Golden Cameos: Millennium #6

Outside title "The Dreaming" inside "Out" just like I guessed. To be fair this is the only thing that's been predictable so far.

OLDER SPOILERS AHEAD



Title: "Out"

The group from last issue that wanted to find the Manhunters' planet are in fact in space. They already destroyed the planet and are now fighting a "mammoth Highmaster" a.k.a. a big yellow robot.

Superman: Can't you hit him with your power beam?

Can't you use your eye beams? Supermans' either being dumb or lazy. Hal says that the huge thing their chasing is too fast to hit. Despite the fact their in space with multiple heroes lined up together that thing apparently knows how to evade because it's a hunter. The heroes are joined by Harbinger and the mostly dead GL that helped her out. Neither one really do anything.

Hal Jordan: Everybody all right? Our rings automatically protected us!

Firestorm: Cap Atom and I--uh--

Captain Atom: --transmuted the force for everyone else!

Another of the many exchanges that can have different meanings but all are amusing. One: Hal thought the GL rings protected everyone and Firestorm is awkwardly correcting that assumption. Two: Hal didn't try to save anyone and Firestorm is disturbed that he has to explain what they did. Three: Firestorm isn't really sure what he did so Atom has to finish for him. Katma and Arisia say their going to protect their adopted world which is sweet. The kind of dead GL with it's budging eyes and making weird noises ruins the tender moment. The GLs get trapped with Hal still grandstanding to say he already beat the guy so he'll get them out of this. Yeah, I wouldn't trust Hal to get my mail much less defeat the machine he didn't destroy.

Losing the battle Dr. Fate tries calling out to the former Fate since he's still new. Figuring why not he uses a spell nearly kills them as they get taken into a dimension. Hals' ego gets stroked when Katma says he's the best of them, then he and Superman get out while everyone else just sort of floats around in an unconscious state. Fates' apparently in a coma now. ...I know he's supposed to be new but why was that ever a good idea? Why couldn't Fate teleport them home? Was he trying to? Is anyone in this book smart? Back with Triple H, Nadia and the Chosen who continue to do nothing. The Chosen are out cold after the Oans planted some seed in their minds. Even they are a little puzzled since they never expected them to be out for so long. I guess the Chosen are supposed to get some vision of their mission. Judging by the splash pages this is their destiny:

English but Jamaican sounding woman is supposed to be a transparent monstrous blob in the sky. Racist man is supposed to be a new hate leader. Japanese guy is to dress as a ninja to run a business. The gay man from Peru is to show with rainbows coming from his fingers and toes. The Chinese woman will become a dragon (I think that's what it implied.) Floronic Man will dance in a forest. The Australian woman will stay out alone in the desert. Tom will become a Green Lantern.

These are some of the most racist pages I've ever read. The only one that's actually good is Toms' dream. I guess these aren't so much visions as their hearts' desires. Either way most of them are insulting and ridiculous. Racist man cries out during all this.

Nadia: He will play the traitor--!

WHY DO YOU NEED A TRAITOR?! I mean they had to know that ahead of time. Okay it's obvious that he will but at least play up the Floronic Man more. Plus it's counter productive to their supposed mission. Is that why they got FM and Terra? Because the wanted extras for the role? What if the three of them survived and murdered the other then each other?! How is this a good thing?!

Wonder Woman comes back to explain what happened to her when she disappeared. I think this will be my favorite moment in the whole series. After Diana gets half way into her story Batman turns around to yell "I don't want to hear it!" to her shock. It's like the perfect reaction for the readers sick of the tie in material that just want to get on with the story already. What makes this greater is that I'm pretty sure he shrugs off her attempts to explain suddenly vanishing in Amazons Attack too. At some point I'll have to scan the two panels from this book because it's seriously incredible. Batman says he's sorry but the Outsiders just got defeated so he's bummed out. He calls Guy and says their going to get their personal traitor Booster Gold.

It's a little detail but the way he says it seems to feel like Batman is taking this betrayal very personally. The fact that he picks Guy and mentions that it was the JLI Booster was a traitor to really make this work. It's also one of the few genuinely emotional moments in Millennium. The portrayal of Guy has been on and off with him acting like his nice persona and then acting fairly normal minus the rude comments. But I think he knows that Guy is pretty damn loyal and would want to go after Booster. Of course this nice version doesn't see what the problem is which only serves to piss Batman off more.

Wonder Woman: (Thinking) At first I had no interest in relating to these crude heroes of man's world--and now that I made the attempt, they fulfill my worst expectations!

So yeah, she's not impressed with your rudeness Batman.

"And so, after a leisurely flight to Booster Gold International--"

Wait, their seriously calling a furious Batman traveling with a clueless and sometimes annoying Guy Gardner as "leisurely?" Did they take the scenic route on their path to vengeance? Was Guy still talking about how neat he thinks Booster is? Why did we miss that scene? It would have been awesome to see Batman trying not to throttle him! They could have made a whole JLI issue dealing with it! And again, their waiting until NOW to confront Booster? They go to his home, there's no guards or anything to stop them. The only reason their there is because Batman was ticked off enough to go and had nothing else to do. Okay I did laugh out loud reading this section. It's just seeing Guy telling Batman he provoked Booster, then trying to reason with BG only to get punch in the face for his troubles cracks me up.

On a more serious note Booster acts like he only cares about the money. I do like that Guy is the voice of reason that doesn't think Booster is a bad guy despite him attacking. He actually makes a logical guess that it's a infiltrating trick and appearances have to be kept up. That said that brings up another unintentionally funny bit when you think about it. A brain damaged Guy Gardner is in fact the most rational and able minded character in this whole series. Granted I think Booster is close but he falls slightly behind for not informing Captain Atom of his Manhunter instead of just scaring the agent. Anyway Guy puts Booster in a containment field to get him to listen. He says that there's no one else around so they can discuss the whole thing. Much to my amazement someone remembers Boosters' long forgotten absorbing field which he uses to escape Guy.

Booster Gold: No airhead escapes the Manhunters!

Is he referring to himself or them being the airhead? Because if he's the Manhunter in question he's fleeing them. Batman gets frustrated then admits he prefers Guy being tougher. Guy thinks it almost seems like Booster is bad. Don't give up on him Guy.

Back with Chosen HHH and Nadia watch as everyone wakes up. They comment on Betty being a great pick then how Floronic Man turned out to be a better choice than Terra was. The latter because of the connection to the Earth although it makes you wonder why Geo-Force wasn't in the running. They brush off FM being unstable to worry more about Tom. As he thinks about the lessons he learned his family rush towards him glad he's safe. Tom says he simply has insight which leads his family to think he's different and worry that he'll leave them.

Gregorio: The air--! No. Not the air! Inside the air...!

Did they all just get high? It would certainly explain a lot. All of the Chosen "touched" some power which has them more perceptive except of course for the racist. He denies this and claims what he saw was treacherous. I hate to say it but I did get a kick out of him calling this "hippie hoorah." Not liking what their preaching he tells the Oans to stop or he's leaving. Uh, if they stop what they were doing then what would be the point of him staying as one of the Chosen? As he leaves he makes the mistake of insulting John Stewart who finally gives the man the hit we've all been waiting for. The racist swear to destroy them giving Floronic Man the chance to see the Manhunter agent he spoke to before. The bad guys on Earth don't know their homeworld was destroyed just that the people they blackmailed don't feel threatened enough to keep working with them.

For some reason Floronic Man doesn't want to kill the other Chosen because of some color coded nature rant that ends with a rainbow. Like I said there may have been drugs involved with the Chosens' visions or maybe behind the scenes. This confuses the Manhunter too but he gets the basics enough to pull a gun. FM traps him for the others. They take him to get information on the other remain Manhunters. Batman threatens to kill him if he doesn't talk which makes the others wonder if he's bluffing. Even though he's acting like he's losing it I find it very hard to believe Batman would be ready to kill when later stories have him refuse to end the Joker. But that's more to do with the silly robot story than his morals. Ted figured out the truth behind the flying saucer Aquaman found then they somehow put together it being used to travel into the center of the Earth. They plan to trap the Manhunters and end the whole thing.


Overall: While past issues made me smile and go "what the hell" out loud this one had me laughing. Whether for meta like commentary, the silliness or the randomness. Booster hasn't done too much but I think that's a smart move on his part. You would think the Manhunters would have him fight the other heroes for them. But no, he's just been chilling at his mansion since he agreed to join them. When a couple of heroes finally decide to confront him it has the vibe of someone not wanting to deal with their annoying co-workers. Guy might have been written as funny but he actually came off pretty thoughtful and reasonable. Which does make it funnier.

Batmans' extreme reactions were amazing, he just loses it so fast it's as if he's desperate to get out of this mini series as soon as possible. Like he knows where he is and every chance he gets to escape is repeatedly hindered making him more irritable. Batman, Guy and Booster really made this issue special in ways I'm sure the creators didn't intend. So far this is my favorite issue just from their scenes.


Questions Raised?: Didn't the GLs have a weakness to yellow back then? Wouldn't that mean that technically Guy couldn't contain Booster because of his uniform?

Racist man cried out in pain then claimed he saw something bad that makes him demand the Oans stop what they were doing. So was he wrong? Because it never says anything to explain why he was really yelling.