I'm a hero!
Adam Strange wakes up as Grayven starts attacking Kyle. Donna retrieves the wounded John Stewart. She gets him back to their hq and they try to give him some medical help. His heart stops. Kyle meanwhile holds of the would be Conqueror Grayven who reveals he is the bastard son of Darkseid and all the destruction, the planets and the darkstars has been to get his fathers attention and then he will usurp his fathers throne by his destruction.
Donna manages to resuscitate john and he orders them to continue their assault and defend the planet. Kyle and grayven continue to tangle and Kyle is apparently knocked out. Donna and Adam arrive on the battle filed and rally the remaining darkstars.
Grayven orders his lieutenant to find the teleporter so they can depart. Kyle arrives takes the
fight straight to Grayven. John pulls himself slowly towards the teleporter since he realizes Kyle can’t beat grayven. Grayven mows down Kyle with his eye beams and john hits the teleporter it misses however BUT it gives Kyle the moment he needs to push him towards the beam and he’s gone. Leaderless his lieutenant retreats. Kyle tends to John and then must try and stop the floating city from falling. Using all the knowledge he gained from Batman, Spectre, Shazam and Wonderwoman he accomplishes his task. On the battlefield the darkstars are finished Meryan and Donna quite to leave with John and Kyle respectively leaving only four darkstars active. Kyle takes everyone back to earth finally coming into his own and acknowledging he’s a hero.
The Good
Everything that has happened to kyle thus far since getting the mantle from Hal has been leading up to this. The fight that makes Kyle not just a superhero but a galaxy wide successor worthy of the legacy he was given.
Grayven is a great villain who after this story will never again be this level of a threat or be taken as seriously. He was a formidable and imposing villain with a lot of potential but after this it’s all for naught. The story had a nice hectic feel to it which was complimented by the art. The story itself had that feel you get from the pivotal climatic battle sequence in a sci fi adventure where every single panel and scene draws you more and more in. It was also great to have the darkstars comes to a reasonable end and leaving the door open for kyle to play a larger role in future galactic stories. John and his future also gets set up in this issue as does the reconciliation of Donna and Kyle’s relationship.
All around it had great action and enough story and set up for stories to come to leave every kind of reader happy.
The Bad
The only down side is that Grayven who here is a majestic regal young darkseid will never again get a story that shows him as anything more than a joke ever again.
The Ugly
4.5/5 stars for a very solid read :)