Hurtling
through space at near light speed sits the Grandmaster,
Cyborg Superman Hank Henshaw on his steel thrown. With a
fist full of Sinestro rings and a red glare in his metallic
left eye, we witness a being obsessed with only one thing:
death. The best part of it all? We are inside Henshaw's
head! With only two thought bubbles this is already some of
the most interesting narration I’ve seen throughout the war.
In a flurry of
yellow Fear energy, Sinestro floats down to address Henshaw,
informing him “we’ve entered Earths star system. Its time”.
Coupled with a side view of Henshaw's metal face, these two
may be the most menacing villains to ever work together. The
scene of them walking side by side down the corridors of
Warworld reminds me of something straight out of a sci-fi
movie. The great thing about the exchange between these two
is that, for all of the planning and precautions Sinestro
seems to have taken, Henshaw says nothing. He knows
Sinestro's game, and because of this knows he poses no
threat. Henshaws indifference as to what heroes may be
present, including Superman, seems to me that he is 100%
focused on his goal. Nothing will stop him this time. Pan to
a view of the Manhunter army, Sinestro looking on in
approval, and Henshaw thinking to himself how foolish
Sinestro’s plans are. Henshaw seems to be about 10 leagues
over Sinestros head here, and I got the feeling that he is
in much greater control at this moment than Sinestro will
ever be.
As the Cyborg
Superman leaves Warworld in preparation for his assault on
Earth, we are given a flashback, and answers as to what
brought him to this point. In what seems to be the Fantastic
Four origin gone bad, we see how a solar flare doomed
Henshaw to a fate worse than death. To make matters worse,
Superman interferes at a critical time when all hope was not
yet lost. Henshaw lost two of his friends, and nearly losses
his wife before losing his own body. You get a sense for who
Hank Henshaw was as a man: caring, compassionate, loyal, and
a loving husband. Perhaps it was his love for his wife and
his determination to save her that brought about his
immortality. Either way, with his body now a corpse, his
soul entered the machine. Finally he would have answers. And
what a shock! It was Superman himself who, albeit
inadvertently, caused the solar flare which would doom
Henshaws shuttle and seal his fate. At this point even I was
pissed off at Superman, I could only imagine the pain
Henshaw was feeling at that time. He would feel greater pain
however. In his attempt to save his wife, she killed
herself. This seems to be the breaking point. Henshaw
travels the galaxy taking on various different forms and
causing death and destruction everywhere. I had no idea
about any of this before this comic, and was pleasantly
surprised when I read this. His depth of character increased
a hundred fold in only 8 pages.
What is really
awesome about this flashback is how it brings everything
full circle. Superman was responsible for Henshaw becoming
Cyborg Superman. Cyborg Superman is responsible for
destroying Coast City, and thus the catalyst for Hal Jordan
to be infected by Parallax. Parallax in turn is responsible
for the near destruction of the entire universe. In the end,
this is Superman's fault. Maybe our Big Blue hero isn’t as
innocent as everyone thinks.
The next scene deserves special note, as it is perhaps one
of the most graphic, yet sad moments I have ever seen.
Henshaw, clutching the corpse of his dead wife, recalls the
various times he’s been destroyed, only to be dragged back
to his living hell. At this point, all he wants is darkness,
no memories, no nothing. Usually in these situations, the
character longs to be reunited with a loved one, not in this
case. The tearing apart of Terri’s body only goes to show
how sick of life Henshaw is, and for good reason. I will
never forget this scene.
Now we are taken
to the JLA satellite, where Red Tornado, Red Arrow, Black
Lightning, Black Canary, Vixen and Hawkgirl are stationed.
They are concerned over the recent absence of the Green
Lanterns. And then they notice a massive structure headed
toward Earth. Before they can figure out what it is, the
Manhunters attack. The ensuing battle between Hawkgirl and
Black Lighting in space is decent, although the Manhunters
seem to be nothing but shells of their formers selves. I
love the shot of Henshaw using his Sinestro Rings to bust
through the satellites shields while his mechanical tendrils
enter their main computers. Only he could do something so
awesome. And total props to Burnett (writer) for actually
showing off Red Tornados potential. I mean the guy made a
force field of air around the entire satellite, even though
there’s no air in space!
Henshaw is just about
to override the satellites main computer, when BOOM! Its
Superman! Here to save the day, or so he thinks. But no,
Henshaw spears him right down to Earth. We are then treated
to an amazing scene: Sinestro, his Corps and Warworld are
now visible in all their glory. Wonder Woman proclaiming
“Great Hera” was a great way to capture the mood. Yes JLA,
you guys are in trouble now. Warworld crashes the satellite,
a space shuttle and descends upon Earth, Central Fear
Battery and all.
And now the good
part! Yes, as far as I’m concerned the majority of the issue
was building up to the battle between Henshaw and Superman.
Needless to say, Superman gets his ass handed to him.
Perhaps Superman will be the angel of death Henshaw needs to
die, but I don’t think so. Henshaw fires up his Sinestro
rings and lays into Supes hard, smashing a boat, crashing
him into a bridge, and finally decapitating the Statue of
Liberty with Supermans body. It is here more than anywhere
else that Henshaws thought bubbles grab the reader by the
neck and shake them viciously:
“Suddenly an
energy courses through me I cannot contain. It’s more than
the rings power. It’s the realization of Victory. I could
see it now, Superman's annihilation…the destruction of this
merciless Earth…and my reward…that deep, dark peace, from
which all things fall away! It opens like a curtain before
me. Oh, Terri…”
With a lifeless Superman in
his grasp: “I WILL HAVE MY DEATH!”
I hope not, because Hank Henshaw has become one of my
absolute favorite characters ever, in all mediums. This
issue rivals any other I’ve seen during this War, and
frankly any other issue I’ve ever read.
Total props to Patrick Blaine for the amazing artwork- you
captured Henshaw beautifully, excellent top-notch work. Alan
Burnett also receives my admiration as this is one of the
most well written comics I’ve come across in my time
(however short) reading comics.
Without hesitation I give this comic *****/*****. This is
the 7th+ time I’ve read it, and I still
thoroughly enjoy it.
