Review:
Joe the Barbarian #1, Green Lantern Corps #44, Starman #81--My Picks of the Week!

My absolute favorite book this week was Joe the Barbarian #1, Grant Morrison's newest Vertigo mini-series. Here we meet Joe, an teenage artist bullied by his peers, unhappy with his home life and struggling with Type 1 Diabetes. When he forgets to take is insulin, he begins to hallucinate of this land where his toys are real. But was it really just an hallucination? Sean Murphy's art is fantastic and with the first issue coming in at only a buck, you really don't have anything to lose by checking this series out.

At the conclusion of Green Lantern Corps #43, we had Red/Green Lantern Guy Gardner laying waste to Black Lanterns as Mogo, the Green Lantern sentient planet arrived as back up. This issue deals with Mogo freak'n kicking Black Lantern ass, Guy Gardner ripping through Black Lanterns with a red construct chainsaw and Kyle trying to bring Guy back from his rage. An excellent issue, The Green Lantern Corps has been the most solid of all the Blackest Night tie-ins. There's nothing gimmicky here, we don't have to sit through every single Black Lantern's memory download and point of view. No this series is all about the Green Lanterns as characters as they are faced with overwhelming odds, one crisis after another and the threat of losing everything they hold dear.  There's a lot more emotion and suspense here than any other Blackest Night issue, save the Blackest Night title itself (and at times, it surpases the main book).

While I enjoyed Weird Western Tales (Blackest Night) for its mean spirit and goofiness, I believe that Starman #81 (Blackest Night) is the best of the one issue tie-ins (at least so far). And not because of the Blackest Night stuff--which has Starman David Knight coming back from the grave and commencing in the usual rip everyone's heart out. No this is good because of the Shade. James Robinson does a fantastic job of weaving a tale that's not a clone of all the other Blackest Night tie-ins. The interaction between Shade and Hope O'Dare is great. The scratchy art by Fernando Dagnino does a great job of setting the dark mood.  There are rumors of a new "Starman" title by Robinson starring the Shade and after reading this issue, I really hope it comes to fruition.