Flash Gordon #5

Writer – Jeff Parker
Artist – Sandy Jarrell, Richard Case, Evan Shaner
Colours – Sandy Jarrell, Jordie Bellaire

Flash, Dale and Zarkov have made it off Arboria and are on their way to Sky World, a planet much like Earth.  Flying along, they run into a large biomass that captures them and it turns out to be some sort of planetary defence/travelogue creature.  Not only does it stop them from continuing onward, but starts to detail the wonders of Ming to them.  Of course, they do not want to die there, nor listen to a recitation about the glory of the Merciless one, so Zarkov comes up with a plan and they get out of there.  Finally reaching Sky World, all is well until Flash and the doctor start acting all strange and take off into the air when some strange sky-sirens start singing their song.  That is when Dale learns the bad news.  Parker continues his run on a book that can claim more than any other to be the one that delivers the most amount of thrills and pure enjoyment consistently, from any publisher.  The book is broken into two parts, with two different art teams and it actually works quite well with the artwork being fairly consistent between the two.  There is a lot of humour present in this lighthearted tale and Flash is a character that you cannot help but love.  He is so full of wonder and one could say innocence, and there is not a lot that really bothers him except when he fails his friends or cannot find a way to help them out.  Flash enjoys life and takes it as they come, as should everyone.  This issue also saw Dale stand out more than anyone else, proving her worth to the their little team in more ways than one, and by the looks of it, will play a much larger part in this arc than the former one.  Once again Flash Gordon delivers a magnificent tale per usual from the regular team with Sandy Jarell and Richard Case along for the ride.

4.5 out of 5

The New 52 Futures End #17

Writer – Brian Azzarello, Jeff Lemire, Dan Jurgens, Keith Giffen
Artist – Patrick Zircher
Colours – Hi-Fi

During the last number of issues it has been shown that Constantine is hunting down an alien with the story just sort of meandering here and there.  This issue marks the turning point as there is a huge payoff that leaves the book on a great cliff-hanger.  The book also gives us a conclusion to the ‘Who is Superman,’ mystery that has been going on as well and it too, is a well-deserved payoff for those that have been following the story.  Also included within these pages is a great bit involving Hawkgirl and the Earth 2 characters that have been locked up on Cadmus Island.  It might have taken a lot of issues to get to this point, but Futures End is finally starting to reward those readers who have kept at if for so long with some movement on three of its main stories.  Where the title has definitely had some low points over the course of its run, more so than highs, this issue ramps everything up with some conclusions that ultimately satisfy, not to mention, make things quite intriguing for things to come.  The Earth 2 situation just seemed to be languishing while the Constantine and Superman tales just lingered.  While the end result was great, it still took far too long to reach these points so hopefully, the rest of the ongoing plots do not take as much time and the writers start to keep up the good work achieved with this issue.

4 out of 5