Geoff Thorne Green Lantern volume 6

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker Moisture Farmer Find all posts View Profile Close Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

Geoff Thorne's Green Lantern...who here is actively reading this series? Issue #6 came out this week, who here is still on board? Are you loving it? Meh? Hating it? If you are still buying it what do you think of the direction of this series?

I'm hanging on but I feel like it's by a thread. I listen to interviews with Thorne and I feel like the guy gets it. He is in my age range and clearly knows his stuff about comic mythology. Hes not a pretend fan coming in to use this for a Netflix gig. Hes a legit fan. He has an infectious enthusiasm for the book he is creating that I respect, but I dont feel like I am reading the same Green Lantern coming he is promoting. A mixed bag, I cant say I hate it, but I very.much dislike many things happening in the run and the characters eating up most of the panel space. What about you guys? I'm curious for your honest opinions.

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

... A mixed bag, I cant say I hate it, but I very much dislike many things happening in the run and the characters eating up most of the panel space. What about you guys? I'm curious for your honest opinions.

Yeah, it's weird. I don't like the apocalyptic approach and focusing on the replacements, but it's actually well written and the good stuff is quite intriguing.

This week, I seem to be preferring the annual, though (I'm half way through or so at this minute); which is weird since I'm not really a Jessica fan.

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker Moisture Farmer Find all posts View Profile Close Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

I read both #6 and the annual on Wednesday so I'm all caught up. I feel like every issue is DC trying to get new human Lanterns over with me and it's not working. I want Hal John and Guy. All of these new Lanterns are just wasting valuable panel space.

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker Moisture Farmer Find all posts View Profile Close Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

Yeah, it's weird. I don't like the apocalyptic approach and focusing on the replacements, but it's actually well written and the good stuff is quite intriguing.

This week, I seem to be preferring the annual, though (I'm half way through or so at this minute); which is weird since I'm not really a Jessica fan.

Do you like the approach Thorne is using of doing two story lines per issue with two art teams? The John story and the Jo, Teen Lantern, Simon story?

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

I don't mind. One of my favorite times in GL was when GLC was a backup (granted they didn't usually have a continuity to the backup).

[Star-Lantern Weaponer of Qward Find all posts View Profile Close Star-Lantern]

I stopped reading it and now only skim it.

It's pretty terrible, in my opinion.

The art Tom Raney is turning in is not quite of a professional level, in my estimation as a sequential artist, for whatever that's worth. And certainly not for a project like Green Lantern, with a legacy of artists like Gil Kane, Neal Adams, Dave Gibbons, M.D. Bright, Darryl Banks, and Ivan Reis. These days, with the internet, you can literally find better people than this ALL OVER THE PLACE.

The fundamentals are there, like perspective and clear storytelling. I can usually tell what's going on, and I will grant that at times, Raney brings a lot of energy to some scenes, which is neat. But he's doing a REALLY poor job at rendering characters. The anatomy is off and the faces are often very unappealing.

What I learned (and it's not rocket science) is that every time you draw your hero, or your villain, or whatever, it is an opportunity to SELL that character. Thus, they have to look cool. Guys like Ivan Reis and George Perez got this. This is a large part of what inspires a reader to become invested in that character. I'll go out on a limb and say that Hal Jordan probably wouldn't be as popular with people today if Ivan Reis wasn't drawing him in well drawn, dynamic shots on the regular.

If your character is looking ugly all the time...you're just not doing an effective job...unless they're supposed to be ugly, like Swamp Thing. But that isn't the case here.

The art of Marco Santucci is better, but boring, and not particularly notable. He delivers very generic, workman artwork. Ideally, I think he would do fine as a fill-in, but not the regular artist.

The story. BLAH. I have a problem with the very premise of it. The power battery is destroyed (this is too repetitive for me to care) and the one character I kinda' care about that regularly features in this book does not have a ring, while characters I don't care about at all do.

5 issues in you should have a good enough idea of what a comic is like to confidently and fairly pass a judgment on it, and I declare this book to be bad.

I believe quite a bit of it has to do with editorial mandates, though, and not necessarily the writer, even though I'm no big fan of his. DC apparently wanted a destroyed battery and for Teen Lantern and Far Sector Lantern to be the main characters.

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker Moisture Farmer Find all posts View Profile Close Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

Thank you for the articulated response. Pro or con, that's really what I'm looking for here. I fully agree with you on the 2 art assignments btw. One is decent but bland, the other makes me think of a less talented or trained Pat Broderick.

[Big Blue Lantern Corps Honor Guard Find all posts View Profile Close Big Blue Lantern]

Geoff Thorne's Green Lantern...who here is actively reading this series? Issue #6 came out this week, who here is still on board? Are you loving it? Meh? Hating it? If you are still buying it what do you think of the direction of this series?

I'm hanging on but I feel like it's by a thread. I listen to interviews with Thorne and I feel like the guy gets it. He is in my age range and clearly knows his stuff about comic mythology. Hes not a pretend fan coming in to use this for a Netflix gig. Hes a legit fan. He has an infectious enthusiasm for the book he is creating that I respect, but I dont feel like I am reading the same Green Lantern coming he is promoting. A mixed bag, I cant say I hate it, but I very.much dislike many things happening in the run and the characters eating up most of the panel space. What about you guys? I'm curious for your honest opinions.

I'm loving it. Thorne delves deeply into the complicated space aspects of GL, at the DC Universe as a whole. Most notably, I'm happy that he's revisiting and expanding Mosaic. I understand why DC is hesitant to mention anything that involves Gerard Jones, but the company can't ignore huge sections of their past, and I can't imagine that anyone is holding DC responsible for Jones' actions.

So far, I like how Amanita saved John, the Weird West vibe of Sergilon, Jo's struggles to be diplomat, and even Keli's characterization. Honestly, I was indifferent to Keli prior to this run.

My only real issue so far is the whereabouts and state of Kyle. Of course, I want to know more, but that might not be Thorne's story to tell. He told me that he has plans, but Sina Grace also said that Underworld on Fire isn't completely shelved just because it lost in the Round Robin tournament. I'm still not sure how those two pieces might fit together, but I'm trying to be patient.

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

. . . So far . . . the Weird West vibe of Sergilon . . .

Yeah, as a fan of Bravestar and Firefly (not to mention westerns in general) I dug that too. And that name has to be an homage to Sergio Leone, right?

[Big Blue Lantern Corps Honor Guard Find all posts View Profile Close Big Blue Lantern]

Yeah, as a fan of Bravestar and Firefly (not to mention westerns in general) I dug that too. And that name has to be an homage to Sergio Leone, right?

I *think* he said that in an interview, but don't quote me on that. I can't remember where I heard that to double-check. We're trying to get him back on Emerald Echo, so I'll make sure to ask if and when he get him locked in to a future episode.

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker Moisture Farmer Find all posts View Profile Close Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

BBL, do you like the direction of the Corps being taken out and the mystery at the heart of it? Do you think it needs more time to explore the concept of GLs trying to do their jobs and survive without functioning power rings? Like if this was a 2 year plan and the Central Power battery doesnt get restored until say issue #24, would you be on board with that as long as the stories were good?

[Mister Ed Horse of a Different Color Find all posts View Profile Close Mister Ed]

BBL, do you like the direction of the Corps being taken out and the mystery at the heart of it? Do you think it needs more time to explore the concept of GLs trying to do their jobs and survive without functioning power rings? Like if this was a 2 year plan and the Central Power battery doesnt get restored until say issue #24, would you be on board with that as long as the stories were good?

Well, let's say I'd hang in there if the writing was still good, but I just really categorically hate the direction of wrecking the CPB AGAIN, especially if we are wholesale killing off a bunch of characters in the process.

When they did it back in the day and changed the title to Green Lantern Corps, I was fine with it, because so many GLs kept their rings that it was really just a slight narrowing of focus.

When they did it with Emerald Twilight, I HATED the way they did it, thought it was terribly written, but I ended up enjoying the new take with a lone GL trying to learn the job with no organization to fall back on. I just missed the GLC more the longer it went on, and got super annoyed when they would do things that teased a return but failed to deliver.

But this take adds nothing new that I care to explore. I'm just not a big fan of watching GLs try to function as heroes without their rings, not in the long term. As a story device where the GL is temporarily without their ring to set up a challenge, while it can be overused, there are some fun stories to be told, and some interesting character development that can happen. But on an ongoing basis, it gets old fast.

And this situation adds the additional unwelcome wrinkle of having the ONLY GLs with functioning ring powers be characters I don't care all that much about. Heck, I'd have been more interested in watching "tween" Lantern develop if she was at least being mentored by a GL that I care about, but she's only really interacting with Baz and Mullein (and I had to look that name up, I just think of her as "Far Sector lady").

John is getting a lot of focus (and he IS one of my favorites, if not my actual favorite, when written at his best), but without his ring that kind of rings hollow (no pun intended). And Hal, Kyle, and Guy are pretty much missing entirely. That may change, but if they come back only to do more of the same ringless survival stuff that John is doing...that'll get old fast.

[Tarmode Green Lantern Initiate Find all posts View Profile Close Tarmode]

I am reading it. Just finished the annual. The book has potential, but hopefully, they don't take 10-12 issues elaborating on the main topic.

[Big Blue Lantern Corps Honor Guard Find all posts View Profile Close Big Blue Lantern]

BBL, do you like the direction of the Corps being taken out and the mystery at the heart of it? Do you think it needs more time to explore the concept of GLs trying to do their jobs and survive without functioning power rings? Like if this was a 2 year plan and the Central Power battery doesnt get restored until say issue #24, would you be on board with that as long as the stories were good?

Yes, I like the mystery (which is provisional depending on the payoff), and periods of GLs without their rings is inevitable. I wouldn't mind seeing Thorne make this the "last" time that Lanterns get caught without a backup system to ensure survival, but the next creative team doesn't have to follow that, so it's probably a pipe dream on my part.

Thorne has said issue #6 is about halfway through his intended story, so I expect the Lanterns to be powered up again in the next 6 months. Of course, the deconstruction of the CPB was an editorial mandate, so his criteria for how the story plays out might change if someone at DC decides the CPB needs to be down a little longer.

[Andrew NDB Shot Caller Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew NDB]

I'd like to give it a chance but... it just really looks like the opposite of the kind of GL book I'd be interested in. And it'd be one thing if there was like other GL books going on showcasing other corners of the universe (and, you know, Kyle and Hal and the bigger picture) but there isn't. Just a lot of focus on the Green Lanterns only created in the past 5 years or so that I don't even like?