After three years and nearly two hundred episodes, the end is finally here!

Thank you…all of you, for downloading and listening to the final episode of JUST ONE OF THE GUYS. We’ve come a long way on this journey, from Hal walking the Earth like Kane from Kung Fu, John dealing with the Mosaic world, Guy going from GL to tattooed morphing Guy, and Kyle lucking upon the most powerful weapon in the universe and becoming one of he greatest Lantern’s ever. And in issue 181, Kyle faces his greatest challenge…what to do with Major Force, a brutal killer who just…WON’T…DIE! Does Kyle get the ending he deserved, or does he get ridden out on the rails in favor of Hal Jordan returning under the pen of Geoff Johns? You’ll have to listen to find out.

Plus I spend some time cleaning out the JOOTG e-mail bag, as well as giving a personal thank you to all of the wonderful guest hosts who were kind enough to come on this show and talk with me about these comics. There are SO MANY wonderful people who helped elevate this show above what I could have ever made it to be, and I can’t thank all of you enough. And as an added bonus, the songmeister supreme, Dr. Bill Robinson, has offered up a little spoken word song celebrating the show’s ending. Stick around until the end for that…you won’t be disappointed (especially you, Michael Bradley). So what are you waiting for? Grab your mp3 player of choice, download the show, and start to listening!

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In this, the penultimate episode of Just One of the Guys, I and my Alpha and Omega co-host Thomas Deja take a look at issue 180 of Green Lantern. Having taken fellow GL John Stewart’s advice, Kyle heads out to L.A. to meet with his mother, eat an omelette, and say a final, FINAL farewell to his lost loves, Donna Troy and Alex Dewitt (Wait, Donna is dead?!? When the heck did this happen?!?). But the issue doesn’t spend all its time on dwelling on Kyle’s female realtionships as it quickly switches to an out and out horror movie with the masked killer being none other than Major Force! And if you think that there might be another incident with a kitchen appliance that will raise the hackles of Gail Simone, well you might just be on to something. So unless you want to be punched from L.A. to the Angeles National Forest, I suggest you grab your mp3 player of choice, download the show, and get to listening!

Special thanks to Thomas Deja, co-host of Better in the Dark, for being the most frequent guest host on this show. I couldn’t have asked for a better person to talk about these comics with, and I am so glad we were able to wrap up the show together.

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As we draw closer and closer to the final story in the 1990’s Green Lantern run, Just One of the Guys takes a look at issue 179 of the book, where a weary, frustrated, and down right pissed off Kyle Rayner decides to go directly to the source of his problems and make like Rowdy Roddy Piper sans bubble gum (Rest in peace, good sir). Unfortunately the source isn’t the writing desk of Ben Raab, but the shadowy government office of Major Force. But while Kyle is busy wrecking up the place, fellow Green Lantern John Stewart just happens to be in the neighborhood and tries to get Kyle to deal with his problems rationally. This goes about as well as you’d expect it to and “consequences” (Copyright Alan and Emily Middleton, 2014, all rights reserved) get handed out between our two heroes. It’s definitely a middle chapter of the story, but it keeps us moving to what looks to be a satisfying ending. So unless you want me to include MORE Tommy Shaw soundtrack songs in upcoming episodes, I suggest you grab your mp3 player of choice, download the show, and start to listening!

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Things start ramping up here on Just One of the Guys as we edge closer and closer to the end of Volume Three of Green Lantern. In issue 178, we get Kyle having to face down one of his greatest adversaries…no, not Grayven…or Purgatory…DEFINITELY not Ohm, but Fatality, the last survivor of the doomed planet Xanshi and fabled killer of Green Lanterns, FATALITY! And armed with some psychotropic darts that totally mess with Kyle’s perception, it looks like the murderous maiden might actually accomplish her mission of taking Kyle out (although you can probably imagine that doesn’t happen as it would be awkward to have three issues of Fatality gloating over Kyle’s death). Plus we have a surprise reveal of who the Big Bad behind all of Kyle’s recent woes is…and susprisingly enough, it’s not Ben Raab (I could have sworn that’s who it would have been). So unless you want a Navy F-16 tossed at your head, I suggest you grab your mp3 player of choice, download the show, and get to listening!

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We continue to barrel towards the final issue of volume three of Green Lantern here on Just One of the Guys as we take a look at issue 177, part two of the “Homecoming?” story. As a shadowy government official is securing the release of Green Lantern hunter Fatality, Kyle Rayner is dealing with all the bad things going on in his life. Mainly having to take out D-list villain Sonar and talk things out with his cheating girlfriend, Jenny Lynn Hayden. But thankfully, Ron Marz is on the book, and he makes the best out of what was done to Jenny by “The Writer Who Shall Not Be Named” (Go away…). Plus we get some stellar art by Luke Ross who actually sells the drama of Kyle and Jenny’s final farewells. The book is back on track for what looks to be a solid, satisfying wrap up of not only Kyle’s run, but also the end of the “Chromium Age” of comics. So unless you want your hot dog stand violated (NOT a euphamism), I suggest you grab your mp3 player of choice, download the show, and start to listening!

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Hey everyone, and welcome back to episode 176 of Just One of the Guys: A Green Lantern Podcast. In today’s scrotum slashing episode, we begin our winding down of this era of Green Lantern comics with the much needed return of the author that introduced the character of Kyle Rayner to comics, Ron Marz. With issue 176, Marz tries his hardest to address and fix all of the problems that Ben Raab did to the book during his run as well as wrap up not only the Kyle Rayner era of Green Lantern, but quite possibly the 90’s era of DC as a whole.

And if you’re prone to click-bait headlines dominating your newsfeed, this one might read like “YOU’LL NEVER GUESS WHO KYLE RAYNER FOUND SHOWERING IN HIS OWN APARTMENT! IT’S TOO HOT EVEN FOR PRINT!!!”

Plus, as an immense bonus for your listening enjoyment, His Excellency Trentus Magnus (host of Trentus Magnus Punches Reality) has graced this show with his wisdom and presence and will be spelling out how this is one of his favorite stories from the Green Lantern run. You should all be humbled that our podcasting lord was kind enough to grace us with his wit and wisdom. So what are you waiting for, if there was ever a time to listen to this show, certainly now is the time! So grab your mp3 player of choice, download the show, and get to listening!

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After many weeks of enduring some of the worst stories in this run of Green Lantern, we finally reach the end of the Ben Raab era with issue #175, a double sized anniversary issue. With Kyle found out as Strawberry Shadowhawk, he has to finally face down Amon Sur, leader of the Black Circle, as well as find a way to destroy the Qwardian Quantum Singularity Generator that is threatening to destroy Oa and bring the Qwardians into the matter universe, Also, there’s some amount of resolution between Terry Berg and his parents over his decision to leave for his job in L.A. But this doesn’t mean that this issue is free of wonkiness. In fact, I have to wonder how the issue’s WTF ending was supposed to lead into the next book. Oh well, at least it’s all over, and next time out Ron Marz comes back! HOORAY!!! So unless you want to be assassinated by a Amazonian Space Stripper, I suggest you grab your mp3 player of choice, download the show, and start to listening!

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Still slogging through the Ben Raab run on Green Lantern, we’re finally nearing the end in issue 174 of the book. Now that Salmon Shadowhawk, a.k.a. Vasquez, a.k.a. Green Lantern Kyle Rayner has ingratiated himself with Amon Sur and the Black Circle, you’d think he wouldn’t do something stupid like reveal his secret identity to the bounty hunter that was chasing him down over the past few issues. Well, you’d be wrong, because Ben Raab is writing this book and he’s bound and determined to make EVERY character in this book act like a complete idiot. Or in the case of Jenny Lynn Hayden, a complete tramp who feels the need to spy on her boyfriend…no not Kyle, her OTHER boyfriend…who just happens to be as much of a philanderer as she is. GRRRrrrr!!! But to soften the blow, we do get some improved artwork by one of my favorite current artists, Jamal Igle, so that helps soften the blow. And we only have one more issue of this, so things are looking up. So unless you want to get and acid hand slap to the eyes (which might be preferable if this were last week’s issue), I suggest you grab your mp3 player of choice, download the show, and get to listening!

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Ben Raab…f*cking Ben Raab. In this latest episode of JUST ONE OF THE GUYS, we take a look at Green Lantern #173, part three of the “Wanted” storyline, wherein Strawberry Shadowhawk Kyle Rayner Vazquez Whatever finally infiltrates the Black Circle crime organization and reveals a look that even the 1990’s would be embarrassed by. Plus we get a resolution to the job search for John Stewart’s girlfriend, Merayn, as well as Jenny trying desparately to get Hottie McEmeraldFever to give her a little “sumthin’ sumthin'”. I can only imaging there are brothel workers who would look at this portrayal and say, “Well, at least I’m not THAT much of a whore.”

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So if you want to hear me rant about how awful a comic is, this is one that even rivals the truly horrendous issue 37. So go ahead and grab your mp3 player of choice, download the show, and start to listening…and despising Ben Raab…

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More pain is dealt out on today’s episode of JUST ONE OF THE GUYS, as we continue our look at the Ben Raab run on Green Lantern with issue 172 of the book. Kyle, in his Raspberry Shadowhawk disguise, tries to prove that he’s worthy for membership in the Black Circle crime organization by hunting down a villanous squid who decapitates people with pink ninja stars. Yes, you read that correctly. And THIS is one of the better books in Ben Raab’s run.

Plus, as a palate cleanser, I’m also taking a look at the very trippy story Green Lantern: Willworld. For some reason, Hal Jordan has been transported into a strange world populated with immense Buddha-like characters, talking grasshoppers, and giant floaty heads. No, seriously…not like the Guardians, but giant disembodied heads. It’s like writer J.M. DeMatteis wanted to set Green Lantern in the Yellow Submarine movie. Not that that is a bad thing. So unless you want to incur the wrath of Salmon Shadowhawk, I suggest you grab your mp3 player of choice, download the show, and get to listening!

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Nearing the end of the Green Lantern run on JUST ONE OF THE GUYS is kind of saddening…even worse is the fact that we have to talk about the last story arc in the Ben Raab era of the book. In Green Lantern #171, we begin the “Wanted” storyline, where Kyle decides to go incognito in some armor he borrowed from Shadowhawk in order to infiltrate the Black Circle and Jenny becomes a cheating whore by going out with a sleazy Wall Street businessman. Seriously, Kyle is off in space trying to be a hero and Jenny can’t NOT f*ck someone for the limited time he’s gone?!?

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Sorry, it’s just really hard to be positive about these books right now. Regardless, I’m going to cover them until the end, and I hope you’ll join me for the ride. So unless you want Scarlet Shadowhawk to lay the smackdown on your a$$, I’d suggest you grab your mp3 player of choice, download the show, and start to listening!

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