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| [ DEATH AND THE SALE ] |
To QUOTE Friedrich Nietzsche: 'God is dead. God
remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the
murderers of all murderers?'.
THE STORY:
It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. And
most importantly of them all, it was about bloody time Hal Jordan
teamed-up with Black Hand and sorted out this New God's mess once and for all.
Well, who else were you expecting? Sinestro and John Stewart,
perhaps? Ha! Don't make me laugh. Those two jokers couldn't even manage to get
out of the Multiverse Prison. Even with Parallax in toe. So, as expected, it's
down to the two h's to fly on out to the Source Wall and give Orion and his
Divine Guard a good run for their money.
In a manner of speaking, of course!
Being a fairly avid comic book fan I've come to expect to
see the following three things whenever I pick up a multi-part cross-over
event. Firstly, I expect to see most instalments edging their way towards the
finishing-line one issue at a time. Secondly, I expect to be entertained by a
couple of facts and characters I'm not used to seeing in a more conventional
narrative. And thirdly, I expect a unified cover design that somehow makes the
overall experience feel more special.
And did I get this? Yeah! Yeah I did more or less. But what
I wasn't expecting was page after page of exquisitely crisp and clean art by
Francis Portela -- loved his expressions on Black Hand by the way --
complemented with a simple story-line that was told in two distinct halves.
Well, whilst the first half of the tale basically set up the
second half of the tale -- more on that point later -- the second half of the
tale was one very dynamic looking fighting sequence I wanted to see more of.
Honestly, folks. I wanted more of an exchange between Hal and Orion. I wanted
more of Black Hand's dubious machinations. And I wanted more, more, more, more
images of New Gods getting their asses kicked into touch. Ka-pow! Lovely stuff!
THE BAD:
I suppose the only aspect about this adventure I wasn't too
keen on was how the first half of it came across as one big delay. Well, with
all due respect to Robert's simple story-line, essentially this portion of the
plot did feel a bit exposition like in execution. First we had a scene showing
John and the gang trying to get out of prison. Then we had a scene where Hal
talked Black Hand into helping him out with those pesky New Gods. And finally
everything came full-circle with a scene I was expecting to see in the first
place -- Hal, the Hand, and Orion fighting out in front of the Source Wall.
Now please don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to say I
didn't like following this simple structure. Yet I did find it fairly
predictable in execution. That's all.
THE MUSIC:
As implied in my previous Friedrich Nietzsche quote, by in
large I felt that this comic book evolved around two specific subjects -- God
and Death. So with that in mind it's over to you 'Black Sabbath', with your dirge
like anthem, 'God Is Dead?'.
On a conceptual level I'd say this instalment of 'Godhead'
was about finding a man associated with death to help out with life. Sound good
to you? As it does to my comparison! Or to be more specific about it, those men
and women of life and death we all call the
undertakers.
Amen.
THE CONCLUSION:
Now without giving too much away I'd say at the very end of
this book Black Hand looks at the Source Wall and says something rather
cryptic. So just for fun -- possibly -- can you guess what he says out of the
following eight options?
- It's
alive!
- It
winked at me when I wasn't looking.
- It's
a mass grave!
- It
reminds me to stop masturbating.
- It
never smelt like that before
- It's
a horse.
- It's
complicated, but I think it likes me.
- It's
'Cousin It' from The Munsters television show.
Nuff said.
GREEN LANTERN #37
Reviewed by David Andrews
on
December 22, 2014
Rating:
Reviewed by David Andrews
on
December 22, 2014
Rating:
