Creative Staff:
Story: Tom King
Art: Barnaby Bagenda
What They Say:
With her grand plans for Kyle Rayner completely shattered, Princess Kalista finds herself with no choice but to follow the former Green Lantern into the deadly heart of the Citadel to persuade the Viceroy to do the impossible: make peace with the Omega Men.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Omega Men has hit a lot of high points in its run so far and the previous issue was definitely one of the bigger ones with its reveal. Digging into the true past of the Omega Men and what they’ve been through while also making it clear what the Viceroy has been doing with the Citadel and with Voorl in particular just took it all to another level. Separated from most of the DC material, King and Bagenda have been able to craft a sprawling science fiction story with intense material and real weight and meaning to it all, all while holding up the mirror to our own society and the things we do. It’s easy to draw the parallels to what’s going on here to how American society/government works and everyone will bring their own perceptions to it in that regard. And that’s what the best science fiction has done for decades across various mediums.
Kyle’s understanding of all of this definitely change his view of what’s going on now that he knows the full truth, but his approach is certainly interesting. He doesn’t join the Omega Men to fight against the Viceroy, which you might expect after seeing the memorials for seven billion sentients. Instead, he takes to an audience with the people of this region in order to bring out the truth of what’s going on and to let them decide what the best approach is to take in order to not become the next Krypton. It makes so much sense for people to actually know what it is that’s being done in their name and for their survival that Kyle presents this well, all while the leadership of so many is in attendance as well as the Viceroy representing the Citadel. Kyle’s speech may not be the most passionate, and I’m amused by his American-centrism that he brings to the table, but his attempt at a third way as opposed to a black and white view of everything does make its own sense – in this context.
Of course, nothing has gone Kyle’s way since he first came here and that everything turns to crap is no surprise. The Omega Men are certainly not going to bargain with the Viceroy and Kalista, having been through so much over the years, is intent on ending this completely. So much so that the destruction of the Stellarium is an intense moment with painful sacrifice that resonates well. When things do turn to chaos, all in front of the audience across the worlds, it causes a really intriguing cascade of reactions. These are kept minimal so as to not minimize the impact of what’s going on, such as the Viceroy’s attack on Scrapps since she’s the sole survivor of Voorl, but the overall feeling that’s generated here is quite powerful and thoroughly engaging. It has all the right kind of final act emotional beats to it with how it unfolds, the bloodshed and the bodies dropping, to really give it weight.
In Summary:
I wasn’t sure if King could maintain things with this issue after what he did the last time around but he damn well pulled it off and set things up for Kyle to really be interesting with how he tries to resolve this. I’m excited to see what comes next for this group as the chaos is likely to just expand from here, especially now that hard choices are going to have to be made. The book continues to be a treat across the board and once again Bagenda just absolutely nails everything here with the visual placement, the layout design itself, and all of the little details that creeps into it here and there both in character and background. This is once again one of those books that you really do read several times to soak up all the details and savor it each and every time.
Grade: A
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: March 2nd, 2016
MSRP: $2.99