Written by Tony Bedard
Illustrated by Tyler Kirkham and Harvey TolibaoLanterns united! Green, yellow, red, blue — soldiers from every Lantern Corps stand shoulder-to-shoulder against an unthinkable enemy: the Guardians of Oa! It’s the New Guardians vs. old in a battle that will forever change Kyle Rayner’s standing in the Green Lantern Corps! Plus: If the lone Orange Lantern ring is with Kyle Rayner, then what happened to its owner, Larfleeze? Finally, the answer revealed!
Did you read last issue? Last issue was ridiculous! I mean that in the best way possible, too. It ended in the only way that it could, with Kyle wearing all the bling like the gangster that he is. There would a lot of twists and turns in this book, check beyond the cut to see if it soared like a White Lantern, or crashed and burned like Silver Age Hal Jordan! There is a light spoiler warning involved. You are warned.
I was not exaggerating when I said this book was ridiculous. It starts right where it left off, with Kyle in the Guardians of Oa’s lounge or what have you, with seven different kinds of bling rather than just the one we’re used to seeing him wear. It looked like something directly out of fan fiction, like what people would have imagined a White Lantern would look like before the end of Blackest Night a couple years back. Kyle, who had been relegated to C-List status after the return of Hal, Guy and John to active duty, now looks like he’s the most powerful being in the universe again; at least for a little while. Kyle doesn’t stay as the most ridiculous version of Ion we’ve ever seen; rather he’s stripped of all the rings pretty quickly. What ensues is one of the most action packed scenes in the series so far, with the New Guardians taking on the Old…Guardians (this really isn’t a spoiler, since it’s hinted at on the cover).
This book is undoubtedly fun to read on the surface. However, once you start to analyze what makes it tick, it doesn’t quite stand up to scrutiny. First of all, the art looks decent enough at first, but once you look closely at it, the overuse of lines in the pencils make Kyle, a guy who’s supposed to be in his mid to late 20’s appear to look more like he would be played by Clint Eastwood or Tommy Lee Jones. Now, I LIKE Tommy Lee Jones and Clint Eastwood, but Kyle is NOT that old. That’s the number one reason why sketchy lines don’t work on everyone. Kyle now looks like he’s the most grizzled one in the Corps, which shouldn’t be true. To their credit, pencillers Kirkham and Tolibao know how to convey action and the kinetic movements that beings who can control the emotional spectrum as an immensely powerful energy, but sometimes, less is more, and they’ve done the opposite here, which is a shame. The book just looks like a mess from a character design perspective, albeit good from a movement one.
When the book was first solicited, I was stoked to see Kyle interact with Larfleeze and perhaps Carol and Sinestro. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Instead, the newly revealed DCnU Guardians were the B-Squad of their respective Corps, with the exception of former Justice Leaguer Saint Walker. How would that hold anyone’s interest? Instead of even Larfleeze, his most well-known living construct was invited along for the ride in the form of the Orange Ring that went after Kyle in the first place. Thankfully, by the end of the issue, we had at least the appearance of the breakout star of the Green Lantern’s Other Corps’: Agent Orange himself, Larfleeze. Disappointingly, we’re not really given the answer promised in the issue. We don’t know what HAPPENED to Larfleeze, we merely get a cameo stating here’s there NOW. There’s little explanation to that, much like the reason why they still call him “Agent Orange,” which is the name of not only a punk band formed in the 70’s, but a really nasty chemical used as a weapon during the Vietnam War. I never liked the name for him, because it was cheesy at best and derivative and boring at worst. Why it’s still being used is beyond me.
Continued belowThe biggest weakness in the writing is the handling of the power rings that attached themselves to Kyle in the first place. What was probably the most interesting part of the book, the Ultra Mega Omni-Lantern (as I call him) isn’t utilized as much as it could have been. Instead, the Old Guardians are still jerks, and that’s all that matters.
But, all that aside, the book succeeds in possibly the most crucial aspect of a serialized book. The very last page makes you want to read the next issue all that much more. Is it fair? Not really. Is it smart? Absolutely.
If you’re a die-hard Kyle/Green Lantern fan like me, you’ll still want to read this. You may not be particularly happy about it, but you will. The final page earned it a full point on the final score because it did that much to earn my $2.99 next month, however.
Final Score: 6.0 – Browse
