| SYNOPSIS: A billowing red cape. An oddly shaped blue lantern. A pair of goldenbracelets. These objects, instantly familiar to comic book fans, are acomplete mystery to the Planetary personnel who discover them while diggingthrough the abandoned New York laboratory (from Issue #6) of the sinister group known as The Four.But behind each seemingly innocuous object lies a story, and a tragedy. In one, an alien couple gazes out upon their technologically advanced world, while one tells the other that each exploratory probe the planet launches brings their doom that much closer, increasing the instability of the black hole at planetcore. Helpless to prevent the coming tragedy, the couple hopes to survive it, in a sense, by launching their own vessel, which will carry every aspect of their culture to a distant planet, actualized in the form of a child. They embrace, the craft launches, and ironically enough, that act is their world's destruction. This end, and the escaping craft, are witnessed by another ancient race, which laments the loss, but finds its own resolve to help prevent such tragedies strengthened. This strange race, evolved from "space's first policeman," empowers individuals across the universe with a glowing blue talisman, a lantern that shines the light of reason on countless worlds. Bestowing this lantern on a noble figure, they tell him to "be the light in blackest night," and send him out among the stars. This trajectory, too, has witnesses: a mother and daughter standing at the gates of a gleaming city on earth, gazing out over an America that is both unaware of their secret female society, and nowhere near as advanced as them. Still, says the elder, the time is right for the island city to reveal itself; "to bring them news of a better way to live." And her daughter -- empowered by her wondrous, magical bracelets -- shall be the ambassador that changes the world. Three stories...all of which end badly, thanks to The Four. When the alien vessel lands on Earth, a team led by William Leather is there to greet it. Its tiny occupant, a wide-eyed baby wrapped in a red cape, extends a beseeching hand to Leather, who incinerates him. Leather phones the encounter into Randall Dowling, who is in the process of surgically removing a lantern from the corpse of the alien protector seen in the second story. As the two chat, Dowling offhandedly tells Leather of his discovery of a secret culture of women, and his intention to have their ambassador assassinated by Kim Suskind as she emerges from the island. "[That] should send the correct message," he says. Back in the present, Elijah Snow looks at the objects, and seems to perceive the great sadness, and loss, behind each of them. And he comes to a realization, which he voices to the uncomprehending Planetary crew: "I've been going about this all wrong."  REVIEW:
From the moment we see the familiar, iconic objects -- or actually, from when we first read about them in the preview several months earlier -- we had a pretty good idea their respective bearers had come to tragic ends, most likely at the hands of The Four. Even still, that knowledge couldn't fully brace us for the events which unfold here, as approximates of DC's most familiar heroes are brutally struck down. Perhaps the most impressive thing is that in these brief snapshots, and in these tragic deaths, we fully grasp just how much the Earth has been robbed of...and how much better it could have been. These tales also drive home the grandeur of each character's origin, and since we know how wondrous these characters are, we have a special grasp of what The Four has ruthlessly taken away. Ellis has said he wanted this issue to be a tribute to DC's greatest characters and origins. Mission accomplished. Although Ellis deserves plenty of credit for the adaptations and interweaving stories, it's Cassaday who steals the show with his sadly doomed alien couple and their magnificent world; the dozens of unique races that populate the Lantern corps; and the achingly beautiful mother and daughter pair. Juxtapose this with the jarring wrench to Leather's sadistic version of child care and Dr. Dowling's grisly operating table (Laura DePuy's hectic red hues make this scene even more disturbing) and the tragedies feel particularly acute. Kind of wish I could find something to gripe about -- you know, beyond the 2 1/2 month wait since Issue #9 -- but I can't. Yet another emotion-draining masterpiece that reminds us why we love this title. | |  Random Thoughts:Damn, Leather and Dowling are really total sons of bitches, aren't they? Hard to believe that what had been seen up to this point was them on a good day. I really hate them. So okay, I get that the baby is Superman and the woman in the toga is Wonder Woman, but who the hell was that guy with the lantern supposed to be? He didn't look anything like Aquaman to me. If only the ever-vigilant Dowling could have foreseen the arrival of Gen-13 into the Wildstorm Universe. Perhaps he could have eliminated Grunge and Freefall, too. It's possible that Dowling mentions Henry Bendix, the former Weatherman of Stormwatch, as little more than a casual attempt by Ellis to further increase continuity between his two Wildstorm success stories, but it's starting to look like more than that. I don't really expect -- or want -- Bendix (killed by Jenny Sparks in Stormwatch, Vol. II, Issue #11) to show up in this book's future, but he certainly might surface in its past. No one will be surprised if the Planetary/Authority crossover, at the very least, covers this ground. Much dark mystery is contained in Dowling's conversation with Leather. "Something our old friend wrote about in his planetary guide in 1949"? Is this planetary guide a Planetary guide? Who is this "old friend"....and do we really want to find out? Leather's words to Snow at the end of Issue #6 imply that Snow himself is one possible answer for this mystery. Why am I concerned that the more we learn about The Four, the less we're going to like some of our current heroes? Worrisome. RATING: 9/10. Is it me or have the last three issues each been more depressing and disturbing than the previous one? NOTE: I've gotten enough email telling me "who the Lantern guy is supposed to be" that I need to clarify the comment about it above. I was joking. |
