It
always happens: someone accustomed to making their own command decisions (Capt.
Kirk, James Bond or John Stewart) must yield to a higher authority (Starfleet,
Her Majesty’s Secret Service, the Guardians), and comes up with some
work-around that enables them to nullify a direct order. Kudos to Stewart for
not being a lap dog, but if he’s going to defy the Guardians, why did he bother
to put them back in charge? Because the writer dictated it. I wouldn’t mind so
much, but for it to happen so soon after them resuming their former authority
seems questionable at best.
MEANWHILE…
Kyle Rayner, Guy Gardner, Killowog and others have gone to rescue Jal Jordan
from Zod, so much of this issue is pure battle between Lanterns and
Kryptonians. But thankfully, neither side is recycling the same tactics and
subterfuge to achieve their ends. Matters get a little more creative than that,
though I am at this time a little uncertain for what exactly has happened, or
what it means for the Lanterns involved. Details to follow, I guess.
But getting
back to the Guardians, it seems it’s business as usual with them, something
we’ve been seeing since the Silver Age. They’re omniscient, all knowing, full
of themselves and their superior intellect. They expect the Lanterns to do
their bidding without independent thought, yet the Lanterns constantly prove
them wrong. A few issues back, the Guardians once more took charge of the
Corps, and wasted no time demonstrating their ineffectiveness in a crisis. When
will they learn? After more than half a century, it’s downright tiresome. I was
hoping Venditti wouldn’t go down that all-too-familiar path, but he did.
Kudos to DC
for pitting the Lanterns against Zod and Family, but for anyone who has read
recent issues of Action Comics, we
have a pretty firm idea of how all this turns out. I’d appreciate it if next
issue we get considerably closer to the end of the current story arc.
Rating:
5/10