WLG #226: The Broken Record Repeats!

By Michael A. Diaz

Let's hit'em and quit'em as we take a quick gander at What Looks Good...

DC

AUTHORITY #2 $2.99 (Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning / Simon Coleby)

Yeah, so let’s keep that theme of me being a broken record keep on going this week as well, because I think you already know that I have eaten crow for saying that I was doubtful that this most recent reboot of the WildStorm Universe was going to be any good.

I was wrong.

Well, for those of you new to the show the WildStorm Universe has pretty much ended. OK, not the ENTIRE universe, but Earth in the WildStorm Universe has pretty much gone through a super-being apocalypse. Thousands of these sleeping beings lay beneath the Earth’s crust and sprang forth, destroying the world in a similar fashion to what we saw in DC’s Kingdom Come.

So why am I geeked about this book? Because ever since its inception the Authority has been that super-powered group that has been trying to shape the Earth into a better world, whether it wanted to be or not. That world is broken, if not destroyed. In effect, the Authority have failed and done so massively. If ever there was a group of heroes (or anti-heroes, if you prefer) that should have prevented all of this from happening, it should have been the Authority.

But they didn’t.

How does a team stay together and remain viable after they’ve failed at what they were supposed to be doing? That’s what I am interested to see in this book because this is a “what happens now?” version of the group. In many ways this premise is similar to another WildStorm book that I loved in the past, namely Wildcats when it was being helmed by Joe Casey and Sean Phillips. In that book there was almost a deconstruction of the superhero mythos as the creative team examined what happened to a team and its members once the team really was no more. Played right that kind of deconstructionist perspective can be a treasure-trove of stories.

Is that what we’re going to get here with this current incarnation of the Authority? It’s hard to say for sure, this is a completely different creative team after all, but the seeds are there. The Authority were supposed to be the team that saved the world from itself, but when the world really needed them they ultimately failed. How does a team cope with that?

It’s the personal stories that are grabbing me as well. Maybe gay superheroes aren’t your thing, and that’s fine if it isn’t, but for me the relationship between Midnighter and Apollo has been complex and intimate. Now, because of their failure the two are torn apart: Midnighter is trapped on the ground, punching as many people in the face as he can as an expression of his failure, while Apollo is forced to live high above the clouds so that he can maintain his solar-powered abilities. A married couple that in this time of crisis probably needs each other more now than ever, yet they’re forced to be apart, each dealing with their individual failures as well as their failure as a team.

What can I say, good stuff!

GREEN LANTERN #34 $2.99 (Geoff Johns / Ivan Reis)

I am LOVING this book, which I am sure is nowhere new information to regular readers of this column, so I won’t go on TOO long.

Basically Johns and Reis are retelling the origin of Hal Jordan while at the same time weaving in bits about the prophecy of the “Blackest Night”, which also happens to have something to do with the formation of the Red Lanterns.

I don’t know why it is, but right now I’m a touch obsessed with this concept of the Red Lanterns. Those that have been follow the two GL books know that Laira has become a Red Lantern, but from what we’ve seen from glimpses of the future we see that Atrocitus will be flying around with a Red Lantern Corps ring as well. Being that he is the one foretold the “Blackest Night” prophecy to Abin Sur, one would think that Atrocitus would eventually become the first Red Lantern, and I believe that such has been alluded to. The thing is, from the flashes of the future we’ve seen as well as Laira’s demeanor (wanting to go back and kill Sinestro once she became a Red Lantern) it appears that the Red Lanterns are opposed to the Sinestro Corps, but wouldn’t that in turn align the Red Lanterns with the Green Lanterns? But how can that be, if Atrocitus so obviously hates the Green Lanterns. Could it be that the old maxim of “my enemy’s enemy is my friend” isn’t quite true in this case?

OK, I promised to keep it short, but like I said, I am obsessing about the Red Lanterns right now and I think in this issue (or the next) we’re going to see how their foundation was built.

Yes, I am a geek.

More geek thoughts: even though I am 34 I REALLY want to get a couple of those Sinestro Corps t-shirts that I’ve seen online (one in black, and one in Sinestro Corps yellow); but my geekhood goes well beyond that, because when I see those shirts all that I can think is that I would very much like a Red Lantern Corps t-shirt as well. Oooh! Or a Red Lantern hoody. See what a geek I am!

Image

NOBLE CAUSES #36 $3.50 (Jay Faerber / Yildiray Cinar)

I really don’t have a lot to say about this book this week, other than I my time away from comics for a few months there meant that I somehow completely lost track of this title, one that used to be one of my favorites. I look forward to seeing what’s going on with the Nobles.

However did I let this happen?

I really need to get on top of things.

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What books are YOU most geeked about this week? Let me know! Just stop by the WLG message boards (see link below) and share your thoughts!

See you next week!

Until then, peace!

-Diaz

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Have your say on What Looks Good at the Looking Good message board.

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