Reviews: Red Lantern #3 and Stormwatch #3

So I've been following along with this relaunch like a diligent, loyal little DC soldier, and sometimes it has been VERY painful.  There were books that I abandoned right away (I, Vampire or Legion of Super-Heroes) for various reasons, but I've been loyal to most. I decided, however, that the magic #3 would be my cut-off.  Any series that hasn't impressed me enough in three issues (half a TPB story arc) doesn't deserve my time or money.  There's so much more out there, especially in some impressive indie titles I've discovered.  Maybe I'll revisit them when they become cheap digital downloads.

So this is the start of the Issue #3 run.  "May the odds be ever in your favor!"

It's New Comic Book Wednesday!

Carrie.. is so very.

Red Lantern #3


I continue to be impressed by this title as it explores the complexities of rage, vengeance and manipulation.  Atrocitus calls on babbling Red Lantern Bleez to control and unite his ever-rebelling corps of lanterns.  Perhaps he feels he can control her best, perhaps because her pain has made her utterly mad, but whatever his reason, he made his choice.

I like the creation story of Bleez and her "evolution" into re-sentience. For this to happen, she has to drown in the Blood Ocean of Ysmault, a death which, strangely, calms her mind but resurfaces all of her painful memories.  While the intention is to bring back a fuel to direct her rage, it's drawback is the clarity it brings to her mind. In the end, it's her agenda, not his, that she pursues, even if it is in submissive silence.

I just stepped out
of the salon.

Also intriguing is the story of her people and the birth of her rage.  Bleez is of the Havanian race (a blue-skinned, bird people) and she is a woman of divine beauty, purity and a flippant and ignorant cruelty. While suitors pursue her, she turns down all of their advances in the kindest way she knows how. "I'd rather be buried alive and be eaten by slugs than spend one night with you." Naturally, her suitors take offense and bait a Sinestro Corps member Ranx into chasing her.  However, when he's rejected, he doesn't tuck tail and flee.  He tortures Bleez, strips her wings to the bone and slaughters her family. Finding out her former suitors are to blame, she seeks vengeance.

Such behavior makes you think about revenge on a human level and how we treat those who have wronged us.  What happens when justice is not served? Even when it is, is the "eye for an eye" mentality a justified one?  The death penalty?  In a parallel Earth (Sector 2814) story, the reader is reminded of the two brothers, struggling to cope with the death/murder of their grandfather. One understands that revenge is not the answer while the other is hell bent on his own brand of retribution.  I can see where this one is going.

One MILLION dollars..

At the end, Atrocitus ponders (in a delightfully Dr. Evil way) if he made the right decision choosing Bleez as his second or if, even in her state of mental babble, she manipulated him into giving back her intellect so that she can bend the corps to her own will.  While he strokes the kitty, she sits, deified, while the rest of the Reds gather round, complacent.

I'm still torn about the Carrie-esque cover.  It sometimes makes me laugh trying to decide what decisions drive the cover art.  Issue #2 was very propaganda reminiscent while #2 looks more like a sci-fi/horror Maxim cover.

Decision: Keep.  This is probably one of the best books I've read in a while. 

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Stormwatch #3

I had real hope for this title, especially with the promise of some strong, gay protagonists.  I want to like them, really I do.  But just because they're gay, doesn't make them compatible to me.  Or maybe they are and I just don't vibe with the crowd they hang around. Either way, I still support this title, but I'm not going to waste my time and money to follow it.

We're STILL in the midst of the same conflict introduced in Issue #1: some non-descript entity trying to take over some non-descript town in the middle of Nowhere, Colorado (literally) being fought by a team with some very non-descript powers.  Remember, this is the team that tries to hide from even the other superheroes. Very invisible.

I just have a hard time with superpowers like "talking to cities" and "sensing media" as weapons to fight the "scourge of the earth."  When the moon turns into a giant, all knowing eyeball creature (not OMAC), and an octopus-Goldblum-flyesque thing is destroying an entire town, I can't see what these "pansy powers" can do.  Hell, the only character with any real muscle (the gay one might I add), is sent into space for batting practice with some meteors.  It's a good thing the "scourge" absorbed all the other team members. Maybe now something will get done.  Wait!  The "media-whisperer" still lives. Aw, shucks.

The art is a little iffy, but again, I can't tell if the art is bad because the creatures are vague or the other way around.  But with the erratic story and the dark, poor illustrations, I get a little nauseous.  And then I saw something that made me lose it.  The "city talker," wearing culottes, had feet like Superboy.  That's it.  I'm done.

Decision: Toss.  I'll catch up with it later when digi-issues go cheap. Maybe it will get better.  Or if they break off and have a Midnighter title again, it will be worth picking up.

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Watch out for mini-digi reviews soon!

Next week:  Green Lantern #3

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