Monday Memories #32 - Justice League Of Arkham

Each Monday this year I'll be taking a look back at a random comic, prestige format issue, graphic novel or collection of reprints from amongst my 3,000 or so comics that date from 1962 to 2003 - I figured anything in the last ten years would be too recent to hark back to.

The comics are chosen completely at random and apart from a four week lead-in period, even I don't know what I'll be looking at in the weeks to come!

Who Was Who Is Who #19

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see if I can predict who will make it over to the new DCU by the end of 2012, who might make it and who hasn't got a Helix's chance.

GUNNER & SARGE - again, an example of those characters that a year or so ago you'd never have expected to see in a mainstream DC title. However, with DC still going for war titles even after Men of War didn't make the cut, it wouldn't surprise me if they turned up before 2012 finished. They're going in the possible column.

Green Lantern Movie

The negative press was never going to stop me watching this - hell, I sat through Star Wars: Episodes I and II and managed to live to tell the tale.

For the record, before you get worried, Green Lantern is no Phantom Menace which is something to be thankful for.

On the whole I enjoyed it; I'd hoped to come out shrieking with joy but that wasn't to be, but neither was I hanging my head in shame thinking they'd killed a franchise at their first attempt.

There's a lot to cram into this and, in some ways, it felt a little rushed. The opening voice over concerning who the Corps and the Guardians are is handled well, however, and you have to expect a truncated version rather than the decades-long history in the comics.

Reynolds is pretty good as Jordan. Sure he's a little goofy at times but, as he tells the Guardians, he's only human. One review I read made mention of how scared Reynolds's Jordan is despite a Green Lantern being without fear; that reviewer obviously missed the whole "ability to overcome fear" scene with Blake Lively's spot-on Carol Ferris. This Jordan isn't fearless but once he embraces and accepts his fear he's able to act and grow into the role.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #92

Hector Hammond's secret is out!

• GREEN ARROW #2 - well what do you know, looks like I was right. Isable Rochev turns out to be Ollie's mother after all. It's nice to see Green Arrow and Green Lantern palling round again, but wasn't Jordan all fired up a couple of months ago to bring Ollie to justice? Don't me me get Justice League: Cry For Justice out to double check, please.
• GREEN LANTERN #56 - hmm, is that cover and tag line reference John Carpenter's In The Mouth of Madness by any chance? Either way, Larfleeze makes a welcome return and Hector Hammond gets a makeover as all old GL villains do under Geoff Johns.
• GREEN LANTERN CORPS #50 - you know, if Cyborg Superman would just stop killing people, you could almost feel sorry for the guy.
• JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST #6 - despite the over the top build up from The Source blog the other day, this was something of a holding issue I felt. The team had already decided to catch Max Lord - remember that stirring last page from #5? To have Captain Atom suddenly have another, bigger reason to stop him sounds a little redundant.
• JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #47 - the main story's meandering a little now; a few issues ago it really felt like this series was picking up again but it really sort of a mish-mash of things. A few fight scenes, some snappy dialogue, but I'm not getting a real sense of the characters or the plot if I'm honest. The back up featuring Red Tornado left me with a question, though. Just about every time a robot goes haywire, you can almost guarantee dialogue written thus: "1101011010100100" Am I the only one who reads that as "One one zero one zero one one zero one zero one zero zero one zero zero." in the voice of Bender from Futurama?
• TEEN TITANS #85 - seriously, I skimmed this entire issue. All I got was "Oh, where's Raven?" "Oh the Wyld's dangerous!" "Oh, where's Raven?" "Keys!" "Doorways!" "Clumsy dialogue!" I swear, if I didn't know JT Krul was coming on board soon, this title would be the first one I'd have dropped in years.
• Co feature COVEN OF THREE - nice, snappy fun featuring three of the DCU's lower level magicians facing off against some old JLA foes. This is good.

And what made me smile:

Larfleeze finds out about Santa - brilliant!

Friday Night Fights - Good Bad As Gold

These days, following Green Lantern: Rebirth and the success of Blackest Night, Hal Jordan's pretty much one of the golden boys of DC. Of course, that wasn't always the case. Times was, he was getting his arse kicked on a regular basis by a guy wearing a gold suit!

And that full page spread's the opening punch!

The most powerful weapon in the universe and it's no use at all!

And just when Jordan thinks he's got the upper hand, there's that two-fisted punch.

Goldface - a villain so, so in need of the same reboot that Black Hand, Hector Hammond and other Green Lantern villains have had.

Enjoy the fight? Make sure you head over to Spacebooger and vote for your favourite!

Jordan's beat down first appeared in Green Lantern #145, cover dated October 1981, written by Marv Wolfman with art by Joe Staton.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #72

I'm actually away this weekend but thanks to Blogger's scheduling function, I can still get my Cocktail post in!

• Battlefields: Happy Valley #3 - a sombre ending which came as no real surprise but was handled delicately and with care by Ennis who once more showed he's more than swearing and violence.
• Blackest Night: The Flash #3 - as much as the White Lantern (?) symbol over Reverse Flash's chest was intriguing, the most interesting part of this issue, like those before it, were the Rogues. It comes to something when the bad guys hold more fascination than the main character.
• Green Lantern #51 - more blood on Parallax's hands than the Anti-Monitor? Spectre, dude, the Anti-Monitor wiped out thousands of universes! Universes! And that bit with Hector Hammond? Can anyone say "groundwork for up-coming storyline?!"
• Green Lantern Corps #45 - the whole "battle your personal demons" thing was a little cheesey but it's good to have Gardner back at last.
• Justice League of America #42 - okay, a little all-over-the-place but not bad on the whole, though the couple of two page spreads weren't incredibly clear and I ended up reading down the page instead of across, but I'm liking the new villains.
• Magog #6 - tying in with Justice Society of America Annual #2 from a couple of weeks ago, this is Magog's side of things concerning the big JSA vs Magog fight along with the aftermath.
• Marvels: Eye of The Camera #6 - my god, this has actually arrived?! I'm not going to bother reading it until I re-read the earlier issues again, it's been so long.
• Power Girl #9 - did no-one tell Satanna that leopard-print went out with the 70's? Another damn fine issue where sub-plots from previous issues crop up again, making the story feel genuine. And hey, Terra's back to save Power Girl!
• The Stand: Soul Survivors #4 - damn, those were some big weasels!

And what made me smile wince:

Owwwwwwww!