Adventure Comics #5

He Primed Me Part Two: Flame War

Geoff Johns and Sterling Gates – Writers
Jerry Ordway – Penciller
Bob Wiacek and Jerry Ordway – Inkers
Ken Lopez – Letterer
Brian Buccellato – Colorist
Jerry Ordway, Francis Manapul, and Brian Buccellato – Covers
Sean Ayan – Editor

Our main cover is a twist on George Pérez's famous image from Crisis on Infinite Earths of Superman holding the dead Supergirl in his arms. But this time, it's Alexander Luthor holding Superboy-Prime. And Alexander is actually the dead one — not Prime. It's a pretty fun cover, and another indication of just how deep and far the Blackest Night event reaches. Even on Earth-Prime, the place without any superheroes, is affected by the resurrection of heroes and villains.

I got this variant cover from dc.fandom.com. I love Manapul's take on Superboy-Prime as a Red Lantern. And all the side images are nice, too, but I'm still not a fan of these disjointed "panel" covers.

Our story picks up with the Black Lantern Alexander Luthor leading a group of Black Lantern versions of many of the people Superboy-Prime killed. Alexander has somehow restored Prime's Anti-Monitor armor because he wants him as powerful and, more importantly, as emotional, as possible. The fight has carried over to Manhattan, as Prime has realized that even with his great strength, he can't actually kill these zombies. But he does know who can actually stop these creatures — the writers and editors at DC Comics.

So Superboy-Prime flies through the DC offices, terrorizing all the real people in charge of the company, such as Dan DiDio, Eddie Berganza and many more. But before Prime is able to actually kill any of them, Alexander teleports Prime and the rest of the Black Lanterns back to Prime's basement. Alexander points out Prime's large comic book collection, saying most people find hope and inspiration from these books, but for Prime, these books are his kryptonite, as they only fill him with rage. Alexander then brings up Prime's girlfriend, Laurie, insinuating that Prime had killed her when he lost control.

The Black Lanterns finally pin Prime down and begin removing his armor to get to his heart. Prime notices a Black Lantern ring buzzing around him, just waiting for him to die. He then concludes that since he can't beat the Black Lanterns, he might as well join them. But instead of allowing the zombies to rip out his heart, Prime shoves them all off him, grabs the ring and puts it on his finger.

The ring commands Clark Kent of Earth-Prime to die, and momentarily turns him into a Black Lantern. But Prime resists, and sensing his great willpower, the ring actually turns into a Green Lantern ring. But then it quickly turns indigo, picking up on Prime's compassion, as he genuinely regrets what he did to Laurie. But Prime also wants everyone to love him, so the ring becomes orange for avarice. It then immediately turns yellow for fear, seeing all the heroes Prime once admired but now fears. The ring even creates yellow images of Superman, some of the Legion of Super-Heroes, the Flash, and, of course, Bart Allen.

The ring then settles on the color red for Superboy-Prime's intense rage. And the ring realizes the thing Prime hates the most in the world is himself and what he's become. Prime lashes out at the Black Lanterns with his Red Lantern powers. But the ring makes one last change to purple for love, as Prime's thoughts return to his dead girlfriend. He creates an explosion of purple energy that finally destroys all the Black Lanterns once and for all (including half his stuff in the basement).

Prime collapses to the ground, as the ring tries to simultaneously return to all those different colors, but ultimately breaks apart. Prime begins to cry, wishing he could be given a happy ending. Suddenly, Laurie comes running down the basement stairs. She's not dead, although her arm is in a sling. She tells Clark that "they" heard him and are sorry, so they sent her back to make sure Clark isn't alone. As Clark embraces Laurie, we see a Black Lantern ring on Laurie's hand identifying the emotion of hope in Clark.




This was a fun, wild comic. I always feel like I enjoy Superboy-Prime stories much more than I should. And that's probably because I've dealt with far too many comic book "fans" who act too much like Prime. When you think about it, this story doesn't make much sense, but it doesn't seem to take itself too seriously, either. Besides, Prime has always kind of been the exception to the rule, so it's sort of understandable how the Black Lantern ring would react so differently to him. Prime's greatest weakness has always been that he's too emotional. Period. He's incredibly cowardly, angry and selfish. And below that, is the powerful belief that he was, is and should be a good guy. And so you get this strange mix of powerful emotions that Prime, and a power ring, can't control. So even though this story doesn't make much sense, there is a certain amount of logic behind it.

Superboy was relegated to the backup feature of this issue, and it's a little awkward since that story takes place before Blackest Night began. I know DC had a big problem with publishing stories out of order at this time, but to have this problem blatantly on display within the same issue is taking the cake. Well, let's check out the new ads:

Your last days begin now. Darksiders on Xbox 360 and PS3.

Enter the world. Ignite the war. Avatar: The Game.

Assemble your team. Fight for the lost. Mass Effect 2.

[Prototype] on PS3, Windows and Xbox 360.

Heroic Holiday Gift Guide 2009. dcholidaysweeps.com.

See it first on BBC America. Doctor Who.

The DC Nation page just shows some pictures of staffers at a Halloween party.

Make your first impression their last! Dragon Ball Raging Blast on PS3 and Xbox 360.

I just dropped by to say die. Bayonetta on Xbox 360 and PS3.

Next time, we'll take a quick look at Deathstroke and his messed up family in Teen Titans #78.