Week Seventeen
I don’t like Lobo. I read about a dozen or so issues of his series back in the ’90s, and I just plain didn’t like any of it. Every time I’ve read anything with Lobo in it, the writer gets this stupid idea in his head that Lobo will be funny if he’s an over-the-top womanizing, boozing, violence craving goof. To me, he’s always just come across as Poochy. He’s like Wolverine…to the X-TREME! He’s a product of the ’90s, which, let’s face it, is quite an insult. Lobo’s a one-note joke, and, hopefully, in the context of “52,” that will be enough. As a “bad-ass,” I also have always found him lacking. Sure, he killed everybody on his home planet for kicks, but where’s the fun in a character who can regenerate from a single drop of blood? At least Superman’s got his Kryptonite. What’s Lobo’s weakness? Spell checker?
With that personal caveat out of the way, let’s talk about what actually goes down in this week of “52.” Sure, I’d rather we talk about “The Trials of Shazam” this week, but, hey, you get what you pay for, and in this case, I’ve gotta talk about “52.” Luthor’s Generic Six show up to start things off, poised to make their big media debut in the coming days. The speedster girl flips out and quits, though, so we’re left with the Underwhelming Five. When the characters admit that they look goofy and are uninteresting, you’d think the writers would change something. I guess it’s the whole point, though, of having a superhero group made up of common people, so I can’t complain all that much. Most of the issue, though, deals with Adam Strange, Starfire, and Animal Man, who are in space, stuck in an asteroid field, making bad references to nerd movies, down with a bad case of cabin fever, and facing the possibility of not making it home alive. They’re low on fuel, and the odds are against them, especially when Devilance returns, wanting to finish the job he started. After awhile, Lobo shows up and rescues them. He’s reformed, it seems, and wants to help them out. Yeah, right. Lobo’s a bounty hunter, just like Devilance. He takes out the competition, and, now, he leads the group into a trap. Right? Maybe. The issue closes with Red Tornado’s upper body waking up in Australia, repeating the number fifty-two.
After a stellar sixteenth week, I guess this week’s issue just falls flat for me. I don’t really have anything terrible to say about it, it just didn’t engage me while I was reading it. There’s not much to really grab hold of, although I do enjoy how they’re devoting entire issues to one storyline these days. That three pages a week for each was really annoying.
Anyway, as Lobo says on the cover, only 35 more ta go.
See ya in seven.
Keith Giffen used Lobo in the 90s as a parody of the Punisher/Wolverine (this according to Wikipedia) and he was originally created in the 80s as a noir villain.
But he did then change from being a parody to a true ridiculously over the top/X-TREME character. There’s a classic quote from Giffen on wikipedia, amazed at how Lobo became popular for all the reasons he shouldn’t have.
I’ve only read Lobo in Justice League International, Marvel vs. DC, and now 52. I enjoyed him in JLI, becuase that’s the kind of character Keith Giffen & Co. can have a lot of fun with. MvDC not so much. I must admit, the Lobo splash in this issue was pretty sweet. I’m confused as to whether Starfire volutarily flashed Lobo because she knew it would help or Lobo knows some magic trick to getting Tamaranean armor off in a flash.
The problem with having a joke character in an otherwise serious comic book is because most comic book writers are nerdy poofs who don’t know how to write jokes. The jokes they do come up with are generally from the author’s voice, rather than the character’s, which means we get “Empire Strikes Back” jokes and the author’s idea of what a womanizing boozehound would say, even though they’ve probably never been drunk or seen a woman naked.
What, you mean Michael Turner doesn’t draw women how they actually look?
(so he’s an artist, I’ve just been hankering for an excuse to make fun of his work)
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I agree with voppnrp. I mean, seriously, zaiklppbrqq ifhstbtrxo qxyejer? Come on!
Since Giffen is involved in 52, I was kind of surprised to see Lobo used as an in-continuity, interactive character. I guess I had just always erroneously assumed that he was just in his own world, not really in the DCU. It just doesn’t fit having a parody character interact with mainstream characters; it’s like having Alfred E. Neuman show up or something.
And there were more typos in this issue. That really bugs me.