Who'd Like A Cocktail? #209

Which is why you should always read the instruction booklet

Christmassy comics round-up!

BLUE BEETLE #15 - with Scarabworld having been blown up last issue, Jaime finds himself on the run from the Reach and at the mercy of the not very trustworthy Moonrunner who promises to help him rather than turn him over for a big fat reward offered by the new Lady Styx. Three guesses how that works out?

There's a couple of hints at the new Threshold series coming early next year that this series is going to feed in to but it's almost over for this run.

GREEN LANTERN: NEW GUARDIANS #15 - Kyle continues his quest to master the whole emotional spectrum leading him to Larfleeze and having to fight him to gain the power to wield avarice. Carol Ferris and Arkillo are along for the ride and just as Kyle gets the hang of it, the Third Army turn up. Sayd steps in to delay them, allowing the others to escape before dying in the process.

There's a few mentions of the reason why Kyle's doing this - to rescue Ganthet and Hal - which is just as well as it seems to have been going on for ages now. Talking of Ganthet, there's a bit at the end which seems to imply that he's not as unaffected by Sayd's death as he'd lead the other Guardians to believe.

GREEN LANTERN #15 - Simon Baz attempts to find out who originally stole the van and armed it with a bomb before he stole it himself and ends up finding the bomber, just as the only FBI agent who thinks he might be innocent also turns up. Oh, and the Third Army arrive as well. And then B'dg shows up. And the First Lantern gets a name.

As usual, tons of stuff happening but all done nicely. And the First Lantern's name: Volthoom. That's a nod to the power behind Earth-3's Power Ring. Wonder if there's any connection beyond that?

SWORD OF SORCERY #3 - Amy gets some training in combat and magic before having to attend a summit between her mother and aunt. While her mum's all for settling things amicably, her aunt's power crazy and will only accept the death of her sister and the gaining to Amy's power. The end of the issue sees Amy returning to Earth as someone's activating the crystal on that side of the portal - and it looks like it's going to be John Constantine. Beowulf comes to an end with the destruction of Grendel and his mother and the revelation that we're in a future, post-apocalyptic world.

Not bad on the whole, although it's not entirely grabbing me at the moment. Beowulf was a little more enjoyable though I wonder whether it's on a completely different future earth and whether we'll see a Great Disaster and Command-D sometime soon.

---

And what made me smile:

A bit forward there, Jaime.