Green Lantern: New Guardians #31 – Review

By: Justin Jordan (writer), Diogenes Neves (penciler), Marc Deering (inker), Wil Quintana (colors)

The Story: As Kyle confronts the distressing possibility of his increasing godhood, he discovers a somewhat familiar alien who doesn’t share his hesitance.

The Review: Green Lantern: New Guardians Annual #2 was a strange but welcome addition to the story that Justin Jordan has been telling and one that ended on a rather unsettling cliff hanger. This issue picks up pretty immediately where that one left off, taking a little time to recount what’s occurred and provide a bit of insight into Kyle’s mental state as it does.

It’s immediately clear that the series has turned a corner and that awareness does sharpen the issue’s focus, however, as was the case with the annual, Kyle’s confusion makes it hard to get settled. Without anyone to talk to, Kyle’s inner monologue loses a bit of grounding, and the book feels kind of floaty. Despite this weakness, the issues that Kyle is wrestling with are fascinating.

This is hardly the first time we’ve examined the consequences of superhuman power in a comic, but Jordan mixes uncertainty with maturity quite well. It’s no surprise that this comes from the author of The Strange Talent of Luther Strode, but oddly enough there’s almost a greater sense of horror here, as the threat is entirely internal, immediate, and unknown.

C2E2 Report: Justin Jordan – At the Crossroads of Capes and Horror

 

Justin Jordan once described his breakout series, The Strange Talent of Luther Strode, as being a story “about a geek who thinks he’s becoming a superhero when he’s really becoming a slasher.” Perhaps its fitting that ever since he’s been playing with the conventions of superhero comics, introducing elements of science fiction, dark fantasy, and horror to series like Team 7, Shadowman, and Green Lantern: New Guardians.

Despite a nasty cough, Mr. Jordan made some time to speak to us on the tail end of C2E2 and gave some fascinating insights to a couple of his most notable projects. Enjoy the interview and join me in wishing him a full and speedy recovery.

Green Lantern: New Guardians #29 – Review

By:  Justin Jordan (writer), Brad Walker (penciler), Andrew Hennessy with Brad Walker (inkers), Wil Quintana with Hi-Fi (colors)

The Story: They say you should never argue with people about religion or politics. Kyle Rayner argues both and does so exclusively with gorgeous superpowered women. Because Kyle Rayner.

The Review: In recent months Green Lantern: New Guardians has become the DC Universe’s answer to Star Trek, exploring strange new worlds, seeking out new characters and new civilizations, going where the New 52 has never gone before. Last month we were introduced to the Light and the Fire, a cult of interstellar evangelists preaching the gospel of a familiar deity.

Fans of Marv Wolfman’s New Teen Titans will be more than familiar with Starfire’s cries of “X’HAL!” and followers of the series will remember the character’s appearance in the title’s third year. While it might be fun to pit the Tamaranean goddess against the White Lantern, Justin Jordan has other plans for this meeting. When Kyle demands proof that X’Hal has Kalosa’s best interests at heart, the issue becomes a meditation on divinity and what it means.

The tricks that Jordan employs in endearing X’hal to the readers are not new ones, nor subtle ones, but they work pretty well, just the same. Her distant personality and down-to-earth perspective come together nicely and the issue avoids making her seem too good to be true without giving the sense that she and, by extension, her followers are ticking bombs.

Green Lantern: New Guardians #27 – Review

By: Justin Jordan (writer), Andrei Bressan (artist), Hi-Fi (colors)

The Story: The Kalimawans prepare to revenge a string of brutal attacks on their planet. There’s only one problem: their enemies are physically incapable of warfare and unless Kyle and Exeter the Keeper can unravel the mystery an entire species could be wiped out.

The Review: It’s hard to deny that Green Lantern, as a franchise, would not be what it is today if not for Geoff Johns. From the beginning, but especially from “Sinestro Corps War” onward, Johns created a new world for the Lanterns to inhabit. I doubt I would be anywhere near as much a fa of Green Lantern if not for the introduction of the Emotional Spectrum. And yet, even as Green Lantern prepares for another universe-spanning war and the other corps find their place in the DC universe, I find myself longing for solid, old-fashioned sci-fi tales of the classic Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps. Luckily New Guardians is all too happy to scratch that itch.

Once again, Justin Jordan has crafted a short sweet SF thought experiment for us. It lacks some of the philosophical complexity of his previous arc, but substitutes in more memorable characters and tighter plotting.

Exeter the Keeper has returned, after an extended absence from the title, and Jordan wastes no time endearing him to the reader. The character is not a terribly original one in this day and age but he’s loads of fun and his dedication to his duties help to provide the moral backbone that differentiates him from similarly direct heroes. Indeed, the concept of the Keeper is an interesting one and, in its simplicity, raises questions about what it means to protect something.

Meanwhile Kyle Rayner retains the charm he’s had throughout Jordan’s run. It’s nice to see a protagonist who is simultaneously highly relatable and prone to mistakes or being overwhelmed. Too often superhero stories are pure power fantasy, but Kyle provides a nice balance. That said, the Templar Guardians are beginning to become a little too good at saving the day.

Green Lantern: New Guardians #26 – Review

By: Justin Jordan (writer); Brad Walker and Geraldo Borges (Pencilers); Drew Hennessy, Marian Benes, and J.P. Mayer (inkers); Wil Quintana and Hi-Fi (colors)

The Story: War has come to Paradise. Just remember, no hitting…

The Review: I don’t think that it’s controversial to say that I found last month’s issue of Green Lantern: New Guardians to be, by far, the best in the title’s run. Justin Jordan came out of Lights Out with purpose, defining who Kyle was in this brave new universe while crafting an excellent sci-fi adventure. In short, it was pretty impressive. So now that question is: can he live up to it? The answer is ‘kind of’.

If I had to describe this issue in a single word, I think I’d choose uneven. Despite the pathos that Nias-2 brings to the story, his unclear power set and refusal to press important issues limit his effectiveness as an antagonist. Often his dialogue feels fairly generic but his conviction is clear throughout and when Jordan give him a stronger line – “I would kill them a billion times over for one more moment with my wife, my children” comes to mind. Most of the characters suffer from this as well, but Kyle, Carol and Nias-2 being the standouts. Kyle proves a particular problem, as his attempts to empathize with both sides fail to provide any workable ideas of their own. He rarely gets beyond, ‘what happened to you was horrible’, opting instead to repeat it in many different ways when ‘I know right’ is not forthcoming.

Green Lantern: New Guardians #25 – Review

By: Justin Jordan (writer), Brad Walker & Geraldo Borges (pencilers), Drew Hennessy & Cam Smith (inkers), Wil Quintana (colors)

The Story: For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost. For the want of a shoe, the knight was lost. For the want of a knight, the battle was lost. For the want of a battle, the kingdom was lost.

So…how badly do you want a nail?

The Review: The modern ‘space cop’ Green Lantern started as another Earth-bound hero, but within a matter of issues the tug-of-war between Lantern 2814’s homeworld and the rest of his sector began. Through its history, Green Lantern has waffled back and forth between superhero and cosmic comic, but even that changed when the Sinestro Corps War erupted. Ever since, Green Lantern has dealt primarily with in-house threats, whether they be the prophesies in the Book of Oa, other Lantern Corps, or even their own Guardians. Perhaps that’s why this issue feels so fresh.

Justin Jordan’s Kyle has always been charming, but now that he isn’t dealing with universal domination, he’s able to show it. His friendly demeanor, realistic self-doubt, and subdued sense of humor make it easy to feel at ease with this version of the Torchbearer, even if he doesn’t exactly break the mold of a comic book lead.

It’s also lovely to see Carol Ferris continue to come into her own in this series. I don’t know that we ever got an explanation for her rapid change from woman who sees rings as her ruin to enthusiastic member of the Star Sapphire Corps, but if she continues to bring so much to the title, I’m not sure I care.

Though it may grate on some ears or feel like poor-man’s Yoda-speak, the aliens’ speech remains limited enough to be endearing and displays just enough consideration to make it feel solid.

But more than any one character, Exuras is Jordan’s greatest accomplishment in this issue. The central conceit channels a number of sci-fi thought experiments of days gone by, but it possesses enough crucial differences to make it feel original. Better still, the self-awareness that the story displays never goes so far as to become trite but finds the sweet spot where it just complicates the morality of the aliens, avoiding the standard ‘two opposite extremes’ approach that often hamstrings these kinds of stories.

Green Lantern Annual #2 – Review

By: Robert Venditti (writer), Sean Chen (penciler), Jon Sibal with Walden Wong (inkers), Andrew Dalhouse with Will Quintana (colorists)

The Story: Proof that Hal Jordan is messing everything up for everybody.

The Review: Though “Lights Out” didn’t officially start until this month, it’s effectively been playing out in the pages of Green Lantern: New Guardians ever since this era of Lantern stories began. Ever since Relic emerged from his celestial cocoon, he’s been dreaming of this moment. And yet, now that it’s here, he seems oddly irrelevant. Relic plays an important role in the story, make no mistake, but, for better or worse, this issue doesn’t highlight him the way you might expect.

To be honest, I haven’t been the fondest of Relic. Though Justin Jordan found a good rhythm for the character and the situation around him was interesting enough, Relic never quite rose above it. It seems like Robert Venditti agrees on some level.

While Relic provides the point of the spear, the real danger for the Corps comes from their dwindling power levels. It’s a potentially divisive choice, but one that I applaud. Power drainage is a classic Lantern concern and subtle, basic fears like asphyxiation can do a lot where a giant yellow man fails. It provides the sense of a time limit, something that can be hard to do in the comics format.

Green Lantern: New Guardians #24 – Review

By: Justin Jordan (writer), Brad Walker (penciller), Drew Hennessy with Marc Deering & Ryan Winn (inkers), Wil Quintana (colors)

The Story: Remember when Kyle Rayner became Ion and had access to nearly god-like power? Well, if so you’ll appreciate the irony when he has to take on Ion and five of his business associates. Have fun there, fella…

The Review: You know what I’ve been aching to see in my Green Lantern comics? Heroes arguing reasonably. With five Lanterns representing one gender of one species of one continent of one planet, you’d think that there’d be more of an attempt to distinguish them from one another. Though Hal’s thick-headedness definitely outweighs his heroism in this issue, it’s really nice to see reasonable disagreement among the corps.

Justin Jordan does a fine job of writing a tense and exhilarating aftermath moment. Though it’s pretty much just a bunch of Lanterns and rocks floating in space, the first three pages of this issue feel suitably meaningful.

Green Lantern #24 – Review

By: Robert Venditti (writer), Billy Tan (penciller), Rob Hunter (inker), Alex Sinclair (colorist)

The Story: Ahh, after ten billion years, Relic is free. It’s time to conquer Oa!

The Review: It’s been four months since Geoff Johns and his compatriots left the cosmic scene for less green pastures and ever since the entire franchise has been leading up to this moment. Though the war really began in the tragic Green Lantern: New Guardians #23, with this attack on the universe’s most established corps of Lanterns, Relic has truly stepped onto the galactic stage.

This issue really does feel as though we’re in for a full-scale Green Lantern event and Robert Venditti does an excellent job of tying the events of the three Green Lantern books together. It may not have been so long ago that Johns and co. were barraging us with a slew of GL crossovers, but I’m ready to give them another chance. This is a shorter event than many of us are used to and, accordingly, Venditti doesn’t waste much time before things begin to crumble around old Highball Jordan. The stakes are high, and the threat is wisely conceived, playing on fears and symbols from Lantern lore as well as reality.

This is also a solid opening act for the Lights Out crossover. The players are established, their motives explained, and the seeds of the subsequent issues are planted. It isn’t completely friendly to new readers, assuming an understanding of the corps and at least a cursory knowledge of the emotional spectrum, but lapsed fans, mourners of GL:TAS, and those unfortunate enough to know the emerald warrior from his disastrous movie outing will all find it easy enough to get on board.

Green Lantern: New Guardians #23 – Review

By: Justin Jordan (story), Bradley Walker & Andrew Hennessy (art)

The Story: Hope burns bright! But is it for the last time?

The Review:  Like many of DC’s august offerings, Green Lantern: New Guardians #23 is a comic in the shadow of Villain’s Month. In this case the dastard in question is Relic, the giant well-spoken remnant of a past universe that’s been wandering space, spouting cryptic ramblings, and generally being a headache for Kyle Rayner since this series’ creative switch-up.

It seems kind of unfair that Green Lantern #23.1: Relic will be written by Green Lantern writer, Robert Venditti as Justin Jordan’s been the one who’s  had to deal with the character this far. The frequent teases as to Relic’s past are growing stale and overused this month, but this is, of course, to encourage people to purchase the aforementioned issue.

Green Lantern: New Guardians #22 – Review

The Story: Nothing as hardcore as that cover. Relic asks some questions and Kyle…draws the history of the universe.

The Review: This issue is the first time we get a real sense of Relic, the latest big bad for the Green Lantern Corps. There’s obviously much more to see, but my early opinion is that this guy is Volthoom done right.

Our villain approaches his awakening with an excellent balance of scientific calculation and childlike wonder. That sense of unimaginable alien genius and relatively narrow focus on the emotional spectrum help him feel distinct from other cosmic villains like Thanos or Starro. Relic remains a mystery, but watching him unfold is certainly interesting.

As for Kyle, his story is somewhat predictable, but Jordan manages to write it with enough charm and sincerity to make it stand out from the pack. The scenes of Kyle drawing gave the comic an immediate glow that tells me that Jordan relates to his lead and understands the core goodness of Kyle Rayner.

The writing throughout is solid and the plot comes together nicely, but, while those few moments make it clear that Jordan has the talent to do great things, it feels like he’s too conservative in his writing to show it yet. The ‘new-guardians’ help move this story along, but, though a bit of clever narration makes them feel briefly important, they aren’t contributing nearly enough and, likewise, I’m a little disappointed in Kyle.

Green Lantern #21 – Review

By: Robert Venditti (story), Billy Tan (pencils), Richard Friend (inks), Alex Sinclair & Tony Avina (colors)

The Story: The Corps now has serious reason to consider switching to a democratic leadership.

The Review: If DC has just lost its seminal writer on the most important title in one of its biggest franchises, then probably they want to replace him with someone just as capable of bringing the same level of game.  Call me crazy, but that’s my logic.  So it sort of puzzles me why they ended up choosing Venditti to be that replacement, when his only mark on the DCU to date has been the benign and soon-to-be-axed Demon Knights (#155 on Comichron in April).

Of course, DC happens to have a dearth of big-name writers of Geoff Johns’ caliber as of late; Scott Snyder can’t write everything, and Green Lantern seems to be out of Grant Morrison, Gail Simone, and Brian Azzarello’s alleys.  And it’s not like Venditti hasn’t proven himself capable of sci-fi action on X-O Manowar, a relatively acclaimed small-press title.  But reading this issue makes me wonder if DC editorial actually paid attention when reading his initial scripts.

Green Lantern #20 – Review

By: Too many to list—check out the review.

The Story: Dim the Lanterns, folks; it’s closing time.

The Review: All good things must come to an end, and nowhere does that cliché have more truth than in fiction.  With comics, where writers infrequently last on a title for longer than a year or so at a time, for one to carry a title over nine years is an impressive feat.  But Geoff Johns really did more than that; he revitalized a long-stagnant franchise which in turn shocked the entire DCU back into wakefulness, the first step on its long road to being competitive once more.

So it’s entirely appropriate for DC to honor Johns by giving him as much space as he needs for his final issue on the series which made his name.  And it’s entirely appropriate for Johns to use that space to play with every single character and concept he’s ever revived or created during the series’ run.  As you can imagine, it gets pretty insane, what with every single colored corps leaping into the fray, along with—spoiler alert—a league of Black Lanterns, a Parallax-possessed Sinestro, and a newly freed Nekron.

Voodoo #3 – Review

By: Ron Marz (writer), Sami Basri (artist), Jessica Kholinne (colorist)

The Story: Who ya gonna call?  Green Lantern!

The Review: The idea of aliens taking over the world from the inside has been around for practically as long as the very notion of aliens.  Invasion of the Body Snatchers established the default mode of such extraterrestrials: using their advanced science to imitate our physical forms perfectly, yet largely unable to replicate our complex, often inscrutable emotions.

While the aliens in question here can at least give the appearance of human emotion, it’s quite clear none of it has rubbed on them permanently.  For Voodoo in particular, it’s hard to tell where in the moral spectrum she falls, human or otherwise.  Last issue, she showed reluctance to kill Agent Fallon, who she knew posed an imminent threat to her, yet here, she doesn’t hesitate to give trucker “Big Willie” a fatal thrashing for coming onto her after giving her a ride.

Voodoo and her comrades may have no love for humanity, but they have to acknowledge our resourcefulness.  Her intelligence gathering has revealed that the agency Fallon works for knows a great deal more about the impending invasion than expected, but this doesn’t seem to bug the space invaders much.  Whatever their plans for conquest are, they seem pretty committed to it, no matter how many setbacks or obstacles come up.

They’re even prepared to go through a Green Lantern if need be.  No, neither the cocky Hal or aggressive Guy show up this issue.  Instead, we get Kyle Rayner, who radiates good humor even as he generates a train construct to smash through their HQ wall (“Little engine that could.”).  Marz writes a superb Kyle, giving him one gem of a line after another, my favorite being his response to “Skinny’s” epithet of “Oan scum!”  “Dude, I’m from California…”

Green Lantern Corps #63 – Review

By: Too many to list—check out the review.

The Story: A Lantern’s life for me—as long as it involves burgers and fries in some capacity.

The Review: Let me assure you, I don’t like handing out bad grades.  To be specific, I don’t like being put in the position of having to hand out bad grades.  Even though the excruciating quality of the two comics Scott Kolins wrote obligated me to give them among the worst marks (one of them in fact receiving the very worst mark) I ever have, I still felt like a jerk doing it, so much so that I never wanted to see that kind of mess from Kolins again, just to avoid another ugly review.

Issues like this one prove that wishes do come true—in a tepid, don’t-get-too-happy-about-it sort of way.  This should in no way imply that Kolins’ writing has improved significantly, or that the ideas at work are much more inspired than before, but at least they attempt to create some unexpected angles to the characters, and that’s above and beyond what he ever gave us before.

Sadly, even when he takes a step forward, he ultimately trips himself up, in this case with a format perhaps a bit too ambitious for his current skill level.  We get a series of vignettes, each featuring a different set of characters, each opening some interesting questions, but none really get invested exploration, nor do they end with what can be considered a satisfying resolution.

Boodikka as a warrior willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of victory may be a shallow rendering of her character, but a compelling view just the same.  But that’s all it is: a view, with no exposition to support it, and no plot to test it, and plagued by Kolins’ tortured narrative: “And now with her emotions restored and her aggressive personality that only accepted victory returned—how can she deal with so many defeats?  How can she go on as an Alpha Lantern?”  Despite the soapy monologues, Joe Prado delivers fantastic detail and dynamism to the wing-helmed lady, enhanced by Hi-Fi’s usually radioactive colors, making it even more regrettable that we don’t get to see her in action.

Green Lantern Corps #62 – Review

By: Tony Bedard (writer), Daniel HDR (penciller), Keith Champagne (inker), Nei Ruffino (colorist)

The Story: Love hurts…love scars…love wounds…and mars…

The Review: Boy, nothing quite like romantic squabbles to make for cheap yet reliable drama, huh?  A dose of it in can definitely spice up your fiction from time to time, though some people can handle far more than a dose.  I suspect for most of us, however, that kind of thing gets tiresome pretty fast.  As in real life, relationship craziness is often best left between the lovers, sparing bystanders from the awkward helplessness of something which ought to be personal.

That pretty much sums up the tense situation between Kyle and Soranik, a couple who have gone through plenty of turbulence together before, making their current rough patch seem forced.  It certainly does nothing for Sora’s credibility as a Lantern.  Personal issues have swayed other Lanterns’ behavior before, but in this issue, her lashing out (somewhat unjustly so) at Kyle in the middle of a firefight comes across unprofessional and borderline childish.

Since the animosity in their relationship seems entirely one-sided on Sora’s part, it makes sense Bedard would attempt to give her something worthy to get mad about with the revelation that Kyle lied about seeing her as his true love in Miri’s gem, some months earlier.  While deceiving Sora certainly wasn’t the wisest choice, Kyle’s reasons for doing so were reasonably, sincerely, even lovingly motivated, which should be as obvious to her as it is to us.

Green Lantern #67 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (writer), Doug Mahnke (penciller), Christian Alamy, Keith Champagne, Tom Nguyen, Mark Irwin (inkers), Gabe Eltaeb & Randy Mayor (colorists)

The Story: This makes me want to break out into a chorus of, “Feelings…woah, woah, woah…”

The Review: With all this Flashpoint business going on, War of the Green Lanterns has gotten kind of lost in the shuffle (we haven’t seen an episode for over a month).  You have to question the wisdom of DC’s editors for allowing a company-wide crossover and a major franchise crossover to compete with each other for attention, but never mind.  Since Johns is crafting both, he has the luxury of accommodating the fallout from both into the new DCU in September.

So let’s turn our attention briefly away from altered Earth to the center of the normal universe, shall we?  Last we left our Lanterns, Hal and Guy were well on their way to becoming immortal blue midgets, and Kyle and John had just blown up a planet.  Thanks to crossover shenanigans, some major developments took place without my knowledge and so we fade in to see the Corps, free of Krona’s influence and led by the Earth Lanterns, ready to rumble with the Guardians.

Not to imply that Johns’ whole theme about the value of emotion is irrelevant, but when you have several thousand Lanterns giving the beatdown to their former employers, all that touchy-feely stuff really falls by the wayside.  Blame Johns for simply being too good at delivering high-quality action; he has a knack for setting up expectations then pulling them out from under you moments later.  You’d think return of all the other Corps ringleaders (yup, that’s a pun) to the fray would seal the deal, but no—Krona just uses them to his advantage and we’re off again.

Green Lantern Corps #60 – Review

By: Tony Bedard (writer), Tyler Kirkham (penciller), Batt (inker), Rod Reis & Nei Ruffino (colorists)

The Story: That’s it—I’m finishing this, Death Star in Star Wars: A New Hope style!

The Review: In my review of #58 of this title, I mentioned Bedard can usually be relied upon to write just about one character credibly, that character being Ganthet.  In #59, I suspected that while Geoff Johns will get to write all the truly impacting parts of this storyline, Bedard will be relegated to getting us through the background action with the secondary cast.  Both these points come into play to make this issue the weakest of this arc and this series overall.

What you get is the same event repeated over and over: Kyle and John try to make their new rings (Blue and Indigo respectively) do something productive, failing at every turn.  It definitely shows how under-developed the other corps’ powers are, none of them being nearly as productive as the GLC’s.  In fact, Kyle’s blue ring just makes everything worse, and John winds up a de facto Green Lantern anyway since that’s practically the only energy he channels.

Most of this issue really feels like Bedard trying out every idea he can think of to kill time before he can get to his big ending.  It almost feels as if he has such a limited idea of how the other corps’ powers work that he tries to play around with them through Kyle and John, which might explain the extraordinary leaps of logic they take in their experiments: “If blue rings can heal wounds, maybe mine can restore Mogo’s mind.”

Emerald Warriors #9 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (writer), Fernando Pasarin (artist), Cam Smith (inker), Gabe Eltiab (colorist)

The Story: War of the Green Lanterns, Part Six: Mogo, the Green Lantern who also happens to be a planet, has a lot of fire power to unload on the last four free Green Lanterns, who, to avoid the corrupting effects of Krona in their green rings, have donned red, yellow, blue and indigo rings. Adventure follows.

The Review: Okay. Gotta say, this was pure fun. Emerald Warriors #9 offered no pretenses of literary greatness or deep human revelation. But in terms of old school adventure, danger, spills and thrills, this book had what I wanted. Each of our four favorite lanterns is wearing a ring from one of the other corps, and making their way with the different powers and motivations as best they can. To turn up the heat, Tomasi and the art team throw the entire GL corps at them, as well as Mogo, the lanterns’ heavy artillery (remember that Mogo is the same Green Lantern that swallowed up a thousand Black Lanterns during Blackest Night). So this sounds great, right? But was it my favorite part of the issue? Not by a long shot! I am a sucker for ancient mysteries and Tomasi takes us on a trip through the Oan equivalent of Gandalf’s basement. Pretty cool ancient mysteries abound, more than enough to suck me in.

Green Lantern Corps #59 – Review

By: Tony Bedard (writer), Tyler Kirkham (penciller), Batt (inker), Nei Ruffino & Rob Reis (colorists)

The Story: Things are getting crazy at the GLC—maybe it’s time for a job transfer?

The Review: The Green Lantern universe has really expanded its mythology in the last few years, with the pinnacle undoubtedly being the creation of six other colored, space-faring corps.  As fun and organic as the idea may have seemed at first, these new groups haven’t really sold themselves as equals to the Greens, with the possible exception of the Sinestro Corps.  Not only do they lack history, even the fundamental ideas of what they stand for are vague at best.

This issue points out these shortcomings even as it attempts to use the powers of the other corps to inject new energy into the plot.  Head honcho Hal takes the most useful yellow ring for himself while the others get the gimmicky remainders: Kyle finds himself involuntarily boosting the powers of the other Green Lanterns (who are trying to kill them); John unsuccessfully tries to siphon his pal’s energies; and Guy leaks corrosive blood all over the place.

If you’ve followed any of the GL titles at all recently, these tricks aren’t anything new, though there’s an endearingly pathetic humor in watching the guys try to figure their way through them.  Maybe Bedard will let them founder with their newly acquired powers for a while before letting them rip loose in the next issue—at least, that’s the only thing you can hope for, as this issue turns out a bust, substance-wise.

While this week’s Green Lantern features the actual moment where the guys induct themselves into their parallel corps, Bedard gets relegated to showing the growing pains of their new colors.  Nothing really pivotal happens in this title, except for the arrival of a planet-sized wrinkle to their plans in the final pages—and the fallout from that will play out in the next title in line for this crossover.

Green Lantern Corps #58 – Review

By: Tony Bedard (writer), Tyler Kirkham (penciller), Batt with Rob Hunter (inkers), Nei Ruffino (colorist)

The Story: What do Ganthet and Aquaman have in common?  On the one hand…

The Review: Sometimes you’ll hear in these reviews that so-and-so’s dialogue sounds “forced” or “unnatural,” and you may wonder exactly what we mean.  Well, I can only speak for myself, but in fiction, you don’t really expect true-to-life dialogue, but it has to be believable—it can’t be so emotional or expository or stylized (all fictional conventions) that it takes you out of the story.  Writing dialogue or narration for comics, as you can imagine, requires some skill.

Bedard’s no hack, but as he’s shown over on R.E.B.E.L.S., his dialogue tends to be more in-your-face, thrusting the facts and exactly what the characters are feeling right at you.  This makes for very broad, highly charged kind of voices, which work well with really bold characters (say Lobo or Vril Dox), but comes off melodramatic with more centered personalities.

While it’s true outside forces influence some of Kyle Rayner and John Stewart’s behavior this issue, you still can’t escape how cheesy and caricaturized their confrontation sounds.  It’s as if Bedard spins what they say from a summation of their lives (John’s a military architect who lost his wife and planet at the same time; Kyle’s an artistic romantic with a lot of dead girlfriends), which is a very narrow way to portray anybody.

And so the big face-off between John and Kyle, which has been a much-touted feature of this event, seems thrown together because Bedard needs it to happen.  After all, Kyle’s narration paints their relationship as mutually respectful, if not even friendly.  And most of their fighting words, though rough, come more out of Parallax-induced overreacting than any real animosity between the Lanterns.  To take the incident so personally seems suddenly petty for these usually levelheaded characters.

Green Lantern Corps #53 – Review

By: Tony Bedard (writer), Tyler Kirkham (penciller), Batt (inker), Nei Ruffino (colorist)

The Story: The Weaponer, Part One: The story opens on a flashback of the Weaponer of Qward, building Sinestro his yellow ring as well as holding his secrets. Fast forward to today, where Kyle is on Korugar, trying to help with general problems, but he runs into three of Sinestro’s thugs. Things aren’t going badly, until the Weaponer shows up, with an axe to grind against Sinestro. Things go down hill from there.

What’s Good: I really enjoyed the new art team. Batt appears to be generous with his inks, giving a thick, darkened, textured feel to the people, the aliens and the environment, slightly reminiscent of Cascioli’s stuff. However, Kirkham’s lines tend to be more stylized and the figures *just slightly* exaggerated (check out the fingers). There are also a lot of extra lines that added a scratchy feel to the artwork, a bit like Sylvestri’s work. This style worked for me. At the same time, the postures and expressions were dynamic, evoking movement. In fact, if you want movement, check out the three thugs bearing down on Rayner, or the double splash page (pun intended) entrance of the Weaponer. Nice visuals all around.

Bedard’s writing, plotwise and dialoguewise, was good. Right off the bat, we get the Sinestro-Weaponer connection, then an exciting slap-down start to a new arc. The Weaponer is weird and tough and shows Kyle the goods. Sinestro is arrogant, badass, but interesting enough for me to wish he’d had more pages in this book. His thugs are even better. I’d love to say more about the writing, but I don’t want to spoil.

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.