Comics

The Wild Storm #3

The Wild Storm #3 comic reviewIf I’m listing out my favorite female comic heroes it’s almost impossible for me not to put Jenny Sparks in the top spot. Created in 1997 by Warren Ellis as a character for Stormwatch to not much acclaim, two years later with the launch of The Authority the character gave us one of the best, albeit short-lived, runs before her death which left a hole in the title subsequent stories were never able to properly fill.

The Spirit of the 20th Century, Jenny Sparks was a force of nature. Born January 1, 1900 and dying exactly 100 years later (right after killing God and cursing people who don’t understand how a millennium works), Jenny Sparks burned brightly and was gone.

As part of Warren Ellis’ new self-contained series The Wild Storm, Jenny Sparks is re-imagined for the 21st Century. Gone is the blond ponytail, foul mouth, and Union Jack tee. Slipping through the electrical networks of the world to come and go as she pleases, it’s hard to tell how much of the original character’s personality we’ll see in this new version which seems to be a blend of the original and her successor Jenny Quantum.

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X-Men: Blue #1

X-Men: Blue #1 comic reviewI’ve been of the opinion that the time-displaced team of original X-Men has long outlived its usefulness. Brought to the present by the Beast in an attempt to control Cyclops, their purpose for being in their own future died with Cyclops (and most of my interest in the X-Men).

X-Men: Blue reuintes the original team, who got scattered a bit in recent events. Back together with Jean Grey in command, the team has a new mission statement (but sadly no X-23, whose relationship with Angel was one of the few bright moments to come out of the group’s time-travel misadventures). X-Men: Blue #1 sees the team take on Black Tom Cassidy (who apparently isn’t as 70s singer-songwriter) and the Juggernaut, the later being the more interesting battle of the two. Ending the fight to send one of their oldest enemies to Hell, it appears the Beast has learned something from his older self about moral ambiguity.

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Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #18

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #18 comic reviewLife for the combined forces of the Green Lantern Corps and the Sinestro Corps continues to get off to a rock start on Oa during the building of a new Yellow Power Battery as disagreements between the two groups come to blows. The responsibility for restoring order, and acting as the voice of reason, falls to Guy Gardner who manages to keep the peace… this time.

Elsewhere, in Space Sector 563, the team of Space Ape and Gorrin-Sunn get into some trouble of their own while discovering an odd anomoly on what should be a deserted chunk of space. Beginning the latest arc, the pair’s disappearance will force John Stewart to send his two most trusted Lanterns to investigate: Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner (does this mean this pair is are the only Green Lanterns who don’t get a yellow-ringed partner?). Can’t Hal trade Kyle in for Space Ape (or, you know, pretty much anyone else?).

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Green Lanterns #20

Green Lanterns #20 comic reviewA poor man’s Magneto, Doctor Polaris isn’t exactly an A-list DC villain. That said, writer Sam Humphries and artist Eduardo Pansica put the character to good use here as the emotionally unstable super-villain fights to save his dying brother. Trapped by the villain deep below the surface of the Earth, it’s Jessica Cruz that saves both herself and her partner Simon Baz and the series continues the trend of making Jessica the far more interesting half of the duo as she’s able to focus her will far better than her more experienced partner.

One released from their prison, the Green Lanterns work together (with a little help from a Justice League teammate) to track down Doctor Polaris. While there’s not a lot of action here, there’s an interesting story going on inside Polaris’ fractured mind.

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Star Wars #30

Star Wars #30 comic reviewLed by the journals of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker‘s journey takes him to an unnamed planet in the Vagadarr System where he will cross paths with Garro, who still holds a grudge for Yoda‘s interference on the world decades before. Seeing Yoda’s adventures in flashbacks, the Jedi Master uses the Force to restore balance to the planet by reanimating the Giants of Living Stone.

Fueled by years of bitterness since the Jedi Master left, Garro has seen his world transformed in ways he never imagined and decides to take that anger out on Luke, hoping to strip the pilot (who he mistakes for Yoda’s student) of his power to finish off the rock creatures and restore order to his world.

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