I was going to blog about Wonder Woman tonight, but I was too blown away by the Utter Awesomeness of Green Lantern #12. I was expecting a mild peace offering with this story, but Geoff Johns managed to completely knock the base of my greatest annoyance at the franchise out from under me. It was wonderful. I didn't even realize I'd be this happy with it.
I mean short of resurrecting Katma and making it a mandatory artist mandate that 1/2 of all humanoid background GLs be female I don't see how he could make me happier.
I can even forgive the POW--Wait, I'm holding off on that one. But still, it was a Truly Beautiful Issue.
And it was drawn by Ivan Reis.
Hmmm... maybe there's hope in Titans #38 after all... (I know, I know, I need to stop ruining other people's sites by dragging my pet fandom issues into them...)
ReplyDeleteIf this is the one I think it is, I guess I can see why you're so fond of it.
ReplyDeleteIt was a pretty awesome issue, wasn't it? The issue's not in front of me now -- did she actually say "I only need one hand to beat you to death," or am I just imagining that?
ReplyDeleteJohns tends to frustrate me on just about everything else he's done in the past few years, but his Green Lantern has been quite consistently good.
Gosh, it WAS delightful wasn't it?
ReplyDeleteAnd...if Arisia is there, perhaps
Katma is as well! About the only
thing I didn't like about this issue, is that it ended, and now
we have to wait for #13. Have you
SEEN the cover for #13? Gorgeous!
All I can say about issue #12 is... WHATTA TWIST!!!
ReplyDeleteArisia! Yay!
ReplyDeleteClearly we have a new candidate for kicking Major Force's butt.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part of GL 12 was repeated use of the first person pronoun "I".
"I killed him." "I cut off her hand."
Here's Hal taking RESONSIBILITY for the terrible things he's done (even as Geoff Johns undoes them one by one. Seriously, is anyone Hal killed still dead?).
What I hated about Rebirth was the implication that it wasn't really Hal that destroyed the universe, just a (say it with me now) Giant Yellow Bugmonster From Outer Spaaace!!! who happened to look like Hal. This issue settles the fact that, no matter how the Retcon thing influenced him, it WAS Hal's choice to do the things he did, and it IS his redemption to earn.
Two more things: on the final page, Guy is powering one of those
ReplyDeletegiant Manhunter thingies, along with two other Green Lanterns...one
of which appears to be female. I
wonder who THAT could be?
And, as a little bonus for Kalinara, is it me, or is Guy really well...endowed in that
scene? Wow! A nice change of
pace for the women readers.
Steven wrote:
ReplyDeleteWhat I hated about Rebirth was the implication that it wasn't really Hal that destroyed the universe, just a (say it with me now) Giant Yellow Bugmonster From Outer Spaaace!!! who happened to look like Hal. This issue settles the fact that, no matter how the Retcon thing influenced him, it WAS Hal's choice to do the things he did, and it IS his redemption to earn.
Not really. Nothing has changed since Rebirth - not the explanation for Hal's dramatic turn to the dark side, nor his viewpoint. In fact, in Rebirth Hal makes the same sorts of "I did this" statements. See, while Rebirth provides an explanation for Hal's change in character - posession by a fear agent driving him over the edge - one of the obvious messages of Rebirth was that he was already close to that edge.
Hal even says in Rebirth - even if I was pushed, I'm still responsible, something like, "It was my hand that did this." But even though superheroes are possessed all the time in comics, the good heroes still feel responsible...as if they could have done better. And that's applicable here.
In this instance, Hal was chosen by Parallax because he was a "strong host". But as he narrates in Rebirth, he feels he should have been able to conquer that fear...wherever the source. In his own mind, he failed, and that failure still burns. He will always feel responsible, even if everyone else understands what happened and why; Green Arrow has already told him to let go of the guilt.
But it's not about redemption, at least not anymore. Hal died saving the Earth in Final Night, tried to change the mission of the Spectre from retribution to redemption, to make it a force for good. But that's the kicker - no matter how many good deeds Hal does, what happened to him, what he did, this will always burn; its his great mistake.
Everyone else may forget, but he won't - because he'll want to be better than he was. We're always our own worst critic.
West -- :)
ReplyDeleteTom -- *nod*
SallyP -- Oh yes, I love Bianchi's men. I do think Kat'll be saved for a storyline where John is present, though.
Dan -- One more issue left, by Johns standards it's a wrapup and maybe a surprise or two for a future arc at the end.
ben -- I didn't even realize I wanted her back until I saw this.
SallyP -- I love this artist. He should drawn everything.
Steven -- You just pointed out why I love Hal. He screws up majorly, but he doesn't run from the consequences.
Anonymous -- And thanks for explaining why Rebirth doesn't white-wash the character.
Sallyp: I wouldn't know. I'd *never* check out Guy Gardner's package.
ReplyDelete...okay, maybe a little. ;-)
Okay, I am now reading Green Lantern.
ReplyDeleteSmall niggle: It's never referred to as the "Thames river". always the river Thames. That's pronounced "tems", btw.