An average day of a world conqueror.
This review will contain spoilers so look out for that if you plan on reading this one. So I'm reading all the villain month issues and reviewing them to give the new reader perspective. The only time I've read Mongul was "For the Man who has everything" which was very good. But Mongul was hardly the best part of that story so we'll see if he's up to par or above here.
The Good:
A lot of these villain month issues have quite a bit of exposition but I think this one does one of the best jobs so far as it feels far more organic. Mongul explains part of his origins, his personal philosophy, and just how powerful his war world is, and the whole time it feels like something the character would legitimately do just to drive his point home. I really like the art on this one, it's a bit cluttered but in a way that really fits with all the various species and such crammed into Warworld by Mongul. Mongul himself doesn't do much but this still feels like great buildup for his battle with the Green Lanterns.
The Bad:
So I just noticed this but the chained up Hal on this cover is the same one from the Relic cover expect re-sized. I've mentioned the covers a lot in any of my reviews as I tend to just plain forget about them(especially with all the samey covers for this event) but this really gets my goat as it makes the already bland cover feel really lazy. While I do think Mongul does get some good build up I can't help but feel that he doesn't really do much himself in this issue. Also how have the Green Lanterns not already ran into him given his violent policies against planets? Oh and a bit of nitpick but I don't like the Black Mercy variant that keeps the host in anguish as that kind of defeats the purpose of why the plant is so dangerous. I like the art but Mongul makes some silly looking poses in my opinion.
Overall: This issue was pretty good, but a few flaws keep it from being truly fantastic. If you're a Green Lantern or Mongul fan you'll want to check this out. If you're looking for a big planet conquering villain to watch out for, I'd say Mongul is a good bet.
