After a
painful two week delay, we're now onto the final installment
of the 5-part "RingQuest." I have to admit, I'm very torn on
the issue.
I'll
touch on the events of the issue before getting into my
feelings...
We pick
right up where we left off in #25, with Mongul about to
raise holy hell with the GLC. With the GLC incapacitated by
the Black Mercies, Mongul threatens Mother Mercy into
digesting the GLC. When his inner-bickering between himself
and his conjoined twin becomes too much, Mongul cuts Duel in
half... but somehow manages to preserve the lives of both by
of forcefields to stop the blood loss (who knew Mongul II
was also a skilled surgeon?). We see a two-page spread of
the various GLC members' fears via the Black Mercies they're
exposed to. As Mother Mercy plays a trick on Mongul and
actually disengages the Mercies from their bodies
underground, Guy Gardner has his first use of Lethal Force
as he beheads one half of Duel (by one half of Duel I mean
one of the conjoined twins that isn't conjoined anymore). As
the Lanterns race after Mongul the other half of Duel is
killed (veritably "run over" by the flying GLs), then
bum-rushed. If you blink here, you'll miss Bzzd entering the
mouth of Mongul here. Some more fighting, and then Mongul
suddenly clutches his chest... and we see Bzzd bursting
through Mongul's eyeball. The GLC burns Mongul into re-entry
of the planet and meets his end. We then see that Bzzd's
invasion of Mongul was a suicide run... and the small,
well-loved alien dies. Mother Mercy (or "Matris Ater
Clementia" as we learn the name) is offered both a Sinestro
and a Green Lantern ring (Bzzd's)... and promptly cuts her
own tendril off that has the Sinestro ring, choosing the GLC
as Bzzd's replacement. With that, the GLC members escort a
casket with Bzzd in it as we close out the arc.
The
Fears of the GLC: This felt a little bit arbitrary and
didn't seem as strong as our peeks into Sodam Yat and
Arisia's fears previously. Nevertheless, it was interesting
to see some of their fears, particularly Natu's, Vath's,
Isamot's, and Bzzd's. Kyle's was a little abstract, Guy's a
bit expected. It was very interesting to see Stel himself
being susceptible to the Black Mercy... here we see his fear
as well.
The
Sacrifice of Bzzd: Completely unexpected, and hit me and
I suspect many others like a ton of bricks. I'll be plain
about it -- I don't like that he is killed off here and I
think it's a wanton waste of a fan-favorite character that
had really begun to develop a strong, almost cult following
among the fandom. Still... the story was handled well here,
his sacrifice very noble and made my eyes well up a tad --
that Tomasi was able to evoke this kind of emotion should
say something about the calibre of writing here, even if we
disagree with the decision. Earlier in the month he evoked
similar emotions in me with the Final Crisis: Requiem
special which retrofitted something missing from Martian
Manhunter's actual death scene in Final Crisis: humanity.
Mother
Mercy a Green Lantern?: Now this was unexpected. Most of
us fans were really expecting her to join (and give us our
first peek at) the Compassion/Indigo Lantern Corps, the
Sapphire Corps, or even the Blue Lantern Corps for various,
logical reasons... looks like we were all wrong, what can I
say. Perhaps we all have Blackest Night/the War of Light so
strong, so prevalent in our minds these days we're becoming
trained to see potential Blue, Red, Yellow, Indigo, and
Sapphire Lanterns everywhere, even where none were ever
intended (and it's funny, there's actually folks that dig
back years, even all the way back to Crisis on Infinite
Earths itself and further, and go word hunting for the
buzzwords like "Hope," "Fear," "Avarice," etc., in the hopes
of unlocking clues about Blackest Night). As I wondered last
issue in pondering what kind of ring Mother Mercy was going
to go, I still wonder if Mother Mercy can even leave the
planet, what with its complicated ecosystem and the Black
Mercies that seem to depend on her guidance.
Kyle
Rayner, Guy Gardner, Sodam Yat: Guy manages to perform
his first act of Lethal Force (well, with a GL ring on,
anyway) in a scene that even brings pause to Soranik Natu...
but sadly I can't say that Kyle or Sodam really get any
noteworthy moments in the issue. Sodam in particular, I was
really hoping/expecting to see him make up for his
incapacitated state from much of the arc so far to really go
balls-out in the climax... instead, he's really just one GL
of many pounding on Mongul in the end. I'm really itching to
see Sodam Yat tap into the potential of his Ion power... we
just haven't seen it yet.
To be
honest, my first instinct is that of disappointment, the
entire 5 issue arc in retrospect now. It now seems like for
5 issues (or 8 months, since there was Sterling Gates'
two-issue guest shot in between Parts 1 and 2 of RingQuest)
we've essentially been running on a treadmill with Mongul
II... he rises, he causes some trouble, and then he's
killed. The entire arc is pretty self-contained, the only
real "big" thing I really see spinning from this (not
including perhaps seeing zombified versions of Mongul II and
Bzzd in Blackest Night) is back with Mongul launching all
those seedlings into deep space.
But then
again, I realize this stance probably isn't fair. At all.
I find
myself taking a step back. Going back to the thing about
many of us GL fans kind of becoming self-trained to be
looking for Blackest Night intrigue... I think this
is where most, perhaps all of my disappointment is coming
from. I was expecting Big Things, I was expecting to see
perhaps the start of the Indigos, perhaps something larger
than that. None of this is fair, of course. What we
got was 5 issues that began with a very personal, slow build
with the settling of Guy and Kyle and the rise of Mongul to
an eventual knock-down, drag-out ring slinging finale that
is totally badass. The story, a self-contained one, is
remarkable and one that won't soon be forgotten... even if
it's not the big Blackest Night Prelude many of us were
thinking it would turn out to be.
Even
taking a step back from things, though, I still can't say
I'm very happy with Mongul II biting the dust this early in
the game (and it's been brought up, "Oh, but he'll be back
in Blackest Night"... but I'd thought between Mongul Senior
and Mongal that the Mongul zombies would already be well
stocked enough for that). We've been given every reason to
believe Mongul is/was heading toward total control of the
Sinestro Corps (making it the Mongul Corps?) -- I'm talking
about the Mongul peek in DC Universe #0, I'm talking about
the "Domination" ads with Mongul holding various rings, etc.
-- which would've
perhaps led to an interesting Sinestro/Mongul dichotomy
if/when Sinestro ever returned to try and reassert
leadership. So we kind of saw a Sinestro Corps resurgence in
this arc... and then in the end it all just imploded on
itself. I guess I'm left wondering what the payoff was in
spending all this time elevating him to so quickly discard
him, if that makes any sense.
On a
sidenote, it was funny to see another hint of a Sodam Yat/Arisia
connection blossoming in Mongul noting that "You both seem
to be always in close proximity to each other" before
suggesting they get even closer by ramming them together
with his hands. Perhaps not too coincidentally, the very
next panel is shared by Soranik Natu and Kyle Rayner.
The next
mini-arc sounds compelling indeed... the opening of Guy's
new bar, the return of Saarek, and dead GLs becoming
restless in the Crypt of Oa.
