Fractal Matter

Stardust is a tale following the lovestruck Tristan through his adventure to gain his dream girl’s (Victoria played by Sienna Miller) heart. To do this he must bring her back a fallen star.

This entails sneaking past a gate keeper whose job it is to keep those who live in Wall on the right side. Unfortunately, though fast for his age, he’s already failed once in keeping a resident of Wall on the right side - Tristan’s father. Tristan manages to get through the gate and off to a very strange place indeed. With help from his mother Tristan finds the star but is surprised at what the star actually is, though this doesn’t stop him from trying to bring the star to his beloved Victoria.

He’s not the only one after the star however; three witches and a prince are also after the star as the heart of a star will keep a person alive well beyond their time. The star also carries a jewel that will proclaim the king of the land.

Stardust is a lovely story that is enjoyable, fun and the perfect fairytale. One person, however, steals the film even though there are loads of cameos. Robert De Niro will make you either forget how to speak or laugh until you cry, possibly both.

The main drawback is that this UK DVD (the US version has a “making of” but no commentary) lacks special features; the only thing on it is a audio commentary with Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman. Though it does lack in any fun features, the commentary is a lot of fun. They talk about the differences that had to be made taking the book to film as well as complaining endlessly (Vaughn) of having to do shots with only one of the 4 actors that should have been there. This causes Vaughn to be grumpy through the commentary but he lives.

The DVD is worth your money even without loads of features, Stardust is a definite winner and completely re-watchable.

Review by: Sabrina Peyton

Writer/Artist: Jeff Smith
Publisher: Cartoon Books
Price: $3.50
Review by: Sabrina Peyton

Jeff Smith who is known for his comic Bone has just released his newest comic, Rasl (pronounced rassle). So if you’re a Jeff Smith fan go check it out. The rest wait until it’s released in trade.

Rasl is a thief who used to take days, hours, maybe even months to plan a job. Not anymore though, not since he built his spectral immersion suit that lets him travel through space and time. Being a true thief instead of exploring or even using it for good he just uses the suit to help him steal from others.

The art of course is in true Jeff Smith style, pretty cartoonish but that’s how he draws. It’s the idea that this first issue doesn’t really give you a clue as to what the book will be about. Just an art thief who can travel through time? Space? Dimensions? Or is there something else. Maybe he can’t get home? Who is Maya and what exactly is the drift? There’s a lot of questions left hanging at the end of issue 1 but is it enough to keep readers coming back for more?

Well, that depends on if you’re a fan of Jeff Smith or not. If you are chances are that yes, you’ll buy the comic every month and possibly the trade. Everyone else might just wait for the trade as this comic being bimonthly probably won’t hold your attention in any other form.

It’s a decent start but it may not grab everyone.

Directed by Doug Liman
Starring Hayden Christensen, Jamie Bell, Samuel L Jackson and Rachel Bilson
Review by: Alasdair

Jumpers have the whole world at their feet. Born with the ability to teleport, they can go anywhere, do anything, no rules apply to them. David Rice found that out the day he left his hometown behind forever and likes nothing better than enjoying the high life with seemingly no effort and no consequences. But an encounter with Roland (Jackson), leader of the Paladins, an organisation who have hunted Jumpers for centuries leads David to uncomfortable truths about his own past and a realisation that there are always consequences.

Adapted from Stephen Gould’s book, and pretty loosely too, by all accounts, this is the sort of film Doug Liman seems to revel in doing. Tokyo, the Coliseum, New York, the jungles of Brazil, the North Pole, Chechnya and that really nice hotel in the Middle East that looks like a sailing ship (By the way, capitalise that phrase and it’s the hotel’s actual name all turn up. Manly discussions are had, violence is committed, a driven young man with no past does impossible things.

Sounds familiar? Well, that’s because it is and not simply because of Liman’s work on the The Bourne Supremacy. The massively retooled script keeps very little from the original novel and ramps up the action, the end result being empty but by and large, pretty fun.

The action sequences are, as they desperately needed to be, astounding, in particular a brutal fight between Griffin (Bell) and two Paladins in the Coliseum and Griffin and David’s frantic chase across the world in the film’s final half hour. There are some nice ideas sketched out too, ranging from the hint that some Jumpers develop an affinity for certain types of objects and can Jump them, to the war with the Paladins and a hint that Jumpers are far, far more widespread than anyone thought.

But that’s just the problem. They’re sketched. There are a good four concepts that the film hurtles past which have infinite potential for stories in their own right and instead, all we get in essence, is Liman setting the pieces on the board. Don’t get me wrong, if this was a pilot for a TV show then I’d be calling it the hit of the year but as a film, safe in the knowledge that the sequel, should there be one, is a minimum of eighteen months away it’s a massively frustrating watch.

There’s a lot to enjoy here, don’t get me wrong with Christensen a likably normal leading man and Bell wonderful as the spiky, bitter, clearly demented Griffin. Jackson and Bilson in particular are far less well served, Bilson’s genuine wit and comic timing reduced to simpering girl-in-distress but there’s not a weak link in the chain. Apart from the script.

If you can cope with a film this fast, this ideas heavy and somehow this empty then Jumper is for you. If you want something with back story, then this is not a trip you’ll want to take.

Writer / Art Director: Matt Wagner
Artist: Francesco Francavilla
Dynamite Comics
Review by: Ben Crofts

I’d come across Matt Wagner’s name for a few years but never checked out his work until recently when I got utterly hooked on his Batman: Dark Moon Rising stories , given how good that was I knew I’d be very interested in his take on Zorro.

Wagner’s story does not disappoint, being both detailed and ambitious. The marketing for this comic, in part, would have us believe these opening issues are an origin tale, but it’s a good deal more than that. The story flits between the present and the past, with a recounting of the story of Diego De La Vega, the man who would become Zorro, by his long-time friend and companion and a soldier reporting of an attack to his comrades.

In the course of play and exploration Diego and his friend see a girl being whipped by soldiers to act as an incentive for her father to pay taxes. He protests it but can do nothing and despite his father telling him later that Spain only truly rules the colonies through superior values rather than military force, although he respects him too much to say so Diego knows his father’s view to be hollow. The reality is rule by force and it is manifestly unjust.

Zorro is a character who is a predecessor to later characters such as The Shadow and more famously, Batman. It is notable that Wagner makes reference to both in a way, for both characters have a lair, they use fear and attach themselves to a particular totem or aspect. Zorro is Spanish for ‘fox’ – it is in the later part of the issue Wagner turns his attention to this and gives a reason for why Diego opts for the name. His version has Diego undertake a spirit quest at the behest of his mother, who is Indian. In the course of that he is poisoned by a rattlesnake and only just makes it back, as he recovers he considers the quest a failure for he saw nothing, save a fox. The village elder tells him the fox will be his totem.

The present tale deals with another aspect of the character, that of instilling fear in his adversaries. Soldier Jose Perez was sent, with five others, to intimidate a farmer by burning the burn and killing the livestock, but they were attacked by a ferocious adversary. One who laughed as he engaged and killed them, after giving them a chance to flee. Only Perez gave up, acknowledging that he was outclassed so he was left to live: Both with the shame and the mark – a Z slashed into his left palm!

Artist Francesco Francavilla delivers outstanding visuals, which are adeptly coloured by Adriano Lucas. Between the two of them and Wagner giving a lead the comic has a very high standard of art. This is just as well for the story requires much to be depicted: The friendship between the two boys, Diego’s revulsion at the Spaniard’s harsh enforcement, the mysticism of the spirit quest, the atmosphere of the bar where the soldiers are and the attack by Zorro.

All in all, this is an excellent opening issue and the story can only get better now the foundation blocks are in place. Wagner’s take on the character is spot on and the art team is producing impressive imagery. Dynamite have been building up an impressive reputation on their licensed properties, Zorro looks to be a great addition to this.

Writer: Stefan Hutchinson
Art: Tim Seeley
(Variant covers by Tim Seeley, Bill Sienkiewicz and Crash Cunningham)
Published by DDP
Price: $3.50
Review by: Russell Hillman

In the late 1970’s, producer Irwin Yablans and financier Moustapha Akkad approached director John Carpenter with an idea for a movie about a crazed killer that stalked babysitters on Halloween night. That idea became Halloween, which launched not only a string of sequels, but a horde of imitators, effectively creating a template for the slasher genre (though one can argue a case for many other films, from Psycho through Black Christmas and The Texas Chain saw Massacre as being the first slasher movie, Halloween is often cited as the most influential upon those that followed). The movie told the story of Michael Myers, institutionalised since he was six years old for murdering his sister, and his return to the town of Haddonfield, Illinois.

Quite surprisingly for such a high-profile movie franchise, the first Halloween comic didn’t appear until 2000, long after the comics tie-ins to other slasher movie series, such as Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street and Child’s Play had come and gone. The writer of two of the later Halloween comics (Halloween: One Good Scare and Halloween: Autopsis) was also the director of the documentary Halloween: 25 Years of Terror, Stefan Hutchinson, who has teamed up with artist Tim Seeley to bring us this new series.

It is late October, 2000, in the town of Russellville, Illinois. We are introduced to a girl named Lisa, who has suffered an as-yet-unspecified trauma at some point in her past, and some of her friends. We also meet some of her friends, and witness a brutal encounter with the renowned Mr Myers. The first issue appears to be mainly an effort to establish a mood, and leaves many questions unanswered.

This is Hutchinson’s first comic for a major publisher, and he’s off to a pretty good start. The first issue is very much in the vein of the better entries in the series (the original and H20), and sets up an interesting storyline for the issues that follow. Hutchinson has stated in interviews that he wants to concentrate less on Michael Myers, and more on “The Shape” (as he was referred to in the credits of the original movie), the unstoppable, nightmarish bogeyman, and he seems to have succeeded thus far.

Tim Seeley is no stranger to the slasher genre himself, as writer and creator of the ongoing DDP series Hack/Slash. Seeley performs well here, giving The Shape the right kind of moody presence. There are no flashy panel layouts here, just good solid storytelling.

For those who may have been wondering, this series fits into the original series continuity (between H20 and Resurrection), rather than the new continuity of the recent Rob Zombie-directed remake.

On the whole, this is a good start, far better than the first issues of the recent Wildstorm series of A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th. Recommended for all fans of the original movie.

Writer: Christopher Bunting
Artist: J.L.Czerniawski
Publisher: Mohawk Media
Price: £15.99 Limited to 4000 copies!
Review by: Stephen Crowther

FIRST NAME MR!
MIDDLE NAME PERIOD!!
LAST NAME “T”!!!

As Fractal’s resident aficionado of Lawrence “Mr T” Tureaud, there was no way on earth I could turn down a chance to check out this book in advance. After all, I am the owner of that hallowed piece of clothing “the Mr T Sweater Vest” which has adorned many a comic book creator. I was the first person I know of to own a “Mr T in your pocket”. Heck, I’ve even got the crazy Mr T Duck, which makes a fleeting appearance in the GN. Like many other kids who grew up in the 80s, T was a childhood hero. Seeing the resurgence in popularity that he has experienced in recent years fills my heart with that warm Saturday teatime glow. Only yesterday, I turned on the TV and was met with the full force of T in a Tank advertising Snickers. If it wasn’t for my firm opinion that mixing peanuts and chocolates is Wrong, I would have kicked the diet to the kerb and rushed to the corner shop to get one. Anyway, I’ll quit my jibber jabber (heh) and get on with letting you know about the comic.

Author Christopher Bunting isn’t a stranger to the world of T. He also wrote the last series to star our hero. About 3 years ago, short-lived Brit comic company APComics managed to get 2 issues out before they collapsed. I never got round to checking these out and thus hang my head in shame. But who cares what I may have thought. The man himself obviously approved as he’s let the British writer have another go at capturing him in 4 colour glory.

The story itself is split into 4 chapters, each separated by a question and answer session with the man himself. This gives the over-riding impression that it was originally designed to be released as individual issues. Obviously, somewhere down the line, they thought it best to jump straight to an original graphic novel release. As someone who has been purchasing more and more of my monthly comics in trade or hardcover, I applaud this bold move.

One thing that I immediately noticed was that Mr T himself is credited as the Executive Editor. Together with his introduction and the interviews, this makes me feel that he’s has been pretty hands on with the production. Reading through, I certainly got the vibe that our writer had communicated with our hero enough to get into his head somewhat. There wasn’t the slightest problem imagining Mr T himself speaking the lines that Chris Bunting put into his mouth. I also felt that Chris spiced his dialogue with just the right amount of “fools” and “jibber jabbers” without going too overboard. It would have been all too easy to over egg the pudding somewhat with too many utterances of his most famous catch phrases.

As we start out, Mr T is operating as the ultimate bodyguard for hire. As his business card says, “Next to God there is no better protector than I”. This is no stretch of the imagination as T was the bodyguard of many a movie & sports star before his acting career took off into the stratosphere. Now when we meet, T is doing his work in familiar attire. However, by the end of the first act he is kicking ass and taking names decked out in a nice riff on one of the X-men movie outfits. It’s a new look for our hero, but one that sits nicely with previous incarnations of his persona. Plus it’s made of one of those useful fictional light weight bullet proof materials, meaning Chris can jack up the action even more!

We follow T on a mission that drags him all the way from the U.S. to the UK. I was most pleased to see Mr T stopping around my home country righting wrongs. God bless Mr Bunting for using the inevitable pun “as they say in England. It’s T-Time”. One of a few laugh out loud moments in the book. That it comes at a point when Mr T has been spiked with a hallucinogenic and is followed by him meeting a familiar rubber duck makes this little sequence a joy. Before long we meet what could be the “big bad” that may just have been the one behind the scenes pulling the stings. The chav antithesis of our hero takes the form of a certain old comrade of our hero and goes by the name of “Mr C”. What our author was not to know was that this is what most of my co-workers call me and I don’t know if I can let them ever do that again now!!!

The art from J.L.Czerniawski makes me think he would be at home working on one of the Marvel Adventures line of books. He has employed a similar fun and energetic style to a lot of the guys Marvel uses on their kid friendly books. Here we see a solid, colourful, “cartoony” style, that doesn’t skimp on the detail. Perfect for this kind of fun funny book. It adds to the overall “all ages” feel, which means I’d be happy passing this one to a younger reader, especially one new to comics.

The book just oozes fun and frequently had me grinning from ear to ear. A few subplots lay the groundwork for future T-stories, so I have my fingers crossed that these boys get the success they deserve! At the end of the day, all I can say is that I pity the fool who don’t buy this comic! (Sorry, couldn’t resist).

Writer & Artist: Art Baltazar
Writer: Franco
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $2.25
Review by: Russell Hillman

…but first, let’s talk about paper.

This comic is priced at $2.25, and printed on (what appears to be) far lower quality paper than the main DC titles. There are no problems with the printing, and there are still cool colouring effects. If it’s possible to do it for this title, why not do it for others? If you can drop the price from $2.99 down to $2.25, we can buy 4 comics for the price of 3!

Now we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about the comic itself. It’s part of the Johnny DC line of all-ages comics, which includes their cartoon and toy tie-in titles. Tiny Titans stands alone as neither. It’s about the students of Sidekick City Elementary, who bear an astonishing resemblance to various members of DC’s Teen Titans books over the years, except vastly reduced in age. Over several short stories, we get to meet them all.

The stories themselves are simple, and would probably not be too challenging for the majority of younger readers. They deal with everyday things like playing with your friends or meeting the new school principal. Those who are adverse to cuteness in children’s entertainment may wish to steer clear, as this title contains plenty – the Titan girls cheer up an unhappy Plasmus with a gift of a lollypop, and the story about Beast Boy and his new puppy ends with what may well be the cutest single panel of all time.

On the other hand, reading it with an adult eye and a reasonable knowledge of the Teen Titans over the years, it does appear that some of the stories will make more sense if you know what is being referenced, and as such will go over the head of the average child. Although an in-story explanation is given, there are two stories that hinge upon the reveal of a teacher as the father of a cast member – far more amusing if you know who these characters are already.

The fun doesn’t end after the final story. There’s a puzzle, where you can help Beast Boy find his puppy, there’s a pin-up (a piece of promo art from when the title was first announced) and a four page preview of the forthcoming DC Super Friends title, based on the new chunky toy range from Mattel (DC’s answer to the Spider-Man & Friends range).

As stories about kid versions of established superheroes go, it’s not a patch on the better Mini-Marvels strips. However, if you’re a parent, or you don’t mind reading stuff that’s aimed at the very young, this is worth a look, It’s sweet without being nauseating, and it’s fairly low-key fun.

Writer: Frank Miller
Artist: Jim Lee
Publisher: DC Comics
Review by: Ben Crofts

Way back in September 2005 this series kicked off with a Batman that was more than a tad edgy, but it wasn’t until the second issue, some two months later, that the title acquired a name it has yet to shake off: Gather round, for these are the tales of the Goddamn Batman!

The question of what Miller was up to led to much discussion online and off, but the answers have been a long time coming. With the latest issue, Miller has provided the first of those answers, and it irrevocably alters the perception of the series.

Up until this issue the Batman presented by Miller was a fixated, obsessive lunatic, hell-bent on smashing up criminals and corrupt cops alike with abandon and often laughing in the process. He relished delivering as much violence as possible upon a perpetrator, short of killing them, and we got a running commentary on exactly what was being served to who and why. The fun of the title works in the fantasy of it: Batman has perfect knowledge of these people and they are all 100% guilty, but the law is corrupt, which means they won’t get their due punishment so what’s left? The Goddamn Batman.

The earlier issues also introduced various players into the tale: Captain Gordon, Black Canary, Batgirl, plus the heroes: Superman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. Miller was the recipient of much criticism for his portrayal of the latter, but if you assume that the character hails from an island of fervent believers in militant feminism, it isn’t that much of a jump. For the most part these introductions exist to lay the seeds of future stories, only Black Canary and Green Lantern have a prominent role in these issues.

The focus of these initial issues is Batman’s acquisition of Robin, the young, recently bereaved Dick Grayson, and his total inability to deal with it. Miller’s portrait of Batman is that of a man with an obsessive degree of control, who plans for everything and succeeds. All of this is blown to pieces by the arrival of Robin. Batman’s response to this is to drive the boy as hard as possible, not giving him time to think or feel. He intends to train him and shape him into a soldier for his war on crime. Everything he does is a test, including throwing the killer of Grayson’s parents in front of him and allowing him to kill the criminal if he wants to. The question being: Is he an avenger or a detective? It’s no surprise what the answer is, but the intelligence divulged is, the trail leads to the Joker.

Given how successful it appears to be, how does Batman’s plan for Grayson go so badly wrong? It all comes down to this master planner miscalculating badly. The Justice League despatch Green Lantern to Gotham, Batman sets up a meeting between them at a safehouse and it all explodes from there. Matters are not helped by the fact that the house is painted yellow and Batman’s suit is of the same colour which renders Green Lantern unable to use his ring against him. The discussion becomes fraught, punches are thrown, a power ring is stolen and a chase starts that turns deadly serious after Robin smashes Green Lantern’s throat in!

After some very quick action on the part of Batman to prevent Green Lantern dying, he finds his entire outlook shattered, that he was in error to take the path he did with Robin, that he rushed the kid’s education and failed to teach anything beyond violence and how to kill. Equally necessary to that knowledge is the context of how and when to use it, and to what degree. The cost of his failure was very nearly a man’s life. For Robin, it was sobering, for Green Lantern ended up becoming the target of his rage over the loss of his parents. Batman concludes that it began with grief for him, so too is it for Robin, but unlike Batman, he’s had no opportunity to do so, which is why he’s taken to his parent’s grave, to say goodbye.

I’ll emphasise this isn’t really a concluding issue, there’s still the Joker to deal with and whatever murderous mischief he’s planning, the heroes won’t be forgetting about Batman, nor will Gordon, but it is significant for how the central story of Batman and Robin develops. It shows that the grinning lunatic Batman we’ve seen so far won’t necessarily be the Batman we get all the time, that Robin has, and will continue to influence changes in him. One notable sequence in the earlier issues is Albert beating a punching bag in frustration at what his charge has become, it may well be that Robin will steer Batman away from the lunatic he’s in danger of becoming. Finally, it shows us a Batman who is capable of acknowledging error, who’s human and fallible, one who realises he was building a mask he could never or should never have kept on for dealing with Robin. A new approach is needed.

There is a long-running schism in superhero comics over the role of superheroes: Do they change or uphold the status quo? Miller’s view would appear to be that they change the world, making it better by whatever means necessary. Consequently the heroes that oppose Batman wish to maintain the status quo, Batman’s contemptuous monologue on this position makes for entertaining reading as he and Green Lantern engage, both verbally and physically. What this latest issue has shown though is that Batman is willing to alter his own modus operandi, which may well be contrasted with the heroes’ inflexibility later.

Is this series now without its flaws? Not at all, but with issue nine, it has, for the first time stepped out of the shadow of the Goddamn Batman and may well venture into some far more interesting territory without him!

Director: Chris Weitz
Writer: Chris Weitz based on the novel by Philip Pullman
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Dakota Richards, Eva Green, Ian McKellen, Sam Elliott, Christopher Lee

The Golden Compass is an adaptation of the first of Philip Pullman’s trilogy of fantasy novels collectively known as His Dark Materials. The book was originally published in the UK as Northern Lights. The film jettisons some of the more complex and controversial aspects of the book, namely the role of religion, and instead concentrates on the journey of its young protagonist, Lyra, which takes her from the safety of a university campus, where she lives as the ward of an adventuring University Professor, to the frozen wastes of a fantasy Scandinavia populated by talking polar bears.

Reviewers and fans have drawn comparisons between The Golden Compass and other high brow fantasy series, namely LOTR and Narnia, but The Golden Compass cannot hope to achieve the same levels of success. LOTR plays with well established archetypes (Dwarves, Elves and manly heroes) that exist outside Tolkien’s universe, and which provide some context for viewers who are not already numbered among the books’ many fans. The Narnia books have been a staple of childhood reading for at least 3 generations and the first book (and film) at least contains enough familiar territory (a family escaping the blitz and the appearance of Father Christmas ) to give it some degree of broader appeal. The Golden Compass, however, has substantially more work to do in establishing not only the characters, but their context within an elaborate pseudo Victorian fantasy world. Perhaps wisely, the film makers simply show us the world and leave the viewers to accept and make sense of it in their own time. The obvious downside of this however, is that the characters can, and do, get lost amidst the spectacle.

The central premise of the film is that people in Lyra’s world have animal spirit forms, called daemons, which manifest outside their bodies. Children’s daemons are not fixed in their form and change from birds to mice to whatever, while adults’ daemons have a fixed form. These daemons connect people to a substance called ‘dust’, not the kind that gathers under the bed or on top of the bookshelves, but a magical substance that pervades the multi-verse, and which the Magisterium, a ruling oligarchy of clerics, believes is proof of the original sin.

The plot thread that takes Lyra on her journey of discovery follows on from two events. One is the disappearance of children from the town outside the University, the other is her guardian, Lord Asriel’s, discovery of a potential portal to another world somewhere near the North Pole and his capturing of the normally invisible Dust on film. Lord Asriel, played convincingly by Daniel Craig, sets off to return North, having secured funding for his expedition while Lyra’s friends, Billy and Roger, are kidnapped by the ‘Gobblers’ and Lyra herself is taken under the wing of a sinister Mrs Coulter, again well played by an ice cold Nicole Kidman. At this point Lyra is given the titular Golden Compass by the Dean of the University in the belief that she is one of the few people alive who can make use of it. Subsequently, Lyra escapes from Mrs Coulter and sets out to find her friends with the help of a group of Gyptians (a sort of gypsy underclass) many of whom have lost children themselves.

On her travels, Lyra learns how to use the Golden Compass, which seems to act as a sort of oracle. She also befriends the exiled Prince of a race of talking Polar Bears and Sam Elliot, who plays to type as a grizzled frontiersman; although this time he is a balloonist. The film ends after a reasonably satisfying denouement, but like Jackson’s Two Towers, it ends before the book, leaving a pivotal segment for the next movie.

The film as a whole seems to fall between its two audiences. Those who have read the book are likely to find the most interesting elements of the story to have been watered down, and those who haven’t are in danger of being overwhelmed by the combination of world building and plot mechanics. Sadly the result is that character development is left behind and the young actress who plays Lyra, Dakota Richards, doesn’t quite have the skill or charm to breathe life into the main character. Eva Green, who appears as a leader of a group of friendly witches, and Sam Elliot both play important roles in the plot but are hardly more than character sketches. Daniel Craig gives a short but decent performance as Lord Asriel, which leaves only Nicole Kidman, as Mrs Coulter, to shine. She manages to do more than say the lines, and brings a much needed complexity to what could have been a one dimensional character.

Overall the film is certainly spectacular, with some exciting battle sequences and moments of dramatic tension. It is however ironic that a film whose premise is the search for the human soul, should be so lacking in heart.

Writers: Geoff Johns, Dave Gibbons, Ron Marz, Alan Burnett, John Rogers, Peter Tomasi
Artists: Ethan Van Scriver, Ivan Reis, Patrick Gleason, Angel Unzueta, Adriana Melo, Patrick Blaine, Pete Woods, Gerry Ordway, Pascal Alixe, Dustin Nguyen, Rafael Albuquerque, Jamal Igle, Michael Lacombe

Now I look at it – that’s quite the creative roster when listed and for what? Arguably DC’s biggest and best story of 2007 though you may not know it! Within the Green Lantern title Johns had been laying the foundations for this epic over the course of some 15 or so issues, but the first pieces were laid right at the start. Meanwhile over in Green Lantern Corps Gibbons also laid a couple of pieces, especially in the arc leading to this tale. And after that? All that remains was to light the fuse and get to a safe distance…

Exploding out of the Green Lantern Special: Sinestro Corps Special, this tale of a galactic confrontation wound its way through Green Lantern 21-25 and Green Lantern Corps 14-18. There were also a number of specific character one-shots focused upon major characters, mostly villains and one tie-in with Blue Beetle. All in all, given DC’s tendency to link things together, Sinestro Corps was remarkably restrained as a crossover.

The story? Sinestro, who was once a Green Lantern himself and an upholder of galactic law but who fell due to taking too hard a line, has assembled his own corps. Never lacking ego he has named them after himself and organised them around the principle of fear. His plan is simple, having assembled an army twice the size of the Green Lanterns, he intends to kill them all, destroy their base, Oa, and take over the universe. Were that not enough, in his opening strikes he frees both Parallax and Superboy-Prime from Oa, slaughtering a number of Lanterns in the process. He’s also secured the services of the Cyborg and the Anti-Monitor. Oh and did I mention he infects Kyle Rayner with Parallax?

With such a gathering of villains Sinestro Corps throws down the gauntlet early – this is going to be a big deal, it’s going to involve huge fights and the good guys are in serious trouble. Not only that, but Sinestro has an overall strategy of which the strike on Oa was but the first step. As the Lanterns are reeling from the strike and the deaths, he sends his second, Arkillo, to assault the planet Green Lantern Mogo. In that battle Gibbons draws together various elements from the Green Lantern Corps title – notably the city of Ranx that despises the Lanterns.

Not only is there a massive amount of power arrayed against them, but the Lanterns are held back by their own rings, which do not have the ability to kill. Are they capable of it? Certainly, but they’re not permitted to. Johns poses the question: What is ultimately worth more: upholding principles to the point of extinction or compromising in order to survive to return to the higher ground later? Despite it causing great unease amongst some of them, the Green Lantern’s Guardians rewrite the laws that govern the rings, and grant the bearers the permission to kill. This enables the war to begin to turn in the Lanterns’ favour though they still lack the initiative.

If this were all the Lanterns lacked, things might be OK but they, and the Guardians, have miscalculated: They assumed the ultimate objective for the Sinestro Corps was Oa, for that is the centre of the universe. In the new post-Infinite Crisis world, however, Earth is the foundation point for the multiverse with 51 parallel Earths flowing from it. Take it out and it all collapses. They realise this too late, and the entire Sinestro Corps assaults Earth, drawing in quite literally all the other heroes: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, JLA, JSA – you name it, they’re involved.

What was an already insanely ambitious tale takes another step up as Sinestro Corps members and Manhunters attack, and Earth’s heroes respond alongside the Lanterns. Even so, it may not be enough, the Guardians attempt to counter this by creating a new Ion, who takes on but is unable to defeat Superboy-Prime. Despite that loss the other Lanterns – Hal, Guy and John have taken out Parallax and freed Kyle, so that only leaves the thousands in the Sinestro Corps, Manhunters, Superboy-Prime, the Cyborg, Sinestro and the Anti-Monitor to deal with!

Attention Geoff Johns: Your mission is to conclude this story in a fashion befitting it and to do so in one super-sized issue, do you accept? Of course he does. Johns has only 54 pages to bring this epic to an end and for all he has to cover it isn’t much. There are so many villains to deal with of such a high power level – are these able to be defeated without cheating and reducing their threat level in the space of a single issue? If so, will their defeat satisfy or will it be rushed? It could have easily been anti-climatic. It wasn’t – instead Green Lantern 25 has to be in the list of best issues of 2007.

The issue revolves around various axes: the future of the Lanterns in light of the new laws and the dangers that heralds, Hal versus Sinestro, the Guardians versus the Anti-Monitor, Superboy-Prime against everyone, the Lanterns versus the Sinestros. Nor is this everything – the sheer amount of plot and grand spectacle Johns packs into the issue is staggering. Everyone gets what’s coming to them and if some fates are left a bit more open than would be expected, the final pages make it clear: This isn’t over. Oh the Sinestro Corps are defeated, Sinestro is captured, Earth is saved, the Anti-Monitor is vanquished, but there are more stories to come. This is another impressive achievement: Johns very explicitly flags up that this will be continued, that the story began in 2005 with Rebirth and will conclude in 2009 with Blackest Night, but you don’t feel cheated. Instead it’s a very clear indication that this is all planned out, the only question: Are you going to be coming on this ride?

The Tales of the Sinestro Corps were, far from being optional extras, fairly major pieces of the story, with each delving into a particular character: Parallax, Cyborg-Superman, Superboy-Prime, Ion. Each set up plots that conclude later, the majority in Green Lantern 25. The art was generally pretty good, of them all Parallax was probably the weakest as it seemed to do little, but its plot paid off later in how Parallax was expunged from Kyle Rayner. On the other hand the The Blue Beetle tie-in was adequate but I’m not sure it was needed.

The only other weakness the story has is not embracing its status as a crossover right from the start. At the start Sinestro Corps was sold as 2 stories that would run through the respective Green Lantern titles for 5 months, readers would have the choice which to read and both would be freestanding. While this is understandable, DC wanted to avoid giving the impression people had to buy issues, once the scale of the story became apparent people did start buying both. The issues literally started disappearing out of shops! The down side of this being that each title’s recapping of the other became tiresome. Fortunately this is the only real weakness in the project but it’s probably something to be bourn in mind for future projects: If the story is good enough, people don’t mind buying 1-2 extra titles.

One minor point is there are a couple of places where the story suffers from excess, whilst these are minor they do detract from an otherwise great story. The Cyborg pays a visit to his wife’s grave, then rips it open, grabs her corpse and rips it apart. Later, over in Green Lantern Corps, the battle between Ion and Superboy-Prime ends up barrelling into a cemetery, where it continues. Both have a distasteful aspect to them, which may be the point, but neither is either really required – the story would do just as well without them.

Back to the good points and one huge achievement by the artists – they all delivered stunning art, for a story like this relies upon art to depict it and what the writers are asking isn’t minor. A galaxy-spanning war involving thousands of participants and numerous battles, each of which needs to be rendered uniquely. It’s a massive task.

Whilst the art of Ethan Van Scriver has been known to fans for a while, Ivan Reis has been less well known, I’m using past tense as that’s unlikely to be the case post-Sinestro Corps, for his’ work here has really sparkled magnificently. Splash pages are sometimes derided for occupying too much space at the expense of the story, but used correctly they are an invaluable tool and Reis demonstrates this superbly. His splash pages are packed with detail to the point where you can look at them time and again and still spot something new. He’s equally adept at conveying emotions, from the sadness in the aftermath of the strike at Oa to the elation of the final victories.

Nor should I overlook the artists who gave Gibbons final Green Lantern Corps story some amazing visuals, from the entry of Ranx, to the planetary assaults engaged in and the final outcomes. It’s in Green Lantern Corps we see the first application of the newly authorised lethal force and it’s a great moment. Another is the rematch between Kilowog and Arkillo, with the latter getting a decking from the Lanterns Sergeant-Major.

I accept that, at best, I’ve only sketched the broad outlines of this epic story and detailed some of the creative teams’ achievements but that’s all that can be done here. After all, the story spans some 14 issues, 2 of them double-size. If you’ve read this story you know there are many wonderful moments that can’t be conveyed in a review; if you haven’t I’d hope I’ve got you curious enough to give this a try – if only to see what people are talking about.

For myself, it’s a wonderful story that really shows off Green Lantern as one of DC’s flagship titles. It brings to a conclusion some 2-3 years worth of work. At its best, a long run on a title is satisfying because of the way a skilled writer will spin and assemble plots together like a mosaic. At the same time it also has a surprising ability to provoke the reader to thought: Could Sinestro have a point? If so, what of it? On the surface it’s a bright colourful tale, but underneath, there’s a good amount to ponder. At the other end of the scale it has moments of incredible action and heroic feats, which is surely the point of any comic that claims to be about superheroes.

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