Violet Violence

Green Lantern Corps #30

Guy Gardner, Sodam Yat, and Arisia, along with a few of the Guardians, travel to the planet Zamaron, home of the Star Sapphires — also known as the Violet Lanterns. This is a diplomatic mission — but also a spy mission. What are the Star Sapphires up to? Who are they going to ally with? The Star Sapphires have power rings attuned to Capital-L Love, but that doesn’t really make them good guys — they’re ruthless and obsessive and a bit creepy, which actually makes them really similar to the Guardians, come to think of it. Meanwhile, Kyle Rayner and another contingent of GLs are on the trail of a Sinestro Corps member named Kryb — she likes to kill GLs who are parents, kidnap their children, and raise them herself in the biological crib that grows out of her back. Ewww, Kryb is just about the creepiest and most unsettling Sinestro Corps member there is.

Verdict: Despite the presence of Kryb, I’m going to give this a thumbs down. The entire story is a fairly mushy muddle.

Fantastic Four: True Story #4

Nightmare has apparently triumphed — Sue Storm and Ben Grimm are dead, the concept of fiction is dead, and Nightmare controls everything. Luckily, Reed and Johnny figure out a way to use the remnants of fiction to bring Sue, Ben, and the rest of their allies back to life and to conjure up an army of modern-day movie action-heroes and celebrity cheerleaders to beat up Nightmare’s army.

Verdict: Thumbs down. Parts of it are okay and fairly amusing, but wow, this just goes rattling all over the place, seemingly at random. Too weird, too chaotic, and it definitely fails to live up to what it could’ve been.