Comic Reviews - Brightest Day May Not Be So Bright

It's been a several weeks here at Hyde and Geek without comic reviews. I have no excuse except that my schooling was kicking my derriere in a royal way. But now I'm back and, while I don't plan on playing catch-up with the issues I missed, I do hope you enjoy the reviews from here on in. Oh! And beware... there are spoilers ahead, including at least one very big one in Blackest Night #7. You've been warned...

Superman #697

This is a great issue that mirrors Superman's first encounter with the Legion of Superheroes. The story picks up after the explosion at the Science Police headquarters with Mon-El and the Guardian discovering that Control is really a Durlan shape-shifter. The Durlan (calling himself Reep Daggle) claims to be leader of the LSH Espionage Squad. After a brief chase, Control/Daggle escapes. Cut to an interlude with Steel and Mon-El shown cleaning up Metropolis. Then Superboy shows up and asks Mon-El to visit Smallville for a chat. This issue would've scored a bit better if it didn't end with "to be continued in Adventure Comics #8". I don't read Adventure so I'll be missing the conclusion to this tale.

Score: 3.5 out of 5

Batman & Robin #9

After raising the Batman clone in a Lazarus pit, Batman, along with Knight and Squire, is trapped in a cave beneath tons of rubble where he is attempting to raise the recently deceased Batwoman using the same pit. Meanwhile, back at Wayne Manor, Robin and Alfred are facing down the insane Batman clone who is rapidly deteriorating both mentally and physically. Long story short, Batwoman is resurrected and the Bat-clone is defeated. It seems that this entire "resurrection of Batman" story is just a long aside to get Dick to realize that Bruce isn't dead which he does on the last page. Other than Frank Quitely's art in the first issues, I've been luke-warm on Batman & Robin and this issue did nothing to change that.

Score: 2.5 out of 5

The Flash: Rebirth #6

The finale of Flash: Rebirth did exactly what you'd expect it to in wrapping up the rebirth storyline and setting up April's Flash ongoing series. Iris is saved. Thrawne is cut off from the negative speed force and all is well. Barry's back and there's a few hints as to what's coming in the new series. It's a bit predictable but still not a bad issue since Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver's worst is better than most other team's best. I just felt that reading this issue was like getting that great steak at the restaurant you've been to a thousand times... good but not surprising.

Score: 4 out of 5

Blackest Night #7

John's may have been a tad predictable in Flash: Rebirth but he definitely surprised me on the final pages of this issue! I've been predicting from since the very first issue of Blackest Night that a White Lantern would eventually rise to take down Nekron and I was right... but was I ever so wrong as to who it would be! The issue is the continuation of the epic battle taking place over earth between the Black Lanterns and, well... every one else. Guardians are killed, Lanterns turn on one another and secrets are revealed! It turns out that, in addition to hiding the truth behind Sector 666 and locking away the Parallax entity inside the Green Lantern's central power battery, the Guardians have been concealing the fact that the creator of the universe was hidden on Earth! (Hence their aversion to ever having a Green Lantern from Earth.) As it turns out, this white entity, called simply "The Entity", was hidden away to protect the universe. Nekron manages to pull The Entity out of the Earth and begins attacking it. The Guardians reveal that The Entity is connected to all life in the universe and, should Nekron manage to kill it, all life will cease to exist. The Lanterns come to the conclusion that, like Parallax, The Entity needs a host. Hal Jordan rushes in to join with The Entity (as was my original prediction) when suddenly Sinestro rushes in and becomes the White Lantern! I was stunned at that final double-page spread and just stared at it for a while as I considered the ramifications of this unexpected turn of events. I can't wait for the conclusion so that I can see how this plays out and what will become of my favorite DC villain. Kudos to Johns for pulling a fast one on me. Kudos indeed!

Score: 5 out of 5