Green Lantern #25
I loved the beginning of this crossover, I loved the middle, so why should my opinion change about the end? I loved this issue, from the opening battle scene, to the explanation of the 7 Lantern Corps, to the preview of the next big GL event. I’ll admit that it’s kind of cheesy, but darn it if Geoff Johns doesn’t find a way to make it interesting. So many great moments in the issue, with the denizens of Coast City playing their part in defeating Sinestro, to Cyborg Superman’s not quite death, every page gave me another great moment. Ivan Reis brought his A-game for this issue, and the time spent shows. I have to go back and re-read it to see which pages were drawn by Reis and which ones were done by Ethan Van Sciver, but there was so much done well about the art I didn’t really notice. I’m calling the Sinestro Corp War a success, and it’s certainly in the running for some of the best comics of the year. —5 out of 5

PULL LIST 12-12-07 Green Lantern #25 Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Presents: Ion New Avengers #37 New Warriors #6 Booster Gold #5 Pirates of Coney Island #6 Ultimate Iron Man II #1

Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Presents: Ion
Not as good as GL #25, in fact I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone but completists of the Sinestro Corp story. Basically Kyle Raynor hangs out with the new Ion and shows him the ropes a bit, they fight one of Kyle’s former enemies, and we learn who Kyle will be partnered with. It’s fairly light on story or information, and the art is fairly meh. It’s not awful, but it’s just throw-away. —2 out of 5

New Avengers #37
File this under meh as well, mostly because of Leinil Yu’s art. I’ve said it looked rushed in past issue, but this is the worst offender. Many details get left off of the characters; the fight scene is hard to follow (which is really bad as the issue is one long fight scene). I wouldn’t be so hard on it if I didn’t know that Yu was capable of better work, but it’s just getting progressively worse. Hopefully he’s given time to work on Secret Invasion before it comes out, because that will be the work of his career so far, and it needs to look its best. I will say that the story is fun though, with the Avengers taking it to the Hood’s crew. Every character gets a moment to shine, and [Brian Michael] Bendis brings his usual dialog skill, it’s just hard to tell who’s supposed to be saying what about whom. —2 out of 5

New Warriors #6
On the plus side, I’m starting to be able to tell who’s who. Unfortunately, I’m done with this series. I’ve come to realize that while it’s perfectly readable, it’s also very boring and slowly paced. Over the first six issues practically nothing has happened, no interesting characters have emerged, to say nothing of the fact that most of the characters are former mutants I’ve neither a) heard of, or b) resemble the way they’ve been written or drawn before. I mean, at least according to the art shown here not only did Angel from Morrison’s New X-men run lose her powers, she also turned white. It’s just odd, and the more I think about it the more I realize how little I’ve been enjoying this, so I’m done. —1 out of 5

Booster Gold #5
But just as I get rid of one series, another is recommended to me that I fall in love with. I picked up the first five issues last week and man is this series great. Fun superhero action, time travel, cameos from other characters, family struggles, saving the universe. I wouldn’t call it a comedy book, but it’s light hearted and a flat out blast. Geoff Johns is using this book to tie together the whole of the DCU. This issue finds Booster struggling to save Barbara Gordon from the paralyzing gunshot she received in Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke. It’s an interesting story, although it is lessened a bit by the last page reveal. Dan Jurgens does his best Brian Bolland imitation here, and the result is spectacular. He manages to keep his own style while giving the story the tone of the classic it is drawing from. The big twist at the end makes me excited for the next arc though, and I’m officially a believer in this series. —4 out of 5

Pirates of Coney Island #6
This series from Image makes a return after a long delay comes. Written by Rick Spears with art by Vasilis Lolos, this series follows the adventures of a gang of punk criminals called the Pirates as they fight they’re chief rivals, the Cherries. The story is simple enough that I picked up right where I left off and the story just moves forward. It is light and fun but the art is definitely the reason to give this a look. Lolos has a great design sense and the action is easy on the eyes and near perfect. I just hope that this comes out more regularly. It’s issue 6 of 8 so maybe just wait for the trade to come out. —4 out of 5

Ultimate Iron Man II #1
Another return, this one from an even longer wait, we get the return of Orson Scott Card’s origin of everyone’s favorite soused industrialist. For this mini, we get art by Pascual Ferry, who was born to draw Iron Man. His designs are smooth and futuristic and make the suit look suitably impressive. The plot picks up right after the end of the last mini with the government coming to claim Tony’s “robot”. The only problem is that it’s not a robot but a suit piloted by Tony. So he and Rhodey fire up some new suits and impersonate robots to attack a terrorist camp. The action is good for the end but the plot takes some mental hoops to get through. A very fun story as long as you don’t focus on the details and some really great art to go along with it. —3 out of 5