Comics Reviews: Green Lantern 203, Firestorm 50, Vigilante 32, Warlord 108

Green Lantern 203 coverGreen Lantern #203 – “The Diabolical Doctor Ub’x” – Steve Englehart/Joe Staton/Mark Farmer

This one starts in Modora, right after the end of last issue. Dr. Ub’x has used his “Sucker Stick” to place all the Green Lanterns (Hal, John, Katma, Kilowog, Salakk, Ch’p, and Arisia) into crystal coffins, where they’re held in some kind of suspended animation. When Dr. Polaris gets mouthy, Ub’x zaps him into a crystal coffin too. The other villains (Sonar, Throttle, Blindside, and a couple more goofs) want to know what Ub’x’s deal is, so he recounts his origin. He was a celestial tyrant, conquering half the galaxy before attacking Ch’p’s homeUb'x tells how he survived the Crisis planet of H’lven. That world would’ve fallen too if the Guardians of the Universe hadn’t given Ch’p a power ring. Ch’p stopped the invasion and Ub’x vowed to defeat him, clashing with him numerous times and learning his secret identity. Just before the Crisis, Ub’x invented the Sucker Stick, which converted him to pure energy. That allowed him to survive the Crisis and retain his memory of how things were before, while everyone else forgot. Ub’x found out Ch’p and the other Lanterns were settling on Earth and determined to wipe them out so he could rule Earth as well as post-Crisis H’lven. Sonar doesn’t like that idea, so Ub’x puts him in a crystal coffin as Ch'p saves Ub'xwell. Ch’p has been having a nightmare about losing everything he ever knew—his planet, his girlfriend, his family—and Ub’x realizes Ch’p is his last link to the pre-Crisis world, so if Ch’p dies, Ub’x will be truly alone. His will power wavers and the Lanterns wake up and bust free, with Ch’p going after Ub’x. Now that Ub’x has lost the will to kill Ch’p, his Sucker Stick no longer protects him from the effects of the Crisis and he starts to burn up. But Ch’p realizes the same thing Ub’x did, that they’re each other’s only link to the H’lven that existed before the Crisis … so Ch’p saves Ub’x’s life.

Firestorm 50 coverFirestorm #50 – “Vows” – Gerry Conway/Rafael Kayanan/Mike Machlan, Pablo Marcos, Rodin Rodriguez

This one starts with a mysterious figure (calling himself “Aviator”) making a phone call to a number in Washington that hasn’t been used in years after seeing Ed Raymond and Felicity Smoak’s wedding announcement in the newspaper. He tells a guy named Rigby that he’s activating the X Protocols, which freaks Rigby out (especially since he thought Aviator was dead). In Pittsburgh, Firestorm stops a couple of scumbags and Ronnie basks in the adulation of the crowd (and the approval of the cops). Firestorm heads for Vandermeer University and splits into Ronnie Raymond and Professor Stein, since Ronnie has a football game to play in. Elsewhere,Hugo injured we see Aviator visiting the grave of Catherine Rockwell, who died in 1972 and who he apparently loved quite a bit. In Washington, a guy named Markham is informed of Aviator activating the X Protocol. Markham (and Aviator, I guess) work for some super-secret group unsanctioned by the government and Markham wants to keep their activities secret, so he orders Aviator killed. At Vandermeer, we see Cliff Carmichael is still an asshole and has apparently expanded his hatred of Ronnie to include Doreen. On the football field, Ronnie scores a touchdown but Hugo (Cliff’s cousin) ends up with a broken neck. Turns out Hugo (who’s nice but kinda stupid) took Ronnie’s helmet by Felicity tells Firestorm she knows his secret identitymistake and the strap was cut, leading to the broken neck. So I guess Cliff has crossed the line into homicidal asshole now. In New York, Felicity sees Ed get grabbed off the street by some guys in a van and calls Ronnie. She’s figured out that Ronnie is Firestorm and tells him to get to New York fast so they can find out who took his dad. Turns out Felicity figured out Ronnie’s secret (although she doesn’t seem to know about Stein) when he saved her and Ed at the Civic Center (in issue 46), which is why she dropped the lawsuit. Felicity got the license number of the van and instead of sharing it with the cops, she called a friend at the DMV, so she has an address for them to check. Firestorm andgunfight at warehouse Felicity show up at the address, but they’re too late; Rigby’s men showed up to kill Aviator but he had some help from another operative named Monk. Monk got shot, but Aviator (who Monk calls Captain X) killed the assassins and took off with Ed Raymond, still unconscious. Firestorm and Felicity find Monk dying and he tells them about Rigby, so Firestorm heads for Washington. He finds Rigby and scares him into talking about the X Protocol. Apparently, Aviator (aka Captain X, aka Richard Dare) was part of a secret team of agents who helped the Allies before America entered the war. (Captain X was a DC character back in Ed realizes Dare is his fatherthe 1940s, so I guess Gerry decided to link him with Firestorm … maybe he was hanging around Roy Thomas too much.) Rigby doesn’t want anyone to know about the group’s activities so when Dare went rogue, Rigby decided to eliminate all references. Firestorm tells Rigby about the gunfight in New York and Rigby says Dare will probably head for Evergreen Cemetery in Connecticut. Rigby tries to kill Firestorm with poison gas, but the gas blows back and kills Rigby. Ronnie wonders what the hell’s going on, since Evergreen Cemetery is where his grandmother is buried. In Connecticut, Ed wakes up on top of his mother (Patricia)’s grave to find Dare pointing a gun at him. Dare tells Ed he blames him for Patricia’s death, since she died of a heart attack not long after Ed went into witness protection. Dare tells Ed how heEd and Felicity's wedding and Patricia fell in love right before he went to Europe, but by the time he got back she was married to Ed’s father and he was born not long after. So now Dare wants to kill Ed to avenge Patricia. Firestorm is watching from nearby, but Ronnie notices a discrepancy in the dates and holds back from interfering. Ed has noticed the same thing and points out that his parents were married in January of 1943 and Ed was born in March … meaning Patricia was already six months pregnant. Dare realizes Ed is his son and drops the gun. Ed invites him to the wedding and after they leave, Firestorm transmutes the gun into a rose and places it on his grandma’s grave. The next day, Ed and Felicity get married with Ronnie, Stein, Doreen, and Dare among the guests.

Vigilante 32 coverVigilante #32 – “Between a Rock and a Hard Place” – Paul Kupperberg/Tod Smith/Rick Magyar

Last issue, Vigilante went to Chinatown to stop a bloodbath between gangs, led by Leo Hage, the assassin who’s been knocking off gang leaders all over town of behalf of an unknown player. Vigilante caught Hage, but they both ended up surrounded by cops, including Lieutenant Stein (who’s been investigating the death of Judge Welles without authorization) and Officer Anne Pasquale (who isn’t aware the current Vigilante is her boyfriend, Dave Winston). Hage tries to pull a gun and gets blown away by the cops, but Vigilante uses Stein as a shield so he can get away. Stein was sure Judge Welles was the Vigilante and that Adrian Chase killed him, soAdrian decks Woinston now he’s wondering who’s wearing the costume … and why he didn’t fight the cops. The next day, Chase gives Winston shit for his Vigilante activities (and punches him out), but Winston says he has to do something to balance the scales of justice, like Chase did before he got all high and mighty. Marcia King talks to her therapist (Dr. Knopf) again and he urges her to meet with the man who used to be the Vigilante. Marcia is careful not to mention Chase’s name, but Knopf has already figured it out (and is probably planning to follow her to her lunch meeting to confirm his suspicions). At the police station, the captain is looking for Stein, to remind him to stay away from the Welles Marcia gives up on Adriancase, but Stein is nowhere to be found. Stein is actually upstate, checking the scene of Electrocutioner’s death and finds other bloodstains and a bullet he hopes will prove his theory about Chase and Welles. Chase stands Marcia up for their lunch, so she goes to the courthouse and finds him hammered out of his mind, wallowing in his guilt. She tells him he’s a lost cause and walks out. Downtown, a dude in a gym makes a date with one of the trainers. She’s already anticipating getting laid (even though they just met), but the guy is some kind of religious nut punishing “sinners”, so he leaves a bomb in the gym, blowing the place to hell. From working with the mobster Bates, Vigilante learns that a guy named Jake Bromley is tied to all the killings around townBromley blown away and may know who’s behind them. Vigilante is pretty snotty to Bates, which will probably come back to bite him in the ass. Vigilante knocks out Bromley’s guards and puts the pressure on Bromley to say who’s behind all the killings. Before Bromley can talk, he’s blown away by his “girlfriend”, who gets away. She calls her boos to tell him she screwed up (apparently she was aiming for Vigilante, not Bromley) and he figures it’s time to call in some special help to get rid of Vigilante. Meanwhile, Adrian contemplates suicide to end his problems, but decides that’s the wrong solution. At police headquarters, Captain McNeil gives Stein shit for investigating the Welles death on his own time and trying to get Forensics to analyze the evidence he found. Their argument is interrupted when Captain Hall comes in to tell them he’s been assigned there to head up the Vigilante Squad.

Warlord 108 coverWarlord #108 – “The Cold Night of the Undead” – Michael Fleisher/Ron Randall

This one starts with Travis Morgan, Shakira, and Daimon travelling through a frozen valley in the northern part of Skartaris. They run into barbarians riding mammoths and get into a fight, but the barbarians are freaked out when Shakira transforms into a cat and they all take off. Far to the southwest, Machiste, Mariah, and their hostage wizard are trying to flee the Isle of Ummschal when they’re confronted by a water elemental conjured by Ummschal’s wizards. Machiste is still out of it from thinking he saw Mariah die last issue, so Mariah takes charge andMortalla thanks Daimon for freeing her forces the wizard to use his magic against the elemental. It works, but the skeleton boat they’re riding on starts falling apart. In the northern valley, Daimon rides out to a copse of trees to gather firewood and hears a voice calling for help. He follows the voice to an ancient tomb and changes into a cat to slip inside. Daimon finds a beautiful woman with very pale skin (and an outfit straight out of Vampirella) with a stake through her heart. He obviously knows nothing about vampires because he pulls the stake out, reviving the woman … and she’s ever so grateful. Morgan comes looking for Daimon and Mortalla's originfinds him much stronger than before. Daimon starts pounding him and Morgan impales him with his sword, but it doesn’t seem to bother Daimon much, as he just pulls the sword out and walks away. Morgan is distracted when the barbarians show up again, but this time they just want to talk. Their spokesman (Kbdarr) tells him Daimon has released a lamia named Mortalla and explains the barbarians’ first attack was to prevent Morgan and company from finding her tomb. Kbdarr recounts how Mortalla wreaked havoc years ago using a magic amulet to raise and command the dead. Eventually, Mortalla was caught and staked down in the tomb (which was the most theMorgan and Shakira in trouble people could do to stop her since she’s immortal and can’t be killed) and the amulet was buried under a tree a few miles away. Kbdarr says they need to stop her before she regains the amulet, although she seems to be able to enthrall people even without it. That’s something Morgan and company realize very soon, as they’re attacked by some fisherman Mortalla has charmed. With their strength enhanced by her magic, the thralls easily kill most of the barbarians and one of them prepares to throw Morgan off a cliff, while the rest close in on Shakira and the remaining barbarians.