The Main Event Comic Book Reviews 6.14.08

Posted by Dennis Twigg on 06.14.2008

The Main Event joins the Corps and the Greatest Hero Never Known!

Booster Gold #10
General: Geoff Johns and Jeremy Katz's madcap time-traveling ride with the greatest hero never known is drawing to a close and I have to say I'll be sorry to see it end. The book is one of the truly funny superhero books out there right now as it seamlessly blends clever quips and character interactions with super heroics.
Writing: Booster's enemies' motivation is revealed as Booster clashes with Time Stealers. Some clever continuity calls are made (complete with the old-school *asterisk* reference) and we get to see exactly what made Blue Beetle such a hero in the first place. Booster's robot, Skeets, steals the show with hilarious robot banter and a glorious combat that manages to walk the tightrope between inspired and absurd. Overall, it's a nice little story in the midst of a big slugfest.
Art: Dan Jurgens continues to impress with solid superhero action. He even manages to make a fight between non-threatening support robots look cinematic. I feel like a broken record talking about Jurgens, but he's as solid as ever.
Overall Score: B. I have a soft spot for Booster Gold, and this book continues to exploit it.

Green Lantern Corps #25
General: The Yellow Ring – Mongul arc continues as the Green Lanterns continue with their fracas on the planet with the Black Mercy Planet (crazy flowers as seen in Infinite Crisis). I bought this title based on the strength of the Sinestro Corps War crossover, and there's nothing wrong with it, but even though the premise of Mongul reconstituting the Yellow Lanterns excited me, this arc has failed to grab me.
Writing: Tomasi crafts a competent tale with a big group of characters that have exactly the same powers. Now, I feel silly criticizing that aspect, after all it's the whole premise of the book, but in this instance it's started to wear on me. I'm rapidly losing interest in the rag-tag group of Lanterns that all have the same powers. I have no suggestions for fixing this problem, only the purely biased reaction against it. As for the story, it just feels ho-hum. We all want to see Mongul (already a Superman level baddy) with a bunch of power rings lay into the Corps, and this issue just prolongs that inevitability without heightening the tension.
Art: Nothing really wows me about the visuals. We have some good lantern-power moments, but mostly I'm just unimpressed. There's a fairly macabre corpse scene that just looks silly rather than gross.
Overall Score: C. I just don't think I like the cut of this book's jib. I'll finish out the arc, but doubt I'll do much more than that.