Because I Don't Talk Often Enough About How Much I Love the Arrow Family...

I completely forgot to post about something that did make me happy last week, especially considering how unhappy I've been with Green Arrow/Black Canary lately: Speedy is back!

Yay! And not only is she back, she's changed her costume, too, and I completely approve. Now she's black and yellow, and it's very striking... and it just so happens to match Dinah's look!

I love Dinah and Mia's sister/mother/daughter/friend relationship (remember when Mia was super pissed and wouldn't talk to Ollie when she found out he cheated on Dinah?) and I like to think the costume change is a nice little nod to the fact that Mia loves and respects her.

I've Got My Eye On You, Indigo-1.

Minor spoilers for Blackest Night #3 below. Nik nak nok!

I'll just be blunt: I don't like or trust the Indigo Tribe.

To be fair, we haven't seen much of them yet. For a long time all we got was a sketch or two, and I'll admit that part of my dislike probably stems from the fact that, when we first got a glimpse of the lady we now know as Indigo-1, I was underwhelmed with her character design. I've seen more than one fan talk about how hot she is, but to me she just looks like yet another generic sorta-bald alien chick like something you'd see on Star Trek. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, of course. I'm just constantly disappointed with the lack of good female characters in the main Green Lantern title (GLC is much better with the additions of Soranik, Iolande, the return of Arisia, adorable and interesting Star Sapphire Miri, etc.) and the fact that, of the leaders of each of the colors of the spectrum, the only other female just so happens to be Hal Jordan's long-time love interest. And of course a main female character being the woman that the main male character is, or once was, or wants to, "get busy" with is about the oldest female character cliche in comics. So I had high hopes for a Corps led by a woman, and it disappoints me a little that I don't like her look, or her personality. (Strong woman is great, but she strikes me as being one of that other type of female cliche -- the strong woman who's sort of cold and aloof). I might yet be proven wrong about that.

And I do like the character designs of the other Tribe members we've seen. Even Skrull-chin guy. But especially little squid guy.

But if the Indigo Tribe's definition of "compassion" is suffocating a wounded Lantern to put him out of his misery without bothering to ask him first (like they seemingly did in Tales of the Corps), I'm not sure that I want what they're pushing. That, coupled with the way they snatched Hal and left his allies alone and willpower-less here in Blackest Night #3 makes me really question what compassion is supposed to be. I assume they took him to go start gathering the other leaders of the other Corps, which would explain how he ends up in space with Carol and Sinestro in his next slated appearance in Green Lantern #46, and that is a very important mission. Yes, I suppose the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. But... a little compassion for the group of people you just left behind to be totally farked, guys? You just told them that they need a Green Lantern and another color in order to have a hope of defeating those Black Lanterns... and then you proceed to not only remove their Green Lantern (push comes to shove, they might be able to find Alan Scott, right? Assuming his ring even works the way they need it to), but you remove yourselves from the picture as well -- and the other spectrum colors are a little harder to find! I guess these days you can't throw a rock in space without hitting a ring-wielder of some color (I like to think that Guy would put it that way), but things are a little different on Earth. There aren't any random Sinestro Corpsmen, or Blue Lanterns, or Red Lanterns, or... well, anything, really. Couldn't they have at least left one of their tribe behind to help, in case the heroes somehow managed to get ahold of Alan?

Nope. They kidnapped Hal and left Ray, Mera, Barry, and company to what should be (from Indigo's point of view, anyway), an almost certain death. Maybe they'll have a little moment of silence for them -- that would be compassionate, I guess?

My other question is... is compassion really that rare of an emotion? Because despite what a lot of people like to think about the ugliness of the world, I think that most people have quite a bit of compassion in them -- though occasionally they have to be reminded to slow down and think for a minute before they realize what other people are going through.

I dunno, if compassion is that amazingly rare, I think everyone is in trouble. It sounds like something that fits more with Sinestro's view of the universe than I'm comfortable with. After all, isn't he the one that thinks the universe is a horrible, twisted, unforgiving place that needs to be fixed?

Zoomneto, Master of Flashetism

Have you ever been reading a book or comic, or watching a movie, and enjoying it quite a bit, when one simple little detail that shouldn't be important at all just... totally ruins it for you? Or maybe not ruins it, but pulls you momentarily out of that place your mind goes when you're in the middle of following a story?

I was reading the newest issue of Flash: Rebirth the other day, and that happened to me. I've been really enjoying the series so far. It doesn't feel as "epic" as Green Lantern: Rebirth did, and I'm a little leery of the little retcon about Barry's childhood, but I've still really liked most of the developments within and I can't wait to see where it's going next. This issue was no exception.

It's nearing the climax of the series, and Barry and Zoom are having their confrontation at last, which makes me happy. I always liked Zoom as a villain. He's delightfully insane and obsessive, and being from the future, he has knowledge of the past that makes him a serious threat to the Flash family. He reminds me of Sinestro in a lot of ways (and apparently Geoff Johns feels the same way): they're both obsessive (to varying degrees), they both have a lot of history with their respective nemeses, and they're both more intelligent than the hero that somehow constantly thwarts them, too. Barry is a genius, of course, but he's also hopelessly oblivious sometimes, as Zoom points out. And Hal, well... we all know he's got fluff for brains most of the time.

So I'm reading along, all on the edge of my seat, enjoying myself, when something that totally shouldn't bother me happens: Zoom whips his mask off, revealing... medium-length curly white hair.

GAH!

I know, I know, it's silly. There's nothing wrong with hair like that. It makes Magneto look exceptionally hot, after all, and I am a firm believer that the Master of Magnetism is pretty much the sexy standard to which all villains should hold themselves.

But for some reason, it just... seemed wrong. It looks like something you'd see in a comic from the 90's, and not the sort of haircut you'd see on a guy like Zoom. It just doesn't fit with how I envision him. And that tiny little detail was enough to actually drag me out of my reading experience for a moment.

But the rest of the issue was awesome. MAX MERCURY!

And the Family Tree Gets Weirder

I'm so pumped right now, I'm not sure how to expend all my energy. Green Lantern #45 was excellent from cover to cover, and leaves all the Corps in the middle of some really bad predicaments. I can't wait to see what happens next!

But of course, being the Sinestro fangirl that I have become (Geoff and Peter, start giving me more Guy scenes so I can rave about him again!), I'm mostly bouncing around because of the unexpected revelation of the identity of Sinestro's lost love.

I'll admit that I am a wee bit disappointed that it wasn't Abin Sur himself. There are so few gay/bi characters in the DCU, or in comics period, that it seems a sad waste to take a character like Sinestro, who has already been shown flirting with a confirmed gay man in canon, and make him out to be straight, after all. Granted, I accept Englehart's explanation that Sinestro would probably say anything to anyone if it meant furthering his goals (or, as he put it, "have sex with someone in Times Square" if it got him what he wanted), but it was the only clue we've ever gotten, and it's not fair to consider a hint like that as a fluke rather than an actual indicator of his true preferences. (After all, if a man flirts with a woman, and assuming there's no contradictory past behavior to go on, no one ever assumes that he's just pretending to be straight, right?)

And of course, he might be interested in both sexes (which would actually be even better, as bisexuals are extremely under-represented in comics), but the sad truth is that, now that we know he likes girls, most writers and fans won't even entertain the possibility that he might also be into men. Even though it seems fairly obvious to me.

Yet, I'm not posting to complain. I'm actually quite happy with this revelation, overall. I feel vindicated! See, I wasn't crazy, after all. There were indications of heartbreak and romantic sparks there, all along! Bu instead of loving Abin, apparently he loved a sister of Abin's that we never knew existed.

Now this is very cool. Arin Sur, as she is named, was apparently quite a pretty lady. So female Ungarans do have hair? I couldn't recall. We only get some brief flashes, but in those brief flashes, we see how they met, and what looks like a death scene in some sort of... place. It's interesting to note that Sinestro is still wearing his Green Lantern costume in that scene, though it's hard to make out any other details. I'm going to assume that we'll get the full story in Secret Origin II, which has only recently been announced. The only thing Geoff really said about it was that it would contain the fall of Sinestro, so I'm really hoping that means he'll be giving us more details about the lady Sinestro loved, even though I'm sure most of it will deal with Hal discovering Sinestro's corruption, etc. (Like something we've read before... Emerald Dawn II, anyone?)

And not only did he love her, apparently, but the loss must still be painful, because when he breaks out of that love crystal, boy is he pissed off. He's usually so calm and collected these days, and before that, his conversation with Carol was quite interesting and insightful even as they traded punches in a fairly evenly-matched manner, but afterwards? Afterwards, he's beating the hell out of her. You can tell that dredging up those memories hurts him, and it looks like it's something he must have been repressing deep inside for years now.

What this issue doesn't address, though, is whether or not Arin Sur is Soranik Natu's mother. She might not be, but considering the way this has all been set up, I would assume that she probably is. And that makes things especially interesting because, if it's true, it means that:

1) Soranik is half Ungaran.
2) Sinestro and Abin may have been not only friends, but possibly also brothers-in-law.
3) Abin Sur was Soranik's uncle.
4) Amon Sur is possibly Sinestro's nephew by marriage.
5) Soranik and Amon are cousins!

I'm also amused by the fact that Sinestro, who we now know has great love in his heart somewhere, and who was able to be encased in a violet crystal for a few seconds before breaking out, at least, could have become the first male Star Sapphire that we know of if only he had stayed in the crystal.

That's right, think about that image for a moment.

What About the Children? Will Somebody Please Think of the Children?!

I realize that the GLC has had their hands full lately. And I realize that, when Kryb was defeated, Kyle and Soranik had a lot on their plate -- the death of KT-21, the new law, the resignation of tons of Lanterns, the birth of the Pree baby, being in love/lying like a big jerkface, etc.

But... did no one think about the babies?

Kryb has been stealing babies from Green Lantern Corps members for some time, you see. And she was probably stealing babies from regular people even before that. And the Corps had to suspect that the babies were still alive, right? After all, the parents were killed in their homes, and the babies taken away -- which implies that Kryb had a reason for keeping those babies alive. Otherwise, why not just kill them immediately?

So when Kryb was captured, why didn't it occur to anyone to find those babies? They didn't even ask her where they were, or what she did with them! They didn't follow up in her home sector. They didn't make any effort whatsoever to save the wee baby children. And neither did the Star Sapphires! They were so busy trying to convert her to love that none of them even thought about some defenseless children? If the Star Sapphires stand for love, you'd think they would stand for all types of love (including that which is inspired by children), not just weepy tragic romance.

And now what we apparently have are children starving to death back on Kryb's little hidey-hole planet because she isn't there to care for them or bring them food. The little rugrats are eating maggots... maybe even eating each other.

No wonder they're (apparently) shown looking all creepy and angry, dressed in Sinestro Corps uniforms, in that splash page from a few months back. The Green Lantern Corps has forgotten that they existed, and the Star Sapphires don't care. Can we blame them for turning out a little bit twisted?

I really, really want an origin story for Kryb. Why steal babies? Did she lose her own, and now feels driven to kidnap others? Did Sinestro order her to do it? Given the fact that his own child was taken from him, he would probably be well aware of the fear and anguish that losing a child would cause.

More importantly, what does she have planned for them? Surely they can't stay in those little cages forever. She seems to love them, in a twisted sort of way.

Well, whatever it is, she's certainly being made into an interesting character. It's too bad that most people don't seem to think she's as cool as I do, just because she's hideous. The more I think about it, the more I think that she's probably one of the deepest, most interesting Sinestro Corps characters. Though I do like Karu-Sil and Arkillo, and I'm growing to like Tekik, too.

The Real Question Is: Who's DUMB Enough to Accept a Star Sapphire Ring?

An interesting discussion over at Green Lantern Butts Forever got me thinking: who is Star Sapphire material?

Kyle loves easily, no doubt. He gets into relationships easily, and he gets serious about them very easily. It seems like a long time to us, but in DCU time, Kyle has really only been around for... three or four years, maybe? And look how many "serious" girlfriends he's had during that time. It's almost Hal-like, except of course that we know that Kyle loves and Hal... well, Hal usually just lusts, but I don't deny that sometimes he thinks he's in love.

And what does Kyle do when he loses a girlfriend? He moves pretty quickly on to the next -- which is good for us, because it means he moves beyond the angst for a while and is happy again.

Now, I'm not saying that it means he doesn't really love. I really think he does. But it's starting to look to me like Kyle needs an emotional crutch to prop himself up with. He admits to Soranik that he's in love with the idea of being in love, which I think is incredibly perceptive character interpretation on Peter Tomasi's part. And there's nothing wrong with that. But damn, he's a needy little artist, isn't he? And he tends to be a little selfish in his grief when bad things happen to those he loves. Not just his girlfriends, either -- look what he did when Terry got beat up! And when his mother died.

I don't think it's a coincidence that Kyle is falling in love with Soranik now, at this particular moment. It hasn't been long since he lost Jade, then he lost his mom, and he feels responsible for killing Jack T. Chance... and almost immediately after he finally has some time on his hands after the Sinestro Corps War, what does he do? Start flirting with Soranik.

Kyle's a sweetie. He feels emotion strongly (which IMHO makes him a better candidate for wielding various other rings than Hal, who doesn't seem to feel anything very deeply or for very long), and he has a lot of love to give. But I also think he's more of an emotional mess than the other three Lanterns combined right now. He's needy and sort of high maintenance... and you know, I can't imagine Soranik putting up with a needy boyfriend for very long. She has a lot of her daddy in her -- she's generally pretty no-nonsense when it comes to everything except her ring, and while she has infinite amounts of patience to complete difficult tasks, she doesn't seem to have a lot of patience for people.

Then again, I might be misjudging her completely, as she's been pretty supportive of Kyle's giant "I'M SO SAD" finger-painting project so far. It's still very early in their relationship, though, so maybe she's still got on some rose-colored glasses?

I really hope they're not setting Kyle up to be a Star Sapphire by rushing him into this relationship with Soranik. If something happens to her, he'll certainly have great loss in his heart because that's how he always takes tragedy. Does the fact that it happens all the time make it less genuine? No, I don't think so... but then we have Guy to think about.

Kyle and Guy are actually a lot alike in that they feel emotion very strongly and take loss very hard, but they deal with it in different ways. Kyle moves on to the next girl, because like I said, he seems to need to be in a relationship to be emotionally fulfilled. They save him from depression.

Guy behaves a little more strangely. Think about it. You'd think that a man like Guy, who makes no secret of his appreciation for women and isn't shy about flirting with them (sometimes inappropriately), would spend more time with one on his arm, or in his bed, as the case may be. But after Tora died, he stayed pretty lonely. He had that one relationship with Bea, but Bea was really only a step away from Tora, and she was certainly someone who could identify with his grief. I think, deep down, they really felt something for each other, but I don't think that Guy would have gone for her initially if she had been some other random person rather than Tora's best friend, because he wasn't ready to turn his back on Tora completely even though she was dead.

Guy loves easily, too, but he doesn't fall in love easily, nor does he let go of it easily. He loves deeper than Kyle does, maybe because, for him, love has never been easy to gain. Kyle is a loveable sort of guy -- hell, even Batman likes him, and that says a lot! Guy, on the other hand, has always struggled with rejection. His parents loved him second-best, he did everything on his own and had no one to rely on but himself, Kari shacked up with Hal just when Guy needed her most, Hal and the other Lanterns turned their backs on him when he finally got his ring and got into their little club (granted, it was because he was brain damaged and obnoxious), the Justice League couldn't stand him, tried to kick him out, and actually rejoiced when he lost his ring, etc.

For Guy, love is something you have to work for, and something you fail to achieve more often than not. When you find it, it's rare and special, and something you don't let go of unless someone pries it out of your cold dead fingers. When Tora died, Guy wasn't emotionally devastated the way Kyle always is, because Guy is a survivor first and foremost. If there's one thing he does know how to do, it's how to keep going even when it hurts so bad that you don't want to. But he certainly felt the loss badly enough that he didn't really bother trying to move on to another woman who wasn't deeply connected to Tora for a long time. Letting go was a struggle.

And obviously he never really did manage it. When Tora came back and he finally got back together with her, the first thing he did was pour his heart out to her without shame or hesitation. And then he wanted to move their relationship up to the next level (though perhaps not quite the level Tora had in mind) the very next time they got together. Losing her again would certainly leave great loss in his heart.

So could Guy or Kyle wield a Star Sapphire ring? I think they both could. I think the difference would be in whether or not they accepted the ring when it showed up to claim them. Guy, even in his moment of great loss, would probably be a lot more skeptical of a violet ring. He's a pro at dealing with pain by now, and he doesn't look for a quick fix in the form of something that he already doesn't trust. However, it would be perfectly in character for Kyle to accept it, because that's what Kyle does -- he escapes, does ill-advised things, and desperately searches for something to fill that hole in his heart, which the violet ring promises it will do.

Then end result?

Kyle in a Star Sapphire man-thong and Guy slapping him in the face until he comes to his senses.

Things I Do With My Hands

I've been told by more than one person that they're surprised that I'm not a smoker, just because I'm constantly doing things with my hands. If there's a pen close by, I'm clicking it, if there's a pencil, I'm doodling, if there's a ruler, I'm slapping myself with it, if there's a ball, I'm tossing it around...

So maybe it's no surprise that I'm a creative person, just by virtue of the fact that I have to do something constructive with my hands so that I don't destroy the stuff around me! I think the whole reason I started writing is because I can't stand the sight of a blank piece of paper. I have to fill it with something -- either words or pictures -- and I like words better.

My muse has been on vacation lately, but these things go in cycles with me. If I'm not writing, it's a pretty safe bet that I'm obsessing over something else. I thought my very small readership here might be interested in seeing what I've been doing lately.

Behold my latest project!

Yes, that's Guy Gardner as Warrior, and I'm very proud of him. There are tons of very nice customs around on the internet, and lots of great customizers on the GLC message boards, and they inspired me to try some of my own. Guy isn't my first, actually, but he's my newest and I just finished him tonight.

Everybody knows that Guy gets all the Lantern ladies!

Guy is made from a random wrestling figure that I picked up at my local comic shop for the grand sum of one dollar, with a head from a Maximum Aggression Matt Striker figure,a nd lots of sculpey and painting! The head the original figure came with was sort of blah, and I don't ever want Guy to have a generic expression on his face, so when I saw this head I knew it had to be him. I love the grin.

Arisia is made from a Rising Stars Chandra body with a DC Direct Armory Nightwing (Power Girl in disguise) alternate head that had to have a lot of work done to make it fit properly on the neck. The choker is sculpted. And that tiny Lantern symbol on it is a pain in the butt to paint.

Soranik Natu is made from an Infinite Crisis Wonder Girl body with a JSA Hawkgirl head. Pretty straightforward custom.

And, if anyone was curious, here's a pic of my current Green Lantern toy collection! I have a couple more figures that aren't up yet -- the tiny statue of Sinestro that just came out, for one, and my old style bowlcut Guy Gardner is on the shelf below these with his JLI teammates.

The top shelf is obviously Hal versus Sinestro, with my favorite super homoerotic pic in the background. The bottom shelf is the rest of the Corps, minus the tiny figures (Minimates, etc.) which will no longer fit on the shelf.

Scattered among the mass-produced GLs on the bottom shelf are quite a few customs. Soranik Natu, Arisia, Brin (the little horse guy), Penn Maricc, Sodam Yat, Star Sapphire Miri Riam and Morro are all customized by me. Vath Sarn, Charlie Vickers, Evil Star, Graf Toren, and Gleen are by Last Galaxy. Arkiss Chummuck and Katma Tui are by an unknown artist -- I won them on Ebay a while back and can't recall the customizer's name. If anyone is interested in seeing better shots of any of them, let me know -- I know they're hard to pick out in the pic here.

I'm working on several more at the moment. Probably next to be finished will be Karu-Sil, Emerald Twilight Sinestro, and Maxwell Lord!

I'm trying to resist the urge to make a "Max shoots Ted" diorama, since I also have a nice Blue Beetle figure now.