Comic Book Reviews: Green Lantern #15 and general thoughts on Ultimate Spider-Man #1-10

Green Lantern has been an incredible read since Hal Jordan and Sinestro were replaced with the awesomeness that is Simon Baz. Unfortunately, things appear to be moving into crossover territory, so although it's not new reader inaccessible, some background is necessary.

Other Green Lanterns are now contacting the Hal/Sinestro ring and the Third Army's expansion throughout the DCU is becoming unwieldy. But the star of this remains Baz, who confronts the owner of the car he was stealing in #0 Month (the twist, by the way, is pretty interesting).

I will say that this was the weakest of Simon's issues. The big revelation is kind of thrown away and I feel like Simon's first encounter with a GLC member should have been with an Earth-based Lantern. Also, without a reference to other books, the book really assumes you know what the rest of the Corps knows, when in reality you know as little as Simon.

Hal and Sinestro's fate after the Black Hand fight is revealed (PLEASE let it stick!) and the First Lantern is getting very close to opening the gateway to the next crossover event.

My big concern is that the Green Lantern books are getting back to that level of complexity where you don't want to get involved with the books because you can't buy all of them. I really hope Baz's stories stay relatively separate because it is a joy to read him.

If you haven't been following the last few issues, this is a terrible one to join in on. If you have, definitely stick around.

Thoughts on Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man

While at the comic store today, I read through the first two trades (#1-10) of Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man and I can honestly say that I really liked it.

Miles Morales came across as a really likable character and his motivation was clear. He receives spider powers and wants to hide them, but then realizes upon Peter Parker's death that he owes it to put his powers to good use.

He confides in a friend and that allows for actual dialogue as he learns about his powers. And when he puts on the suit, he is immediately met with people who want him to go away.

Nick Fury, Spider-Woman, J. Jonah Jameson, etc. all seem to have issues with his existence in the suit, but he's determined to do what is right - even if he has no clue what he's doing.

This is exactly how a Spidey universe should function post-Peter Parker and I hope the moves after Amazing Spider-Man #700 lives up to this.

I'll admit that I'd never followed the Ultimate Universe to that point and really didn't see the point, but this book shows exactly what the universe can do, and I look forward to hearing more about Miles' exploits in the future.

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