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.