Monthly Comic’s Corner: October edition!

Monthly Comic’s Corner: October edition!

Sigh. Why do I even bother making a schedule? But never mind the self pity--- It’s time for me to take a look at the comic’s I bought in October! What comic’s from DC’s New 52 made it into my line up? How does Journey into Mystery and Spider Island conclude? And what the heck is with X-23’s star-palm? Plus, I take a look at a new-ish(?) series from Image comics!

Last month I had so many comics to go through, I didn’t really go into deep detail about some things. Continuity things, non-main characters, etc. I will be going into it here. Also, I apparently made a few mistakes with names last time. That’s been fixed. I also missed a comic last month, which you will see here. I’m still kinda new at reviews so I hope you can forgive my amateurness.

DC Comics:

Animal Man #2:

Nightmare Fuel HO!

Of course I picked this one. It’s probably my one of my top favourite comics last month! Oh, and to repeat: Gore Warning

In issue 1, Animal Man (Buddy) was suffering strange dreams, and his daughter Maxine has suddenly brought every dead and buried pet in the neighbourhood back to life... just not with new skin. Ew.

In issue 2, Buddy and his wife, Ellen aren’t too happy about what Maxine has done. His son, Cliff on the other hand, wants to get the camera. Maxine tells her dad that the animals were calling to her from “the place”. Buddy suddenly falls backwards. He begins bleeding from his eyes again, and the blood begins dripping down his chest, creating an intricate pattern of what looks like a strange looking tree. Maxine points to the pattern, and says that that is where they need to go. “The red place”.

Inside, the family tells Cliff to go and cover up all the empty graves in the neighbourhood. The blood has now dried, becoming a tattoo. Maxine says that it’s a map. If they don’t get to the tree in the center before ““they” do”, then “everything dies”. The conversation is interrupted when Cliff is caught by the neck by one of the neighbours, believing Cliff was digging up his lawn. That's when Maxine turns his hand into a chicken’s claw.

After some prodding, the family convinces Maxine to change it back. The neighbour runs off, swearing to call the cops. Ellen starts to have a nervous breakdown, and after a bit of comforting/arguing, Buddy convinces her that he and Maxine must head to the red place. Cliff and Ellen and the miniature pet cemetery settle in the basement, and Buddy and Maxine leave.

Meanwhile, three zoo keepers have discovered that the stomachs of there hippos have grown twice as big as the animal.

Buddy and Maxine follow the map to the red place by following the animals. It takes one page but it’s a great scene. They ask a tortoise, who sends them to a snake, who sends them to a dragon fly, who takes them to the red place. Buddy also muses on his powers, Maxine's and “the red place”

They finally make it to the old tree, and Maxine says that the tree will take them into “The Red.” They take hold of one of the roots and are transported into--- a horrific Salvador Dali painting! And I thank the artist for not distorting Maxine's face like they did Buddy's. Geh. I’m gonna have nightmares threw Christmas.

Speaking of horrific: the Hunter’s Three, the enemies of the book, have arrived. They finish up eating the insides of the zoo keepers and wear their skin. It is time for “The Hunt”

I’m still enjoying this series and Maxine is so adorable. It’s also like to point out the artist, Travel Forman. He does a great job setting the moods and draws very expressive faces. And his intricate line work is perfect for The Red Place. My only issue is that the tattoo on Buddy’s chest and face is complete black, and there’s too much intricate line work, making it seem more of a mess in some panels. I wish it was a little clearer. Or maybe that’s the point?

Recommend.

Wonder Woman #2

You saw this coming, right?

We start on Mount Olympus. Hera is more then a little pissed off at having Wonder Woman involved in her plans. Her daughter Strife, goddess of discord and well, strife, pops by and the two have a not so friendly chat.

As they talk, Diana and Zola carry the injured Hermes onto Paradise Island. And we finally get our first impressions of the new Amazons. We hear them whispering from the shadows that they smell a man and contemplate removing him from his... uh... manhood. Ya. The civilization of peace, everyone!

When they realizes that it’s actually Diana with the other intruders, they bow to their princess, and we finally meet Queen Hippolyta: now blond and covered in Greek armour. And she is buff. This lady could give Big Barda a run for her money.

And, Okay, I take everything back about the new outfit. It’s not tacky. It’s perfect. Why am I saying that? Because for the first time: almost all the other amazon’s are wearing the exact same style. Just about everyone is wearing bikinis with bits of Greek armour over top. It harkens back to gladiator clothing (witch was an argument for WW’s outfit). And it makes WW’s outfit seem less like an old stereotype of female super hero garb that really didn’t make much sense to begin with, and more like a cultural thing that she grew up with.

Back to the plot: The Amazon’s celebrate, and Diana and her mother discuss Hera and Zola. Hippolyta advises not going against Hera or joining Zeus. Diana says she doesn’t wish to do anything but protect Zola, who is stuck in the middle of the battle.

Zola, meanwhile, is watching the festivities with Hermes. We find out that Zola sleeps with guys often and doesn’t know what form Zeus came to her as. And we finally get Wonder Woman’s origin!

Its not very different from the usual story. Hippolyta was barren, so she sculpted a child from sand and prayed to the gods. When she wakes up the next morning, the sculpture had become a baby. The biggest change seems to be that DC is no longer using George Perez’s origin, where all of the Amazon’s, including Diana, were souls of woman that died from violence.

Here, Diana is made out to be “the perfect amazon-- No male seed created her.” I also like how Zola blatantly goes “That’s weird”.

Meanwhile, Diana has a fun sparing make with another amazon, Aleka, and we once again get a wonderfully choreographed fight scene from artist, Cliff Chiang.

And then a meteor explodes on the island, bringing Strife with it. The amazon’s prepare for battle. In the forest, several of the amazon’s art attacked, but it’s not until Aleka attacks Diana that we discover that all the amazon’s, except Diana, are under a magic spell, causing them to attack each other. Strife appears in giant size, and claims she has come in piece. She is only here to visit her little sister.

Diana assumes she means Zola’s child, but Strife makes herself clear: she is talking about Diana herself.

I wasn't sure about this series at first. We didn’t get much of an impression of Diana besides her fighting skill. This issue is the exact of opposite. We get a full impression of Diana, the amazon’s and even her origin to boot. I’m excited to see what happens to Zola and whether or not Zeus is indeed her “father”. I’ve also been getting a JL: New Frontier vibe from both the art and the writing.

Recommended!

Demon Knights #2

So we join our merry band of riffraff in the mists of a battle with ye old dragons. Yon Vandal Savage laughs his way, so as to make a meal out of thy reptilian fire-breathers. While the demon, Etrigan, brings his own fires of hell upon his foe.

Okay. I’ll stop now. I can’t help it, this comic makes me feel like joining a LARPing group (not that I would be particularly good at it). This issue is even titled: They Shall Not Pass.

Anyway, The gang battles each “dragon” (looks like T-Rexs and raptors that can breathe fire). As they fight, we get a few funny conversations: A comparison between Al Jabr and Madame Xanadu, and a conversation about men between Exoristos and Shining Knight. And Etrigan takes out the largest dragon, while rhyming, with some help from Savage (He helps with the rhyme).

The Questing Queen, leader of the horde, and her sorcerer, Mordru, decide it’s time to send in the “Heraldic Dragons”. I have no idea what those are.

Our hero’s are congratulated, and we get a short introduction to another character: The Horse Woman. She lived on the outskirts of the village. She warns everyone to head to Alba Sarum (Also don’t know what this is) and takes off. After some arguing and some foreshadowing to shining knight, the village decides to leave.

Etrigan agrees, swoops Xanadu in his arms and flies off. Xanadu isn't’ too happy, saying that the village would have wanted their help. After Etrigan reminds Xanadu that “Demon”= “Evil”, they are attacked by warriors on flying pterodactyls. Okay then. The horse woman finds some trouble of her own, when she discovers the path blocked by the Hearaldic Dragons which are... robotic dragons

This comic just keeps getting better!

At the village, everyone is freaking out, trying to pack, etc. Then Etrigan shows up with the pterodactyl riders. The shining Knight heads to the stables and brings out--- her flying horse, Vanguard! Squeee! Ahem. Sorry.

While the Shining Knight and Etrigan buy some time, Xanadu makes a blood sacrifice and tries to create a magical shield over the town.

Mordru recognizes her Camelot magic. The Questing Queen suggest Mordru torch the place. We then see a giant fireball fall towards the village. In the words of Exoristos :

“Oh, Dung”

Once again, this comic is one of my favourites. It has those medieval flavours but has a lot of humour in it is well. This isn’t the Etrigan I know of from JLU, but i don’t care. I love his cheery, and yet still kinda evil personality. And considering what is suppose to happen in the next issue, I’m excited to see how he takes it. And I love how Shining Knight is still trying to pretend that she’s a guy, despite everyone seeing right through it.

(Oh, and I think the sudden appearance of the Horse Woman means that Demon Knights probably has the largest amount of female main characters other then the Birds of Prey. I know it’s a silly feminist remark, but I don’t care :P )

Recommend.

Swamp Thing #2

Gore Warning

When we left, Alec Holland had come face to face with Swamp Thing. A different Swamp thing. We get a flashback of his life when he was called Calbraith A.H. Rogers, and how the Green had always called to him. He was afraid, and became a pilot to escape the ground, but it was only a matter of time before the Green came for him and turned him into Swamp Thing. He had been resting in the Parliament of Trees for some time.

Now he is here to give Holland a message. Holland doesn't want anything to do with the Parliament and won’t listen. He’s literally given up everything to the Green and doesn't want anymore from it. Swamp Thing convinces Holland to at least listen. If Holland still doesn't want anything to do with the Parliament, they will leave him alone. Holland agrees. They touch hands.

Holland sees the enemy of the green: Sethe. Seth is basically an entity that wants to rot the world. He is also the one that “delivered” several diseases to the earth, including the black plague. He also looks like a giant, gory lovecraftian vulture. We watch Sethe invade a town, killing or enslaving the inhabitants. The ones enslaved also have there heads twisted backwards or turn into miniature version’s of Sethe with... dead human heads attached. Oh, and I find this out because there is a child’s head on one of the bodies. This is far beyond silent hill, peoples.

Swamp Thing says that Sethe is building an army in the one place that the Green can’t go without a host. Holland has been chosen.

Unlike Rodgers, Holland has a much more unique connection to the Green, genetically. Holland replies that the Swamp Thing he had become was not a hero. But Rodgers corrects him: Alec did die in the swamp that night. His body was beyond healing, and a savage Swamp Thing was created.

Rodgers doesn't know what kind of Swamp Thing Holland with become. As Rodgers dies, he tells Alec that Swamp Thing needs some of “the Red” (ie: animal/man) in order to give restraint to Swamp Thing. Now Rodger’s meaty body is dying. He will not go to rest on the Parliament.

Holland still doesn’t believe he can handle the job. As Rodgers finally passes, he asks Holland to do one thing: Stay way from the white hair woman from his dreams.

Holland returns to the motel he was staying at. Only to find that everyone in the motel has been enslaved by Sethe and is currently trying to kill him. Holland races from the motel, and is saved by a woman on a motorcycle. After killing off a few of the Exorcist zombies (what?), they escape into the forest. The woman parks and removes her helmet. She has white hair and calls herself Abigail Arcane.

She’s also pointing a gun at Holland’s head.

Once again, another one I like but... I’m gonna drop this one. It’s a good comic, it’s just that...the plot is far too similar to animal man’s. Which makes sense. Animal Man is the avatar of the red and Swamp thing is the avatar of the green. But even their mission: To stop some enemy of the red/green from destroying the Earth. If we didn’t see the enemies of each comic, I would have guest that Animal Man and Swamp thing were after the same bad guy. But I do find Animal Man’s story a little more interesting due to the characters and the artwork, so I’ll stick to AM

Recommend

Aquaman #2


Gore Warning

We rejoin the hilarious and frightening tale of Aquaman on the fisherman's boat as it is attacked by the strange fish men. The fishmen begin eating the fishermen and--- well, that was a confusing sentence. Kay, for now, I'm gonna call them Piranha Men cause... that’s what they look like. Anyway, as one of the fishermen tries to escape, a much larger piranha man, who seems different from the others, spits on the fisherman. The others back away as the larger piranha man tells them that this one is his food. The piranha men watch as the fisherman is eaten. And then they notice the dock. “More food”, they realize.

And just to punch us even further in the gut, we get a panel of a small boy on the dock with his mom, pointing to the boat and going “It’s daddy’s boat!” O_O

Anyway, back to our aquarian heroes, Mera and Arthur have settled into the lighthouse, looking through Arthur’s family photos. Mera contemplates how skiing “sounds terrible”, and can’t wait to try it. She wants to experience the land the way that Arthur has and learn more about him. Arthur then sees a man with receding black hair in one of the photos and doesn’t seem happy about it.

The conversation is interrupted by a cop knocking at there door. The nervous policeman asks about Mera and she makes it clear that she is NOT a mermaid by scaring the poor guy with a water construct. He recovers and explains that something happened at the dock: Everyone is missing.

The three head to the crime scene and the Sherif is none too happy about his deputy playing hooky to bring Aquaman to the crime scene. I don’t like this guy very much.

Mera comments that Arthur should be shown more respect, which Arthur shrugs off. He goes to the end of the dock and begins looking in the water: He finds nothing. There is nothing living in the water. Meanwhile, the authorities pull a cocoon from the water.

Aquaman suddenly hears the thoughts of something in the boat. As everyone turns around, the army of piranha men leap from inside the boat. Mera and Aquaman do there best to hold off the army, until the large Piranha man from earlier shows up. He steals Aquaman’s weapon and spits on him. Looking at Aquaman, he states “This food comes home to the trench”

Once again, I love this one. I’m curious about these creatures and the black haired man in Arthur's photo album.

And y’know what? I totally want to see Mera, the water controlling, former inhabitant of the sea--- skiing. So many jokes, so little time.

Recommended.

Super Girl #1

I still cannot stress how much I love this series. Not just the story but everything from Mahmud Asrar's style, Dan Green’s linework (can't find info on him. Just another Dan Green from a few decades ago), and Dave McCaig’s colors, make this comic a ray of sunshine in a a cloud of very dark comics. (Some well written dark comics, but I appreciate the change). This series needs to be promoted more!

When we last saw Kara, she was having a nervous breakdown due to gaining weird powers she can’t control, and having no freaking idea where she is. And then Superman shows up.

Needless to say, Kara gets pretty pissed about the total strangers wearing her families symbol, speaking in a bad Kryptonian accent, and claiming to be her baby cousin Kal-El. Supes, likewise, is having trouble processing the sudden appearance of Kara, especially when she claims to have held him as a baby only three days ago. He’s also curious as to why she has powers that took him years to gain under a yellow sun.

Kara immediately tries to pound the crud out of Supes, and she does a pretty good job too. Their strength looks a little equal, but Kara has the disadvantage of not understanding her powers. Speaking of which, we get the same wonder and/or panic in her eyes as last time as Kara is introduced to X-ray vision and flight.

Meanwhile, the men from earlier contemplate going after them, but instead decide to settle for taking Kara’s pod, instead.

Getting some control over her flight, Kara finds herself in a new place: the great wall of China. She knows that this is not a Kryptonian building. After pounding her down a bit, Supes tries to convince Kara to listen to him and let him help her. For that, she throws him through the wall.

As the dust settles, Kara prepares to attack a shadow, until she realizes it was a man holding a baby. Seeing crowds gathering, Kara thinks this must be their home, which she just half demolished. Horrified with herself, she decides to listen to Supes.

Superman takes Kara into the sky and explains that the sun gives them the powers of the Worldkillers, a weapon outlawed by the council. Kara asks why they don’t just go back to Krypton. Superman finally breaks the news.

The scene changes to a lab, where Kara’s pod is. A Miss Thorn tells her boss that “the artifact” has been cleaned. He takes the large red crystal from her and eludes to “power”

Once again, a great issue. I gotta say, I like this Kara better then previous versions. Besides reacting to her situation like a... somewhat normal person, she definitely shows a multi facet personality, a good heart and the flashback of her holding Kal as a baby was a nice touch. I’m also curious about this mysterious boss. Might be Lex Luthor but I’m actually hoping for someone new or at least someone less known.

Recommended

All Star Western #1

Gore Warning

So, lets go from bright and cheer to all-out gory gunslinging! YEEHAW!

K. Sorry. Had to get it out of my system.

We join Arkham and Jonah in Arkham’s mansion. Hex is preparing his gun, knowing that a fight is on it’s way. Arkham on the other hand, is researching the ring. The symbol on it is the symbol of the Religion of Crime. As he goes on, Hex points out the army of masked men coming towards the house.

Hex greets them with a smile.

What follows is a chaotic, insane, messy gun-fight and oh my gosh is it perfect here. This is Jonah Hex showing off how Jonah-freaking-Hex he is (Does that make sense?). Arkham is more then horrified by the mess of bodies on his front lawn as Hex interrogates one of the men. The man says that he follows the Crime Bible. The woman were sacrifices to their church, and their headquarters is Black Gate Isle. After dispatching the man, Hex tells Arkham that they are going to “kill ‘em all”

At Black Gate, we see high-end followers of the Crime Bible and from the party in issue 1: Mr. Montrose, Mr. Bronston, Mr. Paste, Doctor Dupree, Colonel Hammersmith and several others, tying up the Chief of police, Mr. Cromwell. Mr. Cromwell was introduced in issue 1, and was most concerned with getting Hex out of Gotham. Not really a good idea considering his situation. He refused the invitation to join the crime religion, and is now paying for it. After discussing their plans to take over Gotham, the group leave.

Hex and Arkham finally show up, as Dr. Dupree is carving something into Cromwell’s chest with hot coals. But Hex and Arkham are ambushed by a large thug who attempts to pound the crud out of Hex. Arkham, refusing Hex’s orders to run, tries to help, but can do little against the brute. The brute has Hex by the hair, and Dupree orders him to remove Hex’s head.

We’ll have to wait for November for the next chapter, but the issue ain’t over yet!

We get a small short about El Diablo aka Lazarus Lane, a man raised from the dead as a “Lethal Phantom”. Oh, and it involves zombies. Lazarus is saved from a town of Zombies by a survivor. After meeting the other survivors, he discovers that this is the work of an Indian curse. As the Zombies begins breaking into the survivors hideout, he instructs the group to knock him out, which one of them gladly does, not too happy about revealing there hideout to the Zombies to save Lazarus. Suddenly, a man in a Zorro outfit rises from Lazarus’ body: El Diablo.

I was pretty happy with this one. There were a few scenes, however, where the art seemed to drastically changed. The shadows suddenly become a little... too detailed. There’s a close up of Hex’s eye that is used to great effect, but then there’s a detailed close up of Mr. Montrose that is a little too jarring and seems to come right out of right field.

Other then that, I love the introduction of the Crime Bible, and should prove interesting for future stories. I also enjoyed the short at the end, which makes this feel a lot closer to the old Westerns of the golden age, were various stories would be going on in one book.

Batgirl #2

Barb isn’t having a good day. Mirror on one side, pointing a gun, and a vengeful cop on the other side doing the same. Mirror leaves and She finally recovers from the vision of Joker pointing a gun at her leg. Angered at Mirror and herself, she chases after. Mirror almost throws her off a building, and the chase continues. Back at the hospital Detective McKenna informs Commissioner Gordon that they need a second warrant for Batgirl.

Barb finally tracks Mirror down to a Cemetery, and he asks if she brought a flame thrower. O...kay? He reveals his cape, which is lined with reflective fabric. He asks is she saw her “true face” in his cape and Barb just ignores him. Instead she begins the fight. Mirror beats BG pretty badly, but she gets her hands on his list. Mirror steals it back and takes off. Barb is too injured to follow.

She heads back to her apartment, only to find her suspicious roommate. Alysia patches her up, and tells Barb that is anyone is hurting her, she will be there for her.

And after a short date with her... physical therapist?... Uh.. Barb decides to do some research. The flame thrower and the cemetery were a clue. She tracks down Mirror’s hideout, only to find an array of weapons and no Mirror. Mirror comes on the screen and it’s exposition time!

Mirror, or Jonathan Mill, saw his family die in a car fire. He wanted to die with them, and cursed the miracle he was given. Now he wants to prove that miracles just delay the inevitable, and kills anyone that almost died. Batgirl knows that both she and Barbara Gordon along with her father and several others are on his list. Mirror then brings up an article about a Rubert Ansell, a man that was almost killed by a train, but was saved by a “good samaritan”. Mirror has now set a bomb on the train Ansell is now on. He wants Batgirl to watch and learn about the “kindness” he is trying to give.

I feel really bad for poor Barb. Nothing is going her way is it? I love the story behind Mirror. He’s sympathetic, and also flipping scary. I am curios as to where Batman is in all this, considering murders in Gotham tend to be a red light for him, but I do know that Nightwing will be making a cameo next issue, so you never know.

Recommended.

Frankenstein agent of S.H.A.D.E. #2


Um...Gore Warning... maybe?

Frankenstein wasn’t too happy about the old woman yelling at him. And then even less when he finds out that this church, including this woman, has been sacrificing children as “payment” to these monsters. After Frank throws the old lady across the room, they send for someone to retrieve the children. Father Time calls up Frank and the gang and tells them that Ray Palmer has found the source of the monsters... Wait? Ray Palmer?!

Yes, Ray Palmer is actually in Agent’s of S.H.A.D.E. And he also built the Headquarters for S.H.A.D.E., known as the Ant Farm and is there to keep and eye on S.H.A.D.E.. He had a scene in issue 1 and I failed to mention him last time because, well, for some ridiculous reason’s that I cannot fathom, I thought it was just a small cameo, and that Ray wasn’t going to be a main character. I also didn’t go into the Ant Farm last time, but I’ll get to it after I talk about issue 2 since my opinions on it have changed.

Anyway, back to the plot, Ray has discovered that there is a temporal rift at in the town’s lake. Frank and Nina head towards the lake, while the other three set up a firewall around the lake, keeping more monsters from coming out. Palmer tells the group that the portal leads to dead space: a “pocket dimension underneath out own”. As Nina and Frank drop into the lack, Griffith is pretty pissed that he’s being left behind, wanting to prove himself. Velcoro doesn’t really care, more focused on his job: killing the monsters.

As Frank and Nina swim to the bottom of the lake, we are given some of Nina’s backstory through a flash back:

Nina was just a scientist, expecting a baby with her husband. The baby, however, was too week when she was born and didn’t survive. This led to her husband leaving, and Nina joining S.H.A.D.E.. There, she genetically engineered creatures, her new children, with abilities that would make it easier for them to survive. However, by accelerating their growth, the creatures became uncontrollable, never learning between right and wrong or how to control their emotions. The children became too dangerous, and, as a mercy to Nina, Palmer locked up the children in The Zoo, a prison inside the Ant Farm. After that, Nina worked on fully grown humans and it’s suggested that she's the one that gave Velcoro and Griffith their bodies, which is similar to the old continuity. Nina also mutated herself, saying that she “wouldn’t subject them to anything [she] wouldn’t do” to herself but so that nothing would be able to hurt her again.

So after all that, you can imagine just how horrified Nina is when they find hundreds of children’s skeletons down at the bottom of the lake. They then discover three monsters guarding the portal. The to quickly dispatch the monsters and Nina... takes one of their brains. Then she... stuffs it into a device that will show us info inside said brain in image form.

Science is weird.

Through the power of the S.O.M.B.I.E. (I love acronyms), we discover that these monsters, are actually invading aliens. For hundreds of years, they had been planning to invade Earth Their planet is now dying, and the invasion has started. The Bride, also called Lady Frankenstein tried to stop the invasion and was taken through the portal.

The Commandos are given a special ship, The Egg, and take it through the portal. One the other side, there’s an army of creatures as far as the eye can see, and Lady Frankenstein is suck in the middle, doing her best to fight them off.

I honestly wasn’t too sure about this series. I liked it, but since we didn’t get much of an intro to the other characters. But this issue kinda sealed the deal. Not only did we get Nina’s backstory, but a few samples of the other commando’s personality. I sense that Griffith is going to be a bit of an under-dog (please excuse the pun).

And now I get to talk about the Ant form. The Ant Farm is a spherical ship that Ray Palmer built. It can shrink down to microscopic size and contains various scientists and scientific and magical tech.

I think I was suffering from “secret organization” overload last month. It should be no secret that there were a lot of new, and mostly unnecessary organizations that suddenly popped up in the reboot.

But when I look at now, S.H.A.D.E. And the Ant Farm is definitely one of the smarter and interesting groups. They have believable and well thought out HQ, that can literally hide in plan sight and take with them on missions. They have various super-powered and intelligent members, and they seem to know what they are doing.

Anyway, I definitely enjoyed this issues. And did anyone else get an Evil Dead flash back when they saw the last page?

Recommended

Green Lantern New Guardians #2

Remember when I said that this series wasn’t really dark? Yaaaa, you may want to strike that, because it’s heading that way. Oh, it’s still good, that’s for sure.

So Kyle Rayner finds himself surrounded by the lanterns of several other corps: Arkillo of the Sinestro Corps, Bleez of the Red Lanterns, Fatality of the Star Sapphires, and a member of the Indigo tribe, still unnamed.

Believing Kyle stole the rings, the lanterns each try to take down Kyle. Kyle knocks out Arkillo, but Fatality manages to trap him in a crystal known as a stasis matrix. She also traps Bleez in one, since Bleez was doing more harm then good and almost killed several civilians. Fatality and the indigo lantern discuss what to do with Kyle, until Kyle’s ring begins to power up. Breaking out of the crystal, the ring hits 116%. Kyle instantly knows why: Saint Walker, of the Blue Lanterns, has arrived.

With Saint Walker's help, Kyle escapes and the two head towards Oa, hoping that Ganthet can explain why Kyle is surrounded by all the Rings. We saw Ganthet in the first issue, giving Kyle his ring. He’s become sort of a father figure to Kyle, hand picking him for the corp. Saint Walker understands, since Ganthet is a good friend to him as well, and helped create the Blue Lantern Corps.

Saint Walker then points out that if he has the Orange Ring, then the previous and only owner must be dead.

What?

You... you mean...the loveable Larfleeze is... gone?

*Falls to her knees* NO! YOU MANIACS! YOU BLEW HIM UP! DARN YOU, DC! DARN YOU TO--- wait... Oh. So apparently Larfleeze going to be in future issues. Um. *cough* I retract my previous statement. Eheh.

*cough* Well... back to the story... The lanterns gather themselves together and decide to form a truce. They realize that Kyle probably went to Oa, and despite a ban forbidding any lanterns, including Green Lanterns to go the the planet without a summons, they go anyway.

Wait, a ban on Green Lanterns? When was that...? Oh no. You’re not--- you did. Danggit DC! New Guardians isn’t a reboot either! It’s a continuation of the old Continuity too, right after War of the Green Lanterns! Graaah!

I’ll save my rant for after. But at the end of it, it was implied that something bad happened to Ganthet. Which they reveal here.

Kyle goes down to the planet without Saint Walker, and tells Salaak, the only other Lantern on the planet that he wants to talk to the Guardians. But the guardians are already aware of Kyle’s presence and got out to meet him. They actually try to grab him-- wanting to know why he has all those rings!

Kyle only ignores them and flies towards Ganthet and discovers what has happened to his friend: The Guardians had lobotomized him.

They did so in order to get rid of Gantlet's emotions, which the Guardians aren’t too big on. Kyle swears revenge, but the Guardians simply ignore him, asking about the rings again. Kyle says he doesn’t know, the rings suddenly start to power up. The guardians try to jump Kyle, planing to do a “forced interrogation”, but the rings attach themselves to Kyle.

The powers combine and Kyle transforms into a new kind of Lantern

Feel free to make a Captain Planet joke.

Now, before I give my final thoughts on the issue, lets get some backstory out of the way. I never read WOTGL, but I did read the Aftermath, so let me summarize what I know: Bad things happened, Hal Jordan was decommissioned, Sinsestro got a Green Lantern Ring and it won’t come off for some reason, Oa was made off limits, the Guardians are still ineffectual, and seem kinda nuts now. I mean, we’ve seen what they’ve done to Ganthet, who was possibly the only likeable Guardian. I know I’m not going into deep detail and unless I decide to stick with this is series, I’m not going to. Why? Well, because I don’t care about WOTG. I didn't like the Aftermath, and so far, this is the only somewhat good story to come out of it.

Frankly, I prefer to look at a story on it’s own, but I can’t help but feel gypped. We were promised a reboot. A change in the stasis quo. I would have liked to see a new version of the green lantern universe. No, I expected it. I know it sounds petty. But Green Lantern was left completely alone, because that universe was popular? Because it was in the middle of a story line? Those are terrible and insulting reasons. It’s unfair to the fans new and old, to the hero’s that got story lines cut short because of the reboot, and the characters that got a bad reboot.

New Guardians has an interesting start, and the lanterns we’ve met are pretty likeable. But... I just can’t give this a recommendation. Not yet. If something actually does come out of this series, then I might change my mind. But other then Kyle getting a new set of powers, not that much has actually happened other then the possibility that the Guardians might get their asses kicked and handed to them on a silver platter (it’s a long time coming)

Not recommended (yet)

Marvel

Journey into Mystery, 628, 629 and 630?

Why, Tegan, why are you doing three issue of JIM this month? Well, I here’s one of those mistakes I mentioned earlier. There was a little mix up last month. Apparently, starting in August, Journey into mystery was being published twice a month. That being said, Issue 628 also came out in September, hence why I have three issues to review this month I haven’t been able to buy comics the week they come out for the past several months, so I ...didn’t actually notice. I just assumed that the issue was either a few days early or I was just a week or two late picking it up. Or I’m just absentminded.

Or maybe I was just enjoying the story so much that I didn’t bother paying attention to the schedule. And considering just how bad ass this story has been so far, lets go with that ;)

Anyway, I need to summarize Little Loki’s story anyway, so it kinda works out:

So some time after Little Loki is brought to new Asgard built on earth, the Serpent shows up. Odin kicks all the Asgardians back to the original Asgard, wishing to abandon the humans. Thor doesn’t like this, and becomes imprisoned for acting against Odin. Now Loki is on his own. Or at least he would be, except Volstagg, the Voluminous, had sworn to Thor that he would take care of Loki. However, it isn’t too long before Loki goes behind everyone’s back and visits the roots of the World Tree. It is there that Loki discovers the true plans of the Odin and the Serpent, and isn’t too happy. After getting some advise from Thor, Loki decides that not matter the consequences, he must to the right thing. But who would trust the reincarnated Loki? No one “good.”

With the help of his guide, Ikol (a memory of his old self in the form of a magpie), he captures Hel Wolf, creates alinaces with Mephisto, and Hela, who allow him the aid of the deceased Tyr, Hela’s young assistant, Leah, the Disir. Then he travels to Limbo and makes a deal with Surtur: In exchange for the shadow of his twilight blade, he will release Surtur in Asgard. And as an encore, Little Loki somehow manages to steal the Destroyer. Yes, that Destroyer.

There is a prophecy: That Thor will defeat the Serpent, walk nine steps and then die. However, Loki knows that the Serpent is invincible. With his merry band in tow, Loki decides to do something about that.

And now the issue begins.

Issue 628

As Thor (who escapes prison due to events in the main series of Fear Itself), goes to battle the serpent.

Mephisto’s messenger arrives in the Serpent's Dark Asgard. The guards kill the messenger, but read the message anyway. They read “Disir”

The Disir who appear when their name is said, suddenly appear, and er, dispatch the guards. They open a portal for our “Heroes”. They battle their way through the serpent's followers, Nazis (of course), and eventually end up in the library. On the way, we get to know all the Disir, the overly cautious Gondul, the insane Hlokk, the straightforward Kara and their leader, Brun, who seems to have both a crush and a death wish on Tyr. Tyr himself was the god of war before he died, and now has loyalties to Hel. Meanwhile, the Destroyer is distracting the larger groups, which impresses Tyr. Oh and is anyone else kinda weirded out that Leah and Loki are kinda flirting with each other like school children?

The warriors of our heroes battle more of the serpent's followers, as Leah and Loki look for a specific book. When they find it, Tyr gets impatient and demands Loki draw the shadow of the twilight blade. The two children make it clear that twilight’s shadow is the opposite of a sword. As Loki holds up the shadow, he prepares to write.

Issue 629

As the battle rages with the avengers, earth, Thor and many others, Loki finishes writing and we get to see what he truly did to turn the tide against the serpent and what he wrote in the book:

We see the origin of the Serpent, just as we did in an earlier issue. The Serpent, wen he was a boy, was through over a cliff by a group of giants. The fall broke every bone in his body, but still had will too move. he eventually managed to bandages his wounds and under the cover of night, crawled the camp of the giants. While they slept, he chewed out the throats of every one. The serpent left a message, warning the leader of the giants, and then returned to asgaurd. The fear created from the night became legend. While the serpent was healing in Asgard's hospital, he planned.

And then the story changes.

Leah is suddenly there, at the young serpent's side, tending his wounds. She was kind, and made him smile. Then she disappeared. And from that moment on, the serpent hid his treasured memory, but also feared it.

Now the serpent was no longer invincible. He was afraid of something.

Closing the book, Leah stops pouring her blood into the ink bowl, and the destroyer smashes a way out of the library for them. They end up in the heart of dark Asgard. While Leah creates a portal out, Loki releases Surtur into the heart. Surtur isn’t too happy about consuming a different Asgard, but Loki convinces him it’s a better deal: None of the good Asgardians are here to imprison him again. As Surtur consumes the power of the Dark Asgard, the place falls apart. Loki sneaks a picture on his Stark Phone, and leaves through the portal.

With everyone safe on the ground, they see the result of the battle: Thor is dead.

Loki had taken Thor’s advise, to do the right thing, no matter how evil or what the consequences. By making the Serpent killable, Loki helped to fulfil the prophecy.

The others accuse Loki of wanting Thor dead, but it’s obvious that Loki saw no other way to save Thor. Despite the deals he’s made and the chaos that will probably come out of it, Loki, threw tears, only wants to morn his brother.

Ikol watches, and realizes that Little Loki is not longer the Loki that Ikol wanted him to become. He abandons him. Loki is now alone.

Issue 630

Well, that last issue was depressing, wasn’t it? What could cheer us up? How about a story about the true hero of Fear Itself: Volstagg! Wait, what?

The issue opens with Heimdall and Siri, who awake to find the Destroyer returned to Asgard. Guess who they suspect the thief is? Starts with an “L”

Little Loki, mean while, is pulling Volstagg's body from the roots of the World Tree. As it turns out, Loki had convinced Volstagg to help him. The Girthy God was in charge of the armoury and sent his consciousness into the Destroyer (just go with it). Volstagg and Loki stashed his body in the roots of the earth tree, where Heimdall couldn’t see Volstagg's body. This also kept Heimdall from seeing the destroyer (just go with it). But now we know why the destroyer was so viscous on dark Asgard.

Anyway, now that the battle is done, Heimdall is far from happy. He knows that what he did was necessary to stop the Serpent, and that Thor would have wanted Volstagg to do it . but never less, can take no joy in winning the battle, knowing that he helped kill is dear friend.

Volstagg leaves and tells Loki “Stay away from me”, “I do not trust myself around you”

Let me explain: See, Thor had the Warriors Three swear to protect Loki. Since Thor was imprisoned, Volstagg seemed to be the only one trying to live up to his oath. He protected Loki from Odin, told him stories, and now, aided him against the serpent. This is partly from the oath, but Volstagg also explained that he has many kids, and despite there negative moments, he loves them all. He seemed to see Loki as more then just his predecessor, but a child, and generally cared about him.

After a short scene with the rest of his trio, Volstagg returns home..

And is immediately barrelled down by his NINE children. At least I think they're nine. They keep running around! Volstagg covers his sorrow and tells a story. And my, what an interesting tale!

Did you know that it was actually the great and muscular Volstagg, who stopped the serpent the first time? And when the serpent returned, Volstagg was begged by the beauti-licious Ms. Marvel to save the earth? (Until Volstagg’s wife shot him a glare and he got back to the plot)

He finally breaks the news about Thor's death, to which all the children mourn. And then, back to the story! Volstagg finally ends the serpent by roasting him in a pan and eating him! Then Odin disposed of the, uh, leftovers. Ya. Lets go with that.

With the story ended and the day saved, Volstagg hands out piggyback rides.

After the children are asleep, Volstagg and his wife talk. Volstagg admits that he needs these stories as much as the children and wishes all children could stay innocent.

A kiss goodnight, and we end the comic on a funny innuendo.

Where to start? JIM, has failed to disappoint, wither it’s about Little Loki, or a side story about another character. Loki’s plan was excellent and exactly what you would expect from the god of mischief: something unexpected. One thing that has also stayed constant is the lovely fantasy esc narration. It makes me feel like I’m reading some epic myth.

The story ended (for now) on a pretty sad note, which is why I was very appreciative of Issue 630. Richard Elson did the art for the entire issue, including the very Loony-Tunes/Retro-cartoons for Volstagg's little tattle tale. Honestly, this issue isn't necessary to the plot, but it’s a much needed pick-me-up and pause before we return to the main plot.

I know that next issue will focus on Loki again and what he must do next, and I’m looking forward to it. Let’s hope the Voluminous one won’t leave Loki by himself.

All three: Recommended!

Amazing Spider Man: Spider Island 671 and 672

Hey kids! Ready for another round of “Just Go With It”?! Well, sorry. There isn’t too much new continuity poking around since last time.

Issue 671

MJ is pretty happy she doesn’t have to play damsel in distress. But as the Web-slinging Ex saves the healed civilians at Anti Venom’s church, MG admits that she finally gets what Peter goes through.

Peter, meanwhile, is trying to detain JJ. They decide to lock JJ in the command center and before Smythe falls unconscious, he tells Spidey that he has plenty of spider slayers.

Meanwhile, The Queen reads JJ’s mind and discovers that Horizon Labs had gotten hold of the cure. She looks through the minds of one of her “followers” inside Horizon Labs. Mr. Fantastic is getting reading to administer the cure. Despite the Queen fast forwarding the transformations, the cure is administers and The Queen looses control. She starts to freak out when she realizes that her link with Spider King is also gone. Jackal reminds her the Spiderman also works at the Lab and sends his own mutated spider agent to Horizon.

At Horizon, Brock is having every single antibody taken to make the cure, which is being stored in a large pool. Number Six, a scientist who is hides his identity with a hazmat suit (just go with it), is helping out. When he leaves, we see his name: Michael Morbias.

Spiderman is on his way to his lab. As he passes one of the towers, which is being protected by two heroes, Firestorm and Gravity, Madame Web finally realizes why she can no longer see the future. Meanwhile, the Thing and the army are protecting horizon laps. Thing becomes suspicious of the latest wave. As they fight, the Jackal's agent, Tarantulas makes it inside.

Mr. Fantastic and the scientist are hard at work, but are interrupted with Madame Web makes a dramatic entrance. She tells at them that the jamming towers they put up were made with the same tech that destroyed Spiderman’s spider-sense and is now interfering with her ability to see the future. She demands they fix it and leaves. The head of the labs, Max Modell, didn’t realize his tech actually did destroy Spiderman's spider sense. An idea pops into his head and he makes an announcement to the entire building: After all the years of Spiderman saving there lives, they are now going to save Spiderman. They are going to get Spiderman’s spider-sense back!

Spiderman makes it back to his lab, but discovers that the door is already open despite the key being Parker’s DNA. Tarantula is there, waiting for him. Jackal speaks to Peter though a monitor around Tarantulas' neck. He sicks Tarantula on Peter, and revel's Tarantula's true identity: Kaine, Peter Parker clone and ally, believed to be killed long ago (Just go with it.). He’s now been mutated by the virus and is under Jackals full control.

They fight each other, as the scientists continue there work elsewhere. Spiderman shows off his Kung-fu moves, but Kaine had already studied tapes of Spidey fighting. Kaine slaps him down, and locates the cure. He shots a toxin towards the vat, but Spidey manages to catch it in time. But Kaine hits Spiderman again and holds him over the vat. If he falls in, with the toxin, Spiderman and the cure will be lost.

The horizon scientists finally discover the frequency they need. They activate it.

Spiderman’s spider-sense suddenly turn back on high. It works together with his Kung-fu and Spidey kicks Kaine's butt, sending him into the vat instead.

Kaine drags himself out, no longer mutated, or under the Jackals control, but still has his spider powers (Just go with it.). Kaine tells him that the Queen is back.

Meanwhile, Madame Web and the Queen both feel there connection to the Web of Life amplified. The Queen kills the Jackal with a huge sonic Scream (One of her powers ie-- Just Go with it). The queen is now more powerful then ever.

Issue 672

The now cured Captain Rogers lands down and begins fitting the Queen. He lands a fatal blow but she just begins to mutate... Into a twenty story mutated spider.

This comic is freaking awesome.

Meanwhile, MJ shows up at Horizon, surprising everyone that there is an infected but not mutated person left. Mr. Fantastic notes that she probably built up an immunity from all the years her and Peter slept together. What? Someone has to say it. No one in the comic has the guts to do it. I’m the mature one.

Spiderman and Kaine suddenly hear people coming towards the room and quickly switches clothes. The FF, MJ and the scientists see Spiderman standing beside Peter Parker... in nothing but his underwear. It is apparently not new for Peter to be wearing his skives while working. Mr. Fantastic asks what’s going on, and even Peter tells him to “just go with it” (what, it’s not like I had it planned all a long. The two clones head to the lab. They swap cloths again, this time, Kaine taking a new suit of Spiderman's, one with stealth and sonic shielding (oh, ya, Pete is like Tony start now. He’s got tones of suits. Just go with it)

The two head towards the gigantified Queen, who is fighting with every hero in new York. Kaine and Peter join the battle, but Pete is knocked away with a giant spider claw. MJ swings in and saves him at the last minute. She reminds Pete that he always thinks of something to do or invent to get out of trouble. When peter reminds her that he would need a million spider slayers to stop the queen, he get an idea.

Spidey and MJ take off towards the ppolice precinct, and recover one of Doc Ocks old inventions: Octobots (Just go with it). Spidey can control all the tiny bots with a control helmet and disperse the cure to everyone. They head towards the Empire State building, where the signal is amplified. Spider sends the Octobots to Horizon, and has each bot take a small sample of the cure. As the heroes continue trying to fight the Queen, each bot travels to the mutated spiders and administers the cure. They mutated back to normal. As the Queen loses subjects, she begins to lose power.

MJ is holding off an army of mutated spiders while Spiderman is controlling the Octobots. He suddenly smiles. I mentioned last time that Spiderman had suddenly began a much more serious campaign to keep everyone safe and not let anyone die. Now, he is finally doing it: He’s “going to save everybody.”

As citizens around New York are returned to normal, MJ whispers I love you, out of Pete’s hearing reach.

Back at the Queen, Kaine decides it’s time to finish the battle. With Ms. Marvel’s help, Kaine flies towards the Queen at lightening speed, and pushes out two spider talons from his wrists. Madame web watches, realizing that Kaine “can cross the line Peter Parker can’t”, as Kaine shoots through the Queen’s head-- killing her.

Kaine lands and Madame Web tells him that he is must be the peter parker that she saw defeating the Queen in her vision. Kaine denies it, saying that it was the original Peter that saved them all tonight.

From the Empire State Building, Peter and MJ watch the sun rise.

I love this series. It’s so much fun and has so many epic moments. The moment when Peter realizes that he is saving everyone on his own is extremely good. It’s a climax to something that is a long time coming.

But we still have one more issue until the series is done. But... can we stop with the double updates? @_@. My Wallet won’t stop hating me.

Recommended!

X-23 #15

Gore Warning

So, in the last issue, Laura was somehow connected to mythical symbols, and earthquakes. Laura, Sue and Spiderman were transported to an alien planet. And we were left wondering what happened to the plot about a girl learning about life while killing bad people.

So we join our trio on this uh, demon planet. The monsters throw spears at them. Sue only smirks at it, but can’t seem to use her force filed. Laura tries to block it all, but all three are impaled on the spears and weapons. Sue already appears to be dead, and Laura watches as Spiderman is teared apart by the monsters.

The three awake from the vision, floating in a completely black area. A voice, calling it self the Enigma force calls the three it’s hosts, and that it is with them.

The three are about as confused as we are, but the Enigma force/Uni-force/Captain Universe, explains that it was trying to show them what is coming. It tells them of the king of the Whirl demons, who tired to take over the world. A prince, how had a sword that “burned with the power of a star” defeated him, and imprisoned the King and his army in a micro verse. The sword bound itself to the prince, creating the Enigma force.

Now, the Engima force cannot posses the three again, because it is on a different planet. It then sends Sue and Spiderman away and talks to Laura in private. It points out the star on her palm and says that she is different. She faced hell and learned the power of choice. “You chose freedom. You chose to be... you. You chose the stars. We are all made of stars, Laura. But we must choose to touch them”

*Enter 2001: A Space Odyssey joke here*

Anywho, Laura finally snaps out of her trance. The Whirldemon King has arrived, possessing a human’s body. the device from the physics lab freed him and now he wants it to open the portal to his army. The FF and Spiderman attack, but so far, no one has been able to get to him. But when Laura tries, she manages to stab him in the throat. The King sheds the human skin, revealing his real form.

With some help, Laura takes on the King, who mentions that Laura is “bearing the stars of old sword”. Hmm. With some help from Spidey and Valeria, The King disappears.. But not for good. When the gang gather themselves together again, they realize that the King has now possessed Valeria. If they don’t open the portal for him, he will kill her.

Well with that issue done I... Sigh. Okay, I better get into the Uni Powers and that whole “star on palm” thing.

The star on Laura’s palm goes way back to the start of the series. Right before Laura left the X-men, she had a mental battle with a demon, who sent Laura into her own personal hell. At the end, a version of Laura, covered in starts shows up and tells Laura she has a soul. As proof shows her a flashback of the time Laura refused to kill... a puppy.... Wait. That’s it? Puppy’s are cute, but Laura had also refused to kill human targets despite years and years of being trained as a heartless weapon! Well, anyway, when Laura wakes up, she has the star on her palm. The star has been mentioned a few times, and seems to have something to do with Laura’s soul.

The biggest problem is that the “star palm” plot it that it went very slowly. So slowly that it was over shadowed by the main plot (unless it was suppose to be the main plot. In that case, it’s even worse.)

Apparently there was a clue about the star in Captain Universe #3, (a little known issue where the starry spangled entity possessed Laura). Anyone who read it knows what was coming. But anyone who didn’t was probably going WTF for the entire series. Or, like me, you were given wrong information and thought the Star was referencing something completely different (Just go with it)

Now, I did hunt down Captain Universe #3 and... it’s okay. Really, Laura gets possessed, has a few out of character crying moments, and destroys A.I.M.’s data on the Uni-powers. She acted as little more then a cameo. Nothing really that important.

Basically, my point is that this whole thing comes right out of the blue. Laura getting the Uni powers was not that big of a deal. Spiderman and Sue suddenly show up, because they were also possessed by the Uni-force. And for some reason, it’s focusing on Laura. The fact that the Uni-power's put a star on her hand and tell her about her “soul” still seems to come right out of left field.

So what will come out of this? I don’t know. So far the only one to be effectual is Laura, making me wonder why Spidey and the FF are here. But... I still want to know what happens next, if only to get some clarity. So for now, I'm going to put it as undecided. It’s certainly better then New Guardians.

Undecided recommendation.

(Oh, and i just found out that the series will be canceled soon. Don't talk to me about it right now. I'm too pissed. But we BETTER get some questions resolved before the end!

Image Comics

Green Wake #6

... I’m not sure what to say here. Oh, the series is great. One of my favourites. Unfortunately, this issue is the start of a new “season” and the first one has major spoilers to the story. Yes, I’ve given away everything in all the other issues, but everything else is ether a new story or has characters that are well known, like Spiderman.

Green Wake however is a much more unique and little known piece, with a lot of Silent Hill/Lovecraft/screw-with-your-brain horror and mystery elements, so just summarizing the first season would probably just confuse you guys even more. I don't even have many links for you guys to reference.

So I’m going to do a straight up review review of the first issue and pretend you guys actually known what I'm talking about. And later, I'll do a review of the first season of Green Wake.

Oh, ya, and I should mention this: Gore Warning and just in case Mature Warning--- You’re gonna see scrotums every once in a while.

Basically Green Wake is a place where the guilty go when their guilt becomes too much. Frogs tend to be a staple and sooner or later, the inhabitants will start growing frog like features. Morely Mack, our protagonist, was able to escape Green Wake, but soon found himself swept back in.

We start on the image of native american children walking across an iced over lake at night. All but two of the children suddenly fall into the lake. One of the children, a boy with a feather in his hair, is able to pull on of the children out, but collapse on the ice before he can save anyone else. As he lays, we see the outlines of the children’s faces through the ice and the silhouettes of frogs appear.

The boy awaken and just sits on the ice as the snow takes him.

Then we get a really horrific scene of Morely being transported to Green Wake. We’ve never seen how it happens and... wow is it gross. It is also seems reminiscent of being born.

Morely is pushed into the sea and floats to the surface. A man(?) holding an Ankh picks him up and puts Morely into a boat. He is sent to the shore of Green Wake.

Morely wakes up in a bathtub with the shower one, reminiscent of how Carl woke up when he arrived. After getting dressed, Morely is greeted by a man named Micah, who welcomes him to Green Wake. He talks about Green Wake as if it’s Morely’s first time here. He introduces Morely to a group of people Micah has helped. He says that Green Wake is actually a place for people to start over. Every one there had lost everything back home but could get a clean start in Green Wake. They ask Morely to join their flock but Morely politely refuses. He tells Micah that Green Wake has probably needed someone like him for a while but decides to see what Green Wake is for himself.

As he leaves, a woman named Esther begins to follow. She remembers Morely and wants to know why he’s suddenly back in Green Wake. Morely admits that home isn’t what he expected it to be, and that nothing ever changes. Esther explains the Green Wake has changed. Besides the snow and lightening that suddenly appeared, you have to be part of a group now in order to be safe. People have been going missing and it started with Micah showed up. Esther is trying to keep and eye on him. She and Morely agree to keep in touch, as a boy with a feather in his hair watches.

Later, we see another new comer arrive in his boat. But this one is dead. Krieger, Morely’s friend and partner from the first issue, is investigated the boat. Morely shows up, surprising Krieger

Happily, the two friends reunite and shake hands.

They talk about the murder. And about Morely’s time in the real world. From what he can tell, you exist in the real world and Green Wake at the same time. The worlds are connected, and Morely reminds Krieger about what Carl told them before he died :Green wake is alive.

That’s when Micah’s group shows up to greet the new arrival. They aren’t too happy about Krieger being there or that the arrival is dead. Threats are thrown around and Morely steps in to calm things. The leader of the gang recognized Morely as the one who escaped. They take the body to show Micah and plan to tell Micah who Morely is.

Walking down the street, Morely and Krieger talks about the changes in Green Wake, and how Micah has suddenly changed everything. They talk about the real world again and the two realized that time works differently in both worlds. A long time has past in Green Wake since Morely left, but only hours had past for Morely in the real world. They also realize that Krieger left the real world in green wake in 1941 while Morely left in 1934. But Krieger was in green wake before Morely.

As Morely puts it best “the real rules don’t apply”

Meanwhile, Micah is by himself in his room and begins chanting at a frog alter. The chanting is the same chant as the monsters of Green Wake.

A good start to the second secret, and like a good mystery, for every answer, we get another question. I also like how we get to know more inhabitants of Green Wake. Micah and this boy with the feather are interesting and the new cold atmosphere made me feel colder while reading (though the weather outside isn’t helping. Canada. Go figure)

Recommended.

-----------------------

All in all, another good month. Green Lantern is still pissing me off but I'm trying to block it from my mind so I can look back on how much I liked this months comic.

So that’s it for October. Now the site will be on hiatus for at least the rest of the month AAAAND maybe next month too. Depends. Hopefully in that time I can figure out how to manage time properly and, y’know, a schedule.

Seeya next month!

Tegan Dumpleton aka SlugLady28