The Emerald Gladiator.... TOTAL CONTROL Part 3
Green Lantern #3 March, Year One	By Russ Anderson

Green Lantern

My name is Kyle Rayner, and I have never -- never -- liked the color green.

I know that sounds strange, even borderline psycho, to have such strong dislike for a color, for god's sake. Blame it on a childhood spent with a mother who just got off the boat and brought her Irish brogue with her. It's like, if you're as Irish as I am, you're expected to love the color green. I'm telling you man, as a kid, nobody got pinched harder than me at school for not wearing green on St. Patrick's Day. It got to the point where I couldn't stand anything my grade school peers expected me to be into. I can't stand friggin' leprechauns for the same reason... haven't been able to eat a bowl of Lucky Charms with a smile on my face since I was six years old. And don't get me started on four-leaf clovers...

Anyway... green. I don't like it. Never have. Which makes it funny that I'm currently on an artificial planet, light years from home, defending with my life my right to be the last Green Lantern.

My opponent? Yyra Kapriva, also known as Fatality, the last survivor of a planet called Xanshii. A while back, a Green Lantern named John Stewart made a mistake that caused the destruction of Xanshii,* and Fatality has apparently been killing former Green Lanterns because it makes her feel better about being the last of her kind. She must be good to have taken down so many of those guys--from what I understand, most of them were pretty formidable even without their rings--but I still wouldn't be too worried about my chances. If.

(* See DC's way underrated Cosmic Odyssey mini-series... the Mike Mignola art is worth the price of admission alone -- comic critic Russ)

If she didn't have that damned yellow power ring on her fist. A ring that can do anything my green one can.

We've been on Warworld--the planet we were both summoned to by the Controllers (long story)--for several days, me recovering from injuries I received in the "summoning" process, and her preparing for this battle. But now the waiting's over, and we're facing each other across the floor of a coliseum the size of New Hampshire. Far above the coliseum, I can see a speck that must be Von-Lo, a Daxamite with all the powers of Superman and none of the qualms about hurting people. Von-Lo is the Controllers' insurance that Fatality or I won't make a break for it.

Only one of us walks away from all this, and whoever that one is gets to be Green Lantern. Because the Controllers say so. I want to say something pithy like 'I'll bet Hal Jordan never had days like this'... but I'm sure he did. I'm sure he had worse. And until the end, he always found a way to come out on top. Because he deserved to have that damn ring.

Time to show these bastards I deserve it too.

Von-Lo

The Daxamite circled above the arena, his blue cape billowing out behind him in Warworld's artificial breeze. The space above him looked like clear, daytime sky, but Von-Lo knew that was an illusion. The true surface of Warworld -- which lay above the artificial sky -- was a pockmarked wasteland, covered with the scars of battle. The world's current occupants lived below the surface, in hollowed-out chambers the size of continents.

Von-Lo was a man of principal as well as power. He had chosen to serve the Controllers because their goals were noble ones, though the lot of them were spurred by paranoia rather than altruism. He agreed with his masters that the universe needed protectors, and that the Green Lantern - as a well-known and mostly-loved servant of order - was the perfect choice. He didn't agree with their decision to face the current Lantern off against that serial killer from Xanshii, but such was the lot of a servant.

His ear buzzed. A directional audio signal from the Controllers, letting him know it was time to begin. Shaking off his doubts, Von-Lo dropped through the thin cloud cover to the floor of the coliseum. One way or another, it would all be over soon.

Fatality

The Daxamite needs no amplifying equipment to make his voice heard down the length and breadth of the coliseum. He drops to the turf directly between the Earthman and me. Patiently, I finger the battlestaff I earned on Okaara in the commencement games. The Warlords of Okaara are the canniest warriors in known space, and they taught me well. The Earther doesn't stand a chance, and when he is dead, I will use his weapon to end the lives of everyone else who ever wore the uniform of a Green Lantern. Then, if I am bored, perhaps I will play along with the Controllers and their scheme to turn me into a universal protector.

Perhaps.

"Fellow sentients," the Daxamite begins. "We are gathered here today to witness a rite of battle between the bearer of the last Oan power ring, and the last survivor of Xanshii. The winner will earn the right to bear the title of Green Lantern evermore. Victory will be decided solely on the death of the other combatant. Green Lantern of Sector 2814, are you ready?"

The Earthman nods, staring at me with what he probably thinks of as intensity. He doesn't yet know what 'intensity' is.

"Yyra Kapriva of Xanshii, are you ready?"

I give him a curt nod.

"Then begin," he shouts, and moves quickly back up into the sky to give us our room.

Green Lantern

The woman - Fatality - tenses as Von-Lo moves out of the way, and I figure this is probably the only chance I'll get for a sucker punch. I take it. For tradition's sake, I make it a boxing glove and fire it across the space separating us.

She parries with a flat yellow wall, then leaps up into the air, a trail of glimmering yellow following behind her. Once airborne, she unleashes a volley of yellow beams that tear up the ground at my feet. They're supposed to distract me, keep me busy dodging so she can get up close... at which point this battle is over.

But I'm not that green. Ignoring the bursts, I build a giant green replica of John Elway between us, and Brother John punts the witch across the coliseum before she can land from her leap. She hits the turf a mile away, sliding a little before leaping back to her feet.

So much for the prelims. Time to get down to the brass tacks.

I launch myself into the air after her.

Green Arrow & Donna Troy

Connor Hawke set the duffle containing his 'work clothes' down while Donna ordered some drinks -- mocha latte for her, spring water for him.

"Sorry for dragging you down here Connor, but I've been cooped up in Kyle's apartment for the better part of 2 days now. I had to get out for a little bit."

"No need to apologize. Considering what you've told me so far I'm surprised you're holding up as well as--"

"Here you go," a man said, appearing at Donna's elbow. "Is mocha latte and"--he paused, saying this next with something approaching contempt--"spring water."

"Thanks Radu."

"I have no seen Kyle in days. Is he well?" Radu, a large bald man with a thick brown mustache and an accent suggesting an Eastern Bloc origin, stroked his chin thoughtfully and tried to hide the fact he was giving Connor a suspicious glare.

"He's fine, just had to run out of town for a few days. Radu, have you met Kyle's friend, Connor?"

Connor rose to shake Radu's hand while Donna made the brief introductions. This seemed to mollify the man somewhat, and he returned to the bar.

"Sorry about that," Donna said with a grin. "You've got two strikes against you with Radu: you didn't try his coffee and you're being seen socially with his favorite tenant's girlfriend."

Connor seemed more embarrassed by the implication of romance between him and Donna than upset at the landlord/coffee fascist. He took a sip of his water and changed the subject. "So Kyle was kidnapped by an alien called a Daxamite, who seemed to recognize you even though you'd never seen him in your life. Is that right?"

Donna nodded, thankful that she hadn't needed to remind Connor to keep his voice low.

"And the Justice League doesn't have a thing to go on so far."

"Right."

"Stuff like this is why I'm glad I didn't pass the JLA's entrance exam. It'd be nice to be in that position to help if they find Kyle though."

"Kyle told me he really pulled for you at the tryouts."

"Yeah, and I appreciated it... but even at the best of times, Green Arrow was always kind of a round peg in the Justice League's square hole. Donna..." Connor looked away for a moment, seemed to steel himself, then met her eyes. "What do you really think? Do you think he's still alive?"

"I know he is."

Connor nodded. "Of course you do. Silly question."

Donna shook her head, placing a hand atop Connor's own. "You don't understand. I'm not saying I'd know if he was dead -- the truth is I seem to have a problem with the people I love dying on me -- I'm saying I know he's still alive. I know because of this." She reached into the collar of her blouse and pulled out a glimmering green locket on a similarly hued chain. "He gave this to me a few weeks ago.* He made it with the ring, and even though it's more permanent than most of his constructs, it's still an extension of his will. If he was dead, it wouldn't be here anymore."

(* See DC's Green Lantern #78 -- Russ)

Connor grinned, relieved and touched all at once. "Well... that's a starting point."

"So," Donna continued, dropping the locket back into her blouse, "you never did tell me just why you dropped by. New York isn't your hometown, is it?"

"No, but right now it's my mother's. Honestly, and this seems callous now, I was kind of hoping to steal Kyle away for a week or two, take a road trip..."

The Predator at the Wall

"Prepare for reverse transmat," the science officer intoned. "Scientist Third Grade Berl Vox returning from unauthorized trans-spatial exploration. Standby."

A whirlpool of light manifested in the center of the vacuum chamber the group looked in on, and the science officer nodded at his second-in-command. Coluans were, by nature, a pacifist species, far more interested in study and learning than battle. But there was the occasional renegade -- Vril Dox being the most infamous -- and Berl Vox, with his unauthorized jaunt across time and space, showed signs of following in Dox's footsteps. The science officers were prepared to subdue him if it came to it.

The spheroid ship materialized at the center of the light, followed immediately by the whoosh of atmosphere rushing back into the vacuum chamber. Once the room was pressurized, the dozen or so science officers present moved inside and surrounded the ship.

"Attention Berl Vox," the leader said, the heat baking off the ship's hull making his green skin shine with sweat, "you have violated the edicts of the Coluan Science Council, Space/Time Sub-group, and are hereby ordered to surrender your self, both corporeal and non-corporeal, to our custody. Please exit the vehicle with your hands in the air."

There was a moment of silence, long enough for the science officers present to begin shuffling their feet impatiently. The leader looked to his second-in-command, who returned his uncertain glance. The ship's portholes were opaque, preventing them from getting some idea of what was going on inside.

"Remove safeties," the leader commanded. His subordinates complied, though none of them seemed pleased to be doing so. Discord did occasionally occur on Colu, but it was infrequent enough to make such things as un-safetying one's taser an unhappy event.

He was just about to give the order to break in the ship's hatch when the front port exploded outward. A black shape -- so black it hurt his eyes to look at it, though even as he thought that he realized it made no sense -- flew out into the chamber, slid across the floor in a fluid motion that may have been very fast running. And suddenly one of his men was flying across the room in two halves, in two different directions.

"Fire!" Did he give that order? He wasn't sure, perhaps it was his second. In any case, the remainder of his men opened fire, though not before another of them slumped to the floor, an impressive geyser of blood fountaining into the air from the stump of his neck. The leader had no idea what had happened to the man's head.

Lightning arced out from the tasers, and some of it struck the creature, he was sure of it, but the electrical charges didn't even slow it down. Two more men were dead even as he came to this conclusion.

"Kill it! For God's sake, kill it!" his second-in-command was screaming, and then he was dead too, split diagonally from shoulder to opposite hip in a spray of blood that bathed his commander. The Coluan blinked in surprise and dropped his taser, watching the beast gut three more of his men in the time it would take to blink. None of them were getting out of this room alive. None of them.

What manner of demon had Berl Vox brought down on Colu?

The commander brought his communicator up to his lips. Colu had to be warned. The creature had to be contained somehow, with greater weapons than his small squad had thought to bring.

It had been barely ten seconds since he'd given the order to remove safeties.

"Seal this lev--" He stopped as his hand disappeared at the wrist, drenching his face in even more blood. Looking up, he found himself face-to-face with the jet-black, grinning face of the predator. Black tentacles waved from its back, spreading behind its head as a peacock's feathers might, and one hand was spread in a ghastly, blood-drenched claw.

Perched on the other hand was a leering skull, half humanoid, half-robot.

The pain from his severed appendage finally caught up to his racing brain, and the commander opened his mouth to scream. The predator lunged forward and snapped off his head before he could get out a sound.

"Kh... looo," the predator intoned, scenting the air with his tentacles, sifting information from the lingering psychic screams of his prey. There was enough meat spread across the floor of this shiny cube to feed him literally for aeons. And there was more, uncounted more tons of meat outside. All his for the asking. Enough food to feed all of his kind for the rest of eternity.

Food. But virtually no hunt.

After uncounted millennia scavenging meat from unwary visitors to the Source Wall, the thought of an unending banquet should have made the predator very happy indeed. But his primitive mind -- racing with newfound intelligence as it was -- still couldn't wrap itself around the concept of food without a hunt. And any concept it didn't understand simply couldn't exist. Not yet.

The predator considered the cyborg skull sitting atop one of its claws, where it had sat, like a puppet, since he'd found it at the Wall. Its tongue flicked out and touched at the skull's eyes, tasting still the residue of its dying thoughts.

"Jeerrr-diinn," the creature repeated. "Griinn Lenn-tirrnn..."

It moved back toward the sphere ship. It understood the machine's workings well enough now, and it thought it could get the ship to where it now needed to go. Where the hunt would be.

To Green Lantern. To Earth.

Green Lantern

A green T-Rex charges Fatality, jaws slung wide, but the warrior woman simply bats the monster aside with a plain yellow wall.

I'm starting to get worried.

This 'Fatality' woman is very... focused, I guess is the right word. No matter how deep I get in battle, there's always a fraction of my brain playing the artist, making my constructs pretty or funny or... significant, a part of my brain that cherishes form over function.

If my opponent has an imagination, it's not translating to the ring well. Every time I attack, I'm met by a plain yellow wall. Every time I'm attacked, it's by a beam of coherent yellow energy.

I can't figure out whether that gives me an advantage or not. But even if it doesn't, that's not the reason I'm worried.

I'm worried because I'm afraid the charge on my ring may be running low.

When Hal Jordan wore this sucker, it had a 24-hour limit. I'm serious. At 23 hours and 59 minutes, he was at full-speed, but at 24 hours and 1 minute, he was powerless. What this means is that all Jordan had to do was look at his watch to see if it was time to charge the ring.

Mine works differently, more like a real battery. The charge lasts for so long, depending on how much I use it during that period. I had a really slow month once where a single charge lasted me almost two weeks, but generally I have to get acquainted with my power battery once every 2 or 3 days. But it's not an exact science, and even though I'm starting to get a feel for when the ring's running low on juice, I can't be certain until it stops working.

I've been on Warworld for days without my battery, and even though I've been intentionally going easy on it in anticipation of this battle, I'm starting to see the telltale blurriness around the edges of my constructs. And I honestly don't know if I can count on the Controllers to stop this battle if my ring runs dry.

Something's screwy about those guys and this whole situation. Why the simplistic, senseless "fight to the death" to determine who gets to police the universe? And why did they choose a killer who's obviously been unhinged by grief as their only other candidate?

No, something's rotten on Warworld... and that doesn't make me feel any better about my ring dying on me.

A green representation of Green Arrow (Connor Hawke version, natch) fires a blunt arrow from behind Fatality, knocking her legs out from under her. When she hits the ground, the Thinker materializes over her, sitting with one elbow on one knee and brooding as only a statue can.

"Enough!" Fatality bellows. She obliterates the Thinker with a gout of yellow flame, then climbs into the air and roars across the field toward me. I meet her charge with a Queen Alien big enough to make Sigourney Weaver wet herself, but as Fatality draws up short, summoning up a yellow spear to defend herself with, Momma flickers and dissipates, blowing away like a green cloud.

My ring.

My ring is dead.

My costume vanishes to be replaced by the street clothes I'd been wearing at the bridge several days ago before rushing off to fight Von-Lo. I look at the ring stupidly for a second, as if I might be mistaken about it being tapped, as if I hadn't been expecting this... and then Fatality hits me hard, streaking down from the air and slamming me into the packed dirt of the coliseum floor. We slide across the ground for almost twenty feet, and Fatality's on her feet again as soon as we stop. She's still holding that spear she created to fight Momma with, and she hoists it into the air, ready to drive it thru my heart.

I look into the sky, and far above I see the black spec of Von-Lo, still circling, making no move to stop the fight now that I'm powerless.

I listen to the crowd, momentarily stunned into silence by the possibility of Fatality's victory.

I'm screwed I'm screwed I'm-

Fatality pulls the spear up as far as she can, ready to drive it downward, and I throw my hands up in a feeble attempt to protect myself.

My battery... Jesus, if only I had my battery, just a quick charge, I-

A blast of emerald power springs from my hand and smashes Fatality up and away. She's so surprised by this reversal that she makes no attempt to catch herself as she climbs in a slow arc, then slams to the coliseum floor half a mile away.

I start to get to my feet, utterly confused and utterly relieved all at once, watching a green cloud of energy dancing around my ring hand and my costume beginning to rebuild itself. Momma Alien starts to rebuild herself too, as the last thing I was concentrating on before my ring died, but I will her away as well.

Somehow, I've copped a charge out of thin air here. Somehow... but that should be impossible, shouldn't it? What the hell is going on?

I look up, and Fatality's getting to her feet again, her reddish-brown skin flaring darker in anger. The look she gives me says I'd better shelve the questions for later. This fight's not over yet.

I climb into the air and rush to meet her.

Von-Lo, report. What just happened down there?

"I have no idea," the Daxamite replied, scanning the floor of the stadium with his vision powers. "The Earthman's ring was completely drained one minute, and the next it was charging itself from the very air."

The voice in his ear was silent for a moment, considering this information. That should be impossible. A Green Lantern can't charge his ring without an Oan battery. He--

Silence again, and Von-Lo understood that he hadn't been meant to hear that last soliloquy. The Controllers were talking amongst themselves in their secluded stronghold, and were probably coming to the same conclusions Von-Lo himself was. There was only one explanation, and it changed matters significantly.

Very well, the lead Controller said. Continue observing and let us know of anymore unexpected power fluxes. If necessary, we'll take steps to remove the Earthman from the source of his power.

Von-Lo continued to hold his peace. More and more, as this situation continued to deteriorate, he found himself losing faith in his masters and their goals. First the insane Xanshiian, and now further efforts to fix the battle against the Earthman. Until Von-Lo decided for certain where his loyalties lay, he would do exactly what the Controllers told him to do and no more.

Under no circumstances must Green Lantern be allowed to win. The Controllers must possess that power ring. You have your orders, Von-Lo. Now make it so.

NEXT: "Total Control" Part 4. More on the Predator at the Wall. More on Von-Lo and the Controllers. Oh yeah, Kyle Rayner should be in there somewhere too...

RUB THE LAMP

The following review was posted to the JLU 2001 mailing list by our sometimes-but-mostly-when-he-buys-us-beer-esteemed EiC, Will Short.

GREEN LANTERN #1
"Total Control", Part One
By Russ Anderson

Russ Anderson writes a Helluva "Iron Man" at Marvel 2000. But this is JLU 2001.

For some reason a lot of people, while making the inevitable yet pointless parallels between Avengers members and Justice Leaguers, put Iron Man and Green Lantern together. I can understand some of the points to be made, of which I won't list here, but especially with the "new" GL, Kyle Rayner specifically, they are two totally different icons, types of people...Everything. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

While I agree that GL and IM aren't much alike in terms of powers, they are similar in that they're potentially the true powerhouses of their respective teams, but haven't quite reached the reknown of some of their teammates. If I was going to match GL against a Marvel character, though, it'd probably have to be Quasar.

Despite the characters' differences and Russ's proclaimed initial discomfort with Kyle, he still manages to write a pretty damn good GL, too.

The opening section with the Predator at the Wall is a little story in itself, and even though I don't know exactly what's going to happen with it, I like its use. It gets your attention with surprise and brutality, uses one of the coolest places in DC continuity, and adds a needed sci-fi feel to GL's title. The narration works well here.

Thanks. I was very happy with the Wall sequence for the most part, particularly since this plot thread is part of my insidious plan to see to it that the Cyborg Superman never returns to life in the JLU Universe...

Kyle's characterization is good. He's a busy, but still naturally carefree, artistic, and fun-loving guy, and his scene at the Brooklyn Bridge is good to see (and humorous as well, when we see just how new he is to the city).

I, being me, don't particularly know a lot about all of the various DC alien races, although I had a decent idea about the Daxxamites before reading this. What I didn't know was brought to light without seeming forced and made it even easier to understand. Why specifically he's attacking Kyle, I forget, but the fight scenes were handled well with almost a little of Kyle's perspective thrown into the narration. Russ's handling of Donna, however brief, was good as well, and I liked her little line at the end of the office scene.

This isn't all to say, though, that I had no problems with the issue. The main thing for me was the sense that this is all just a build up...Yes, I know it's the first part of a story line, but it still just didn't...Excite me a whole lot, I guess, as a singular story. Plenty happened, but I just didn't get a sense of urgency so much when Kyle was attacked. This is hardly a huge problem, and probably is just related to his freshness on the book.

I hope so. I've made no bones about the fact that I'm quite a bit less comfortable in Kyle's world than I am in, say, Tony Stark's, but I do find it's getting easier as I go along.

Over all, I have no doubt that Russ is only going up from here, and even with a few hindrances, this is still a good issue. I hope to see Kyle developed under Russ's hand regularly.

Thanks for the review, Mr. EiC sir. Now get back to work on JLA #4. Do you have any idea how fidgety James Hickson's getting?

Next is a very kind review, posted to both the mailing list and the message board, by Les Chaon.

Green Lantern #1-2 by Russ Anderson
At JLU 2001

This is what fan fiction is about, folks. A great handle on characters. Interesting and surprising plot developments. And a whole heap of creativity.

Wow, thanks. 'Nuff said (whoops, wrong company).

First off, I have to applaud Russ on his stance to not bring Hal Jordan back. I know there are a lot of fans out there who want Hal returned to normal. But the thought of bringing Hal back in a GL fanfic makes me physically ill. Hal’s time is done and I’m glad to see that he won’t be showing up in this title.

I like Hal as GL fine (at least his pre-gray, pre-wise old man version), but I'm trying to avoid the trap that nearly every other fanfic group out there has fallen into in bringing all the major, deceased Silver Agers back. I feel the same way about Ollie Queen, but I don't have any control over the GA franchise here at JLU.

Now for the real reason I’m reviewing this. Russ has an amazing handle on Kyle Rayner. This is a Green Lantern who is still relatively new to the superhero game. This is GL who is still learning how to handle the most powerful weapon in the universe. And this is GL who still makes mistakes. The reason I think some people can’t read Superman is that he’s perfect. Really, when was the last time you saw Big Blue mess up? Making mistakes is part of the learning process. And it leaves lots of room open for character growth.

Agreed and agreed. That 'everyman' feel is the aspect that separates Kyle from Hal and makes the character cool in his own right... IMO, of course.

I also loved the human moments Russ gives us. In the first issue, a police officer doesn’t realize that Kyle is the Green Lantern that has been in New York for a couple months. This shows the frustrations Kyle has over still being in Hal’s shadow. In these two issues, I’m seeing what I liked about Kyle in Grant’s JLA run. You see everything through his eyes as someone who is new to this world of superheroics.

One of my fave Kyle-GL moments ever was that Sandman story in JLA, where Daniel explains to Kyle that he'll surpass Jordan because he knows the one thing Hal never did. Kyle's sputtering and going "yeah right, you're talking about Hal Jordan here buddy, get real, what do I know that HE never did?" Daniel says "fear" and then "you will surpass him" just before disappearing. Friggin' awesome! One of the character's defining moments and it wasn't even in his book!

What I'm trying to say is, I'm glad someone else has such favorable memories of Morrison's take on the character.

Russ has made Kyle and GL a lot more human and a lot more real than I’ve ever seen him in the comics. This is the first time I’ve ever seen a realistic description of how Kyle handles the ring constructs. When he created some stuff to hold up that building, he had to always divert some of his attention to keeping them solid. (I guess it was always implied before but it was nice to see it in print.) This shows just how much work it must take to use a power ring. And what happened when the Daxamite took Kyle away? The building collapsed. Very real.

My favorite parts were all the little tidbits and creative ideas Russ stuck in everywhere. I love creativity. The idea of superheroes is imaginative and creative and I believe they should never lack creativity. There are so many cool ideas in these two issues, I just don’t know where to start. The idea of those Predator creatures living on the Source Wall was cool. And then it found the Cyborg’s remains from when Parallax kicked his butt. (Reread the Parallax special from Final Night and tell me Jordan shouldn’t be the Spectre.) Then there’s the idea of the other 3599 sectors challenging Kyle’s right to the ring. (I may have missed some issues but I don’t remember that being covered in the real GL series). Oh, and let’s not forget about when the ring automatically threw up a shield to protect Kyle. That was cool and I’ve never seen it do that before. Russ really makes you think.

I wasn't sure about the shield thing at first, because Kyle's ring doesn't automatically protect him like Hal's did. It does, however, operate through his will, and so must have a link to his subconscious. It created a construct of his ex-girlfriend once without him willing it while he was dreaming, so I thought the reaction to his own reflex wasn't too much of a leap. Thanks again for the props.

As hard as it may be to believe, I did find some things I didn’t like. The Gladiator-esque battle that’s supposed to take place has been done in almost everything (movies, comics, television, etc.) But I did enjoy Russ sticking in that current pop culture reference. And then there’s Fatality. You’ve got to be kidding me. I hate this character. It was a good idea, but executed poorly. Then she dies. And lives only to die again. And shows up again...also to die (I think, I can’t keep track). This makes me dislike her even more.

Oddly enough, as a reader, I agree with you completely. When Judd Winick brought Fatality back YET AGAIN recently, I couldn't believe they were milking that one-trick pony (if I can mix a metaphor or two) one more time. Then, when I actually started writing the book, I realized there's a lot of cool things I could do with Fatality. I do agree she's a good idea that just went awry somewhere down the line. In any case, I can't promise you'll like her by the end of "Total Control", but she will serve the story as more than a punching bag for once.

Plus, was she around before JLA #5? I don’t think so, but could be wrong. I she wasn’t, then why bring her into this series? I guess I should wait and see what Russ has planned, but I’m just voicing my dislike right now.

Completely within your rights... and it gives me something to strive for in any case. To answer your question, Fatality debuted almost immediately following the death of Hal Jordan, which is where my GL series picks up (on review, I couldn't figure out whether Final Night happened right before or right after JLA #1-4, so I just went with before). Kyle has never faced her before at JLU, so this isn't a case of "returning enemy"-itis. The timing was just right, and the admittedly vacuous character fit into my plot. Hopefully it'll work.

Overall: Amazing characterization and wonderfully creative ideas makes this one of my favorite titles at this site. The appearance of Fatality (with a yellow power ring no less) makes me nervous but I'm sure Russ will handle it well.

For the public record, I nicked the yellow power ring thing from Judd Winick (Fatality's return was one of the only issues of his run that I actually enjoyed), but hopefully I'll take her role and the way she got the ring in a different enough direction that no one will call me on my borderline plagiarism. :-)

SCORE: 4 1/2 out of 5 yummy Coluans

Mm-mm. Those Coluans sure are good, aren't they? Try them in the cheese sauce...

Thanks again for the review, Les.

- Russ Anderson
June 30, 2001

Story © 2001, Russ Anderson. Most characters presented are property of DC COMICS