Green Lantern #18 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (story), Szymon Kudranski (art), Ardian Syaf (pencils), Mark Irwin (inks), Alex Sinclair & Tony Avina (colors)

The Story: Hey, we may be dead, but at least we’re all in this together.

The Review: Anyone who watches How I Met Your Mother should be very familiar with the many nonsensical rules of Barney Stinson, the most shortsighted of which has to be, “Newer is always better.”  If common sense and New Coke didn’t already tell you otherwise, you can quickly learn from experience that just because something’s new doesn’t mean it’s going to beat what’s already around.

That said, no one’s going to deny the fun of trying new things, and there’s every chance you actually will like it better than what you’re used to.  I must admit that personally, it was easy for me to get on board with Simon Baz because I never got all that attached to Hal Jordan anyway.  But even if you prefer ol’ Hal in the green suit, you can’t really hate Simon.  He manages to strike a balance between asserting himself, while still seeming well-intentioned and trusting.

Green Lantern Corps #16 – Review

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

The Story: Can a jailbird, a felon on the run, and an alien marsupial save the day?

The Review: You know, with Hal Jordan out of commission and a new guy in his place over in Green Lantern, that leaves his usually second-banana pals to deal with the Guardians’ crazy plan on the living side of things.  My hope is that Tomasi and Tony Bedard use this opportunity to show that Lanterns like Guy, John, and Kyle are just as crucial to the mythos, that they’re not just the dudes clearing the way for Hal to steal all the thunder in the end.

At least the Guardians see Guy as a major threat nearly on par with Hal.  If their current shenanigans don’t make them seem malevolent enough, they underscore their malice even more by continuing to target Guy even after they succeeded in taking everything away from him.  “It seems his tribulations continue unabated,” one Guardian muses.  “Guy Gardner’s fall is complete.”  And then to seal the deal, they send the Third Army after him specifically.

Green Lantern #16 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (story), Doug Mahnke (art), Christian Alamy, Keith Champagne, Tom Nguyen, Mark Irwin (inks), Tony Avina & Alex Sinclair (colors)

The Story: It’s a rough day when you get talked down on by an overgrown chipmunk.

The Review: If there’s a reason to be skeptical about Simon Baz as the new Green Lantern, it’s the natural assumption that he’ll prove meaningless and redundant once Hal Jordan returns and retakes his ring.  Let’s be frank, here.  For decades, it looked as if Kyle Rayner and Wally West would be the default Green Lantern and Flash forever, and then over a few years, both got dethroned by their predecessors.  What makes us think Simon will fare any better?

Perhaps because the architect of Kyle and Wally’s dethroning is the same guy who created Simon.  And this issue makes it pretty clear that whatever happens when Hal inevitably returns, the hand of fate is on our rookie Lantern.  By allowing Simon to accomplish something neither Hal nor even Sinestro (and I do find it interesting that B’dg considers it more amazing Simon can one-up Sinestro rather than Hal), Johns encourages us to put our confidence in the new guy.