COUNTDOWN TO INFINITE CRISIS REVIEW [PART TEN]

 

[ACT X - Worlds At War]

• JLA #115 - Crisis of Conscience, Part I : "We Remember" = Fun opener! One of the things that I noticed was that while Carter seems out of character in scenes around the League, it might be the inner Katar Hol persona coming out. In the JSA arc "Hawkman Returns", Hawkgirl and the downsider Thanagarian priests free Carter from the spirit realm he had been in as a result of the Zero Hour Hawk-God shenanigans. When they freed him, he and the soul of Katar had been merged into one fused Hawkman, and I assume that his aggressive Thanagarian Wingman attitude appears in this scenario. Loving the continued Identity Crisis fallout with the other villains who were mind-wiped regaining their memories to get some good ol' revenge.
• JLA #116 - Crisis of Conscience, Part II : "Wiped Out!" = The Triad of Despair! Johns sure does love using this dude, he last appeared in the OGN JLA/JSA : Virtue & Vice where he worked with Johnny Sorrow and the Seven Deadly Sins to fuck some shit up. Enjoyed the reference to Matter Master getting his arm cut off by Carter when he was in his edgy phase during Black Reign. Interesting that we've had quite a bit of build-up to this convo as well as a simultaneous snowball effect from the events of the OMAC Project resulting in quite a few instances where Bruce tells people to get out of his cave. It's insane to see such a fluid and well executed progression of character for the Trinity: the descent for all three has been a sight to behold.
• JLA #117 - Crisis of Conscience, Part III : "Referendum" = Here we go again! Cast your ballots! Great rematch, though the cracks in the League widen as the team nears its expiration date. Loved Bruce's mention of Red Tornado's wind elemental Ulthoon, God bless Gardner Fox! The Despero recap at the beginning was great too, I love it when modern artists do panel recreations of the Silver Age. I honestly would advocate for the mind-wipe, it's the only thing that keeps the heroes safe, and these villains are psychos! Better than an execution.
• JLA #118 - Crisis of Conscience, Part IV : "Picking Up The Pieces" = The chess metaphors are back! Surprised that Despero was able to overpower J'onn and Arthur; is he being augmented by anything? I already stated my stance in the last entry, but I do respect Zatanna's firm resolve to not be used as a weapon of the Leagues desires. It worked last time, but their sins have been out, there is no second chance. The Wonder Woman/Supergirl sequence was awesome as well, but I fear for Zatanna having a similar fate to Diana. The crossroads is near! It's Crisis time baby!
• JLA #119 - Crisis of Conscience, Part V : "Some Things Are Best Forgotten" = And just like that! Great curtain call for an extremely personal story for the JLA. Despero's revamp, the powerful verbal sparring, and some wild revelations to cap it all off. The inclusion of Selina in this arc fits so well with this final mic drop of her persona shift possibly being a result of the mind-wipes; add it to the list of emotional concussions Bruce has endured since Identity Crisis! The League is over, and just as J'onn and John start any kind of rebuilding, they get hit with a bookending cliffhanger tease for the opening of Infinite Crisis. You know what time it is!
• Rann-Thanagar War #1 - "The Fires of War" = Nice recap of the Adam Strange Planet Heist arc: a rogue Thanagaran stole the Omega Beam (a device created by Sardath) to turn reality into pure energy, but just as she was defeated by Adam Strange, she used it to teleport Rann right next to Thanagar. The gravity imbalance caused by the proximity of the two planets resulted in Thanagar falling towards the sun Polaris, destroying the surface of the planet. The artwork is great, but the prose is way too crowded and mundane. There is no point in this issue where I feel like I should care about this war. It's a shame since a series with Kyle Rayner, Adam Strange, and the Hawks as the leads should absolutely be my kind of thing.
• Rann-Thanagar War #2 - "Dark Resurrection" = Two issues in and this is already a slog. Besides Chuck Austen's Action Comics (which was horrible), this is one of the few projects with Ivan Reis' art that fails to capture my attention. Onimar Synn super lame, and nothing interesting is attempted with the space characters.
• Rann-Thanagar War #3 - "Planetfall" = The problem with this series is that it's all tell and no show. Endless boxes of text and dialogue supply explaining everything that is happening at every moment. There is no time to breath. An onslaught of mundane prose that takes away the focus from Ivan Reis art to whatever cosmic hodgepodge delirium is occurring throughout this book.
• Rann-Thanagar War #4 - "Deadly Harvest" = I really do feel like I've been sleepwalking through these issues. It's a very sad thing to think that the legacy of Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino, Julius Schwartz, and John Broome has been reduced to baseless drivel. Dave Gibbons, I love you, but man is this boring.
• Rann-Thanagar War #5 - "Betrayed" = They really killed Hawkwoman in this book. Wow. What an absolute shame.
• Rann-Thanagar War #6 - "Seven Hells" = So we finally get the link to Crisis, the mysterious space-time rift opening in the center of the universe. Now onto more interesting horizons!

COUNTDOWN TO INFINITE CRISIS REVIEW [PART NINE]

 

[ACT IX - Mysteries In Space]

Return of Donna Troy #1 - "A Golden Age To Conquer" = 

• So Donna Troy has been resurrected by the Titans of Myth, believing herself to be one of them. Minosyss, but what is below its surface? What is the secret truth of the planet and its people?
• Coeus, Hyperion, Iapetus, Themis, Oceanus, Tethys, Thia, Crius, Mnemosyne, and Phoebe.
• History lesson! So we follow the basic Greek Mythology regarding the titans of myth, but instead of Zeus banishing them to Tartarus, they are sent to a distant moon which they terraform and call New Cronus. Since they are barren, the titan Rhea gives up her immortal life to gather orphans from across the universe as super-powered foundlings for the titans.
• So the Titans have been conquering planets and adding alien populations to their armies. That's why they have the Tamaraneans, Khunds, and Gordanians with them.
• What happened to Phoebe?
• What is this orb that has arrived at the Outsiders headquarters in LA? How does it have Donna's thoughts?

Return of Donna Troy #2 - "Stark Contrast" 

• A travel orb is sent by Athyns to Earth to summon the Titans and Outsiders so they can free Donna from the Titan brainwashing. 
• e get some history lessons regarding the time they went into space and witnessed the destruction of Tamaran at the hands of a Sun-Eater.
• Is the mentioning of the Green Lanterns and Khunds a reference to the Recharge series?
• Fascinating that Jimenez is contextualizing this mini as part of the grander cosmic playground, mentioning Rann-Thanagar War and its consequences as well as hints about the upcoming Crisis.

Return of Donna Troy #3 - "Nights of The Sun & Moon"

• Great stuff! Loved the showdown between Donna and Casse. Jimenes really hit the personal and emotional beats well.
• We learn that the secret beneath the surface is a sun-eater factory paired with the fact that Minosyss is a nexus for galactic travel that the Titans want to exploit.
• Just to briefly touch on the art, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez rocks! His panel layouts under Jimenez's direction do a fantastic job of channeling that 80's Perez signature style.

Return of Donna Troy #4 - "A Dark Fate Foretold"

• Titanomachy!
• So we finally learn the secret of Donna Troy: she's the multiverse's repository of information, the living key to the ocean of worlds that was.
• Because of that, she can access the nexus at the heart of Minosyss. However, she pulls a quick one on the Titans and sends them to Tartarus.
• Hyperion and Thia are consumed by a sun-eater and Coeus agrees to prevent his siblings from escaping. 
• Donna receives the Harbingers orb from Crisis and gets some hints as to the upcoming cataclysm that will befall the universe.
• Fun mini overall, and a nice conclusion to the threads set up back in Graduation Day.

GLC Recharge #1 - "The Gathering"

• Recruitment season!
• Mysterious black holes swallowing Green Lanterns! Where is Soranik Natu? We see her with the corpse of the lantern from the opening sequence.
• More crisis hinting as Kilowog fears for an upcoming universal change.
• Enter Vath Sarn and Isamot Kol, Rannian and Thanagarian recruits to the GLC. Fun dynamics ensue!
• For continuity's sake, I have to mention the presence of a united League here as somewhat of an anachronism. This story is being read before the Crisis of Conscience arc where the League splits up, but after Superman Sacrifice, where a huge split and disillusionment occurs between the Trinity as a result of the machinations of Maxwell Lord. Confusing as hell, but hey, at least we get to have Guy Gardner moon Batman.

GLC Recharge #2 - "Assignments"

• Mogo is forced to socialize with the Rann-Thanagar War!
• Guy and Kyle's dynamic is one of the best things about the entire franchise. We need to see this on-screen one day.
• The Lantern pilgrimage to Mogo. I wonder if this will be revisited one day...
• Once again a star has mysteriously collapsed into a singularity int he presence of Green Lanterns...
• So Kyle sees a vision of his deceased gf Alex DeWitt (sadly killed by Major Force back in the 90's) and she has a cryptic convo with Kyle about how his decision to join the Corps impact his and the lives of others. Immediately after, we see a projection of a strung up Soranik Natu.
• We see that the other lanterns hear what appears to be a distress signal from her ring.
• As Kilowog follows his allies into the singularity, Vath and Isamot awaken to find themselves within a den of the Vegan Spider-Guild!

GLC Recharge #3 - "Vega"

• Kilowog's entrance is freaking awesome!
• Bolphunga, Fatality, and some other randos work together as a bounty hunter entourage to hunt our Lantern-Protagonists!
• We see how Sora got to where she is: she ventured to the death-site of her ring's previous owner to pray for him, but the singularity ended up engulfing her, sending her to the spider-nests in the Vega system. Swallowing her ring to slow down her life support systems, Sora avoided death by the scavengers while her ring sent distress calls to other lanterns, explaining the projection Kyle saw in Mogo last issue.
• The black holes appear to be connected by some kind of network, all leading to the Vega system. Are they targeting Lanterns specifically?

GLC Recharge #4 - "Hunted"

• We get reveals of the Spider-Guild's true agenda along with some hinting towards the true significance of the space-plot of Infinite Crisis.
• The Spiders have constructed a sub-space web of black holes across the universe, explaining how the Lanterns arrived in Vega.
• We also see that for some reason Oa is not at the center of the universe anymore.
• So they weren't targeting Lanterns specifically, but they were consuming suns to garner energy for their future plans & invasions.
• Emerging from within Oa's sun, the Spider-Guild enacts a surprise assault on the Lantern capital.
• The mention of the parallax fear anomaly is interesting: since they kept Parallax in the Central Power Battery following GL Rebirth, Johns introduces the idea that the Lanterns can still use their power on yellow if they overcome parallax's influence.

GLC Recharge #5 - "Stardeath"

• John and Hal are summoned!
• The minute Guy started his rally speech and I turned the page to see "Recharge", I spent a good 30 seconds fist pumping into the air. Hell freaking yes!
• Defeating the villain via overloading their power is a trope used way too much, but drawn by Pat Gleason makes it worthwhile.
• Guy gets promoted to Honor Guard as the Guardians put together a perfect segway into the events of Rann-Thanagar War.
• I guess the Spider-Guild is extinguished? Still wonder how they got access to the singularities within every sun in the universe?
• Soranik Natu, Isamot Kol, and Vath Sarn are wonderful additions to the Lantern mythos, and I might be persuaded to read the sister book Green Lantern Corps alongside Johns main title.