Review of Solomon Grundy #2 (DC comics) By Eddie R.

A Touch of Irony.

Being a loyal Green Lantern Fan, when I heard DC was coming out with a 7 part Solomon Grundy Series, I kind of rolled my eyes and sighed.. I mean haven’t we been down this road before??




We all know that Grundy has been around in the Green Lantern mythology since the Golden Age, and has been portrayed as both docile and unspeakable evil, mindless brute to a cold and calculating evil genius, depending on the reincarnation cycle. For as many stories involving Grundy, no one really touched on this cycle and the reason why Grundy turns out this way? That is, until now.

To me this current series, which I feel is an “unofficial tie- in” to the upcoming DC “Blackest night” event, has begun to explore the role Grundy was created for in the first place.

Long before the idea of the Guardians, or even the Green Lantern Corps, there was just Alan Scott, who used the “mystical green energies” of an emerald train Lantern to shed light over dark evil under the guise of The Green Lantern. This “dark evil” took on the typical Golden Age themes of crooks and gangsters, but one evil in particular seemed to be a thorn in Alan’s Scott’s side over the years.

This thorn was Solomon Grundy.

I found it quite ironic that within the series first issue it’s revealed Grundy, who has been “reborn” into his original mortal form of Cyrus Gold this time around, is under a curse, and is offered a way out by the one and only Phantom Stranger. The Stranger tells Gold if he can find the instrument of his death within seven days, Cyrus can break the cycle of the curse, and be free once and for all.

There’s only one catch......there are bigger, darker mystical forces at play here than what anyone realizes. And the first case of irony to which I speak is the “whom” The Phantom Stranger puts in charge of Cyrus Gold.. This “irony” is Alan Scott.

From issue #2 of the series, we learn more about Cyrus Gold’s history, we see that someone has been setting up a series of events which will lead Cyrus’s damnation. The last panel of the first page gives us a visual clue as to “who”. My guesses are this person resides in a certain “House of Mystery”, to which I will let the readers discover on their own.

Battles ensue between good and evil, and much light is spread upon this dark tale. Cyrus changes into Grundy once again, as a result of him not being able to control the dark urges controlling him. But, it is after this transformation, where Grundy accidentally frees Bizzaro from a Lexcorp delivery van.

For some reason, Bizzaro takes a liking to Grundy, wanting to become friends with him (in traditional backwards fashion), but Grundy wants nothing to do with him. It is this backwards friendship which is my second irony. Now that Bizzaro has found someone like himself, he gets rejected.

All I can hope for is the next issues theme is just as “ironic” as the first two, and it looks like it just might be.

8/ 10