Green Lantern Corps #40 – Review

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

The Story: Kyle Rayner battles his old lover, the Corps settles on who’s in charge of Oa with the Guardians gone, and the Black Lanterns do a good amount of chest ripping.

What’s Good: Tomasi really managed to get across the emotional impact possible in Blackest Night.  For instance, the resurrection of Arisia’s parents at the start of the issue made total sense, but was both surreal and unexpected.

As another example, the scene between Kyle and Jade was far and away the best of the issue.  For once, it was interesting to see a Black Lantern play a different role, appearing soft, sweet, and seductive as opposed to monstrous.  Gleason’s art played to this quite well, making Jade seem cute, and yet not quite right.  After what we’ve seen thus far from Blackest Night, it was definitely refreshing to see the psychological aspect taking the forefront as opposed to Jade just being another threatening monster right off the bat.  That said, Gleason does a wonderful job in turning Jenny from pretty to monstrous in the span of a few pages.

Tomasi also continues to make the Alpha Lanterns appear increasingly ominous.  The executions were bad enough before, but we now get hints of them almost seeking out a political power play.  Seeing Salaak take charge of Oa was expected, but cool, given that he’s been a bit underused the past few months.

What’s No So Good: I find that Green Lantern Corps is always a juggling act, and every month, it’s a battle to see whether or not Tomasi can pull it off or whether he’ll end up dropping a few balls from taking on too many.  Unfortunately, I felt that this month’s issue fell a little more into the latter category.

In an effort to keep us up to date on the comic’s myriad characters, things do end up feeling a little scattered, and some scenes end up feeling more extraneous and unrelated.  For instance, the side-story of Kryb seeking out her children felt jarringly detached from the rest of the issue and didn’t seem particularly pertinent to anything.  Furthermore, was anyone really pumped to see Gardner battle BZZD?  There’s just a little too much going on here.

That also leads to some elements not getting the development that they should.  For example, Katma Tui’s resurrection was a big deal last month, as it should be.  She gets one page here, flying in out of nowhere and munching on a random dude’s heart.  We should’ve seen a lot more of her than that.  Furthermore, Arisia gets mobbed by dead family members in the first couple of pages in one of the coolest moments of the comic, only for that scene to never be revisited or updated.  Every character gets his or her one scene, and that’s it.

Finally, Gleason finally cracks a little under the pressure of all this chaos.  Some of the action here is just too expansive and frenetic and becomes incomprehensible.  I challenge anyone to figure out the splash involving the Sciencell prisoners.  Gleason’s drawings of Kryb are similarly indecipherable.

Conclusion: Some really awesome moments, but there’s just too much going on here.

Grade: C+

-Alex Evans

Green Lantern Corps #39 – Review

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

The Story: The black rings assault Oa, Arisia’s work on Daxam reaches its unfortunate conclusion, and Mongul finds a new base of operations.

What’s Good: Strangely, I actually enjoyed the bits divorced from Blackest Night the most in this issue.  That’s not to say the Blackest Night stuff was bad, just that I really like the ominous background threats of Mongul and the incurably xenophobic Daxamites. The Sinestro Corps’ invasion has had a particularly nasty effect on the Daxamites, making them even more violent and racist, but also super-powered.  The menace they pose is definitely palpable. Meanwhile, I loved the short Mongul bit. The reveal of his new base planet is a real gut-punch.

As far as the Blackest Night stuff goes, this issue is, more than anything, another “credibility builder.”  Much like the last issue of Green Lantern, this issue of GLC is all about putting forth just how unstoppably powerful the black light really is. Watching the rings go through a shield as if it were nothing gets that point across well. Meanwhile, while it’s a futile struggle, I’ve never seen cryptkeeper Morro look so badass.

Gleason’s art continues to be fantastic. He does a great job of detailing all of the chaos that the rings brings, but manages to keep it comprehensible. With thousands of little black rings flying all over the place, that’s no small feat. Furthermore, his work depicting Morro is awesome and a good part of the character’s badassery this month comes thanks to Gleason’s efforts. I also loved Senator Diro’s facial expression during his conversation with Arisia. If that doesn’t say “this dude is monstrously evil,” I don’t know what does; Gleason made Senator Diro reach black lantern levels of frightfulness.

What’s Not So Good: With so much going on with Mongul, Daxam, and, of course, Blackest Night, Guy’s quips about Kyle’s romance with Soranik just seemed out of place this month.  It felt a little forced, crammed into an already packed narrative, and hence a little unnatural.  I love Guy, so I did enjoy the dialogue, which is of course in his trademarked “meathead” vernacular, but it just didn’t seem like the time or the place.  Oa is being assaulted by power rings, and Guy’s really going to bring up Kyle’s relationship with Soranik?  Yeah, I don’t buy it.

While fantastic, the scenes with Mongul and Arisia also almost feel too detached and distant from the rest of the book.  Blackest Night has become such a dominating presence in the GL world that when there are simultaneous strands running through this issue that, right now, have no connection at all to it, it just feels off-putting. If anything, it dilutes the Blackest Night stuff.

Also, I’ve gotta say that if you didn’t, on page 1, predict the identity of the resurrected Black Lantern coming for Kyle at the end of the book, you need to have your head examined

Conclusion: A solid issue that feels a little scattered. Neverthless it’s still a fun issue.

Grade: B-

-Alex Evans