Green Lantern Corps #11 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Fernando Pasarin (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

The Story: Apparently, some people do escape the Alpha Lanterns.

The Review: If you’ve never had a violent quitting experience in your life, let me just say I recommend it.  It’s actually one of the more satisfying and empowering moments you’ll ever have.  Besides giving you the opportunity to stand up for yourself, which requires you to summon up some necessary-for-life backbone, it also scratches every itch you ever had to stick it to your overbearing, crazy-pants boss.

Totally different context, but that’s the general sense of satisfaction and empowerment you get out of watching the day-to-day Green Lanterns rebel against the increasingly brittle Alphas.  Even Salaak, of all corpsmen, gets in on the game.  At first he uses a pretense of regulation to disobey Boodika’s orders, not even flinching when she threatens dismissal and incarceration, then he goes beyond passive resistance, downright ordering other Lanterns to “Engage Alpha Lanterns!”  And when Salaak gets uppity with you, you have to be on the wrong side.

Green Lantern Corps #10 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Fernando Pasarin (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

The Story: Generally, it’s not a good idea for prosecutors and judges to be one and the same.

The Review: I think I’ve said this before about a couple characters, but the reserved, purposeful type of people can be difficult to connect to.  Let’s not mince words here; most of us are impulsive, confrontational, part-time morons.  We like to stand out somewhere in the spotlight, rather than linger in the shadows.  We flail around, making a ruckus, and get a lot of attention, while the reserved, purposeful people actually make the sacrifices to get the job done.

John Stewart easily lands in this category.  Think about it.  He’s an architect, so the whole of his work involves not only having a vision of his end product, but figuring out the means to make it come to be—and ultimately, people will admire the results more than the work or worker that goes into it.  He’s also a soldier, so his instinct is to think through even the most chaotic situation before making a move, and he knows when to lay down his life for the greater good.

Green Lantern Corps #9 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Fernando Pasarin (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

The Story: This is space law—you don’t get no Miranda rights out here!

The Review: After a year in law school, I’ve gained a greater appreciation for America’s judicial system, believe it or not.  My property professor made the best observation about our courts and the way they handle conflicts: it’s an everlasting struggle between efficiency and fairness.  Try too hard to be sensitive to the intricacies of each case, and you make bad precedent for everyone else.  Stick too hard to the rules of law and a lot of people will be unjustly punished or deprived.

We definitely have the latter problem in the case of Alpha Lanterns v. Stewart.  While last issue had one of the Alphas make note of the stressful circumstances which led to John’s damning choice, this time around they can’t seem to see beyond the simple facts, which John himself admits.  We know nothing about the corps’ penal code, particularly in how it’s enforced against their own, which makes it all too easy for this case to proceed unfavorably against John.

Green Lantern Corps #8 – Review

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By: Peter J. Tomasi (writer), Fernando Pasarin (penciller), Scott Hanna (inker), Gabe Eltaeb (colorist)

The Story: This promotion better come with some cosmic benefits—health and dental!

Thgge Review: Guy Gardner reminds me a lot of a certain type of dude I used to know back as an undergrad: loud, strident, and not afraid to voice half-formed opinions and act on impulse.  They were some of the most irritating human beings I have ever known in real life, but they were also some of the most big-hearted as well.  You could always count on them to injure themselves to help you out—mostly because the risk of injury never occurred to them in the first place

Perhaps that’s the nature of Guy’s appeal.  Even when he flies off the handle and does something crazy, he always has your back, and since he lacks any skill with tact, you can always rely on him to be straight with you.  As a consequence, he reveals underneath all that noise and erratic behavior, there’s a very strict code of honor he adheres to.  For anyone else, refusing to let the Yellow Lantern battery to even be buried standing would be a pointless act of symbolism; Guy’s violence and conviction make it clear even his most symbolic acts make a worthy point.

So perhaps it should come as no surprise that the Guardians choose to honor him as they do in this issue.  They certainly make the accurate observation that for all of Guy’s spitting in the face of authority, he never threatened the “emotional and physical fabric of the corps” the way Hal Jordan does on a constant basis.  The evidence speaks for itself within the scene; Guy may not think much of the Guardians’ discipline (“—here are my wrists—slap away.”), but far from undermining it, he voluntarily submits to it.

Green Lantern Corps #52 – Review

By: Tony Bedard (writer), Ardian Syaf (artist), Vicente Cifuentes (inker), Randy Mayor with Gabe Eltaeb (colorists)

The Story: Boodikka, the dying Alpha-Lantern, narrates the end of the Revolt of the Alpha-Lanterns arc. Green Lanterns Ganthet, Kyle Rayner, John Stewart, Hannu and Soranik are in deep trouble against Cyborg-Superman and the army of Alpha-Lanterns on Grenda.

What’s Good: Cover to cover, Syaf, Cifuentes and Mayor/Eltaeb delivered the artistic goods in this emotional story. They picked the right camera angles, put emotions on the faces of heroes and villains alike, drew some spectacular aliens and created some action scenes that came pretty close to epic. Hannu in particular was textured and real, but the Alpha-Lantern batteries in people’s chest were also spooky. Boodikka’s face unmasked was reminiscent of some old sci-fi horror movies, while the color work on the batteries made the pages look like they were shining. The mid-book splash page with the hand is worth a long slow perusal as well.

The writing was a lot of fun and the sorts of emotions the issue inspired felt a lot like the tension release at the end of Lords of the Rings or Book Seven of the Harry Potter series. I’m not saying anything that big is going on, but Bedard hit almost all the right notes to make this a very heroic and dangerous ending for the arc, one that required so much from the heroes to ultimately put up the necessary fight. Another interesting choice for Bedard was having Boodikka narrate. I don’t know Boodikka from Adam, but I didn’t need to. Bedard correctly picked the character who (a) hurt the most, (b) had the most at stake and (c) underwent change. The choice worked for this book and added an emotional multiplier to the story.

Green Lantern Corps #51 – Review

By: Tony Bedard (writer), Ardian Syaf (artist), Vicente Cifuentes (inker), Randy Mayor (colorist)

The Story: Revolt of the Alpha-Lanterns, Part Four: Cyborg-Superman-Psycho-Alpha-Lantern-Cult-Leader has Ganthet and “motivates” him to find out how to turn Alpha Lanterns back into real people. Our three intrepid Green Lanterns are still crawling through the remarkably clean sewers of the robot planet of Grenda. They call for some bad-ass help and try to rally the robots.

What’s Good: Bedard has a tight arc going on here. We started with a mystery of WTF is going on behind the screen of secrecy of Grenda? He revealed the Cyborg-Psycho after having put our heroes into great danger. They are not out of danger and the situation appears much worse, as the heroes are depowered, on foreign soil and on the run. What more could a reader want? Give me a hero in danger any day and I’ll show up. And the art team of Syaf, Cifuentes and Mayor delivers some fine matching visual work. Those creepy chest lanterns that the alphas are carrying around are unsettling, while the tech is shining and menacing and the heroes textured and emotive. In terms of faces, the Syaf/Cifuentes has a bit of a Jim Starlin stylistic flavor that is effective.

Green Lantern Corps #50 – Review

By: Tony Bedard (writer), Ardian Syaf (artist), Vicente Cifuentes (inker), Randy Mayor w/ Carrie Strachan (colorists)

The Story: Revolt of the Alpha-Lanterns, Part 3: Green Lanterns Kyle Rayner, Soranik Natu and Ganthet are fighting an entire planet full of Alpha-Lanterns. In the meantime, Cyborg Superman is doing some body work on John Stewart, which gives Cyborg-Superman a chance to talk for nine pages.

What’s Good: Syaf, Cifuentes, Mayor and Strachan dropped some amazing art into the pages of this book. The pictures and colors are textured, dynamic, bright, moody, and fly the action through the story. Check out the fine line work on Kyle on the first splash page and the color work around the ring. Look at Ganthet’s expression on page two, or Stewart’s on page three or four. These fine artistic moments were taken to another level when Cyborg-Superman opened up his chest. That was a brilliant shot with some great color work.

Bedard has also built a pulse-pounding plot for the art team to play in. Think about it: three green lanterns against a planet of Alpha-Lanterns and a diabolical plan by a half-dead, insane supervillain! What’s at stake? Well, for starters, John Stewart’s insides, but maybe something much bigger that Cyborg-Superman hasn’t revealed. All in all, a compelling story is on offer.

Green Lantern Corps #48 – Review

By: Tony Bedard (writer), Ardian Syaf (artist), Vicente Cifuentes (inker)

The Story: After ominously meeting in secret with Atrocitus and Guy Gardner, Ganthet tells his fellow guardians that he resigns from being any color of guardian and that he will permanently assume the duties of the green lantern of sector zero. In the meantime, something….odd is up with the Alpha Lanterns and the mystery of what’s happening on Stel’s homeworld deepens.

What’s Good: First off, the visuals. Wow. Vote Ardian Syaf and Vicente Cifuentes for regular artists of the GLC forever. They are freaking awesome in the level of gestural and facial detail. Bedard has written a great comic book, filled with mystery detail and growing suspense, but the art carries the feeling, the struggles and the inner demons, without a word of narrative required. Check out Ganthet’s eyes when he tells Atrocitus and Gardner his plan. Look at Ganthet forging his own battery and ring (which, in itself is an awesome visual sequence and fodder for countless hours of nerding out) – the splash page evokes the best elements of George Perez and Jerry Ordway in the flashy, gritty juxtaposition of body and energy. Ganthet (who obviously stole the show this issue), with his characteristic terseness, also comes off as the lone-wolf, maverick badass of the guardians and Bedard has written this perfectly. There isn’t a tin-noted phrase of dialogue. Bedard’s choice of settings also seems inspired to evoke a feeling of near-death and recovery. The lanterns fixing the city on Oa allowed for some moments of wonder that make any reader feel young again. What do you feel when Ganthet says “Most of these structures are barely a million years old”? All in all, the creative team is doing a fantastic job and should be kept together as long as possible.

Green Lantern Corps #47 – Review

by: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Patrick Gleason (art), Rebecca Buchman, Tom Nguyen, Keith Champagne & Mark Irwin (inkers)

The Story: Goodbye Darkness: The title says it all. This is the denouement of Blackest Night, the replanting of the trees in the Shire after the fall of Sauron. A lot of friends got hurt. A lot of friends are gone. Old relationships of trust were broken and new ones were made. Blackest Night was the near death experience for the Corps and this issue is about survivors.

What’s Good: If you’ve been following the Green Lantern corner of the DCU for a while, you care a lot about Guy, Kyle, Kilowog, Arisia, Salaak, and all the other heroes that filled the ranks of the Corps. After Blackest Night, I think the readers need a bit of a breather too – a time to miss characters lost. Tomasi takes that feeling, the need for a rest, the exhausted satisfaction at the end of a marathon, and he puts it into a book. He packs the emotional power of that near death experience with overt mourning (a mass funeral, picking up broken mementos) and the denial and stress and emotions of hidden mourning (changing jobs, living for today). And although I can’t say much about an interesting theme that Tomasi threads through this book without spoiling, at times I saw the Corps as a metaphor for the military and at times as a metaphor for the Catholic priesthood. Pretty cool stuff. Tomasi has written a great issue to give us the moment we need to catch our breath before we plunge headlong into Brightest Day.

Green Lantern Corps #42 – Review

by Peter J. Tomasi (writer), Patrick Gleason (pencils), Rebecca Buchman & Tom Nguyen (inks), Randy Mayor & Gabe Eltaeb (colors), and Steve Wands (letters)

The Story: Along with their new Indigo ally, the Green Lantern Corps make their last stand defending the central power battery.

What’s Good: This is probably the best issue of Green Lantern Corps since Blackest Night began in earnest, and that’s largely due to all of the black lanterns coming together for one attack. The book has felt far too scattered and disparate over the last few months thanks to the black lanterns singling out characters and their change of tactic is welcome, as it brings all of our heroes together. This feels like a coherent narrative once again as opposed to a series of 3 pages vignettes.

As a result, our protagonists feel like a team and not simply a bunch of tangentially related people doing different things in different places. This helps foster some very strong character moments. The character death at the end of the book is certainly a gut-punch and it’s only the book’s newly regained cohesion that makes it possible.

Strangely though, my favourite scene involved Kilowog. The combination of rage, denial, and sadness was fantastically executed and oddly touching. It was a fantastic summation of the emotional reaction, and aftermath, that the black lanterns are capable of bringing forth. Kilowog’s tragic dialogue is only so effective because it hints at deeper, existential issues and personal pain that the character has harbored, and concealed, for a very long time.

Gleason’s art is more intelligible this month and also provides some really jaw-dropping moments, with some particularly awesome splashes and spreads. The size and scope of some of Gleason’s work here is astounding, daunting stuff. The character death at the end of the book is rendered beautifully and the mass black lantern assault is a sight to behold.

What’s Not So Good: While it’s much improved, Gleason’s art still isn’t without fault. The chaotic nature of the action still makes it occasionally difficult to decipher. The opening scenes were a bit hard-going at some points and the later sequence involving a released red lantern is nothing short of incomprehensible. Also, Gleason again shows himself to have some difficulty drawing Soranik’s face, which at times feels overly cartoony, even comical, with expressions that feel exaggerated, misplaced, or both.

What really disappoints about this issue, however, is Tomasi’s handling of the major character death.  Putting it simply, he dropped the ball.  It’s clearly the most important occurrence of the book and the most emotionally significant moment of the series for quite some time, but I just didn’t feel as though it was treated as such.    It comes off as random, rushed, and hence, underwhelming.  It takes just long enough that it isn’t shocking, but there’s also not enough build up for it to carry the emotional weight that it should.  It’s just about the most abrupt last stand and farewell that I’ve ever read.

A major character’s dying, especially in such heroic fashion, should garner more of a reaction from me.  Hell, Tomasi could very well have had me tearing up.  Instead, it doesn’t feel as significant or powerful as the character deserves and the fact that I bordered on feeling non-plussed is almost a travesty.

Conclusion: The best issue of GLC in a while, but I can’t help feeling a little soured by the missed opportunity.

Grade: B

-Alex Evans