The Guns of Forever

When last we left our hero...Jaime's friend Brenda had been transported to another planet via Boomtube, and when Blue Beetle finally located her she wasn't alone! There were weird alien creatures that wanted to eat her, and a barbarian called Lonar with ties to the New Gods. John Rogers and Rafael Albuquerque are here to tell us what happens next, in issue #11..."The Guns of Forever"

Somewhere out in space, on an unknown planet, Brenda wakes up (having passed out last issue) just in time to Blue Beetle and Lonar trying to kill each other. It seems when Brenda was out cold, unable to explain what happened to her, the two heroes fell into a comedy of misunderstanding and decided battle was the best resolution. 

As she tries to stand, she bumps into another observer. Metron recognizes Jaime, or at least the scarab tech, and identifies him as a "Reach infiltrator", before calmly letting Brenda know that one of the combatants will be dead soon. Not thrilled with that prospect she races in to break them up. 

Once things are sorted out Metron explains he sees the work of "Devilance the Pursuer" (another New Gods character...thanks Google!), and also throws in that he knows about the scarab among other things. Something's different about Jaime's though, so he'd like to take a look.

Back on Earth, La Dama, Paco and company are still trying to get to the bottom of things from their end. At the least, they now understand it's a Mother Box and that Jaime and Brenda were transported via Boomtube. Nadia and Hector, the Beetle Cave hackers, even manage to figure out that the Mother Box is mourning the loss of its owner. 

The creepy shaved Ewoks (identified by Lonar as Ratlings) reappear just as Metron drops some knowledge. The planet was created by the New Gods as a refuge, a place to get away to in times of disaster. Devilance was on a mission to destroy the New Gods, and apparently finding their planet decided to booby trap it to make the Gods easier targets, hence the security systems Jaime fought last issue. The central area, known as the Citadel of Death, is were everything is controlled from and Jaime and Lonar decide that they need to shut it down! As they approach the Citadel, Lonar reveals he could have left before...but something dear to him is being held at the base, and he's not leaving without it! When they approach though they're greeted by an army of Golems! Not "The Hobbit" kind though, instead they're like clones of Devilance. 

With the Citadel's defenses focused on Lonar and Jaime, they're weakened...giving Metron, Brenda and the Ratlings an easy way in. The group quickly makes its way to the central control area and manages to disable the computer systems. While in the chaos of battle, Lonar recovers his...horse?!

And that quickly...it's over! They prepare to say their goodbyes, but before Jaime can get any info about the scarab from Metron...BOOM! He and Brenda are whisked back home.

Ok, last issue I pointed out that I'm not a huge fan of the New Gods...and I'm still not, but this issue was fun! Tons of action, some great bits of humor, a little more reveal on the mystery that is the scarab...yup, fun! That said, I'm glad it didn't drag out much longer, or involve too many Fourth World characters. Like Goldilocks and the Three Bears...it was just right!