Smallville: Lantern #9 Review

Written by: Bryan Q. Miller
Art by: Marcio Takara
Cover Price: $0.99
Release Date: May 9, 2014

(Not So) Mellow Yellow

John Stewart misses Hal, Oliver has a kick-ass printer, Superman changes his wardrobe and Batman never has good feelings.  In the end, instead of Yellow Bane breaking backs, Bryan Q, Miller breaks my heart.

This weeks issue opens with John Stewart talking with Parallax, who seems to be channeling Dr. Phil...at first.  He can feel John's pain.  He misses his buddy, Hal Jordan.  After John attacks the Entity ,with a proper construct for the situation, Parallax shows his true colors (or color, I guess) and unleashes the fear on my favorite Lantern.  Yes, I just said it.  My favorite Green Lantern is John Stewart.  Always has been, always will.



Speaking of green favorites, Oliver is still recovering from his fight with Prometheus.  Superman checks in with him and reminds him there are big bads everywhere and not all of them are Yellow.  Ollie is to take care of the "normal" evil while Superman takes care of the new threats.  Arrow is activated and with the help of a 3-D printer, has an awesome new battle suit.  Then Superman does what I have wished would happen for quite some time, he annihilates  Man-Bat.

Then Gotham's Yellow Rogues tag team Superman and when everyone (including Batman) thinks it's over, Superman literally breaks out of his Green Lantern digs and gets his groove back.  I'm not really sure of the hows and whys of this, but it really looks cool.  Then Bryan Q. Miller breaks my heart.  A last page cliffhanger that is awesome, but also may set up something horrible.

Things are lining up.  While this issue is mostly setup, I really enjoyed it.  Oliver is ready to kick ass,
Superman is his old self and that cliffhanger makes the battle with the Yellow Rings very personal.  We don't get any Lex this week, which is a bummer, but we do get mention of the Titans.  Hopefully we see both in the flesh next week.

Marcio Takara continues doing such a fine job.  He has really settled into the Smallville Universe and his art has been getting better with each issue.  I hope he sticks around.

Bits and Pieces:

Smallville: Lantern #9 lines everything up for the final part of the story.  It is a bit of a setup issue, but we get so many good moments that I loved it anyway.  Bryan Q. Miller may break my heart, but Marcio Takara is sure to make it look great.  I can't wait until next week to see what happens.  Cross your fingers that it involves Lex and NOBODY dies.

8.5/10