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Threshold #1 - The Hunted; Nine Tenths of the Law Review

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The new sci-fi series begins here featuring a back-up starring everyone's favorite, and only, Orange Lantern, Larfleeze.

The Good

THRESHOLD number one has the best back-up of any comic I've ever read, and that is saying a lot since DC has been doing pretty darn well with their back-up stories. It's all about one of my favorite characters, Larfleeze. The story is a ton of fun, and Keith Giffen proves, once again (for like the millionth time), that he is awesome as a comedic writer. He can take B-List characters and put them in some fantastic stories. Giffen is fantastic with lesser known characters, and this issue, and this story, is just more proof of it.

On the Larfleeze story, we see some of Scott Kolins work yet. I've always been a fan of his work, but here, it's looks fantastic. It's a lot more clear and crisp, and it has more of a contemporary animated series feel. Part of the credit also should go to colorist John Kalisz, who makes these characters pop off the page.

Now, onto the main story. I'm really digging on Jediah Caul on the run. We get a great description of what's going on in The Hunted on Glimmernet and the world we're about to dive right into. Jediah is a character new readers won't know much about, but you'll find yourself drawn to him as he's on the run. Pretty fun action sequence here as Jediah fights for his life while people try to collect the bounty on his which is the whole point of the Hunted game that everyone on this planet seems to be involved in, and I'm excited to see the continuation of it.

Super solid art on this part of the book. Tony Raney does the art here and Andrew Dalhouse does the color. While Raney's art is great here, Dalhouse's colors stand far above everything else. The shading and color variants here are fantastic and some of the best I've seen in comics today.

The Bad

While I did read GREEN LANTERN: NEW GUARDIANS ANNUAL #1, I felt pretty darn lost here. There's lots of characters and concepts that were at one time a part of the DC Universe that I'm just not familiar with. While I really enjoyed the first part of this story with Jediah Caul, I felt so lost when the story jumped over the Ric Starr and Stealth. It felt very out of place.

Brand new readers may feel the same way I do. Some of these characters are established, but you just aren't too sure who we're supposed to focus on.

The Verdict

While THRESHOLD 1 may have been a bit confusing and overwhelming to me, it was still a very good issue. Both the main story and the back-up are great here, even though I think the back-up may be a bit better, and it's something I'm for sure putting on my pull list.

Overall, I recommend this book.

23 Comments
Posted by CircularLogic

After seeing how terrible Blue Beetle was in his last book, I look forward to see Keith Giffen return to the character and maybe fix quite a bit that's broken. That said, Captain K'rot is the stupidest thing I've heard of all year, from the stupid apostrophe to make him sound SCI-FI! and EXCITING! to the blatant rip off of Rocket Raccoon in the wake of the Guardians of the Galaxy announcement.

Edited by Twentyfive

I've been waiting for this since it was announced, and this review makes it sound like it was worth the wait.

Thank you for the awesome review. Let me buy this book now!!!

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Just read it. Cool book. Larfleeze definitely did have the funniest part in the book, although the whole thing had quite some humor. I liked it overall. Can't wait for the issue with Captain K'Rot!

Posted by Jonny_Anonymous

I thought this was a pretty great book and I can't wait for more cosmic goodness

Posted by Jonny_Anonymous

@CircularLogic: you do realise that anamorphic aliens have been a sci fi staple for years, way before Rocket Racoon was even a thing, Captain Bucky O'Hare anyone? Also the character has not even appeared yet and your judging already?

Posted by CircularLogic

@Jonny_Anonymous said:

@CircularLogic: you do realise that anamorphic aliens have been a sci fi staple for years, way before Rocket Racoon was even a thing, Captain Bucky O'Hare anyone? Also the character has not even appeared yet and your judging already?

Who says I'm complaining about anthropomorphic aliens? I'm complaining about the fact that he's a gritty reboot of a happy-go lucky DC children's comic book character called Captain Carrot, who is clearly in this book to ride the hype that GotG is creating.

Posted by cagedleo730

Giffen is also the co-creator of Rocket Raccoon. He stated that he does not copy himself.

Posted by jsphsmth

Nice review. I was more than a little worried about this series after all the bad reviews of GREEN LANTERN: NEW GUARDIANS ANNUAL #1. Glad I left it on my pull list.

Posted by Jonny_Anonymous

@CircularLogic said:

@Jonny_Anonymous said:

@CircularLogic: you do realise that anamorphic aliens have been a sci fi staple for years, way before Rocket Racoon was even a thing, Captain Bucky O'Hare anyone? Also the character has not even appeared yet and your judging already?

Who says I'm complaining about anthropomorphic aliens? I'm complaining about the fact that he's a gritty reboot of a happy-go lucky DC children's comic book character called Captain Carrot, who is clearly in this book to ride the hype that GotG is creating.

Like cagedleo said Giffen created Rocket he is hardly trying to "ride the hype" (which there is none off) what about Dex-Starr and Ch'p are they also "riding the hype"? You might actually want to wait till this gritty reboot appears on panel before you judge.

Posted by SmashBrawler

Yeah, the part with Ric Starr and Stealth was kinda confusing for me too, at least the first time I read this issue. I think the problem is that the exposition is too fast there. The Larfleeze back-up was brilliant, just some great Giffen humor.

The funniest part was this one, though:

"GLM.CANNONFODDER/MIL"

Overall, great stuff.

Posted by inferiorego

@jsphsmth said:

Nice review. I was more than a little worried about this series after all the bad reviews of GREEN LANTERN: NEW GUARDIANS ANNUAL #1. Glad I left it on my pull list.

New Guardians Annual was not so good. This was a lot better.

@SmashBrawler: Hopefully, it slows down a bit in the next issue

Staff
Posted by CircularLogic

@Jonny_Anonymous said:

@CircularLogic said:

@Jonny_Anonymous said:

@CircularLogic: you do realise that anamorphic aliens have been a sci fi staple for years, way before Rocket Racoon was even a thing, Captain Bucky O'Hare anyone? Also the character has not even appeared yet and your judging already?

Who says I'm complaining about anthropomorphic aliens? I'm complaining about the fact that he's a gritty reboot of a happy-go lucky DC children's comic book character called Captain Carrot, who is clearly in this book to ride the hype that GotG is creating.

Like cagedleo said Giffen created Rocket he is hardly trying to "ride the hype" (which there is none off) what about Dex-Starr and Ch'p are they also "riding the hype"? You might actually want to wait till this gritty reboot appears on panel before you judge.

Dex-starr and Ch'p existed before GotG movie announcements, so that argument doesn't work. But you can't tell me that a gritty reboot of a cute animal character showing up in a Sci-Fi team soon after a multi-million dollar movie about a Sci-Fi team starring a gritty, cute animal which is serving as a prequel to Avengers 2 is announced (and yes, there is a LOT of hype, judging by how there's a new newspost every week about the movie and that a new comic book about the series is coming out) and expect me to believe it's not a bit more than a coincidence

Posted by Jonny_Anonymous

@CircularLogic: well for a start this isn't a team book, nor is there even a team IN this book and second Captain Carrot also existed before but now he's from Hl'ven and so his name is spelled with a ' in it like all the animals that come from there. Your just bitching about a character THAT HASN'T EVEN APPEARED YET for no other reason than just to bitch.

Posted by CircularLogic

@Jonny_Anonymous said:

@CircularLogic: well for a start this isn't a team book, nor is there even a team IN this book and second Captain Carrot also existed before but now he's from Hl'ven and so his name is spelled with a ' in it like all the animals that come from there. Your just bitching about a character THAT HASN'T EVEN APPEARED YET for no other reason than just to bitch.

I'm not bitching. I'm just stating my opinion that Capt K'rot just sounds really stupid as a concept. You seem very touchy about a stranger on the internet's opinion.

Posted by jointron33

@CircularLogic: If anything, most people thing GotG announcement is Marvel studios jumping the shark.

Posted by Kal_Brixton

jediah caul? am i the only one seeing a star wars rip off? is a character named lindo skyhopper next? i mean jedi is the first part of the guys name.....cmon

Posted by Jonny_Anonymous
@Kal_Brixton um thats a real first name
Posted by frankcmu

Worth it for the backup alone :D... I enjoyed the main story... I really like the idea, and I am excited to learn more about the characters.

Posted by kennyshat

Somehow I missed Threshold being announced. Is it an anthology series a la All Star Western?

Posted by xAnimosity

I was a little let down by this. The back up was awesome though. It would be sweet if DC made a Larfleeze stand alone. And made it like the current Deadpool, all fun and jokey.

Edited by bob808

did anyone notice the TARDIS in the Larfleeze story?

Posted by cagedleo730

@kennyshat said:

Somehow I missed Threshold being announced. Is it an anthology series a la All Star Western?

It is an anthology like All Star Western and Sword of Sorcery

Posted by stormtrance1618

The ONLY good thing about this comic was the Larfleeze back up.

Posted by ZetaZero

I've read this book a few times already trying to catch Everything I can, all I can say is it's really well done thus far, and can't wait to see where they take it. Also being a Huge Green Lantern Universe fan, I appreciated what we saw with the Larfleeze Side Story