Cosmic Odyssey

I decided to give this a try and was in for a surprise.

OLDER SPOILERS AHEAD

When the book first started I was worried that it would be boring. There were a few things that didn't need to be said in this series or a couple weird moments like New Genesis publicly naming hero ambassadors to get their assistance. I'm not sure why they couldn't call Superman and let him contact everyone.

But Darkseid and Highfather call everyone in to get their help with a threat. They break off into teams on different planets while Darkseid schemes. I was pleasantly surprised by the character work on display. After reading Amazons Attack it is nice to read more in character development and interactions.

I always wanted to read how John Stewart's arrogance led to a planet blowing up but never got around to looking up where it happen. In this very series it takes place and before it happens he seems invisable. John easily solves every previous problem even impressing J'onn. He's arrogant because he thought he alone could stop the threat and prevents J'onn from helping. John realizes too late that he wouldn't be able to stop the yellow bomb. (The moment was somewhat undermined by the grinning man with a paint brush through.) In present day there's been a lot of talk about how Tom King writes characters and I couldn't help compare his Hal Jordan suicide to John Stewart's near suicide.

Kings' take on Hal didn't make much sense given how the ring works and it attempted to make it comedic. John Stewart's actually considers how the ring works and instead of hand waving safety measures installed he comes to a logical conclusion. He sends the ring light years away so it won't be able to save him in time. (I do question the fact the ring gives him a yellow gun but maybe that was a coloring mistake.) This has the right amount of build up with John's thoughts and enough silent panels to say what it needs to be said. I do find the way J'onn handled it a little irksome. He's much too smug after using reverse psychology to talk John out of it.

I loved that Kory at least shined because of her intelligence in her section. Her annoyance in her own partner's attitude and his in her triumph was a delight. It's sad that she didn't do more in this story. Most probably knew Superman and Orion would win but I liked how their morals clashed when Orion'  brutality was discovered. He slaughtered innocents under mind control when he didn't have to and feels no guilt.

Batman teams up with Forager, who Orion is a prejudice jerk to, and they work well together. Although the new costume for Forager feels kinda pointless in retrospect. Orion remains an insensitive ass which pisses Batman off and the story ends with an attempt to make him more empathetic.

This really isn't a happy tale despite Earth being saved. Their were losses and Darkseid still wins. I'm not a big Jim Starlin fan but I will say this was a decent read.