →

Jul 17 2013

Green Lantern Corps 22

green lantern corps 22

Today, Patrick and Shelby are discussing Green Lantern Corps 22, originally released July 10th, 2013.

Patrick: My little sister studied in Ecuador for a semester in college. She spent a couple weeks tromping around the rain forest and camping on a beach on the Galapogos and dropping her new camera into a river – y’know: normal stuff when you’re studying the biodiversity of one of the coolest places on the planet. Naturally, she came back with new perspectives on birds and insects and had a few anecdotes about hilariously adorable seal pups on the beach. But the part of the experience that she ends up talking about — and I trust the part of the experience that stayed with her the most — is just about the friends that she made while hiking the Forest in the Clouds. When I asked her about that, she shrugged and said “It turns out human beings are the most fascinating mega-fauna on Earth.” She was being flippant (as flippant as one can be while still using words like “mega-fauna”), but it’s an oddly profound statement: for all the wonders of the world, people are going to be the most interesting thing you encounter. DC’s galaxies are vast, and jam-packed with strange and wonderful things. Issue 22 of Green Lantern Corps features a lot of these wonders, but all without losing sight of the of the most interesting mega-fauna at the heart of it: John Stewart and Fatality.
Continue reading →

Jul 10 2013

Green Lantern 22

green lantern 22

Today, Shelby and guest Mike are discussing Green Lantern 22, originally released July 3rd, 2013.

Shelby: There’s a lot of baggage to be had with the way women are depicted in most forms of media. Comic books get it especially hard, as they existed for so long as a form of entertainment drawn by men for a male audience. Robert Venditti is only on his second issue as writer of Green Lantern, but already I find myself slightly uncomfortable with his depictions of the women in the book. I have a sneaking suspicion it is more a result of the pervasive attitude towards women in comics and their role in the Green Lantern universe as a whole, and less a reflection of the creative team’s own attitudes, but that doesn’t make me have any more fun reading this title.  Continue reading →

Jun 18 2013

Green Lantern Corps 21

green lantern corps 21

Today, Patrick and Mikyzptlk are discussing Green Lantern Corps 21, originally released June 11th, 2013.

Patrick: Any comic series you’re going to read from the Big Two publishers is going to be something of a Frankenstein monster. In an editor-driven system, even the most auteur creators have to construct their stories by committee. And that’s great: there’s no way a single mind would have the time or patience to construct all these stories on their own. Plus, collaboration yields kick-ass art, and the one-man comic creation is the incredibly rare exception. The latest incarnation of Green Lantern Corps has a tall family tree, with prestigious branches like Peter Tomasi and Alan Moore, but it also has a confusing mishmash of fathers — after Josh Fialkov walked off the series, Green Lantern writer Robert Venditti (he’s credited as “co-pilot”) constructed a story  for which Van Jensen wrote the script. It’s no wonder that first issue for the new creative team is a jumble of interesting ideas and characters, impossibly focused on both embracing and escaping the past. It’s a mess, but sort of a charming one. Continue reading →

Jun 6 2013

Green Lantern 21

Alternating Currents: Green Lantern 21, Drew and PatrickToday, Drew and Patrick are discussing Green Lantern 21, originally released June 5th, 2013.

Drew: When M*A*S*H ended its 11-season run in 1983, it was one of the most beloved series on television. Its series finale, “Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen,” a movie-length victory lap, was more widely watched than that year’s Super Bowl — or any Super Bowl before or for twenty-seven years afterwards. Like I said, beloved. We don’t yet have sales numbers on Green Lantern 20, and while I doubt it will post Super Bowl-beating numbers (even by comic book standards), the similarities are striking: it was an extra-large conclusion to a beloved, nearly decade-long run. Point is, it was going to be a tough act to follow, yet Robert Venditti (who readers might recognize from his work on Valiant’s X-O Manowar) handles the transition with surprising grace, staying true to the spirit of Green Lantern while adding something unexpected to the mix: the spirit of the New 52. Continue reading →

Jun 4 2013

Justice League of America 4

JLA 4

Today, Spencer and Shelby are discussing Justice League of America 4, originally released May 29th, 2013.

Spencer: I’ll be honest: from the very start, Justice League of America has seemed more concerned with putting pieces in place for the upcoming “Trinity War” than it has with telling a compelling story. Unfortunately, for a story so focused on getting its players from Point A to Point B, the way writer Geoff Johns does so strains credibility. He makes several attempts to keep this issue engaging, but its biggest failing is simply that the heroes come across as really, really dumb.

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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 24 2013

Green Lantern: New Guardians 20

new guardians 20 wrath

Today, Spencer and Drew are discussing Green Lantern: New Guardians 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.

Spencer: My first experience with a major creative team shake-up was back in 2007 when Geoff Johns ended his run on Teen Titans. It was the first book I had ever followed monthly, and I walked around for weeks with an empty feeling in my stomach after I heard the news. Nowadays it feels like creative teams change almost daily, and I’ve developed a thick skin out of necessity, but every once in a while a change will hit me like it’s 2007 all over again. Tony Bedard’s departure from Green Lantern: New Guardians is one of those changes, and this final issue epilogue is such an effective goodbye that I feel completely justified about how much I hate to see it end.

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.