Hello again GEN readers! It’s Jill a.k.a. The Nerdy Bird back with another installment of DoubleDCoverage. Find out how Soranik Natu got that tattoo on her face and why you should be reading Green Lantern Corps. Also, who needs a wheelchair after The Cure? Reviews for Green Lantern Corps #36 and Oracle: The Cure #3 are ahead, also, check out my star ratings for my other pulls from last Wednesday!
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #36
At my local comic shop last week, a fellow patron asked the cashier if Green Lantern Corps was any good. He said he’d been reading Green Lantern but didn’t know if it was worth it to read about the Corps. I’ll tell you what I told him, “If you’re reading GL you should be reading GLC. It’s all part of one giant story and you’re missing out on a lot of great stuff by passing it up.” He said he’d try and find the issues, hopefully you’ve been reading all along.
It’s story time as Sinestro lays it all out for Soranik. She’s highly skeptical but he tells her threats against their family, due to his politics, forced her mother to give her up at a young age to the doctor who delivered her. He eventually found her as a teenager but realized their separation had been for the best. He decided instead to mark her with the family’s secret coat of arms “laced with a microscopic deep derma transmitter” on her face as a sign of his love. And for the worst cell phone GPS any teenager could ask for. All this time spent ranting Sinestro had her power ring covered by a band of yellow from his that I’m more than a little annoyed she couldn’t break. He claims she will one day join him but the real reason he finally revealed himself was to warn her about Atrocitus and the Red Lanterns. When he finally releases her she has a shot, but doesn’t take it.
Back on Oa it’s an all-out riot at the Sciencells. Every GL, minus the rookies Salaak is keeping from the fight, is giving their all. Too bad it’s not enough against the out of control Red Lantern and escaped Sinestro Corps members running amok. On Daxam, Sodam Yat has decided to go after Mongul without backup. Trouble is, when he asks his ring to call upon the Ion power mid-fight, his access is denied. Rogue Guardian Scar is the one responsible and his ring informs him he can only access it by taking it off. Of course that means no protection from his lead poisoning. What’s a hero to do? How about removing his shielding, taking a major power surge from Mongul and then pulling a Spock by actually taking off the ring? “The needs of the many.”
Sodam Yat is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters. Peter Tomasi is doing such a fantastic job developing him, not to mention all the other minor Corps members. GLC really does give you a chance to look behind the veil and realize what drives them to do what they do. In my opinion, GLC is not a companion to GL, it’s required reading. Highly entertaining, required reading.
ORACLE: THE CURE #3 (OF 3)
I had such high hopes for this Oracle miniseries, especially after the first issue. They did a great job showing Barbara and the challenges she faces every day. Not just her physical challenges but her mental and emotional challenges as well. I felt that not only her condition, but also the condition of Calculator’s daughter Wendy, was hanging in the balance of this series. Turns out I was wrong.
Oracle’s Hong Kong hacker friends manage to trace the location of Calculator’s signal and several doses of caffeine later she’s back in Gotham. Her buddy Chaos Larry from Illinois is taken to the hospital after being attacked in the online game Alta Viva. She heads right to the source - Alta Viva’s creator Corey Wynn. And hey, turns out he’s a hottie who likes pugs. He doesn’t even mind all that much when she freaks out and pulls a weapon on him after he wakes her from a catnap. They work together to insert her code through his avatar (a pug) and transfer it to Chaos Larry’s now lifeless avatar causing him to jolt straight up in the hospital. Oracle leaves Corey’s apartment but not before he reveals he knew her in a past life – pre-accident, when she was a librarian. He assumed she was working with her father on police business this whole time.
She tracks down Calculator who’s just about done putting together his Anti-Life Equation crystals and challenges him head-on, avatar vs. avatar in the game. She wins by shoving a giant crystal in his mouth. Huh? She then confronts him IRL (see what I did there?) at Wendy’s hospital bed. He lunges at her after the cops show up, breaking the crystals in the process. Oracle had already neutralized them in the game and used the residue to put a tracer on him. Now if he goes online anywhere she’ll know where to find him. During all of this Wendy…wakes up all on her own…and has lost all feeling in her legs. Double huh? The story apparently continues in Batgirl #1.
Oracle: The Cure was lacking in any sort of cure for anyone. Obviously not physical and definitely not mental seeing as how Oracle seems just as much, if not more bitter and messed up than before. We all know I love Oracle and I love DC but on occasion miniseries that come off as being significant to the universe at large are exactly the opposite. Unfortunately this was one of those books. Forget about this being a “Battle for the Cowl” tie-in, it didn’t even have an impact for the title character herself. The only thing it successfully did was present Barbara with a possible new boyfriend in Corey. Does this mean Dick is going to be too busy to take up that particular mantle?
ACTION COMICS #877 - Nightwing and Flamebird aren’t very good at this whole “secret identity” thing are they?
AZRAEL: DEATH’S DARK KNIGHT #3 (OF 3) - The new Azrael has not impressed me enough to pick up his new ongoing in the fall.
BOOSTER GOLD #20 - Booster gets to hang out with the Suicide Squad during the Cold War and do what he does best. Break stuff. Happy Days reference = two thumbs up.
FINAL CRISIS AFTERMATH: ESCAPE #1 (OF 6) - And you thought Grant Morrison’s FC proper was weird. Wonder Woman Omac is gonna give me nightmares.
SECRET SIX #9 - Ragdoll Robin, need I say more? Actually, it was a pretty cute team-up of Bane and Catman too.
TITANS #13 - All of the Titans and Teen Titans are dead. The end.
TRINITY #50 - And you thought Grant Morrison’s FC proper was weird. Oh wait, I said that already didn’t I? To quote Lois, “It’s not over!”
My pull list for next week:
BATMAN: BATTLE FOR THE COWL #3
GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY #20
THE OUTSIDERS #18
SUPERGIRL #41
TRINITY #51
VIGILANTE #6
Which two should I review for DoubleDCoverage #9?
May 20th, 2009 at 2:19 am
I loved the old OMAC stories, and I think the Wonder Woman OMAC thing will be a fun ride.
I would, however, also love to see VanHook swing an ongoing with Barbara, with minimal ties to the Bat-verse. She has got to be one of the most wrongfully underused/mishandled characters ever, but I actually like what he did with her. I think more than anything, he opened doors for a style of Oracle story that I hope at least others might follow through with.
May 20th, 2009 at 7:37 am
Well, Oracle’s mini turned out to be a disappointment… such a shame, she and Black Canary have been wasted as characters since they went their different ways. Although I do wholly approve of Oracle’s role in the Network and Black Canary, every now and then, shows just why they say she’s the only one who could put Batman in his place.
As for next week, I’m interested in the end of the main Battle for the Cowl mini. I would generally plump for GA/BC in the other, as both characters are among my faves, but this entire arc has been quite disappointing, so I’ll go for Outsiders. Besides, you’d get to review the interaction between Owlman, Metamorpho and the Creeper, as well as the others
May 20th, 2009 at 8:32 am
Oh man, I hate when those mini-series crash and burn like ORACLE. And DC has so much crap going on right now, it’s really trial-and-error as to what you should be spending your money on.
Well, VIGILANTE will suck, so how about SUPERGIRL and TRINITY for next time? Dunno if those will suck because I don’t read ‘em, but I guess we’ll find out.
May 20th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Rich, I definitely agree that Oracle is one of the most wrongfully underused/mishandled characters. At least by herself. Damn them for disbanding Birds of Prey!
Thank you for not voting GA/BC Wik, I don’t think I could do it again.
Lol, Steph, I love how you know Vigilante is going to suck, because it is.
May 21st, 2009 at 10:47 am
Except for Secret Six bad week for DC, try Marvel or another companies , they are a lot of fun ^_^
May 22nd, 2009 at 5:17 am
I was also very unimpressed by Azrael. GLC still strong though.
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:02 pm
I’d be interested in seeing your opinion on that third Battle for the Cowl. I’d also love to see you review Supergirl too, since it’s one of my favorite books out right now.
As for Oracle…just fix her, make her Batgirl again, let her mentor to Spoiler, and for god’s sake someone fix things with Chuck Dixon so he can write it all.
I loved Oracle in the Morrison JLA.
May 25th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
Chovengo, I don’t read much of any Marvel but I do read other companies comics. Just don’t review them for Double-DC-overage.
Brett, I have to disagree with you on one point. I’d like Oracle to stay as she is. But mentoring Spoiler sounds great. I’d add Misfit and Cassandra to that list as well.