Justice League 23.2
Special “Villains Month” Title: Lobo 1
Marguerite Bennett, Ben Oliver, Cliff Richards
Forever Evil Crossover
Spoiler alert! You have been warned!
I’m not going to lie. I expected this to be one of the worst comics I had ever purchased in the history of me collecting DC. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I didn’t hate it. That’s right. Mock all you want, but I actually kind of enjoyed this interpretation of the character. The newest Justice League (or, more realistically, Stormwatch) tie-in by newcomer Marguerite Bennett and artists Ben Oliver and Cliff Richards was far from disappointing.
What we have here is a relatively straight-forward one-shot tale of Lobo (the real one, or so we’re told) going through the motions and doing some intergalactic ass-kicking. His new character design didn’t actually bother me because, in essence, he’s still relatively the same pre-Flashpoint Main Man in terms of how he’s written. He’s rude, crude, and utterly socially unacceptable in every way imaginable. He’s a jerk. He’s violent. And when there was a scene at the end of the book where he was given a chance to save innocent lives or condemn them to a fate worse than death, he coldly let them face their cruel fate after being told something that mildly irritated him. We close with a picture of the “classic” Lobo (the one on the cover and the current pages of Stormwatch), causing the New 52 Lobo to become angry. He’s going on an imposter hunt, and it’s going to bring him to Earth. And apparently the upcoming pages of Supergirl.
So get used to him. Because like it or not, he’s going to be around for at least a few more comics until they tie up this particular loose end. Sure, it’s not worth the extra dollar for the fancy cover (save yourself the buck), but it’s actually still written like Lobo, just with a different look. So get over yourselves if you’re a huge Lobo fan boy and have faith in the Powers That Be over at DC Entertainment to deliver a gritty and humorous tale of ultra-violence and ridiculousness when the two Lobos finally meet. I’ll be there to see which one dies and how much drama that stirs.
My Rating: 3/5
Better than I expected but still… meh. What I don't like is that Lobo is characterized in "Villains Month" because he's not a villain, he's just a self-focused ass. The fact that this new "Twilight" Lobo exists alongside the "Classic" Lobo may lead to an interesting story… depending on who tells it. It's the character persona that will determine it, but at least the "classic" look is still around somewhere.
I'm looking forward to the meeting. If nothing else, just to see irate fanboy rage at my local comic shop for yet another week.
Longtime fan of THE Main Man here and this book was bottom of the barrel garbage. This TwiLobo was hardly rude and crude and nowhere near as violent as THE Main Man is. But beyond this total failure of an 'update' we have the bold faced lies from the writer. She said her version of the character would look nothing like the artwork DC released and yet… he looked EXACTLY like the artwork DC released.
But, sorry, TwiLobo wasn't written like Lobo. He was written more like a watered down, PG-13 version of Lobo which was nothing like THE Main Man. This is nothing more that bringing back the stupid Slobo concept but trying to give him a set.
The worst part of this whole mess is I actually paid for this book and it will be in my collection. Maybe. Just because I paid for it doesn't mean I have to keep this over priced bird cage liner.
Hahaha. Tell us how you really feel. 🙂