Battle of the Origins - Green Lantern Part One

Well, it’s been two years since I did my “epic” match-up of the four Superman reboots. While it wasn't completely perfect, I thought it was a nice challenge. For those who don’t know, I basically put the four Superman rebooted origins (Man of Steel, Birthright,Secret Origin, and New 52) beside one another to see which origin was the best. It was kind of based off the Nostalgia Critic’s “Old vs. New” segment. It took a while, but I got through it. Afterwards, I tried to think of other things I could do this to. It took a while to come up with some things. Green Lantern’s origins were one of the first things to pop into my mind.

In 1989, DC decided to do a retelling of Hal Jordan’s origins in a miniseries called Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn. Its sequel, Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn 2, actually takes place during towards the end of Emerald Dawn. It was worked on by Jim Owsley (aka Christopher Priest), Gerard Jones, Keith Giffen, M.D. Bright, and Romeo Thangal. I actually talked about both mini-series a long time ago. I still think both stories are pretty good. In 2007, DC decided to do another retelling of Hal’s origins that tied heavily into Geoff Johns’ run on Green Lantern. Instead of a mini-series, the origin was featured in Green Lantern #29-35. Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, and Oclair Albert reintroduced us to a young Hal. It is also pretty good.

While Hal Jordan isn’t my favorite character (or my favorite GL), he’s still a nice character and is a major part of the Justice League. Plus, his origin stories are pretty good. Still, which one is the best? My plan is to look at the major features of each origin and see what was done better. I only have about eight things to look at, so this won’t take long. I’ll look at things like the heroes, villains, supporting characters, art, and overall story. I’ll now start off with the main man of the origins, Hal Jordan.

TV Talk - Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Season 3

Well, it’s finally time I got back to Lois and Clark: the New Adventures of Superman. I’ve gone through the first two seasons and they were good for the most part. It took a while to get through this season since I had other stuff to do. I remember seeing most of these episodes when they first aired. I know I missed some episodes including most of the season finale. It probably had something to do with church or we were out of town. The show still had a bit of an ongoing narrative with Clark’s and Lois’s relationship. Last season ended with something that was a big game-changer: Clark proposes to Lois. Even though they really only went out about four times, he asks her to marry him.

Season Three picks up that big plot point as well as Lois realizing Clark is Superman. The season basically revolves around them trying to make their relationship work through a lot of obstacles. There is a wedding and that’s all I’ll say about that for now.  There really aren’t any major cast changes this season or in the final season. Unfortunately, there aren’t many villains from the comics this time as well. We do get the return of Lex Luthor, which is always cool. We finally get some other Kryptonians showing up on the show. The season ended on a downer this time with Clark… well, that would be spoiling, wouldn’t it?

Weird Star Trek Episodes - "These Are the Voyages..." aka "Wait, These Flippin' Idiots Did What? Part 2"

Okay, I'll admit that this scene was good. That's all this episode gets though.

So, I’ve finally finished Star Trek: Enterprise… or at least the final season. There were some season 2 episodes I skipped, so I guess I have to go back and see those to get a better picture. Yay, I guess. I thought I may take this time to talk about the much-criticized series finale. No, I’m not talking about “Terra Prime” which I consider to be the true last episode. I’m talking about “These Are The Voyages…” which I felt I had to watch again. So, “hold on to your butts” because this might take a while.

The whole episode basically revolves around Commander William Riker making a decision on following orders. Yes, this is Star Trek: Enterprise, but someone had the “bright” idea to get Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis to reprise their roles from TNG. The episode actually takes place during “The Pegasus”, a pretty good Season 7 episode. Riker uses the holedeck to pull up the NX-01’s final mission and get advice from the main crew. He plays as the unseen cook to get some advice from everyone. Even Counselor Troi takes a tour of the ship.

Jeffrey Combs... not even you can't save this episode.

For the crew, it’s been six years since “Terra Prime” and Capt. Archer is going to give a speech at the signing of the Federation Charter. They’re contacted by Shran, an Andorian and former ally. His daughter was kidnapped and he needs help to get her. The crew decides to help him out and save his daughter. Unfortunately, it comes at a price. The Enterprise gets boarded by the kidnappers and Comm. Tucker risks his life in order to save Archer. Even though Trip dies, Archer goes on to do his speech (WHICH WE DON’T EVEN SEE) and the episode ends with Riker ending the program. 

So… is there anything good about this episode? Nope. Peace, God Bless, and don’t forget to neuter your dogs or something.
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Ugh, I guess I have to say more than that.

Crisis Time! - Final Crisis #7

Well, here it is. It’s the final issue of this pretty weird event. I have to say that it’s been interesting. It’s been cool going through this event with a more critical eye. I may need that eye for this issue.

The creative team has gone through some changes for this final issue. Morrison is still the writer while Doug Mahnke is penciling the whole issue. The issue also houses a lot of inkers and I mean a lot. I don’t even think I know most of these folk. The main cover has Superman flying toward us while the variant shows the Multiverse being destroyed. The covers are okay this time around with both feeling pretty lackluster for a final issue. Now, excuse me as I try to recap this loopy issue.

Final Crisis #7
Writer: Grant Morrison
Penciller: Doug Mahnke
Inkers: Tom Nguyen, Drew Geraci, Christian Alamy, Norm Rapmund, Rodney Ramos, Doug Mahnke, and Walden Wong
Colors: Alex Sinclair, Tony Avina, and Pete Pantazis
Letters: Travis Lanham

Crisis Time! - Batman #682-683 and Final Crisis #6

Well, I’ve gotten to the penultimate issue of Final Crisis. It’s been an interesting ride, I’ll give it that. I’ll be also briefly looking at Batman #682-#683. Both issues tied into what Batman was doing or not doing in this case. Remember that he was kidnapped in Final Crisis #2 and he’s been off the board since then. The creative team for Final Crisis is the same but more people have been added. Doug Mahnke and Christian Alamy have come in to do some pages. We also got another colorist along with Alex Sinclair this time around. Morrison also wrote the Batman issues. The art for those was done by Lee Garbett, Trevor Scott, and Guy Major.

The main covers for the Batman issues were drawn by the always awesome Alex Ross. The covers for #6 are cool as usual. The main one features Batman and the variant features Darkseid holding a disheveled Superman. While the Batman cover is fine, I have to say that the variant is the more interesting one this time around. What’s weird (and kind of sad) is that scene NEVER happens in the event. This is actually the last time we see that new suit of Darkseid’s. I’m a little disappointed by that. Oh well… Let's see what the Dark Knight was up to!

Batman #682 and #683

Writer: Grant Morrison

Pencils: Lee Garbett

Inks: Trevor Scott

Colors: Guy Major

Letters: Jared K. Fletcher