Showcase Presents Wildcat by Eddie Berganza, Nick Gnazzo, and Ray Kryssing / Green Lantern / The Flash: Faster Friends by Ron Marz, Val Semeiks, Chip Wallace, et al.

From June 2020 to December 2023, I chronicled the history of the Justice Society in fifty installments. And then, at last, I was done!

Or was I? The nature of these projects I undertake is you can always discover there was some relevant comic you didn't know about at the time. Such was the case when a friendly commenter named Drew popped up to tell me that, after I'd bemoaned Geoff Johns forgetting about the brother of Yolanda "Wildcat" Montez, the character made an appearance in an issue of Showcase '94. Well, it looks like I have more comics to read, so this series is (much like the JSA itself) called back into action again after a long gap. Since December 2023, I've discovered a few different JSA-adjacent comics, so this will be the first of, I think, three new installments.

So, the second Wildcat, Yolanda, was created by Roy and Dann Thomas in Infinity, Inc. (see item #10 below), but like a lot of DC's legacy characters, basically went into limbo once the series was over. And then was brutally killed off to prove the situation was serious... in an issue of freakin' Eclipso! Gotta put that old white guy back into his rightful position, of course. 

from Showcase '94 #8

But as Drew told me, there was a follow-up to all this in an issue of Showcase, DC's anthology series. In this story, Ted Grant, the original Wildcat, goes to Yolanda's funeral... only to find out that her parents, desperate with mourning, have hired a witch doctor to bring their daughter back to life! It's a pretty simple story: you might not be surprised to find out that Yolanda comes back as a mindless monster, and Ted defeats it. It is, after all, just ten pages. I didn't much care for the art, but it was nice to see that Roy and Dann Thomas's original conception of Yolanda wasn't totally forgotten; her brother is in the story. (For some reason, Geoff Johns later makes up a cousin for Yolanda rather than just use the brother during his JSA run; see item #34 below.)

from Green Lantern/Flash: Faster Friends #1

I also read Faster Friends, a two-issue miniseries from 1997 about Green Lantern (then Kyle Rayner) teaming up with the Flash (then Wally West) in order to deal with the consequences of an early adventure of a different Green Lantern (then Alan Scott) and Flash (then Jay Garrick). We get some flashbacks to that original adventure, the first time Green Lantern and Flash ever teamed up, back in 1940, as the present-day characters work alongside their namesakes and each other.

I think the idea here is good but I also think there's too much going on for the story's ninety-six pages... or maybe there's too much action, which pushes out the stuff it seems to me the story should actually be about! The first issue in particular is a bit of a nothingburger; we have a flashback of Jay and Alan teaming up but it goes so quickly it doesn't really give us any insight into their personalities. In the present, I think we're supposed to see a sort of rivalry between Wally and Kyle, but it's more like something we're told happened in other stories than something we actually see in this one.

from Flash/Green Lantern: Faster Friends #2

The second issue has more potential but again is trying to do too much: Jay is terminally ill, and Kyle and Wally go through a teleporter that mixes them up a bit. But Jay's impending death is a bit too much to deal with in a story like this, and of course it's all resolved by the end of the story (albeit in a clever way). One might think that Wally and Kyle being scrambled up would yield some good drama or character insight, but basically all it means is that each is wearing the wrong costume and seems to know stuff the other should, and then it gets fixed. There's no meaningful character arc: one expects more from Mark Waid, to be honest.

As far as this project goes, it's always fun to see Jay and Alan... but this is from the period (see #23 below) when Alan was deaged and went by "Sentinel." Such things happen in superhero comics, I suppose, but one doesn't have to like them. Bad creative decision, though again, Waid and Augustyn do an interesting thing with it, at least. 

(I read the story collected in a DC Comics Presents issue from 2011, but I think it will end up being collected whenever DC does The Flash by Mark Waid Omnibus, Volume Three, which I will buy when it comes out, so that may have been pointless.) 

Wildcat: "Brujas Y Gatos" originally appeared in issue #8 of Showcase '94 (July 1994). The story was written by Eddie Berganza, pencilled by Nick Gnazzo, inked by Ray Kryssing, colored by Suzanne Bourdages, lettered by Bill Oakley, and edited by Neal Ponzer.  

 

Green Lantern/Flash: Faster Friends #1 and Flash/Green Lantern: Faster Friends #2 originally appeared in 1997. The story was written by Ron Marz (#1) and Mark Waid & Brian Augustyn (#2); pencilled by Bart Sears, Andy Smith, Jeff Johnson, Ron Lim, & Tom Grindberg (#1) and Val Semeiks (#2); inked by Mark Pennington & Bill Anderson (#1) and Chip Wallace (#2); colored by John Kalisz (#1) and Ian Laughlin (#2); lettered by Chris Eliopoulos (#1) and Albert DeGuzman (#2); and edited by Kevin Dooley (#1) and Paul Kupperberg (#2). It was reprinted in DC Comics Presents: Green Lantern / The Flash: Faster Friends #1 (Jan. 2011).

 

This post is the fifty-first in an improbably long series about the Justice Society and Earth-Two. The next installment covers Impulse: Bart Saves the Universe. Previous installments are listed below:

The Justice Society Returns! by David Goyer, James Robinson, et al.

 The Justice Society Returns!

Collection published: 2003
Contents originally published: 1999-2001
Acquired and read: February 2022

Writers: David Goyer, James Robinson, Chuck Dixon, Geoff Johns, Ron Marz, Tom Peyer, Mark Waid

Pencillers: Michael Lark, William Rosado, Eduardo Barreto, Scott Benefiel, Russ Heath, Aaron Lopresti, Stephen Sadowski, Peter Snejbjerg, Chris Weston, Peter Grau
Inkers: Michael Bair, Eduardo Barreto, Keith Champagne, John Dell, Wade Von Grawbadger, Doug Hazlewood, Russ Heath, Ray Kryssing, Aaron Lopresti, Mark Propst, Claude St. Aubin, Christ Weston
Colorists: John Kalisz, Carla Feeny, Noelle Giddings, Tom McCraw

Letterers: Ken Lopez, Kurth Hathaway, Bill Oakley, John Costanza, Janice Chiang

I'm coming up on the return of the JSA to an ongoing comic, but before then, I'm reading four collected editions with JSA connections, of which this is the first.

The title of this volume would seem to indicate that it's about a triumphant return of the Justice Society of America. This is only kind of true. This isn't a "return" in the narrative; the JSA (which had disbanded in Zero Hour) was still moribund in the present-day of the DC Universe (though that was about to change), it was a return out of the narrative, in that 1999 gave us a JSA title for the first time since the end of its short-lived only ongoing back in 1993. But if you were to look at my list of titles below, it's slightly deceptive: it would imply no JSA-adjacent titles from the end of Damage in 1996 until now. But in fact one had been steadily chugging along since 1994: James Robinson's Starman. This was about the most recent inheritor of the Starman mantle, but it had played a lot with the history of the character, including his JSA ties. That title was primarily written by James Robinson, often co-plotted by David Goyer, and it's those two that primarily guide this storyline.

Did people in 1945 know this? I guess probably.
from All Star Comics vol. 2 #1 (script by James Robinson & David Goyer, art by Michael Lark and Wade Von Grawbadger & Doug Hazlewood)

The Justice Society Returns! is set in 1945, as it seems World War II is coming to an end, and one could imagine it as a story arc in All-Star Squadron if the series had made it that far along; like that series, it weaves the superheroics in and out of real war to good effect. It is structured like a typical Golden Age JSA storyline: the characters as a group discover some issue, then they split up into groups to handle different aspects of it, then they come back together as a group to finish it off. Except, instead of having just a single issue to do all of this, JSA Returns takes nine issues, two of which are double-sized!

This turns out to really work. I usually dislike the typical JSA structure because everything is rushed and you don't get much genuine character interaction—which is surely what you want out of a team book! But with one issue apiece for each pair of heroes, you can really dig into them. The individual stories, like All-Star Squadron did, do neat stuff by placing these superheroes in wartime, exploring what makes them tick, and delving into the war itself at the same time. Goyer and Robinson write the two framing issues (All Star Comics vol. 2 #1-2, more on them later), while a variety of writers pen the ones in between; each issue has its own artist.

Good use of the silent panel, here.
from All-American Comics vol. 2 #1 (script by Ron Marz, art by Eduardo Barreto)

Highlights included "Cold Heart" (All-American Comics vol. 2 #1), which is about Green Lantern and Johnny Thunder protecting the Yalta Conference, but is mostly told from the perspective of an ordinary American soldier trying to do the same without superpowers: a strong sense of tone, time, and character make this an effective tale. It might be the best Ron Marz script I've ever read, and Eduardo Barreto is a great penciller who I am surprised not to know more of given this quality of work.

Go little guy, go!
from Adventure Comics vol. 2 #1 (script by James Robinson & David Goyer, art by Peter Snejbjerg & Keith Champagne)

I also really liked "Stars and Atoms" (Adventure Comics vol. 2 #1), which sends Starman and the Atom to Los Alamos to protect the atom bomb test site. Robinson and Goyer themselves provide a great focus on one of my favorite JSAers, the eternal underdog the Atom, and Peter Snejbjerg (is he an underrated talent? I always like him but can't remember seeing him get much high-profile stuff) also turns in some atmospheric pencils, backed up by great coloring from John Kalisz. The debt that this whole series owes to A-SS is most clear here, as it picks up on some stuff Roy Thomas established about how the Atom developed superpowers and changed costumes (though I think that "really" didn't happen until 1948).

I don't think I've ever read a comic really focused on Mr. Terrific, but I usually enjoy him when he pops up.
from National Comics vol. 2 #1 (script by Mark Waid, art by Aaron Lopresti)

It would probably surprise no one to know that Mark Waid's story is also one of the collection's greats. "Fair Play" (National Comics vol. 2 #1) is set in Dresden during the Dresden bombing, focusing on the Flash and Mr. Terrific. The story is narrated by the Flash, but focuses on Mr. Terrific, whose sense of fair play is undermined by the horrific events he witnesses... perpetrated by his own side! The ending is a little pat, though, as the story kind of punts responsibility for the bombing onto war itself rather than, you know, the people who make these decisions.

Gotta get our gratuitous shots into those comics about women, amirite?
from Sensation Comics vol. 2 #1 (script by James Robinson & David Goyer, art by Scott Benefiel & Mark Propst)

Probably the only misfire is "Womanly Deeds & Manly Words" (Sensation Comics vol. 2 #1). The writing here from Robinson & Goyer is fine, teaming up Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl, but it is pretty typical superhero comics that clearly someone involved went, "Well, why would people read a comic about two women unless it had a lot of panels with gratuitous focuses on tits, asses, and panties in it?" I don't know this Scott Benefiel guy, and I am not encouraged to do so. The Wonder Woman here is Diana's mother, Queen Hippolyta, having travelled back in time (I think this happened in John Byrne's Wonder Woman comics, which I haven't read), but the story mostly shies away from that; aside from Johnny Thunder calling her "Polly" in one issue, I don't think there's a reference. (Roy Thomas established back in All-Star Squadron/Secret Origins that Miss America filled Wonder Woman's role in the JSA in the post-Crisis timeline, but later writers don't seem to have been very interested in that idea.)

I have never really been convinced I want to read a Johnny Thunder series or something, but I have come to see him as a delightful bit of color in JSA stories.
from All Star Comics vol. 2 #1 (script by James Robinson & David Goyer, art by Michael Lark and Wade Von Grawbadger & Doug Hazlewood)

I also was not very taken by the wrap-up issue, "Time's Arrow" (All Star Comics vol. 2 #2), which becomes a confusing muddle involving time travel for no evident reason. It felt like the writers ran out of space... but they only ran out of space because they added a bunch of unnecessary stuff! But the first issue, "Time's Keeper" (All Star Comics vol. 2 #1), was a strong one; it's essentially two one-issue stories combined: first an Hourman solo story, then a big JSA fight. I can't claim to love Hourman (I would be very happen to never read another ham-fisted Miraclo addiction storyline), but he can work well in some cases, and this is one of them. Michael Lark, better known for his work on Gotham Central, is just as adept with traditional superheroics.

(There are also two short stories that pad out the volume, one about class snobbery in the JSA from Golden Age Secret Files and Origins #1, and one about Stargirl from JSA Secret Files and Origins #1. The former was fun, but the latter did not make me like Stargirl very much. I am curious to see her in her original solo series, which I should do soon.)

Overall, this is great, doing what the "retroactive continuity"–based JSA comics have done at their best since the days of All-Star Squadron, and I am glad I spent the money to track down a physical copy. Soon I'll be reunited with the JSA in the present (there is a veritable explosion of JSA content in the early 2000s) but this is a great teaser for things to come, a great return to the glory days.

This post is twenty-fifth in a series about the Justice Society and Earth-Two. The next installment covers Chase. Previous installments are listed below:

1. All Star Comics: Only Legends Live Forever (1976-79)
2. The Huntress: Origins (1977-82)
3. All-Star Squadron (1981-87)
4. Infinity, Inc.: The Generations Saga, Volume One (1983-84)
5. Infinity, Inc.: The Generations Saga, Volume Two (1984-85)
6. Showcase Presents... Power Girl (1978)
7. America vs. the Justice Society (1985)
8. Jonni Thunder, a.k.a. Thunderbolt (1985)
9. Crisis on Multiple Earths, Volume 7 (1983-85)
10. Infinity, Inc. #11-53 (1985-88) [reading order]
11. Last Days of the Justice Society of America (1986-88)
12. All-Star Comics 80-Page Giant (1999)
13. Steel, the Indestructible Man (1978)
14. Superman vs. Wonder Woman: An Untold Epic of World War Two (1977)
• Wonder Woman: Earth-Two (1977-78)
15. Secret Origins of the Golden Age (1986-89)
16. The Young All-Stars (1987-89)
17. Gladiator (1930) ["Man-God!" (1976)]
    
18. The Crimson Avenger: The Dark Cross Conspiracy (1981-88)
19. The Immortal Doctor Fate (1940-82)
20. Justice Society of America: The Demise of Justice (1951-91)
21. Armageddon: Inferno (1992)
22. Justice Society of America vol. 2 (1992-93)
23. The Adventures of Alan Scott--Green Lantern (1992-93)
24. Damage (1994-96)
    

The Adventures of Alan Scott--Green Lantern by Roger Stern, Ron Marz, Dusty Abell, Jim Balent, Andrew Pepoy, et al.

While reading Justice Society of America vol. 2, I learned from the lettercol that at the same time, Alan Scott had his own feature in the short-lived Green Lantern Corps Quarterly series. I don't necessarily track down every solo appearance of every JSA member, but these seemed to have some focus on Alan's family life, which meant appearances by Jade and Obsidian of Infinity, Inc., plus Alan's marriage to the original Harlquin, also an Infinc concept. So I went ahead and tracked it down. (I skipped the final issue, #8; it featured Lobo, so it goes for $20 at least these days. No thanks.)

GLC Quarterly was an ongoing anthology comic about various members of the Green Lantern Corps; each issue had 54 story pages. Typically, there was a short frame story, an eighteen-page lead story about a new Green Lantern character, a twelve-page Alan Scott story, a twelve-page G'nort story, and a short story either about a preexisting character ("Whatever Happened to...?") or a previously unknown Earth Green Lantern ("The History of Sector 2814"). Issue #7 switches things up somewhat, and features two Alan Scott tales. (In issue #8, the Alan Scott story is actually a flashback tale, so I feel justified in excluding it.)

from Green Lantern Corps Quarterly #3
(script by Roger Stern, art by Dusty Abell & Mark McKenna)

The first four stories are written by Roger Stern, and mostly feature art by Dusty Abell and Steve Mitchell. Roger Stern is one of those comics writers who I wouldn't call "great" but you can depend upon to turn in a satisfactory story, in my experience, and that's exactly what he does here. Across his four tales, we get an origin recap, a family reunion, a visit to the grave of Dinah Drake Lance (the original Black Canary), a battle with Solomon Grundy, and a visit to Doiby Dickle's adoptive home planet.

This is solid stuff. I always like seeing a superhero's family, and though twelve pages don't leave a ton of room for it, we get a good sense of the affection Alan has for his found family. The best story was, to my surprise, the Doiby Dickles one, which treats this goofy character with enough affection that I found myself charmed: Alan and Molly visit his new planet, and discover that he's remade it into a tribute to the place and time he's left behind. Dusty Abell is an artist I don't have much experience with—I do remember a solid turn on the "Five Years Later" Legion of Super-Heroes—but he proves himself well-suited to the classic heroism of a Golden Age character. All in all, enjoyable stuff. I was pleased also to see the whole JSA paying tribute to Dinah, who died while they were in limbo; it's a nice touch that keeps these characters feeling real.

from Green Lantern Corps Quarterly #7 (script by Ron Marz,
art by Mark Tenney & Wade Von Grawbadger)

With issue #4, though, Jim Balent and Andrew Pepoy take over the art, and with issue #5, Ron Marz takes over the writing. The result is an immediate, jarring change in style and tone: overwrought, angsty, verging on the 1990s "xtreme" aesthetic stuff. There's a new Harlequin taunting Alan; later, Alan is de-aged, and in issue #7, we learn this is because of the power of the Starheart, the ejected magic core of the Power Batter on Oa that gave Alan his powers. Alan becomes the new "Sentinel," abandoning his Green Lantern identity. It was all rather rushed and under-explained, even though issue #7 gives us two Alan Scott stories, and makes his story the frame narrative.

This is all because, I think, of the impending Emerald Twilight storyline, the end goal of which was to make Kyle Rayner the only Green Lantern in the universe; if Alan was to go on, he needed a new superhero identity. I am not a fan, but I guess I'm glad he wasn't killed off. However, this material doesn't feel rooted in the life and history of Alan Scott like Stern's; it's much more generic action-adventure with a dose of darkness that feels gratuitous.

I thought the Harlequin here was the same new one who bedevilled Infinity, Inc. back in the day, Marcie Cooper, but the DC wiki tells me that she's a new character who only appeared in two more issues a few years later (Underworld Unleashed #1 and Green Lantern vol. 3 #71), and who we never really learn anything about. It seems to me it would make more sense for her to be Marcie, based on what she knows about Alan's personal life.

This could make a nice little trade if anyone was ever so motivated, but I doubt anyone ever will be. Still, the first four issues are worth picking up if you are into the JSA legacy elements, and I assume the last three will be important for understanding future Alan Scott stories if nothing else.

(It's not my focus here, but I did read all the stories in this title. Some were quite good! There's a charming Mark Waid/Ty Templeton collaboration in issue #2, I really liked the story of the woman who turned down the Guardians in issue #4, Elliot S! Maggin has a neat one-off about an alien GL in issue #5, and so help me, I even liked the G'nort feature at times.)

The Adventures of Alan Scott--Green Lantern were originally published in issues #1-7 of Green Lantern Corps Quarterly (Summer 1992–Winter 1993). The stories were written by Roger Stern (#1-4) and Ron Marz (#5-7); pencilled by Dusty Abell (#1-3), Jim Balent (#4-6), Darryl Banks (#7), and Mark Tenney (#7); inked by Steve Mitchell (#1-2), Mark McKenna (#3), Andrew Pepoy (#4-6), Terry Austin (#7), and Wade Von Grawbadger (#7); lettered by Bob Lappan (#1-3), Bob Pinaha (#4-5, 7), and Albert DeGuzman (#6); colored by Anthony Tollin (#1), Matt Webb (#2-5, 7), and Stuart Chaifetz (#6); and edited by Kevin Dooley (#1-7) and Eddie Berganza (#6-7).

 

This post is twenty-third in a series about the Justice Society and Earth-Two. The next installment covers Damage. Previous installments are listed below:

1. All Star Comics: Only Legends Live Forever (1976-79)
2. The Huntress: Origins (1977-82)
3. All-Star Squadron (1981-87)
4. Infinity, Inc.: The Generations Saga, Volume One (1983-84)
5. Infinity, Inc.: The Generations Saga, Volume Two (1984-85)
6. Showcase Presents... Power Girl (1978)
7. America vs. the Justice Society (1985)
8. Jonni Thunder, a.k.a. Thunderbolt (1985)
9. Crisis on Multiple Earths, Volume 7 (1983-85)
10. Infinity, Inc. #11-53 (1985-88) [reading order]
11. Last Days of the Justice Society of America (1986-88)
12. All-Star Comics 80-Page Giant (1999)
13. Steel, the Indestructible Man (1978)
14. Superman vs. Wonder Woman: An Untold Epic of World War Two (1977)
• Wonder Woman: Earth-Two (1977-78)
15. Secret Origins of the Golden Age (1986-89)
16. The Young All-Stars (1987-89)
17. Gladiator (1930) ["Man-God!" (1976)]
    
18. The Crimson Avenger: The Dark Cross Conspiracy (1981-88)
19. The Immortal Doctor Fate (1940-82)
20. Justice Society of America: The Demise of Justice (1951-91)
21. Armageddon: Inferno (1992)
22. Justice Society of America vol. 2 (1992-93)
    

Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Crisis!, Part LXX: Convergence: Zero Hour, Book 1

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2015 (contents: 2015)
Borrowed from the library
Read June 2017

Convergence: Zero Hour, Book 1

Writers: Justin Gray, Christy Marx, Ron Marz, Frank Tieri, and Fabian Nicieza

Art: Ron Randall, Rags Morales & Claude St-Aubin, Mike Manley & Joe Rubinstein/Bret Blevins, Tom Mandrake, and Karl Moline & Jose Marzan Jr.
Color: Gabe Eltaeb, Nei Ruffino and Sian Mandrake
Letters: Pat Brosseau, Travis Lanham, Tom Napolitano, and Dave Sharpe

The very concept of Convergence is pretty goofy and not in a good way. Why bring these characters back but distort them by having them live in isolated cities for a year? Surely there must have been a more elegant option available. It doesn't help that no one seems to have told the writers of the tie-ins whether there were any rules for how the city battles worked: some characters are sent into each other's cities by Telos, others fly over on their own volition, some combats begin as soon as the domes go down, others have time to prepare, and this volume introduces (in just one story) the idea that the combats take place on a neutral ground.

Not pictured: some very cheesecake-y Jim Balent stylings.
from Convergence: Catwoman #2 (script by Justin Gray, art by Ron Randall)

Still, the best Convergence stories manage to do something worthwhile with the concept, usually by having some kind of emotional substrate to the battle being told. I don't think Zero Hour, Book 1 contains the best Convergence stories thus far, but it is one of the most consistent books, perhaps because the 1990s had characters with more emotional complexity than the 1970s/80s ones featured in earlier volumes. All five stories collected here cover characters from Metropolis around the time of the Zero Hour, though I'm not sure if from before or after the event itself, fighting the characters of Kingdom Come (published just two years after Zero Hour, so nice and era-appropriate).

Faster than a DC Bullet: All-New All-Different DC, Part XIII: Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer

Comic trade paperback, 158 pages
Published 2008 (contents: 2007-08)
Borrowed from the library
Read March 2017

Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer

Writers: Ron Marz, Sean McKeever, Peter Johnson, Matt Cherniss, Brian Augustyn, Alan Burnett, Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti

Pencillers: Angel Unzueta, Jamal Igle, Kelley Jones, Eric Battle, Greg Tocchini, Travel Foreman, Kalman Andrasofszky, Jeremy Haun, David Hahn, David Baldeón
Inkers: Oliver Nome, Richard Friend, Saleem Crawford, Trevor Scott, Rob Hunter, Kelley Jones, Derek Fridolfs, Vicente Cifuentes, Jonathan Glapion, Jesse Delperdang, Paul Neary, Lorenzo Ruggiero, Kalman Andrasofszky, Norm Rapmund, Álvaro López, Rick Ketcham, David Hahn, Steve Bird
Colorists: Allen Passalaqua, John Kalisz, Mark Chiarello, Art Lyon, Rod Reis, Pete Pantazis, Kanila Tripp
Letterers: John J. Hill, Steve Wands, Travis Lanham

I read this because I thought that it would tie-in to The All New Atom in some way. I still assume it does, because the next volume of The All New Atom is called The Hunt For Ray Palmer!, but "all-new Atom" Ryan Choi does not put in an appearance here. Instead, this volume follows the so-called "Challengers from Beyond" from Countdown to Final Crisis, expanding on their multiverse-hopping search for the original Atom, Ray Palmer, covered in volumes two and three of that series. Honestly, though I know it would have inflated that series to five volumes, and no one out there wanted more of Countdown to Final Crisis, DC should have included these issues with those ones somehow, because they don't stand on their own in any way.

I will never ever care about Monarch, DC, no matter how hard you try.
from Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer: Wildstorm #1 (script by Ron Marz, art by Angel Unzueta and Oliver Nome & Richard Friend & Saleem Crawford & Trevor Scott)

The various issues collected here mostly show visits by the Challengers from Beyond to different worlds in the multiverse while they look for Ray Palmer, giving us extra adventures that went unseen in the main Countdown to Final Crisis series. As such, there's no real set-up (just a text page to recap salient points from the main series) and no resolution beyond an ad for Countdown to Final Crisis, Volume Three. And some parts are just confusing; for example, the Jokester from Earth-Three joins the Challengers at the end of one issue, but is nowhere to be seen in the next; that's because Countdown #30-22* took place between these two issues, and the Jokester died in #29, but there's no indication whatsoever of that here. And obviously I read Countdown to Final Crisis, but so long ago that I didn't remember this. C'mon, DC, at least try to make your collections readable. (Thanks to Cosmic Teams for being the only people on the whole Internet invested enough in Countdown to write an issue-by-issue timeline for it. Most of The Search for Ray Palmer occurs between issues #22 and 21 of Countdown, so during the middle of volume three.)

Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Star City, Part XXIII: Green Lantern: Emerald Allies

This is it! With Green Lantern: Emerald Allies, I have officially and finally read every single trade paperback to feature Green Arrow, a voyage I began exactly a year ago in May 2009, taking me through twenty Green Arrow comics, plus a few related stories.

Comic trade paperback, 206 pages
Published 2000 (contents: 1996-97)
Borrowed from the library
Read May 2010

Green Lantern: Emerald Allies

Writers: Chuck Dixon, Ron Marz
Pencillers: Rodolfo Damaggio, Dougie Braithwaite, Paul Pelletier, Darryl Banks, Will Rosado
Inkers: Robert Campanella, Robin Riggs, Romeo Tanghal, Terry Austin
Colorists: Lee Loughridge, Pam Rambo, Rob Schwager
Letterers: John Costanza, Albert De Guzman, Chris Elioupoulos

The only part of Connor Hawke's time in the title role of volume 2 of Green Arrow is collected in this volume, labeled as part of the Green Lantern series despite the fact that five of its eight issues were originally Green Arrow releases. They all feature team-ups between Connor and Kyle Rayner, the then-Green Lantern of Earth, both young men unexpectedly thrust into a long-running superhero mantle. The material that works with this is probably the best stuff here.

The first story is "Bad Blood," a one-issue first meeting for the two heroes that is decent, but not spectacular. The largest section of the book is "Hard-Traveling Heroes: The Next Generation," which apes the GL/GA team-ups of old by having the two of them travel the United States looking for Kyle's father. Denny O'Neill's early team-ups were known for their over-earnest social commentary, and there's some of that here, but it fits oddly. The story is okay, but let down by a villain plan that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The best story in the book is the last one, "Hate Crimes," which sees New York City pulled apart by racial rhetoric from both white and black commentators, and gets some nice material in as a result, as well as showing us both heroes in their element.

I liked this brief chance to get to know both Connor and Kyle; it some ways it's a shame that both had to be replaced in their roles by the returns of their predecessors. It's not long after this story that Oliver Queen is resurrected, bringing us to Quiver, back where I began all that time ago.