All posts by Stephen Sanchez

DC Comics Review: War of the Green Lanterns – Aftermath #1 and #2

The War of the Green Lanterns ended with a bit of a bang. It was a rushed bang, but a bang nonetheless. Mogo died, Krona was defeated, Sinestro ended up with a green power ring and Hal Jordan ended up with no ring. All in all through the aftermath issues it seems to me that the Guardians are screwing things up more and more. They have almost every Green Lantern reeling from Krona’s attack with post traumatic stress, Corps members questioning why they relieved Jordan of his ring and questioning why they are seemingly defending Krona by wanting to give him a decent burial. If I was an intergalactic space cop I’d be wondering the same things….

In the wake of all of this madness there are several issues to deal with. John Stewart’s killing of Mogo to stop the production of corrupted power rings doesn’t sit well with some Lanterns, including Kyle and John himself. John however isn’t going to regret what he did and I applaud him for it. Whether he was right or wrong he’s right when he told Kyle that he did what had to be done and that is the difference between them. I really hope John and Kyle make amends in the future and that in the coming months we see John recover from this, because despite what he says it is wearing heavily on him.

The other big issue is Sinestro and the effect his presence is having on the Corps. Several lanterns including Soranik-Natu agree that Sinestro must be ended once and for all, so they go to the Guardian’s Citadel to do just that. To me this is another example of how the Guardian’s esteem has fallen so far if Lanterns are willing to march into the citadel and kill a prisoner, even if it’s a scum bag like Sinestro. The posse of Lanterns doesn’t get very far as another lantern intervenes. I won’t spoil it but you probably already know who it is.

In defense of the Guardian’s they do finally make a good move to quiet all of the dissension. They order all Green Lanterns to return to their sectors and continue to enforce the law while only the Alpha Lanterns and support staff stay on Oa. The Guardians will also continue to unfold the mystery of why a green power ring chose Sinestro for duty. They also left every Green Lantern with a warning of no more disobedience being tolerated and I kind of think that will be the end of any Green Lanterns questioning them unless they want to be stripped of their rings as Hal was. All of this leaves a whole bunch of stuff hanging in the air. How are Sinestro’s Corps going to react if he remains with the Green Lanterns? Will the Sinestro Corps continue under Arkillo’s leadership or will someone like Mongul step in to try and fill the power vacuum? Kyle and Sora seem to be on very bad terms at this point and now they are going to be separated by duty. Is this the end of their relationship? And what do the Guardians plan to do to Ganthet? He was all alone with them as they wanted to speak to him and the last shot we get is of them eerily reaching towards him. What the hell are they going to do? Embrace him back into the Guardians? Kill him? Hell, I don’t know. I give the aftermath issues a 3 out of 5 bears overall, the art was so-so and the story seemed like a bit of a quick wrap up before the new 52, just like the last part of the War of the Green Lanterns was.

Hopefully many of the questions will be answered in the four new Lantern titles coming out in September to start off the new 52 DC titles! Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, The New Guardians and Red Lanterns! I can’t wait! Stay tuned for more on each of those titles.

DC Comics: Red Lantern Covers

As September gets closer and closer, I can’t wait for the 52 number ones to be released by DC. Almost as excited as I am for Batman, Green Lantern checks in close behind. But with the four new titles involving the Green Lantern mythos there is one that intrigues me more than the others namely because it is so much more different than anything involving the Green Lantern Corps. I talk of course about the Red Lanterns.


After reading Rage of the Red Lanterns and Blackest Night, their leader Atrocitus was sort of painted as just a mindless brute most of the time. He is the embodiment of rage after all… But once I read the Green Lantern: Brightest Day hardcover trade I had a new found liking for him. Sure he’s driven nuts by his rage but as we now know he wasn’t just out to kill people for the fun of it, Atrocitus had a vengeance in him to deal out against the Guardians who were indirectly responsible for the death by Manhunter of his home sector 666. As it turns out, it was Krona the rogue Guardian who was behind the reprogramming of the Manhunters. Now with Krona gone, where will the story of Atrocitus and the Red Lanterns go from here? Apparently we will be getting to know the other members of the Red Corps and see what drives them in their rage. Below is issue number 3 cover which shows the bizarre yet hard to look away from Bleez… showering in blood. Wonderful.

Now with cover number 2, I waited to post that one last because not only do I not know who the Red Lantern on the cover is but the cover itself is pretty unremarkable. Even though I’m excited for this series I’m still a tad bit skeptical. Only the sales will determine this one’s fate but if they keep up with the Lantern tales they’ve given us over the years I’m sure it can last awhile. Be sure to check out our review in September!

Entourage: Season 8, Episode 4 – “Whiz Kid”

Unless you’re a complete imbecile, you’ll know that the title of the episode tonight is talking about Vince. Thankfully the majority of the episode is about Vince taking a whiz. You see, even though there was no wrongdoing on his part from the previous episode’s suicide, Vince is still in a bit of a predicament: Since there was cocaine in the house Vince’s probation officer still wants to have him take a drug test. Which is fine, right?

Wrong. Vince admits to E that he indeed took a couple of hits from a joint after getting out of rehab. Smooth move bro. Ari is having a grand old time with Dana and her sexy self but is striking out on every front with Mrs. Ari. After showing up late to couples therapy and getting walked out on, Ari declares war by taking Dana on a date to Bobby Flay’s resteraunt. This whole ordeal puts him on pretty shitty level with both Dana for him using her like that and Mrs. Ari for taking Dana to the resteraunt to antagonize Bobby. I realize Ari loves his wife but he has to realize that it may be over with her and he has quite a thing going with Dana who is almost entirely like him but as a woman. And as far as looks go Dana wins hands down.

But back to Vince’s whiz. After realizing that nothing Drama picked up will help him, (big surprise) Vince turns to Billy for help. Billy’s solution? Wear a patented fake penis with someone else’s urine in it to cheat the test. Vince agrees but on the way into the test asks E to follow him into the bathroom and tells him the plan. E tries to talk him out of it stating it would make things worse if he got caught. Vince appears to agree and after the test everyone eagerly awaits the results at home.

Finally Vince gets a call from his lawyer who tells him that he is good to go and the results came back negative. The guys all wonder about what could have happened until Vince announces that he went through with the fake schlong! Boom! I honestly didn’t see that one coming.

I give the episode a 5 out of 5 bears, because this was easily the season’s best episode yet. I really liked that it just focused on Vince for the most part, because he really is the main character in the show and they did a good job of building up a little suspense with the urinalysis results. Hopefully next week the Ari/Mrs. Ari drama comes to an end.

Curb Your Enthusiasm: 8.06 – “The Hero” Review

Our episode continues with Larry, Susie and Jeff airborne on their way to New York. The scenes on the airplane were pretty awesome. One of them involved quite possibly the most annoying woman in the world trying to stop Larry from using the coach bathroom and the other a very drunken passenger who combined with Larry’s untied shoes turn the Seinfeld creator into a hero.

Once in New York Larry and Jeff stumble upon Ricky Gervais in a restaurant whom Jeff wants to sign as a client. After buying (inadvertently again) Gervais a $300 bottle of wine, Jeff and Susie have him over for dinner. I loved Larry and Ricky Gervais politely bickering before dinner and it lasted for over three minutes. Seeing two of the funniest guys out there on-screen for the first time I honestly think I could have watched almost a whole episode of them going back and forth.

Ricky Gervais as it turns out is a huge prick as himself on Curb Your Enthusiasm which was a good thing. Between Larry messing up Gervais’ performance of Mr. Simington arguing with Susie, his own brand of medium talk at dinner, and his last valiant act of heroism this episode was one of the best this season. I give it 4 out of 5 bears.

Good news, because it looks like next week we get to see Leon back on the scene as Larry’s louse of a roommate!

Game of Thrones Season 2 Casting: Roose Bolton

Roose Bolton, despite being a brilliant tactician is most definitely one of the more creepy characters in the Song of Ice and Fire books. He’s described as a pale, quiet man whose banner consists of a flayed man. Now if you’re curious as to what flaying is when comes to it being performed on a man, it’s when the skin is torn off of the body one layer at a time. It’s a horrific way of torture, the Bolton’s known to let the exposed skin fester and crack after the flaying. Lord Bolton also hold to the medieval tradition of using leeches to keep his blood clean and healthy. And oh yeah, his castle is known throughout the North as the Dreadfort. Very charming indeed.

I had actually thought of David Thewlis of Harry Potter (among other movies) fame being perfect for the role of Roose Bolton but it would look as if they’ve cast someone who definitely holds to the physical description of the Lord of the Dreadfort. Michael McElhatton is an actor that I am not familiar with but he has had many a role in TV shows and movies alike.

It will be much more interesting once the seasons get rolling to see Roose Bolton’s bastard son Ramsay Snow in action and some of the interactions the father and son have in whichever season book 5 happens to be in. Ramsay is one of the most vile characters I’ve seen in the Song of Ice and Fire books and when he makes his way onto the HBO show I think a lot of people will be disgusted with him and actually be clamoring for him to bite the dust at some point. Roose is a sicko bastard because he condones all of Ramsay’s antics and holds him as his only son despite being a bastard. Stay tuned for more Game of Thrones castings as they release!

The Flayed Man Banner of House Bolton. Let not the pink fool you!

David Yates + The Stand = Happening

Looks like we know what David Yate’s next big undertaking will be. Fables may be on the back burner as the Harry Potter director aims to bring a franchise of Stephen King’s The Stand movies to the big screen. With news from IGN it would appear that Yates and writer Steve Kloves are ready to commit to the project:

Continue reading David Yates + The Stand = Happening