Who'd Like A Cocktail? #221

God demonstrating the argumentative capacity of a five year old

Want to see the full gatefold covers? Click on the covers.

EARTH 2 #11 - Wotan passes the time with Jay Garrick's mum by telling her a little of his origin while inside the Tower of Fate Jay takes on the Great Beast, buying time for Khalid to track down the helmet of Fate and agree to Nabu's insistent requests to put the darn thing on.

Wotan comes across as a much more rounded character - still a bad guy, but one with a bit more presence, while both the Flash and the new Dr Fate  have wonderfully understated moments of unashamed heroism, something strangely lacking from other titles that feature superheroes. You won't find selflessness or inspiration like this in Justice League of America at the moment. Excellent issue all round.

GREEN LANTERN #19 - While Hal Jiordan hangs around in the land of the dead, debating whether to really kill himself, Sinestro returns to Korugar and finds help with Officer Arsona as the First Lantern turns up and attacks. While Sinestro is the first of the Lanterns to actually hurt the First Lantern (if you see what I mean) it's all for naught as Korugar suffers, leaving Sinestro alone with his yellow Power Battery.

Much better than recent GL issues as there's an actual story here rather than a series of what-ifs.

PHANTOM STRANGER #7 - The Stranger's intent on finding his missing family but God (or the Presence as I think He's referred to in the DCU) appears as a Westie and directs him instead to a bar where Jack Ryder sits moaning about having quit his job. A nearby giant monster attack forces the Stranger's hand and he saves Ryder's life before cruelly betraying the man to his own arrogance and cowardice.

It's not a bad issue; it makes you think a bit more on the motivations of that little Westie if nothing else.

STORMWATCH #19 - In just a couple of pages, history is rewritten and we're introduced to a world where Stormwatch never existed, forcing the Shadow Lords to recreate the team from what's at hand. New and old faces are brought together by a mysterious new team leader and prepare to head off to an alien world where another old, familiar face is waiting for them.

Oh, Jim Starlin. I can only assume the head honchos at DC know what you're up to, otherwise their newly crafted continuity has just been rewritten again: Adam One never lived to create Stormwatch, thus negating his appearances (previously) in Demon Knights and (currently) All-Star Western and also removing the raison d'etre  for the Demon Knights completely. It also throws Martian Manhunter's earlier appearances in this title into flux as well. What are you playing at, Jim?

SWAMP THING #19 - Swamp Thing wanders the Earth rectifying the apparently beneficial actions of a being known as the Seeder. The actions Swampy takes aren't easy but they are the right ones from his perspective. After a little downtime, he heads to Metropolis's Botanical Gardens where, sadly, the Scarecrow is harvesting toxic plants. When he tries to stop him, the Scarecrow manages to render him unconscious leading to his unknowingly turning Superman's city into a jungle (you know, like he did in Gotham that time) which Supes isn't very happy about.

Not a bad intro to the new creative team; while Charles Soule borrows a little from Moore's run and reference's Snyder's, there's enough here to make me wonder what's going to happen and stick with the title. And it's just refreshing not to have the interminable Rotworld story dragging on.

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And what made me smile:

Sure he's on the cover but it's just nice to get Dr Fate back in business!