Comics: Lanterns, Deadpool, and others.

I've been reading through some comics lately.  More than I ever have in my life because of this Geoff Johns business with the Lanterns arc(s).  The central three comics (Blackest Night, Green Lantern, and Green Lantern Corps) are all good.  The first two of that set are central and necessary, and really provide the most interesting hits of any of the comics coming out in that line.  The last one is possibly skipable if you don't have much interest in spacey weird stuff and don't mind missing out on some of the other spectrum colors.  I pick it up and enjoy it every month though.  I mean, it's like $3.

Then there's the real extracurricular reading: The three issue arcs for Blackest Night.  The first arc was Tales of the Corps.  It was phenomenal and probably something everyone should pick up (especially since any newcomers to the storyline can catch up on the colors with those three stories).  Currently, DC's running Superman, Teen Titans, and Batman.  The Superman is ignorable, unless you really want to see Smallville tortured so Superman can invariably save the day with little-to-no personal turmoil.  They've made him just as overpowered in the war of light as they have in all the other comics.  Teen Titans however, that's actually looking good.  The first issue links to a second mini-series that will come out in the next four month phase: Hawks.  If this issue is a reference, Hawks is going to be amazing.  There's a lot of comic lore that seems to play in, and more and more the DC heroes are touching a level of mythological characterization that makes you question whether the gods of Greece and Scandinavia were entertainment for their people.  I think Titans could easily branch so that each issue leads into a separate, later mini-series. And Batman, well, Batman is stellar.  Deadman comes into play as someone trapped between the rebirthing powers of the black rings and the separation from his body.  Good stuff.

Deadpool's just finished up Suicide Kings, which was a pretty damn solid Deadpool comic and only a five issue investment.  Even made you feel good for the guy at the end.  And somehow, Marvel's starting a third on-going comic series called Deadpool Team-Up.  I'm historically a huge fan, but I've decided to hold off on all this ongoing series junk until I can pick up the graphic novels.  Since a) they look better, and b) I'm not so sure about all the really obscure characters Deadpool runs up against every other storyline.

The really interesting thing Marvel's doing is New Mutants.  The first story run pit the sundered X-teens against Legion, one of the most interesting villains in Marvel's entire history.  The second arc apparently resurrects Warlock.  Not the bastard-child Douglock, but real Warlock.  The techno-organic, shape-shifting pile of weird thoughts and bizarre jokes that turned into a replica of the freaking Starship Enterprise to fight Norse gods in comics damned near as old as me.  I have high hopes.

Oh, and Solomon Grundy's about to finish, but that's been mediocre, and unless he ends up as a super-crazy-evil Black Lantern (or maybe something twisted like what's going on with Deadman), then I think it might have been a waste to buy.