The war continues in our new Earth, as Captain Steel and Power Girl attempt to put things in order by trying to save the human race, but things don’t always go according to plan. Not a fan of all the monologues we had in this issue, but at least it did get the job done. Power Girl gets feisty with Captain Steel when he starts trying to convince the necessity of enforcing their powers onto the human race, in order to save them from themselves. When in reality, if they fight their own people, they’re only going to cause more trouble than what they really need. This is exactly what happened in the previous Earth, that made them have to come to this new Earth.
I really wouldn’t even know how to handle this situation, but the writers did a pretty good job with convincing us that there was no possible solution. How do you save a planet that does not have natural resources? How do our superheroes (who have powers) even attempt to speak to humans who feel completely belittled by them? These are the questions that Green Lantern continued to ask himself, because he is so powerful. This situation reminds me of Watchmen’s Dr. Manhattan – people like them are seen as Gods and are usually hated, because of this.
Val completely helped out Green Lantern to come to a realization and put himself in Batman’s shoes. I know. How does everything always come back to Batman? Let’s analyze that really quick. Batman has always had the mentality that you need to come up with the easiest and quickest solution by always using your resources around you. Given in this situation, Val needed to make Green Lantern realize that he is a God, but started off as a human. If this energy that made him so powerful could be used for something better (like utilizing the ring to give resources to this new Earth), then his superhero/God-like features would have to be sacrificed for the greater good.
Although there were many different stories going on at the same time, they were effectively used in the story to go hand-in-hand with the main scene happening – this war. I honestly feel that in the previous issues, all these different stories did not feel like they were happening at the same time (even though they were). Though, this could also be seen on the positive side to commend the writers for making the reader see the bigger picture and take all of these individual stories for this #12 issue. Going back to the story, even Hourman decides to join Batman and his gang to participate in saving the human race, to which Batman perfectly says, “This isn’t a life they choose, it’s a life they’re struggling to hold onto.” This particular society has been through so much already; the doom of the previous Earth has left them wondering if Superheroes should even coexist with them in this world.
One of my favorite scenes in this issue was the conversation between Hawkgirl, attempting to be the speaker and ambassador of Fury and Queen Marella. It’s a fresh breath of air to see these three ladies conversing with each other, because they all have an independent personality. What I mean by that, is that they’re all very strong leaders that want to speak over each other. Someone always needs to have the last word and this particular photo (Fury smirking in perhaps taking down the human race) shows exactly what I mean by strong. These girls aren’t messing around and they’re intelligent while at it too.
Best ending to figuring out the solution to trying to prevent this war from happening. Green Lantern, AKA Alan, gets a light bulb (with the help of Val) to give up his powers for the greater good. It was sad seeing this happen, but honestly, it also humbled all of the superheroes to be somewhat liked by the human race (although we didn’t really see their reaction to this whole ordeal). Apparently all part of a master plan though…
The Good: I think this probably one of the best issues from this comic book so far. The writing was done so that we could think of the entire problem as a whole, with the simplest solution possible. I’ve always mentioned that art is always beautiful in this comic book and captured each character’s strengths and personalities.
The Bad: The only complaint I have here is the outcome of Green Lantern’s ring sacrificing; We didn’t see the reaction of our society! Were they happy? Were they mad? Were they still complaining? Did they not care? All questions unanswered (and will probably be saved for the next issue, ha.)
Recommended If:
- You can appreciate superhero monologues.
- You enjoy watching our superheroes humbling themselves.
Overall: What is there not to like about this issue? We got our solution to our natural resources problem and we don’t need to wait to find out who was the mastermind behind all of this (if you saw the spoiler). I am curious to find out how he’s going to take advantage now that Alan has given up his ring and powers for that matter to our new Earth. I’m hoping that Queen Marella and Fury step in when stuff hits the fan again – can’t wait to see that!
Score: 8.5/10
