Pull List Review - March 26th, 2008

Small load this week.

Countdown to Final Crisis #5: I knew it. I knew it last week as soon as Hal Jordan did something so dumb as to spread a disease to other planets. It's not our Earth. What a cop out. Still, it's a creepily-told story that does a good job of setting up Kamandi-Earth. Unfortunately, the cover is trite. The first thing I thought when I saw it was, "Pssst. ACT!"

JSA Classified #36 featuring Wildcat: I've heard this book is canceled. There have been some good stories, but all too often this title features boring filler with the same old tired JSA characters. Wildcat is a character who bores me to tears. A boxer who punches people but does it with a cat mask on his head. At least Grant Morrison did us all a favor. He finally addressed the problem of making an ancient boxer relevant by pointing out that he must be magically young somehow. (Though, like the similarly-prominent Alan Scott, it's never explained how the public deals with a Ted Grant who is magically more vital than he should be for his age.) Last month, I was surprised when this new Wildcat story had Green Lantern asking Ted why he still felt compelled to run around punching people while wearing a costume. 'Bout time. Unfortunately, this story is quite padded and doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon, though it's probably just the flashbacks that make this play so slowly.

Green Lantern #29: An excellent read, well worth the $3. Though Johns has been developing Hal Jordan for three years, giving him more personality than he's shown in the past, I haven't really LIKED the Hal that Johns has created. This issue really helped flesh him out, and we got to meet a surprise guest when John Stewart appears as a marine. Remember when John Stewart was just a bitter punk in an afro who was the backup G.L.? Thanks to the Cartoon Network changing his personality completely, they're rewriting the past of the character in the comics...and I LIKE it! Plus, I finally feel like his two brothers have distinctive personalities. I realize I've used the word "personality" three times in one review, but that's really what this story is about. It's not often I think a 22-page story that's all character development is worth it, but this one is. Still, I think Johns has been falling back on the worst Green Lantern cliche: every plane Hal flies comes down in a flaming mess of metal. Yes, as a writer I can see how disasters are more exciting than safe landings, but Hal must have destroyed about a BILLION DOLLARS worth of planes by now! How in the world is it that he has any career worth talking about?