A whole new chapter in the epic GREEN LANTERN saga gets under way as Guy Gardner begins his secret mission for Atrocitus, bringing him into conflict with Hal Jordan with massive repercussions for the Green Lantern Corps!
Guy takes fellow Emerald Warriors Kilowog and Arisia along as he explores the Unknown Sectors – but what happens when they discover his mission and what’s waiting for them in the unpatrolled darkness?
What did we at Multiversity think of the first Guy Gardner-centric book in over a decade? Find out after the cut
Matt’s Thoughts: Expectations are high on this one. Peter Tomasi knocked it out of the park with his run on Green Lantern Corps, even surpassing the main title at times. In all honesty, at this point I think Tomasi can do no wrong, with a kick-ass Black Adam mini and a stellar creator owned title at DC called the Mighty. But in all honesty, there are 3 GLC titles now. Is a third one really good enough to make it justified?
Well, so far the answer is yes. That really shouldn’t shock anyone, actually. Tomasi has a great handle on the Green Lantern style of action, and has been repeatedly writing a phenomenal Guy Gardener. It only stands to reason that his Guy Gardner title would be awesome, right? From space bikes to intergalactic home runs, this book has high paced action and absolutely dynamite story telling behind it. Whenever you read a first issue and get extremely jazzed and excited for the next issue, you know you’ve got a good title. And with me reading several #1’s this week (and heck, this past month), I can say confidently that this is the only one that got me REALLY jazzed for the future of the series.
But what about my beloved GLC team? Where is Patrick Gleason? Well, while Gleason works over at Batman and Robin, we now have the talents of Fernando Pasarin. I gotta tell ya – I’m 100% fine with the change in artist. I was first sold on the brief teaser we saw of Guy Gardener on the motorcycle, but seeing that entire sequence up to it’s fantastically climactic conclusion? Pasarin is a talent to keep your eyes on. Incredibly smooth pencils and inks fill this book magnificently, and it reads as well as an action movie should look.
What else can I say? I’m praising this title out the wazoo. I absolutely loved every second of it, and with that ending I can’t wait to see more. Tomasi is a prime Lantern Corps architect, so I would say that you definitely need to get with this book. For those sick of too many Lantern colors, and for those just not feeling the new feel of Green Lantern Corps, don’t worry – Emerald Warriors has got your back 100%.
David’s Thoughts: As much as I love Peter Tomasi’s work on Green Lantern Corps, I’m not going to lie; I was a bit skeptical about Emerald Warriors. To me, it seemed unnecessary to have a third book added when the cast of EW was going to be half of the cast from GLC and I just didn’t think Guy Gardner could carry a book. Why not just keep Tomasi and Gleason on the latter book?
Then I read the preview and was pretty stoked on it.
Then I read this issue and was even more jazzed. This is a damn good book, and Guy Gardner has somehow become alternately an engaging lead and still the same dude he always was. Sure he’s a bit of an ass and really full of himself, but those are layers of his personality when Tomasi is writing him — not his defining characteristics. Throwing in Ganthet, Atrocitus, Kilowog, and the (exciting!) apparent return of Sodam Yat, and this book is a hit with me already. We’re still not fully aware of what Atrocitus, Ganthet, and Gardner agreed to on Ysmault, but it’s already driving the plot in exciting directions.
Continued belowNot only that but we’re given some beautiful art from Fernando Pasarin, an artist who isn’t very well known but will be soon with his beautiful work. Clean lines, powerful action, creative Lantern work — this guy is a perfect fit and makes me not even that sad to have no Gleason on the GL books anymore. That is really saying something, as I’m a borderline Gleason fanboy (the web!).
I know it’s early, but I’m already completely onboard with this book. Green Lantern fans and comic fans…you should be too.
Walt’s Thoughts: I’m pretty sure that more people were excited for this book than Green Lantern Corps by the end of Blackest Night, including myself. While I had a few problems with Peter Tomasi’s Green Lantern Corps, I still found it to be enjoyable and in particular enjoyed the way that he wrote Guy Gardner. So when I learned that he would be writing a Green Lantern spin-off that centered around Guy, I was all aboard.
This issue had a lot of good things in it. Tomasi’s characterization of Guy is still excellent; that scene with the construct motorcycle was awesome and ridiculous as a Guy Gardner-centric scene should be. There are a lot of secrets already lurking in the shadows that I am very interested to learn more about, such as the remaining traces of Guy’s red ring, why the guardians let Guy go without a fight (you know they’re up to something) and what exactly that ending meant. Plus, I love Sodom Yat, and it looks like he will be playing an important role in this series.
There were a few things I didn’t like, though. While I can forgive Atrocitus not being on earth for the purposes of story, he seems to have regressed a bit from the portrayal we have seen in Geoff Johns’ Green Lantern recently. Even more annoying though is how I have no idea what Ganthet and Guy are trying to do. Maybe it was brought up in Green Lantern Corps, but as an issue #1 I should be able to pick this up and read it without any confusion. If it’s purposefully like this, that’s even worse. There’s a huge difference between “I can’t wait to find out what is happening!” and “What’s happening?” and Tomasi is straying closer to the latter.
Like many first issues, it’s hard to tell how the rest of this series is going to be. Even though I had a couple of problems with this issue, I’m still interested to see where the story is going. Plus, Fernando Pasarin’s art is pretty slick and I would like to see some more of that.
