Post by Zoom on Jul 9, 2011 22:00:32 GMT -5
Flashpoint Week 8
This week marks the return to our first full week of tie ins, giving us the third issue of the main series along with the second issues of Batman: Knight of 100 Bullets, Abin Sur: How to Succeed at Being More Interesting Than Hal Jordan Without Really Trying, Secret Obscure Mystical Characters and World Leaders Who Don’t Have Their Own Tie In of Flashpoint.
In case you haven’t been reading these series, here’s a quick recap. In the main Flashpoint book, Barry has tracked down Thomas Wayne aka Batman and convinced him to help him recreate the accident that made him into the Flash. It didn’t work and Barry seemingly died (though we all know better).
In Batman, the Joker has escaped again and this time he’s kidnapped Harvey Dent (who isn’t Two-Face)’s twins. Batman is trying to track down the Joker but he found Killer Croc instead…and killed him. The timeline here is a little uncertain. It might take place after Cyborg’s gathering of heroes in Flashpoint 1 but that’s based entirely on one offhanded comment Batman makes to Gordon. Did I mention this is the author and artist from 100 Bullets and the dark style and witty dialogue are great?
Secret Seven takes place soon after Cyborg’s gathering of heroes. Shade the Changing Man was invited to help save the world but some guys think Shade is responsible for the deaths of the rest of the Secret Seven (which is a really odd Sentinels of Magic/Night Force type team containing Klarion the Witch Boy and Trigon as heroes and I’m not sure why anyone thinks Shade is capable of offing the whole group) and so they were going to experiment on him? Kill him? Help him learn to use his powers better? I don’t know. The scientists were kinda vague and lied both to Shade and each other but the important thing to know is that Enchantress/June Moon teleported Shade away and now they’re going to try to reform the Secret Seven…or something. But still. We’ve got Shade and Enchantress. This could get better.
In Abin Sur, we’ve gotten the Green Lantern’s whole origin. Thing is, Abin Sur has supposedly never been to Earth at this point which doesn’t make any sense because Cyborg, Tempest, Arsenal and Nightwing are all grown up but let’s just ignore that for the sake of the story. So anyways, the Guardians, ever the optimists, have decided that Earth is screwed (even though it’s just Aquaman and Wonder Woman. I get that without Superman, Flash and Green Lantern, a gal like Wonder Woman suddenly winds up pretty high on the food chain. This doesn’t change the fact that a handful of Green Lanterns could wrap up all the planet’s problems in an afternoon) and so they want to send Abin, in a space ship (so he can crash it of course), to go get the white power entity from Earth because the white lantern entity is really important for some reason. I was so caught up in the predictable/nonsensical storytelling in Blackest Night/Brightest Day that I seem to have missed a rather large plot point from those stories. Oh well. So Abin is all like “Why don’t I just like…stop this war? Cause you know, I’m more powerful than all the Atlanians put together, especially since they killed off Tempest” and the Guardians are all like “Do what we say or we’ll take away your allowance!” and Abin Sur is like “Whatever, Mom, you just don’t understand me. ALL LIFE IS IMPORTANT. I LEARNED THAT FROM MY SISTER.” Then Abin takes a space ship to Earth anyways and crashes it. Then, just to remind you that Tygers was a better excuse for Abin Sur crashing his space ship into Earth, we get a few pages of Sinestro interrogating Atrocitus about Flashpoint, like Atrocitus wasn’t the worst source of information ever. You know, in hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have scored that issue as high as I did.
World of Flashpoint…I’m not sure when this is supposed to take place. Presumably…at the same time as the main series? Anyways, all the world leaders (including Tracy Thirteen’s dad) have basically decided to blow up Aquaman and Wonder Woman with an awesome space death ray. Tracy of course tries to stop them (kicking Osiris’s butt in the process) but her dad injects her with tranquilizer and activates the countdown anyways.
On to the reviews!
Flashpoint 3
You can stop holding your breathe now because Barry didn’t die. He convinces Batman to let him try again to regain his speed by getting struck by lightning again and it works this time. I love this. What if it didn’t work? “Dear Diary. Today, some crazy guy showed up in the Batcave and somehow convinced me to help him get struck by lightning. Twice! Then he died. Lol. Laterz. -Batman.” So anyways, Flash gets his powers back and they recruit Cyborg and instead of being like “Remember how all those heroes in issue 1 abandoned us because Batman wasn’t going to help and remember how Batman is now going to help? Let’s go get them” they’re like “Let’s recruit the Justice League even though they pretty much don’t exist!” Thankfully, they don’t recruit Hal Jordan. Oh and then Grifter shows up for one panel so that’s kinda cool.
This issue is pretty much filler. Big surprise, though, as issues 2-5 or so of Geoff Johns big event books are always pretty much filler, setting up an eventual climax at the end of the second to last issue to be resolved halfway through the last issue so they can use the rest of the space to set up the next big event book. Yawn. I’m only reading this for Cyborg and Booster.
2/5
Batman – Knight of Vengeance 2
Man, oh man. This stuff is awesome. This book made me gasp. This book made me reread it a second time because…well, you’ll know after you pick it up.
4.5/5
Secret Seven 2
This is actually quite a bit better than the first issue. We get a couple pages with Amethyst, a couple pages with Shade, a couple pages with Abra Kadabra…this is all well and good except it means that since the cast is so large, by the time everything is set up, the issue is over. I can’t help but feel that issue 1 could have been mostly eliminated and mixed with this issue to create an actual issue 1.
The reason I say this is that much of the first issue is just confusing backstory and Shade being like “boogy boogy boo” and Enchantress being like “hocus pocus.” Then we get to the second issue and it starts really setting things up and adding more interesting characters like Abra Kadabra, Zatanna, Raven and Amethyst and…then it ends. The ending’s fine and it makes me want to pick up the next one but I don’t see how this is all supposed to wrap up in issue 3 if it’s taken us two issues just to figure out what direction the story is going in. That’s what issue 1 of your 3 issue mini is for.
3/5
Abin Sur – Green Lantern 2
The dialogue and art of this book are just bad.
GL: Your world is endangered. War threatens your entire planet.
Cyborg: You sound like you’re here to help us. (How matter of fact of you, Vic, considering you’re talking to an alien that just told you your planet is in danger.)
GL: I am not.
Cyborg: *Grits his teeth as hard as possible*
GL: I am on a mission to retrieve…an entity.
Cyborg: Whose mission? Who are you?
GL: My name is Abin Sur. And I want to help you and your world. (But you just freaking said you weren’t here to help)
Cyborg: *making a very unnatural pose and still gritting his teeth* Then please join me.
I guess if you’re really, really into Sinestro, there’s plenty of Sinestro being misguidedly evil but even that feels empty without Sinestro talking down to everybody.
2/5 and upon further inspection, I’m changing my score for the previous issue from a 3 to another 2.
World of Flashpoint 2
True to its name, Traci Thirteen’s story gives us more of the entire world and we learn the fates of several of Earth’s greatest champions and worst villains in this new timeline. I was especially fond of the Jason Todd and Circe portions of the story. Good stuff.
3.5/5
Bottom Line:
You’re picking up the main Flashpoint story because it’s the main story, even though it probably isn’t worth your money. You’re picking up Batman because it’s probably the best story, even if it isn’t going to be all that important to the main book. You’re picking up World of Flashpoint if you want to know what happened to Thomas Oscar Morrow, the Red Tornado, Natasha Irons, Beast Boy, Guy Gardner, Jason Todd, and Circe or if you just want to see a likeable character’s struggle to save a over a hundred million people. You’re leaving Abin Sur on the shelf unless red guys with mustaches just really turn you on.
This week marks the return to our first full week of tie ins, giving us the third issue of the main series along with the second issues of Batman: Knight of 100 Bullets, Abin Sur: How to Succeed at Being More Interesting Than Hal Jordan Without Really Trying, Secret Obscure Mystical Characters and World Leaders Who Don’t Have Their Own Tie In of Flashpoint.
In case you haven’t been reading these series, here’s a quick recap. In the main Flashpoint book, Barry has tracked down Thomas Wayne aka Batman and convinced him to help him recreate the accident that made him into the Flash. It didn’t work and Barry seemingly died (though we all know better).
In Batman, the Joker has escaped again and this time he’s kidnapped Harvey Dent (who isn’t Two-Face)’s twins. Batman is trying to track down the Joker but he found Killer Croc instead…and killed him. The timeline here is a little uncertain. It might take place after Cyborg’s gathering of heroes in Flashpoint 1 but that’s based entirely on one offhanded comment Batman makes to Gordon. Did I mention this is the author and artist from 100 Bullets and the dark style and witty dialogue are great?
Secret Seven takes place soon after Cyborg’s gathering of heroes. Shade the Changing Man was invited to help save the world but some guys think Shade is responsible for the deaths of the rest of the Secret Seven (which is a really odd Sentinels of Magic/Night Force type team containing Klarion the Witch Boy and Trigon as heroes and I’m not sure why anyone thinks Shade is capable of offing the whole group) and so they were going to experiment on him? Kill him? Help him learn to use his powers better? I don’t know. The scientists were kinda vague and lied both to Shade and each other but the important thing to know is that Enchantress/June Moon teleported Shade away and now they’re going to try to reform the Secret Seven…or something. But still. We’ve got Shade and Enchantress. This could get better.
In Abin Sur, we’ve gotten the Green Lantern’s whole origin. Thing is, Abin Sur has supposedly never been to Earth at this point which doesn’t make any sense because Cyborg, Tempest, Arsenal and Nightwing are all grown up but let’s just ignore that for the sake of the story. So anyways, the Guardians, ever the optimists, have decided that Earth is screwed (even though it’s just Aquaman and Wonder Woman. I get that without Superman, Flash and Green Lantern, a gal like Wonder Woman suddenly winds up pretty high on the food chain. This doesn’t change the fact that a handful of Green Lanterns could wrap up all the planet’s problems in an afternoon) and so they want to send Abin, in a space ship (so he can crash it of course), to go get the white power entity from Earth because the white lantern entity is really important for some reason. I was so caught up in the predictable/nonsensical storytelling in Blackest Night/Brightest Day that I seem to have missed a rather large plot point from those stories. Oh well. So Abin is all like “Why don’t I just like…stop this war? Cause you know, I’m more powerful than all the Atlanians put together, especially since they killed off Tempest” and the Guardians are all like “Do what we say or we’ll take away your allowance!” and Abin Sur is like “Whatever, Mom, you just don’t understand me. ALL LIFE IS IMPORTANT. I LEARNED THAT FROM MY SISTER.” Then Abin takes a space ship to Earth anyways and crashes it. Then, just to remind you that Tygers was a better excuse for Abin Sur crashing his space ship into Earth, we get a few pages of Sinestro interrogating Atrocitus about Flashpoint, like Atrocitus wasn’t the worst source of information ever. You know, in hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have scored that issue as high as I did.
World of Flashpoint…I’m not sure when this is supposed to take place. Presumably…at the same time as the main series? Anyways, all the world leaders (including Tracy Thirteen’s dad) have basically decided to blow up Aquaman and Wonder Woman with an awesome space death ray. Tracy of course tries to stop them (kicking Osiris’s butt in the process) but her dad injects her with tranquilizer and activates the countdown anyways.
On to the reviews!
Flashpoint 3
You can stop holding your breathe now because Barry didn’t die. He convinces Batman to let him try again to regain his speed by getting struck by lightning again and it works this time. I love this. What if it didn’t work? “Dear Diary. Today, some crazy guy showed up in the Batcave and somehow convinced me to help him get struck by lightning. Twice! Then he died. Lol. Laterz. -Batman.” So anyways, Flash gets his powers back and they recruit Cyborg and instead of being like “Remember how all those heroes in issue 1 abandoned us because Batman wasn’t going to help and remember how Batman is now going to help? Let’s go get them” they’re like “Let’s recruit the Justice League even though they pretty much don’t exist!” Thankfully, they don’t recruit Hal Jordan. Oh and then Grifter shows up for one panel so that’s kinda cool.
This issue is pretty much filler. Big surprise, though, as issues 2-5 or so of Geoff Johns big event books are always pretty much filler, setting up an eventual climax at the end of the second to last issue to be resolved halfway through the last issue so they can use the rest of the space to set up the next big event book. Yawn. I’m only reading this for Cyborg and Booster.
2/5
Batman – Knight of Vengeance 2
Man, oh man. This stuff is awesome. This book made me gasp. This book made me reread it a second time because…well, you’ll know after you pick it up.
4.5/5
Secret Seven 2
This is actually quite a bit better than the first issue. We get a couple pages with Amethyst, a couple pages with Shade, a couple pages with Abra Kadabra…this is all well and good except it means that since the cast is so large, by the time everything is set up, the issue is over. I can’t help but feel that issue 1 could have been mostly eliminated and mixed with this issue to create an actual issue 1.
The reason I say this is that much of the first issue is just confusing backstory and Shade being like “boogy boogy boo” and Enchantress being like “hocus pocus.” Then we get to the second issue and it starts really setting things up and adding more interesting characters like Abra Kadabra, Zatanna, Raven and Amethyst and…then it ends. The ending’s fine and it makes me want to pick up the next one but I don’t see how this is all supposed to wrap up in issue 3 if it’s taken us two issues just to figure out what direction the story is going in. That’s what issue 1 of your 3 issue mini is for.
3/5
Abin Sur – Green Lantern 2
The dialogue and art of this book are just bad.
GL: Your world is endangered. War threatens your entire planet.
Cyborg: You sound like you’re here to help us. (How matter of fact of you, Vic, considering you’re talking to an alien that just told you your planet is in danger.)
GL: I am not.
Cyborg: *Grits his teeth as hard as possible*
GL: I am on a mission to retrieve…an entity.
Cyborg: Whose mission? Who are you?
GL: My name is Abin Sur. And I want to help you and your world. (But you just freaking said you weren’t here to help)
Cyborg: *making a very unnatural pose and still gritting his teeth* Then please join me.
I guess if you’re really, really into Sinestro, there’s plenty of Sinestro being misguidedly evil but even that feels empty without Sinestro talking down to everybody.
2/5 and upon further inspection, I’m changing my score for the previous issue from a 3 to another 2.
World of Flashpoint 2
True to its name, Traci Thirteen’s story gives us more of the entire world and we learn the fates of several of Earth’s greatest champions and worst villains in this new timeline. I was especially fond of the Jason Todd and Circe portions of the story. Good stuff.
3.5/5
Bottom Line:
You’re picking up the main Flashpoint story because it’s the main story, even though it probably isn’t worth your money. You’re picking up Batman because it’s probably the best story, even if it isn’t going to be all that important to the main book. You’re picking up World of Flashpoint if you want to know what happened to Thomas Oscar Morrow, the Red Tornado, Natasha Irons, Beast Boy, Guy Gardner, Jason Todd, and Circe or if you just want to see a likeable character’s struggle to save a over a hundred million people. You’re leaving Abin Sur on the shelf unless red guys with mustaches just really turn you on.
