Animal Man #16

Why have I not been comparing this current storyline to The Wizard of Oz? Missed opportunity!

The DCnU is so much better in alternate or future visions! Rotworld is much more compelling than the normal present DC World. And the landscape of the Beowulf comic was equally enthralling. Perhaps I just enjoy my world without Superboy or the Teen Titans in it. And by that, I really mean a world not written by Scott Lobdell and Tom DeFalco. Plus anything can happen and that's always a selling point on a story. Too often, the reader knows who is safe from death, so a lot of the tension is lost. But in these alternate timelines, anything can happen. Even Buddy Baker can be killed as long as someone else is around to set things right again. Although if Buddy Baker does die, I doubt it will be until the final page of the penultimate issue of the crossover. And then Maxine and Abby will save everybody. Somehow. Maybe. Fuck if I know!

Getting around to this issue, I hope this Green Lantern is Guy Gardner! You can't see his face here but in the final panel of the last comic book, you could see his chin. He looks a bit brownish and has weird plantlike green hair. But I still hope it's Guy Gardner!

Finally! A Green Lantern from Sector 2814 that isn't from Earth!

Medphyll tells his tale as he's cut down from what appears to be the rest of his body growing out of control. The Guardians of the Universe decided Earth was fucked, so they finally chose a Green Lantern from one of the other millions of planets in Sector 2814: Medphyll from a plant-based species. You can tell this is an alternate timeline because the Guardians aren't complete and utter dicks. Or maybe these are the future Guardians chosen from the hippie Guardian community that will take over for the crazy, power-hungry Guardians that set the Third Army in motion! Except that one of the Guardians shown is obviously Ganthet.

Lemire and Pugh obviously have DC's comics ranked in the same way I do. I predicted Green Arrow would die next. And look! They're already predicting Ann Nocenti's Katana is going to be crap-filled crap!

So let me get out my gigantic whiteboard tallying all the correct guesses I've made while reading the New 52. Hmm, very little space left to mark another correct guess. Okay. Another correct guess tallied! And, oh my! Look at this! I'd better keep out the marker and board because yet another one of my guesses from last commentary just came true.

Guess who my next Who's Who Spotlight will be on?

While everyone is being ripped apart by Blackbriar Thorn, the scene shifts to Maxine in the past before Rotworld began. She and Socks have been confronted by The Hunters Three Minus One and Willam Arcane. Maxine's Rot-possessed family are also there. The Hunters know they're no match for a little girl so they threaten to kill Maxine's family if she doesn't agree to help them. But then William Arcane steps over the line and causes tumors to explode all over Socks.

If poor Socks wasn't suffering from Sudden Onset Cancer, this would make a nice shirt.

Socks' advice is for Maxine to run and not listening to her cat got her in trouble last issue. So this issue, she decides to not listen to her cat. You know what? I don't think Maxine deserves a cat! Dogs you don't have to listen to because they're always just saying, "Here I am here I am here I am here I am here I am here I am!" But cats know shit and Maxine needs to respect them! Now everyone is going to die in Rotworld because she ignored her cat's wise advice.

Back in Rotworld, Black Orchid uses her mysterious powers to destroy Blackbriar's hand that is holding everyone. Constantine remembers Zatanna telling him about her and Deadman's battle with Blackbriar Thorn back in the rainforest (probably! I'm sure she told him all about it between issues), so Constantine knows that this giant tree druid attacking them is simply a manifestation by the real Thorn who is hidden deep within the vegetation. Buddy Baker decides to go look for him by using Termite Power.

Steel begins blasting the gigantic tree version of Blackbriar Thorn while Beast Boy turns into a beaver and begins eating him. Constantine already helped with the information part of the gambit, so he just sits back and smokes a cigarette. With everybody's combined effort, Blackbriar Thorn is captured. These guys aren't even a team and yet they work better than most teams written by Scott Lobdell or Tom DeFalco.

Blackbriar Thorn has now failed spectacularly in both of his New 52 appearances.

When the group return to the surface, they find Frankenstein and his army under attack by more Rot creatures. The leaders of this attack seem to be Talon and Amethyst. Did Lemire run out of truly awful comics or does he think those two titles are stinkers as well? For killing his (and James Tynion's!) character Talon, Scott Snyder might have to retaliate against Lemire in Swamp Thing by killing Madame Xanadu. Medphyll the Green Lantern finds his battery, recharges his ring, and defeats all of the Rot forces in one sweep of his veggie hand. So now it's time for everyone to pack up and finally assault Arcane's fortress.

Back in the past, Maxine defies her cat's will and gives herself up to the Hunters. I guess I should forgive her since she's just a little girl and can't possibly know the true awesome power of the feline. She lets the Hunters bite her as they free her family. Maxine is now one of them. There's no stopping Rotworld now.

Which I guess makes sense since Buddy Baker is experiencing it, right? That future has to happen now! All of the other comic books in The New 52 should be falling apart as The Rot destroys everything! But since they aren't, Rotworld will be stopped somehow, right? Maybe Eclipso will defeat Arcane!

Back in Rotworld, as the companions near Arcane's Fortress, a number of them are instantly wiped out by the first guardian.

Including Constantine.

Beyond The Rot Flash, a tremendously large army of Rotlings emerge from Arcane's Fortress being led by Rot Cyborg and Rot Wonder Woman. Well, at least Rot Superman isn't anywhere to be found. That would really be trouble!

Animal Man #16 Rating: No change. Maybe Superman will be guarding the gate on the other side of the Fortress where Swamp Thing will make his approach. He may or may not be with Batman depending on whether or not Swamp Thing has to deal with Batman while in Gotham in his next issue. Which I'll be reading next!