Ringslingers, Aliens, and Super-Refreshing Changes

There are many things going on at DC -- like somebody’s stupid idea to remove the white eye-slits from the Flash's mask which is only worth this plug, but here's a peek at a few of them that are worth a little more.

SAY THE OATH, WEAR THE RING

Any DC fan would need a lobotomy not to know that Kyle Rayner is now the current Green Lantern. He took over approximately fifty issues ago when Hal Jordan, as Parallax, went postal, wiping out the entire Green Lantern Corps in the quest for more power to resurrect his destroyed home town of Coast City. Later, Hal, still as Parallax, redeemed himself as he gave his life for the world in a special Final Night one-shot. We all know in the real world when you die, you die. But in the comic book universe it differs. You can color me yellow because Hal is back, following in Barry Allen's footsteps for most frequent use of a dead guy, including JLA Year One and Green Lantern Annual #1. Hey, I wonder if Barry and Hal or Hal and Oliver Queen (Green Arrow) for that matter will have a team-up from beyond the grave, and if we gather enough dead heroes we might even have another JLA spin-off: Justice League Afterlife. For some reason that wouldn't surprise me (after all they did a JLA Jr.). Who comes up with some of this crap anyway?

Moving right along, Hal makes a cameo appearance in Green Lantern #99 which leads up to his story in issue #100. This issue promises to be good, and let's hope so because the emerald lantern has become a little tarnished and needs a good wipe down. This book offers two covers one of Kyle and one of Hal, while the newsstand copy has one cover of the both of them. Of course Hal isn't here to stay, it's one of those time stories as Kyle teams up with the silver-age Hal/Green Lantern (too bad it's not Parallax) to go up against Sinestro. Now, there's a villain who should just stay dead.

ALL THINGS MADE OF WOOD

Hal Jordan isn't the only hero coming back. Alan Scott, although he never really went away, is the original Green Lantern now known as Sentinel. He is now being used more often. Allen just finished up a three issue mini-series with Kyle Rayner in: Green Lantern and Sentinel: Heart of Darkness. Overall the story wasn't that great, but for some reason I really like this guy. I don't know, but the more I think about it, the more I think that he might be my favorite Ringslinger. The villain of this story, Starheart, looked pretty lame. He was like the Silver Surfer but green and minus the surfboard. Anyway, the interesting part of this story was that instead of creating another one of those dime-a-dozen characters, they took the opposite approach and took Jade's (Allen's daughter) powers away. Now she's just a normal...ah, green girl. A not so bright idea in this story was to get rid of the star emblem on Sentinel's chest; his costume looks a little goofy without something there. I hope they replace it soon! Also, check out Aquaman #44 where not only is Sentinel portrayed well, but it's a much better story.

THE ALIENS ARE HERE

Okay, when we think of good fiction in comics it's easy to believe in the alien stories, after all, they're just stories. Then there's the Bat books, more down to earth, dark and mysterious, art imitating life. The aliens DON'T work in this environment. But there are a few that do...very few. Lets face it, alien stories probably helped nail the coffin shut to the gaudy camp era of Batman. Well, these lame little green guys landed once again in Batman: The Abduction. I almost laughed out loud when I first heard that Batman was going to be abducted by aliens. Let's just hope that there is going to be a surprise ending with Hugo Strange; at the very least write this off as an Elseworlds tale, and hope it's not the decline of Bat-fiction as we know it.

FASHION CRITIQUES

Superman turns 60 this year, proving the old saying that "with age comes wisdom" as the Man of Steel trades his recent mid-life crisis vanity outlook to the classic look of yesteryear. Supes will be wearing the classic Super-suit once again with the same ol' style haircut and Super-Powers to boot. I’d like to say it all starts in Superman Forever (believe me I'd really like to!), but apparently it has roots in that snoozer of a story-line Millennium Giants. Anyway, Superman Forever is a 96 pager produced by the entire Superman creative team. Maybe it's me, but it seems that every time there is a big one-shot special in the Super-corner of the DCU, it takes the entire DC Super-team. It just doesn't seem special anymore. But, one can always rely on a gimmick cover like this first of it's kind seven image lenticular cover of Clark changing into Superman. It almost captures the essence of Superman except for one thing....where's the phone-booth?

-Wallace "Wally" Frost

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