Green Lantern #180: The Penultimate Issue (SPOILERS)

[JoeGKushner]

Major Force has come back from the dead more times than Jean Grey. Killing him again will have no more dramatic impact than just yelling at him for a while.

This line is almost signature worthy!

Let's not forget Captain Atom though! I'm sure he'll be back sometime soon too.

I'm still trying to figure out how Major Force has any political clout as he's pretty much been a mad dog since day one.

The current storyline is okay, but it reminds me a little too much of Kyle's first storyline. I did like the fight between the two 'new' lanterns though. Interesting to see such a fight without Guy or Hal in the middle of it.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

And I do believe that its Geoff Johns (aka the best thing going today) writing the GL:Rebirth mini and John Byrne writing the Hal ongoing (cuz hes's stuck in the past, so it makes sense to give him this book and ensure it will suck)

Byrne is going to write the ongoing? Sweet! For good old fashioned superhero yarns he's my favorite*. I was kind of bummed that he is writing Doom Patrol as I could never get into that title no matter who is writing it.

*based on his Next-Men, FF, Superman, and earlier work. I didn't read anything he's done since then so this horrible Wonder Woman stint I hear of doesn't faze me. Plus WW just sucks no matter what.

 

[buzzard]

Buzzard, you dropped comics because of ONE writer? do you drop all books because of one bad author? all movies because of one stinker? all tv because of one weak show? why are you on the internet? theres at least one bad website. and hey, i wouldnt talk to people either. i know at least one $%$%

You've heard the term "straw that broke the camel's back" right? He culminated a trend which left me disgusted with comics. I held on until Zero Hour, but that fixed nothing, and actually made things somewhat worse, so I bailed. I figured I had better ways to burn $80/month on stuff I no longer enjoyed.

And as for Emerald Twilight...yup, it does feel like that all over again, and its supposed to. But i still think Emerald Twilight made perfect sense and was a great story.

Emerald Twilight was crap full of total mischaracterization. However that argument has been beaten to death here.

I might take a peak at the return of Hal Jordan. Or I might not as I don't really need another financial liability like comic collecting.

buzzard

 

[Paragon Kobold]

You've heard the term "straw that broke the camel's back" right? He culminated a trend which left me disgusted with comics. I held on until Zero Hour, but that fixed nothing, and actually made things somewhat worse, so I bailed. I figured I had better ways to burn $80/month on stuff I no longer enjoyed.
buzzard

Couldn't you just switch to marvel?

(Thinks back to what marvel comics were like ten years ago...)

Couldn't you just switch to independents?

 

[buzzard]

Couldn't you just switch to marvel?

(Thinks back to what marvel comics were like ten years ago...)

Couldn't you just switch to independents?

Never was into independents. Anyway saving the money was more appealing. Heck $80 was a few good evenings out drinking good beer.

buzzard

 

[Hand of Vecna]

Hal had faced much more tragedy in his life than Coast City being blown up (Carol Ferris, the love of his life, was alive; Tom Kalmaku, his best friend, was alive; Hal's brothers didn't live in Coast City). In the past he had to cope with being framed for the death of the Tattoed Man, coping with his girlfriend being the Star Sapphire, quitting the Corps and then having to wield a Yellow ring to save the universe during Crisis, watching his best friend in the Corps dying in his arms (Tomar-Re), being injected with heroine while wearing his Power Ring (omnipotence + drug-induced halucinations = bad!)...

Coast City going kaboom? Not enough to break down the original Man Without Fear (much less making him do what he did to Kilowog and other fellow GLs).

All very good points, but, to paraphrase buzzard, perhaps that was the straw the broke the green camel's back.

Which heroine was he injected with? Sounds kinky...

 

[Klaus]

LOL!

And boy, did those stories scare a kid away from drugs!

Y'know, Hal deserved better back in the day... And now, so does Kyle. He should be the upbeat guy, creative, loving his superhero gig and all that. Instead he gets his gf killed, his mother killed, his ex-gf killed, his heart ripped out of his chest (JLA: Obsidian Age... He also had to spend 10,000 years as a ghost), his best friend beated into a bloody pulp by homophobics...

What happened to the glory days when we would cheer for the guy who raised his ring and said:

In brightest day, In blackest night
Let those who worship evil's might
Beware my power
Green Lantern's light!

?

And don't get me started on Hawk & Dove (two characters totally messed up by Dan Jurgens).

 

[Silver Moon]

Troia was killed in combat with a rogue Superman android (heat beam to the chest); her death triggered the end of both the Titans and Young Justice. This happened in The Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #3.

Yeah, but the worst of it was that they simultaneously had the Superman android also kill Lilith, a character who had been with the Titans since the original series back in the 1960's and 1970's. So what follows is two years of bemoaning the death of Donna Tory with scarely any mention ever of Lilith.

 

[Particle_Man]

And don't get me started on Hawk & Dove (two characters totally messed up by Dan Jurgens).

For what it is worth, Dove (the female one) got brought back in JSA, although then she went her own way. She's around, I guess. But Hawk/Extant is Dead as a Doornail (but it is comix, so...)

Yeah, I heard that Hawk and Dove was ruined because DC was worried that some fans figured out that Captain Atom was meant to be a villain in some crossover series, so they quickly made Hawk the villain instead, and had him go mad after his future self kills Dove. It might be just a rumour though...

Umm...Oh yeah, what about G'nort? (Just trying to get back on topic)

 

[Klaus]

No it's utterly true!

Captaim Atom (arguably one of the most powerful heroes in the DC Universe) was supposed to become Monarch, the ruler of Earth in the year 2001 (after killing all heroes). A scientist from 2001 travelled back to 1991 to prevent this event, after becoming the entity called Waveryder (his original name was Matthew Ryder... clever, eh?). Waveryder could touch a hero and see that hero 10 years into the future, so we get to see future versions of Superman, Batman and others (mostly lame... even a Superman as President of the US!).

When Waveryder touches Captain Atom, he sees a future Captain, now old (even though it's just 10 years into the future!) seeing his son, daughter and grandchildren killed by a gang and their bodies discarded into the city dump. This sparks a rage inside Captain Atom, and he incinerates the gang. The logical step would be to take reins of the decadent society and turn it into a martial dictatorship. But, since fans had already guessed correctly that Captain Atom would become the Monarch (who wore a heavy containment armor and could fly and throw energy beams, like Atom), Jurgens chickens out and has Captain Atom "winding down" and mourning his lost children.

In the next issue, we see Hank Hall and Dawn Granger (Hawk & Dove) finally getting together (they've been on-and-off during their partnership). But they're attacked by Monarch (who's come after Waveryder). He kills Dove and removes his mask, which reveals he's Hank Hall (!!!). Hank goes on to say (very uncharacteritically) that society is wrong, and someone should step in and take reins and make everything right, so he BUILDS the armor of Monarch and goes on to face the heroes. But with the help of Waveryder (and specially Captain Atom), Monarch is defeated and the future is saved. Monarch goes on to become Extant, in yeat another Dan Jurgens debacle titled "Zero Hour" (which revealed Guy Gardner was half-alien! Ugh!)

The problem with Hank Hall becoming Monarch is that:

1) Hank Hall was never a science genius to build an armor like Monarch's;

2) Monarch never once displayed the enhanced agility, strength and stamina of Hawk;

3) Hawk got his powers from the Lords of Chaos, while Dove got hers from the Lords of Order. The "must rule to save society" isn't very Chaos-like is it?

For those morbidly curious, got hunt for the debacle that is "Armageddon 2001", one of the worst DC crossovers ever...