This week brings to a close the regular scheduled comics of October and presents some very incredible issues, not least of which being two Forever Evil tie-ins in Justice League and Justice League Dark, and the penultimate installment of the “Lights Out” plot in the Green Lantern books before next week’s Green Lantern Annual #2. A lot of really great storytelling happening.
- Justice League #24 is very much an Ultraman issue. With last week’s issue of Justice League of America we were clued into the basic situation the Justice League and Justice League of America are facing in their enigmatic prison. So Justice League takes us to the other side of the equation, cluing us into who the new kids in town are and what makes them tick. As stated above, Ultraman takes center stage in this issue, dictating his life and the formative events that have molded him into the person that stepped through Pandora’s gate from the desiccated Earth-3 to our Earth-1. In his universe Krypton was destroyed and just before that his parents slaughtered their way to the escape pods, killing everyone so that their son could be the sole survivor and have no competition in his conquest of that universe’s Earth. Everything is twisted about the world of Earth-3. The benevolent scientist Jor-El is replaced by a twisted lunatic named Jor-Il, who sends his son away with ultimatums and recordings telling little Kal-Il how worthless he is and that he has to be strong and destroy anything weak. When he arrives on Earth he is found by the abusive drunk Jonathan Kent and his equally abrasive wife, Martha. The infant Kal emerges from his rocket and disturbingly tells them in full sentences that they will serve as his parents, shortly after he cuts Jonathan’s hand off with his heat-vision. Cut to the present where the last son of Krypton-3 goes to the Daily Planet of to see how the counterparts to his Earth-1 self measure up. First on the docket: his pal Jimmy Olsen. Considering the polar opposites that Earth-3 predicates from our world’s characters, the Jimmy Olsen of Ultraman’s reality proves to be a very depraved person. So depraved the he is able to take advantage of Lois Lane, aka Superwoman, and still be left alive, untouched by her and her husband, Ultraman. Cut next to the end of the issue with the inevitable entrance of Black Adam following the events of his Villains Month issue of Justice League of America. The fight between these titans is then tantalizingly put off for two weeks until Forever Evil #3. After that solicitations put Owlman as the subject of Justice League #25, promising the debut of even more of his past. Considering that Ultraman narrates this current issue and the Outsider (Earth-3 Alfred Pennyworth) narrated Justice League #23.4: The Secret Society, it can be assumed that Justice League #25 will be written from Thomas Wayne’s (Owlman) perspective, giving greater insight into the incongruities of Owlman’s actions throughout the Forever Evil books. Geoff Johns really digs into the inherent psychopathy and malice that is at the heart of the CSA and Earth-3 as a world. In the past they have always been depicted as very menacing, cavalier baddies that are bad because they are bad. Here Johns really mines the philosophical beliefs that fuel their deeply malicious drives in ways that are both logical in a very cold way and scientific in their adherence to very strict interpretations of Darwinism. Ivan Reis, Johns’ many times collaborator on Blackest Night, Brightest Day, and Aquaman, provides stellar artwork to bring to life the very stark, steely life of Ultraman.
- Justice League Dark #24 kicks off the series’ under the shadow of Forever Evil and the pen of new writer J.M. Dematteis with art still by original series artist Mikel Janin. The issue picks up as John Constantine awakens from the events of Trinity War, most notably Justice League #23 in which the Crime Syndicate of Earth-3 entered into our world. He wakes up in the House of Mystery with patchy memories of what happened upon the CSA’s advent into our reality. When he walks through the house, attempting to get his bearings it transports him across the world, showing him various situations around the world with shadowy creatures lurking around events of negative human emotion. Most of these events aren’t super malicious or overtly terrible, but as Constantine witnesses them he sees how evil feeds and breeds off of small sins committed absent-mindedly every day, and through this culmination of thoughtlessness and callous actions evil snowballs and coalesces into something greater, like a perpetual motion machine feeding off its own momentum. At the tail end of this revelation he sees these sins rise up from the collected sins of humanity in the form of a giant serpentine dragon, like a blight on humanity, towering over our world. Matteis is definitely skewing toward the biblical in his choice of imagery and it is quite apt. The most poignant thought Constantine strings together from his observations is, “It’s so convenient to blame it all on some sneering, arrogant Satan, sitting on a fiery throne, plotting to corrupt our souls. But if there is a Devil he’s just another projection of our own sins.” Pretty astute, considering what a callous jerk Constantine has always been. When the House returns him from his “vision quest” he is confronted by a version of the Justice League Dark who call him out for his own sins and selfishness. Zatanna does reveal that he isn’t actually talking to them, nor is he awake, but rather still reeling from the fallout of what happened when he witnessed the second opening of Pandora’s Box. She reaches into his chest and pulls out a handful of black goo, which allows him to wake up, for real this time, in the House of Mystery. “Zatanna” is revealed to be the Nightmare Nurse, seen first and last in Phantom Stranger #8-9. She helps Constantine come to terms with what happened and to ready himself for what is going to happen. To do this she grows a Swamp Thing to aid them since Constantine burned bridges with Alec Holland in the pages of Swamp Thing #22-23. Whereas Justice League of America seems to be about the fate of the Justice Leagues and Justice League appears to be a mouthpiece for the Crime Syndicate, Justice League Dark seems to be a philosophical look at evil itself. Whether that holds up as Forever Evil continues, or whether there will be a major paradigm shift coming later, remains to be seen, but Matteis has taken hold of this title and made it his own. Considering the subject material and the tone, this Justice League Dark is ideally suited to Matteis’ style. It is very similar to his work on the 90’s Doctor Fate series and his current run on Phantom Stranger, giving him lots of room for the dark, twisted, and bizarre. Mikel Janin remains on the title, retaining a certain degree of continuity over the three writers the series has seen. Not always the best title, Justice League Dark finds a place among the best as Forever Evil marches onward.
A Great Blight Upon Humanity . . .
- Red Lanterns #24 returns to the planet Ysmault following Bleez’s discovery that Guy Gardner is a Green Lantern embedded with the Red Lanterns as a spy. The conversation she witnesses Guy concluding is basically Hal Jordan reneging on the deal that he and Guy made, essentially stranding him in hostile territory and throwing him to the wolves. Thus, Guy finds himself in a situation where he has had enough and washes his hands of Hal and the Green Lanterns forever. So of course Bleez’s reaction is threatening to out him to their fellow Red Lanterns and having him killed. Bleez is a very confident, strong woman and peerless among many of her brethren in blood. It’s one of the things that has captivated my imagination when reading anything that she is involved in. So going into this she is rather cocky and lays her cards on the table. But Guy Gardner isn’t new to this game. Guy is a sonuvabitch that doesn’t play by the rules if those rules put him at a disadvantage and ornery-as-all-get-out, he is someone that won’t be pinned to the mat. He immediately throws Bleez’s plan on its head and creates a reverse scenario that puts here in the crosshairs. She would out him as a spy, but if he said she was a spy, considering her time with Kyle Rayner and the “New Guardians,” it would be a literal case of he-said/she-said. So politically he has her at an impasse. As a Lantern, Bleez was never in a position to take Atrocitus (creator and Chief Lantern of the Red Lantern Corps) down in a fight, but Guy DID two issues ago. So muscle-wise he has the edge. This culls Bleez’s bravado and makes her docile as a house cat. I’m not sure I am ok with that, but if it is a momentary thing that facilitates Guy’s assertion of the “throne,” I can handle it. But Bleez CANNOT be cowed like that again. It’s a disrespect to the heart of the character. Guy follows up his defeat of Bleez by escorting her to a meeting of the Red Lanterns and telling them exactly what Bleez was going to tell them: he was sent in as a spy for the Green Lanterns and he has changed his position and wants to lead them. However, Hal chooses that awful moment to show up with the Green Lanterns. Even worse, he still thinks that he can command Guy, stoking the rage within the former Green Lantern following Hal’s betrayal of their deal. Hal tries to placate him and explain the Relic situation, but Guy is seeing red and not listening. Par for the course. When he does calm Guy, Hal explains that the Red Lanterns are the only corps that can stop Relic because their power isn’t strictly light based, but also rooted partially in blood magic which the ancient being can’t fend off with his science. So Guy and Hal broker a deal where in exchange for their help, the Reds get their own space sector where the Green Lanterns will not encroach Kind of like the deal the Guardians made with Larfleeze. All is agreed and they move forward. Elsewhere Atrocitus and his faithful companion, Dex-Starr the cat, have contained the Red entity the Butcher, morphing Atrocitus into a being called the Atrocity Butcher, giving him horns and bull legs. He kind of looks like Satan in this form. Carrying on from Green Lantern: New Guardians, Kyle the White Lantern comes and takes the Butcher with the other entities, robbing Atrocitus of his power. Charles Soule is seeding a very different book from the one that began two years ago under the pen of Peter Milligan. To me this is both good and bad. Without Milligan on the book, it would be bad for another writer to try to keep pace with his amazing concepts, but at the same time he set up some very interesting ideas that I would have loved to see actualized. Charles Soule, assuming he doesn’t completely clip Bleez’s “wings,” has the capacity to write an amazing series with great strength and gravitas. Alessandro Vitti’s art is head and shoulders above the previous work on the series by Miguel Sepulveda, but doesn’t quite match up to original series artist Ed Benes or later artist Will Conrad. However, his lines do emote menace and anger which is 80% of the job. With these two men on the job, I am optimistic about the future of this book.
Don’t Mess With Guy Gardner.
- Superman #24 brings about the third and final chapter of the “Psi-War” storyline, picking up from Action Comics #24 two weeks ago. The H.I.V.E. Queen had been attempting to enslave the world with her collection of human telepaths in preparation for the return of Brainiac. In this endeavor she came into direct conflict with Hector Hammond, the giant headed Green Lantern villain, who also sought to rule humanity psychically. Both are sucker punched by the Psycho Pirate, a member of the enigmatic “Twenty” that Brainiac created before leaving Earth. Psycho Pirate was one of the Queen’s prized slaves until he broke his chains and escaped her clutches. In Action Comics #24 he showed Superman the “Swarm” and told of his intentions to release them and his need of a massive psychic power source to do it. That source is Superman and instead of asking, he decides to take what he needs by force. His mask, called the Medusa Mask, augments his natural psychic abilities while also partitioning his mind from the intrusion of other telepaths. It also, true to its name, has golden vipers made of psionic energy that the Psycho Pirate uses to inject a telepathic “venom” into the Man of Steel that warps his perceptions and makes him relive altered versions of hallmark moments in his life. The trauma these events elicit within his psyche feeds the Pirate the energies he requires. Lois Lane shows up in a blue, supercharged form and fends off the Psycho Pirate. Afterward she, Superman, Hector Hammond, and the revived Queen strike a deal to take down the Pirate. Though they don’t want to, if they don’t work together Metropolitans will rip each other limb from limb and the city will descend into anarchy to further facilitate Psycho Pirate’s goals. The four work beautifully in concert, allowing Supes to rip the mask off of Psycho Pirate. We don’t really see what happens to him after that. The man under the mask disappears and the mask itself attempts to bond with Superman and claim him mind, but Lois again comes to his aid and guides him telepathically to fighting its thrall. The mask is then destroyed, but at the cost of Lois’s life. Or so it seems. She actually goes back into a coma after Superman gets her to a hospital. However, before she succumbs to the fatigue from expending that much energy from her overtaxed mind, she picks up from Superman’s mind that he is in fact Clark Kent. The question remains as to whether she will remember this when she wakes up or will she think it was all a dream? Logic would dictate the latter as the most probably event. It doesn’t make sense that DC would blow his identity two years into the game. With the defeat of the Psycho Pirate and the weakening of both the H.I.V.E. Queen and Hector Hammond, the Psi-War is officially over. With this door closing the issue ends with Superman being pulled off planet, setting up the coming “Krypton Returns” plotline that I have been eagerly anticipating since September 2o12 with the release of Superman #0 and Supergirl #0. Mike Johnson once again takes this one home the help of artist Eddy Burrows, whose work on Teen Titans and Nightwing invigorated both titles.
The Greatest Story She’ll Never Tell.
- Flash #24 concludes the “Reverse Flash” arc. The Flash was one of those rare series that wasn’t affected by Villains Month. While Flash #23 ended with the revelation that Daniel West, brother of Iris West, was the Reverse Flash, Villains Month gave him his own issue which revealed how he got his powers, what his childhood was like with an abusive father, and how the desire for a better relationship with his sister has motivated him his entire life. The trauma of their childhood under their dad’s tyranny created a divide between them and Daniel desperately wants that closeness back. This led him to a life of crime, trying to find the quick way to make his sister’s life easier and his own. It only made things harder though, sending him to prison and taxing his relationship with Iris even further. After getting out of prison he immediately found himself in the middle of the Gorilla Invasion of the Gem Cities and pulled into the Mirror World where the Rogues were giving citizens refuge . . . while also robbing them, making them pay for the privilege. Dr. Elias’ Speed Force monorail engine, powered by
The Wrath of Reverse Flash.
the Speed Force energy he had siphoned off of Flash, was also in the Mirror World and exploded, fusing onto Daniel’s body and giving him his Speed Force powers. After killing other people who were in the Speed Force and taking their energies he gets the ability to travel back far enough in time to kill his father, engineering the childhood he always wanted and “ensuring” the relationship he always wanted with his sister. Little did he know that the younger versions of himself and sister would be present when he does the deed. Flash goes back and reasons with Daniel that the trauma he inflicts on the kids is far worse than the continued trauma of their father’s abuses. So he once again is only making things worse for himself, not better. Barry also enumerates that all the energy coming off himself while he moves through the Speed Force is what actually moves time forward, so the fact that Daniel is the exact opposite of Flash, this is how he is able to travel backward. While Daniel is distracted he is able to siphon his Speed Force energies
back and move both back into the present. Iris is then able to complete the job Barry started by guilting Daniel into submission and he is returned to prison, although completely unrepentant about what he did. Iris on the other hand tells him that despite how horrific their childhood was it made them both strong and she wouldn’t change the past for anything. It made her the woman she is. After concluding this catastrophic time-altering nightmare, Barry is able to make it to Patty Spivot’s parent’s 40th wedding anniversary, meets her dad, and get the last dance with her. On that note I must once again assert my absolute love of Patty Spivot. She is an amazing character and I am glad that Buccellato and Manapul put her and Barry together in their run on this series. After this tender moment, Flash meets Dr. Elias (the two-faced scientist that turned the city against him, stole his Speed Force energies, and tried to kill him a few times) and basically tells him that he created the Reverse Flash, imperiled Iris, and admits that if Iris had been killed Flash would have killed him. With the ultimatum issued to stay out of Flash’s way, the consequences are left ominously open-ended. The issue’s conclusion functions as a denouement of the entirety of what Flash as a character IS. Barry had a really awful childhood, coming home at a young age to find his mother murdered and his father accused of the crime, which Barry has spent the last twenty years trying to disprove forensically, and Lord knows Flash would love nothing more than to go back and prevent it from happening or even witness the crime to discover the killer’s identity and exonerate his dad, but that isn’t who he is. Probably a nod to Flashpoint, which started this reboot and also created a nightmare world of evil superheroes. It is an examination of his moral compass and the realization that you can’t go back. He can only go forward, which is a pretty optimistic perspective for himself and his readers. You can’t change your past and even if you could you shouldn’t. If you lived through something terrible it only shows your resilience and gives you strength to take in your forward facing journey. Brian Buccellato and Francis Manapul really get this character and the world he lives in. There is so much heart and philosophical brilliance put into the scripting and rendering of each and every panel. Their storytelling is peerless as is their combined artistic prowess. This is a one of THE titles to get, encapsulating everything that is GOOD in the comic medium.
Strength Out Of Weakness.
- Aquaman #24 is the penultimate chapter of the “Dead King” arc, telling a chilling tale of the first King of Atlantis. It began when a dead king came back to life from the ice of the southern polar ice cap, with the power to control water, as most Atlanteans do, but with the added ability to freeze water, which often is a means of heralding his advent. He tells Aquaman that he is not the king of Atlantis nor was the throne ever rightfully his, causing some distress for Aquaman, who really sits upon it by necessity, not choice. In this issue Aquaman wakes up after having passed out from using his telepathic ability to get the aquatic leviathan named Topos (a giant crustacean cephalopod) to attack the villain called the Scavenger from bombing Atlantis with his submarine fleet, thereby saving his subjects lives. Six months have passed and he is being cared for by Vulko, his former Atlantean adviser who initiated the war between Atlantis and the surface world. Obviously he is greatly perturbed by this man’s presence, but Vulko takes him to the Dead King’s throne room in Antarctica and shows him the history of the dead monarch. King Atlan founded Atlantis with utopian dreams of uniting the world, leading many zealots among his court to rise up against him for the affront to their racial superiority. Headed up by Atlan’s younger brother Orin they attempted to kill Atlan, forcing him into exile and prompting him to forge the six artifacts of Atlantis, seen in the “Others” arc of Aquaman several months ago. When Atlan returned he found his wife and children were murdered to solidify Orin’s rule. So the Dead King killed Orin, killed his Queen, and then sunk the continent beneath the sea with the scepter he had forged, killing 90% of the population. The 10% that survived became the modern Atlantean people. There were seven nations united under the Atlantean banner who were the scions of the seven seas. Four nations were wiped out and three survived, one of which was the Trench, the fish-like people seen in the first arc of this title. The other two most likely were the proper Atlanteans and the Xebel, who now live in exile. That second part is an assumption from context clues. The issue ends with Arthur realizing that he isn’t the rightful king and Atlan is. Atlan doesn’t have descendants, and Arthur is the descendant of Orin, a regicidal, fratricidal, racist lunatic. That’s a tough pill to swallow. Geoff Johns is a good writer, albeit one that has kind of gone crazy with power, lording over the Reboot willy-nilly. However, in this final arc he is doing a very decent job writing a compelling story that honors the character and the facets of his character that have buoyed him above the mockery that surrounds the concept of Aquaman with most non-comic fans and a large number of actual comic fans. This issue is a prime example of “Johns done right.”
- Larfleeze #4 features the opening salvos of the “Revolt of the Orange Lanterns.” The series’ protagonist, Larfleeze, is the sole wielder of the Orange Light of Greed making him the only tangible Orange Lantern. The illusion of there being an Orange Lantern Corps comes from his theft of the life-force of beings he desires to serve him. They are then recreated as Orange Light constructs and dispatched to do their master’s will. After last issue, his Corpsmen are not only free of his control, but also returned to corporal life. With their bodies and self-determination restored they turn on Larfleeze and seek revenge for their murder and subsequent enslavement. What this issue does that is interesting is fully introduce members of the Orange Lantern Corps and give them personalities. Conceptually, the members of the Corps always depicted in the background were given names and back stories, but never contextually within the Green Lantern titles. Glomulus, Larfleeze’s cute little toadie, is the only Orange Lantern besides Larfleeze himself to be depicted with any sort of personality. In this issue we meet Clypta (a faceless twi’lek-looking woman), Wrap (a cycloptic mummy), Sound Dancer (a fanged, green-skinned swamp monster with long stringy hair obscuring her eyes), Nat-Nat (a lamprey millipede), Tammal-Tayn (a squid-faced, furry arachnid), and a centaur-like character that has as of yet not been named. The depiction of Glomulus, I feel was very off, and falls short of the incredible way he was depicted in the “Ring Thief” arc of Green Lantern: New Guardians. Tony Bedard hit on something really wonderful, now squandered by writers J.M. DeMatteis and Keith Giffen. Larfleeze is an obstinate, ornery psychotic, but even he cannot stave off that kind of assault. Elsewhere in the universe, Larfleeze’s once butler, Stargrave, is escorted by his new mistress, the Wanderer, to the home of her sister, Dyrge, who is just as cheerful as her name implies. Giffen and DeMatteis write an extremely comical and quick-witted cosmic farce (though sometimes misguided) that both explores the Green Lantern universe and lampoons it. Scott Kolins’ art enlivens the script with sharp lines and action pack panels. This is certainly a comic to read on a rainy day when you are down in the dumps.
Beware the Orange Lanterns’ Might . . .
- Talon #12 returns after the Villains Month hiatus with an insane amount of plot points converging in a perfect storm of chaos for Calvin Rose and allies. Previously, Calvin had chased exiled Court of Owls grandmaster, Sebastian Clark, to Santa Prisca where the disgraced leader tried to use Bane and his mercenary army to crush the Court. Bane, however, is not a force that can be controlled and though he sets out for Gotham with a massive strike force of highly trained mercenaries to destroy Gotham he does so with no intention of following someone else’s script. Back in Gotham, Calvin’s lover Casey Washington and her daughter Sarah were captured by the Court. Sarah was taken to a facility where she would be subliminally conditioned to be a weapon and Casey given to the 19th century Talon infamously known as the “Gotham Butcher.” Casey escaped his sadism, finding her way back to Calvin, minus an arm and an eye. This issue follows the Butcher breaking from Court control after the loss of their trump card against Calvin. The Butcher gained his name in the 1860’s by slaughtering hundreds of Gothamites in very bloody and public ways, forcing the Court to retire him to protect their anonymity. The modern Court awoke him with the delusion that he could be tamed with science and high-tech restraints. Where there’s a will there’s a way and the Butcher CANNOT be silenced or leashed, unleashing a whole new level of horror on Gotham, as if Bane and his commandos weren’t enough. Writer James Tynion reinforces the connection of this series to the initial arc of Batman, which he cowrote, that first introduced the Court of Owls. After his premature birth, Thomas Wayne Jr. (little brother of Bruce) was supposedly taken to the Carpenter House for Boys, which had been a haunted place since the fire of 1862. The Butcher started that fire and also set into motion the steady decline of Gotham. Bane, Clark, the Butcher, and the corner Court. The stakes are high going into the final issue of Tynion’s run with “lucky” issue #13.
- Teen Titans #24 is an unseated trip through time and space. After being flung into the time-stream by Johnny Quick in Forever Evil #2 the Teen Titans are separated and tossed to the temporal trade winds. When writer Scott Lobdell began writing this series two years ago, he had the Mexican meta-teen Bunker (aka Miguel Jose Barragon) meet Red Robin on a freight train, saying Red Robin had told him to meet him there. Tim Drake (Red Robin) had no recollection of that ever happening. Thanks to Johnny Quick and the roller-coaster ride he threw the team into that conversation is actualized. Meanwhile, Wonder Girl (aka Cassie Sandsmark) and Superboy find themselves in ancient Egypt fending off an invasion of solar intruders called the Sunturnians, last seen in Lobdell’s Superman #19. Solstice (aka Kiran Singh) and Kid Flash (aka Bart Allen) are sent into the 25th century, Bart’s native time, to witness the events that made Bart into a heinous criminal, unbeknownst to his amnesic mind. Raven is sent to the medieval era and set against the Demon, Etrigan. As these moments in time unfold before their eyes, connections are made and slowly the team find one another through the vast reaches of the ages and anchor themselves until Red Robin can find a way to extricate themselves. However, there are forces within the team that are set to tear them apart. Scott Lobdell has been one of the keystone pillars on this title. His out-of-the-box plotting and edgy storytelling has led to some of the most incredible, engaging Teen Titans storylines since the days of Wolfman and Perez and their New Teen Titans series in the 80’s. Providing guest art is Angel Unzueta, mimicking well the style of regular series Eddy Barrows. This was really a great issue that carries on the overarching plot of Forever Evil while tantalizing the reader with plot reveals that have been in the works for months, if not years, including the identity of Bart Allen and the horrific acts he perpetrated in the future. The traitor in the midst of the Titans. Lobdell maintains this series’ must-read status.
The Origin of Kid Flash.
- The Unwritten #54 concludes the massive Fables/Unwritten crossover in an epic manner. Mister Dark has the war with the Fables all but won. Truly, every single modicum of resistance the defenders of Fabletown offer turn to dust before him. What Frau Totenkinder knew and shows the reintegrated Tom Taylor is the nature of the world in which they exist and its relation to the power of the written word. That has been the guiding principle of the entire series and, apropos the conclusion of this crossover event, harkens back to the very first pages of The Unwritten, almost five years ago. The issue hits its ending hard leaving a cliffhanger whose ramifications resound through an infinity of possibilities. Nearly all the Fables are dead and those that aren’t by issue’s end are close to it. Mister Dark is an unstoppable force. Only the undoing of everything can stop him in his tracks. But once reality is undone can it be redone? Will the world be made right again or completely restarted? Through the imagery of the horn used in the opening pages of The Unwritten in the Harry Potter-esque “Tommy Taylor” books, cowriters Mike Carey and Peter Gross prove that they have been working towards this moment and the answers to come for nigh on half a decade. THIS is a moment in Unwritten history that is both exciting and terrifying for the series’ faithful. And what’s worse, it is put on a three-month hiatus forestalling the resolution to those troubling questions. We’ll just have to wait until March to figure it all out.
- T.H.U.N.D.E.R Agents #3 brings to light the one of the most pressing questions of the series thus far. Entitled “The Judgment Tower,” it has seen the international super-terrorist, the Iron Lady, seizing a top-secret T.H.U.N.D.E.R installation in Kashmir and capturing two agents. The base was so secret the chairmen and women of The Higher United Nations didn’t even know about it until it went dark with two agents down. When asked to explain her actions Director (Kat) Kane remains cryptic about what the facility’s purpose was and why she kept it secret from her superiors. Interlaced within these moments are retrospectives of her time as an agent, alongside her twin sister, Kelly. Kelly has been strongly insinuated to be the Iron Maiden and clearly this whole conflict over the cave not only springs from a power grab, but some familial connection from the past. That assertion is confirmed in this issue with the revelation that Kane had found a giant subterranean medieval parapet of medieval design not far from T.H.U.N.D.E.R HQ. The tower, though seemingly from the middle ages, dates back over a million years ago before the evolution of man as the dominant species on our planet. It also emits a cosmic radiation encountered only via radio telescope from the depths of space. So . . . who built this tower and for what purpose? That remains to be seen. But Kane not only found this tower twelve years prior with her sister. She also found one in Kashmir. That is what the facility was built to contain and study and that is why two elite agents fell into enemy hands guarding it. Though the facility is under Iron Maiden’s control, the newest and perhaps most powerful T.H.U.N.D.E.R agent, Len Brown, aka Dynamo, is inserted into the base and several moles within her organization surface for the good of the mission. However, the true purpose of the tower and its realization begin with the last page. My familiarity with T.H.U.N.D.E.R Agents has been painstaking, finding collections of the original series over several jumps in publishers and many decades. Though not complete, I have read several versions of T.H.U.N.D.E.R and though this has its differences from several of the latter versions, Phil Hester’s attempt with this new series hits uncannily close to the style and feel of the original series by Wally Wood and the writer Len Brown who lent his name to the main character, Dynamo. Fifty years later and the same characters are rendered with the same quality by Hester and his partner in art, Andrea Di Vito. For superhero excellence outside of the Big Two, this series is the prime choice.
The Dark Tower Rising.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any of these images and give credit to those whose work they are.
Illustration Credits:
Justice League Dark #24: Art by Mikel Janin, Colored by Jeromy Cox.
Red Lanterns #24: Art by Alessandro Vitti, Colored by Gabe Eltaeb.
Superman #24: Drawn by Eddy Barrow, Colored Pete Pantazis, Inked by Eber Ferreira.
Flash #24: Art by Francis Manapul, Colored by Brian Buccellato.
Larfleeze #4: Art by Scott Kolins, Colored by Mike Atiyeh.
Teen Titans #24: Drawn by Angel Unzueta, Colored Pete Pantazis, Inked by Art Thibert.
The Unwritten #54: Art by Peter Gross, Colored by Chris Chuckry.
T.H.U.N.D.E.R Agents #3: Art by Andrea Di Vito, Colored by Rom Fajardo.
Off the Panel Comic Reviews 