Guy Gardner: Warrior #29

“It’s My Party and I’ll Fight If I Want To” – March 1995

This may just be the perfect time capsule for the mid-1990s DCU. Thanks to the plot device of Guy throwing a party for the opening of Warriors restaurant, this issue is able to provide a snapshot of nearly every DCU character as they existed during comics’ most controversial era. Just paging through the issue, you get a splash page featuring Kyle Rayner, Steel, and that weird 90s version of Ice, a mulleted Superman complaining about “imposters,” a grumpy, longhaired Aquaman who is actually complaining that no one notices his missing hand, the Blood Pack, that knife carrying version of Doctor Fate called Fate, Atom Smasher in his old Nuklon get up, the extra-grim post Zero Hour Hawkman, the Psyba Rats, and, maybe best of all, Artemis in her Wonder Woman costume arguing with Donna Troy in her Darkstar outfit. And that’s not even mentioning the pure nineties glory that is Guy Gardner: Warrior himself. Plus, you get a gimmick cover (a sort of double gatefold job that serves as “doors” for Warriors and which opens to reveal a secondary cover jam packed with all of the heroes of the DCU), a gratuitous Lobo appearance and fight, gratuitous celebrity cameos by Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Sylvester Stallone, and a story that is “to be continued” in another title (Action #709). And if that’s not enough reason to check it out, it’s all beautifully penciled by the always terrific Phil Jiminez, who isn’t necessarily a nineties style artist, but who cares?

Trinity #1

“Green Lantern” “Darkstars” “L.E.G.I.O.N. ‘93”

Cover Price: $2.95
Bargain Price: $0.50
Cover Date: August 1993

Not to be confused with DC’s recent weekly, 1993’s Trinity was the anchor book for a two month, eight issue long crossover for DC’s space fairing law enforcement agencies: the Green Lanterns, Vril Dox’s L.E.G.I.O.N. and the Darkstars, the extreme, take no prisoners nineties take on the Lantern Corps. Despite the flashy cover, this looked like a good chance to, if nothing else, learn more about the L.E.G.I.O.N., a concept I found intriguing, but which, so far, has failed to hook me (which is a shame because I really like Vril Dox). The Darkstars and Green Lantern stories are mediocre, despite art from Travis Charest and Gene Ha respectively. Ha and Charest may be superstars today, but, unfortunately, they’d yet to crystallize their distinctive styles in 1993. Fortunately, the L.E.G.I.O.N. story is pretty fun. Written by Mark Waid with pencils by Barry Kitson, the chapter sees both creators at the top of their game. The art is clean and distinctive and Kitson handles the large cast well, effortlessly distinguishing one character from another while handling the crowd scenes and alien city without ever skimping on detail. This issue really reminded me just how good Kitson is and it’s a shame he doesn’t get more recognition. Waid’s story is also a lot of fun and serves as an excellent showcase for the conflicting personality types of the characters, particularly the arrogant Dox. I’m looking forward to finding some issues of Waid and Kitson’s L.E.G.I.O.N. and seeing if it holds up.