X-Men #6
‘Curse of the Mutants’ concludes and it’s a huge disappointment after the stellar first part. The newly resurrected Dracula defeats his son, takes control of the vampire factions and after some banter with Cyclops everyone goes home, but -gasp- Jubilee is left a vampire. Seriously, that was it? In the one hand in a world where everything is spun out to it’s nice to have a relatively self contained old school story, but Marvel’s Dracula and Blade deserve better than this filler. Speaking of Dracula, the manga-esque redesign of the character is shameful and somehow makes him look even more ridiculous than his classic Jack Palace stylin’. At the end of the day it’s hard not to feel a bit cheated by the promise the story held. All that to make a professional b-lister a vampire? Does anyone care?
2.5/5
Green Lantern: Larfleeze Christmas Special
DC delivered a nice little treat for xmas in the shape of a one-shot orange lantern special. Larfleeze stalks the planet Earth for a mysterious man said to live in the North Pole and bring whatever your heart desires on Xmas Day. It’s always good to get more of Larfleeze and the greediest of the greedy is the perfect character for a nice little story about the christmas spirit and what really matters in the holidays. Coming with a maze (which oddly fits right into the narrative) and Larfleeze Xmas ornament, what more could you want?
4/5
Green Lantern #61
Another issue of GL, another incremental step forward in the ongoing story about the lantern entities causing trouble on Earth. There’s a certain weariness now in the post Blackest Night GL universe, which seems to be circling around the same events in multiple titles. GL is the best, as it should be, but the lack of focus means a frustrating read. After finally revealing that the hooded figure hunting the entities is none other than Krona, this issue skips town to show Red Lantern leader Attrocitus and the Spectre duking it out over the Red Entity, The Butcher. It’s a solid issue which gives us a little more on how the Butcher operates but did it really need to be told? Why take the action away from Hal and Krona just when the plot was finally getting somewhere? A cynical reader might think it could have something to do with the multiple titles covering the same action..
3/5
Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #5
Speak of the devil! Why does this title exist? It’s hard to tell. Guy Gardner, Killowog and Arisia continue to investigate the cause of the ring drain (hello?) and have a scrap with a fake GL Corp. Slightly more of Guy Gardners secret mission is revealed and, yes, it’s about Krona. The guy over in GL in case you forgot already. Say, wouldn’t it be better to cover this in GL? Or Green Lantern Corps? 5 issues in and it’s referring to better things happening elsewhere. Maybe DC should cut their losses with this one.
2/5
Adventures in Comics 