Threshold #1

Threshold appears to be a collection of stories from the far reaches of space, certainly not, as the title might suggest, from the entryway to your house or apartment. The main story at this point is called The Hunted, which follows a series of space characters who were introduced in Green Lantern: New Guardians Annual #1. The first set of backup stories features Orange Lantern Larfleeze.

Threshold is what I call a magazine-style comic book. It follows different stories, or at least, different back-stories, rather than one central driving story. In my experience with such titles as Men of War, Detective Comics, and All-Star Western, these books are often less than stellar. The only stand-out title that I can think of is Action Comics, and that's because the great and wonderful Grant Morrison writes it. Of course, even that title feels like Morrison crammed five years of story into less than two years of comic books, leaving readers like me yearning for more early social justice Superman stories. Considering the fact that Threshold is written by Keith Giffen and not some rockstar like Morrison, I can safely say it is already my favorite magazine-style comic from the new 52.

The Hunted really has everything going for it. Jediah Caul is a deep-space, abandoned and disgraced, deep-cover Green Lantern who is hunted on a televised reality TV show on the Glimmernet. Already, I can say he's one of the best new characters that DC invented since 2011, probably only behind The Shepherd and the talking cat from Animal Man. There's some depth to this guy, and I'm excited to explore who he is. Caul is one of 27 current fugitives in a Running Man-style battle for survival. I found this interesting because for the sake of safety, one would think that only one "criminal" would be hunted by the public, but one needs only to look to the myriad CSIs and NCISs and Laws and Orders to see why there might be a ratings benefit to having more. Of course, several of the hunted threaten to unite all of the current fugitives in hopes of taking down this corrupt system of "justice," and while this kind of story has been played out through the years I find myself drawn to it.

The writing is top-notch, especially considering that there are no big characters like Superman or Batman to draw readers. The language of the characters, which I would describe as space-British, is comparable to the innovative drawls of many of Joss Whedon's characters in his various television programs, movies and comics. Meanwhile, the story is highly kinetic, every conversation taking place during a chase or a fight. The result: this book is stunning, and highly unexpected.

As for the Larfleeze backup story, it suffices to say that the world's greatest horder gets robbed. I can't imagine anyone who has read Green Lantern in the last few years who wouldn't be interested in seeing what happens when the king of "stuff" loses his.

Threshold #1 is definitely worth reading. If it weren't released the same week as IDW's High Ways, it would have been the best new comic of the week. But don't let that get in the way of your enjoyment. Pick up Threshold today.

I've syndicated this review at Examiner. You can read it here. If you click on it a few times, spend some time there, or navigate to a new page, I might get some money. But I'm only asking that of you if you liked reading the article here and want to show your appreciation.

The State of Black Comic Book Characters: Green Lantern Corps, Mister Terrific, Voodoo

About a month ago, I spoiled the fun of my good friend Rodney. He was unfortunate enough to be celebrating something that I had an issue with. As a good friend, I made sure to put a stop to it.

Rodney was excited at the return to the DC universe of black comic book character Black Lightning. I want to emphasize that he's black, because I wasn't sure that you would pick up on this fact by hearing only the character's name. As of October, Marc Andreyko will be writing a mini-series for DC Universe Presents revolving around the unlikely team-up of Black Lightning and Blue Devil.

"If Black Lightning is so important to DC," I spewed at my unsuspecting buddy, "then why does he need to share a title with someone else instead of getting his own story? And on that token, why is he only given a short run in DC Universe Presents as opposed to his own title?"

Rodney fired back that sharing the title doesn't necessarily mean that Black Lightning can't hold his own. Rather, he suggested, and I agreed, the combination of "Black and Blue" could lead to a really entertaining and endearing sort of supernatural buddy cop drama, starting with how apart these characters are and ending with what can be accomplished if they can put aside their differences. As a fan of Rush Hour and the quintessential Schwarzenegger comedy Red Heat, I thought I would give DC a chance to do Black Lightning right.

The second thing to come out of this discussion was a commitment between Rodney and I to write a series of blogs that serve as a State of the Union for black characters in comic books made by the two major publishers (and also Spawn, at Rodney's request, which I will not be able to comment on for lack of experience with the character).

Today, I want to talk about three DC comics that feature black main characters: Green Lantern Corps, Mister Terrific, and Voodoo. I think I should warn you that there is likely to be minor spoilers in these descriptions.

Sinestro Corps War

"I got a little teary-eyed reading a comic today," I said to Amy while we were waiting for an oil change in Lowell, Michigan. "You should have seen it. It was pretty funny."

"Oh yeah?" Amy inquired. "What were you reading?"

"It was this 'Sinestro Corps War' crossover in Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps comics," I said. I went on to describe a touching moment - which I won't describe in detail for fear of spoiling the story - which involved the people of Coast City showing great courage in a time of great fear. As I described the situation to Amy the tears start welling up again, more heavily even than before, climaxing when I choked out the words, "and then they called it the city without fear."

Green Lantern has been fantastic since Rebirth, but the "Sinestro Corps War" crossover marked the first sign of greatness for post-Recharge Green Lantern Corps. In fact, the storyline redeems any previous Green Lantern Corps story arcs that might not have stolen the attention of readers for whatever reason due to the fact that the entire series is a constructive response to an odd prophecy from an obscure Alan Moore story from the '80s. The story is both epic and incredibly personal, tying together decades of Green Lantern mythology in an entertaining and emotional way.

This story is collected sequentially in a two-volume trade paperback titled The Sinestro Corps War. Give it a shot. If you want the whole story (I believe that Geoff Johns considers the "Sinestro Corps War" to be the second part of a trilogy, of which I can only imagine Rebirth and Recharge are the first part) I'd read all of Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, and Ion since Rebirth and Recharge.