Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #13

September 4, 2011

Title: 2011: A Space Oddity

Writer: Peter J. Tomasi
Pencils: Ron Frenz
Inks: John Dell, Marc Deering
Colorist: Gabe Eltaeb
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Cover Artist: Dan Panosian
Editor: Brian Cunningham
Publisher: DC Comics

DC sends off Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors with an old-fashioned locked-room mystery… in space! Guy is summoned to the International Space Station to investigate a murder that took place there, only to find Batman waiting for him. The victim was a friend of Bruce Wayne, it seems, and Batman aims to see to it he gets justice… but who among his fellow space explorers would have –could have killed him?

Guy Gardner isn’t particularly known for subtlety, and putting him in what amounts to a police procedural is actually quite entertaining. It’s a funny juxtaposition, the brutish Gardner and the cool-as-ice Batman, and Peter Tomasi even manages to throw out a callback to the most memorable moments the two characters have ever shared together.

Ron Frenz is one of those artists who looks good when combined with some inkers and not with others. John Dell and Marc Deering make him look as good as he ever has, with very rich, detailed pages that tell the story expertly without bogging things down with superfluous lines. The inks and colors compliment the art well, which is the hallmark of a good comic book artist.

It’s a nice way for Guy Gardner to go out.

Rating: 8/10

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight #17

August 9, 2008

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight #17 (Dark Horse Comics)
By Joss Whedon, Karl Moline & Jo Chen

A disturbance in time has hurled Buffy forward to the distant future, where she counters the girl called Fray, the first slayer in centuries. As Buffy tries to acclimate herself to the strange world she’s emerged into, back home Willow tries to find her while Xander and Dawn come under attack. Whedon is doing something unexpected with Xander and Dawn here, and while I’m not 100 percent sure where he’s going, I’ve got my suspicions. The interaction between Buffy and Fray is fun, and while Whedon tries a little too hard to whip up some future jargon, he doesn’t go far enough that it becomes confusing. Karl Moline, artist of the original Fray miniseries, is right at home both in the future and the present. I’d be a little concerned that people who haven’t read Fray could get confused by this issue, but Whedon does a decent job of getting you up to speed on all the players. And the end of this issue, of course, is one of those gut-punch cliffhangers he just loves to pull on us. The further we go into this series, the more I love it.
Rating: 9/10

Incredible Hercules #114

February 19, 2008

Quick Rating: Great
Title: Walls of Troy (Part Three of The Incredible Herc)
Rating: A

As Ares goes on the offensive, a crazed Hercules tears up what’s left of New York!

Writers: Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente
Pencils: Khoi Pham
Inks: Paul Neary
Colors: Stephane Peru
Letters: Joe Caramagna
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Cover Art: Arthur Adams
Publisher: Marvel Comics

Last issue, Ares poisoned his brother with the blood of the fearsome Hydra, sending him into a fit of violent delusions. As Wonder Man searches for Ares, hurled away in the battle, Hercules’ old friend the Black Widow may be the only thing between him and a Hulk-level rampage.

As I’ve come to expect from Greg Pak, this was a highly entertaining, truly exciting issue. He and Fred Van Lente have managed to seamlessly blend Hercules’ classical origins with his status of a superhero, with flashes from everything from a pre-Illiad Troy to Herc’s stint with the Champions of Los Angeles. As he continues his rampage, Amadeus Cho puts another of his own crazy schemes into motion. There’s an interesting bit in this issue where we’re reminded of how Cho doesn’t really have much of a moral compass. He’s loyal to his friends – he demonstrated that during World War Hulk, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to a true sense of right and wrong, and that moral ambiguity makes him a far more interesting character than he was before.

Khoi Pham’s artwork is nice, and I especially appreciate some of the panels that pay homage to the 70s style with the Champions sequence. Arthur Adams, of course, draws a beautiful cover, which is about as obvious as statement as pointing out that the sun is rising in the east tomorrow morning.

I feel like a broken record, but I’ve got to say it again – I’ve quickly fallen in love with this book. It’s one of Marvel’s best.

Rating: 9/10