Here
we find ourselves at what appears to be the first,
honest-to-goodness Green Lantern Corps issue of Peter Tomasi.
Not Part Umpteen of an epic megastory, or even an epilogue.
Very
pleased.
Peter
Tomasi once again hammers home his keen knack for these
characters, gets in their heads, and takes us along for the
ride. The cast list for this issue is a little low -- which
is fine... I don't think anyone can expect to get an
adequate amount of character mileage in a single issue if
he'd tried to cram Vath, Isamot, Kilowog, Soranik, etc. all
in here -- but we have all the mainstays... Kyle, Guy, even
Hal and John.
Touching
on the plot, we begin with Guy and Kyle going a bit stir
crazy, Guy trying to figure out where he wants to pack up
and move to, Kyle trying to figure out whether he wants to
accept that job at the planetarium or if he wants to do/go
somewhere... else. Ultimately the two GLs meet in the middle
and decide they want to move... together... and head out to
Oa after a very poignant trip to Guy's "Warrior's"
bar/restaurant.
While I
felt sad that this seems to be the final nail in the coffin
of "Did Chaykin's 'Collateral Damage' happen? Has it been
retconned?" (though granted, if we were to be
particularly fanboy conjecture about it, we could say that
at some point after the events of CD the bar was again
trashed en masse) I was just damned happy to see the place in a
core GL book. The trademark statue outside, signature
Warrior's sign outside, lantern seats inside, the old white-sideburned
Hal statue... it's all here, and there's a great attention
to detail here by who I'm assuming is guest artist Carlos
Magno (whose style seemed compatible enough with
Gleason's... but I'll get into that a little bit later). Guy
ultimately decides to try and reopen Warrior's on Oa,
pending approval from Salakk, from a new design that John
Stewart will generate. Hal then suggests a new name, "Guy's
Place," which Guy likes. I don't, as I think the name
"Warriors" has its own history -- apart from just being the
nickname Guy had with the yellow ring and later with the
Vuldarian powers -- but I can deal. I also seem to remember
Guy once giving a nice little speech about "Warriors" being
a place where all the warriors of the world can go and hang.
Then we
get one "silent" page with Guy appearing at Ice's window,
leaving a note that we have to assume is something letting
her know he's heading out to shack up on Oa. We're left
wanting more, of course, but we can be sure we haven't seen
the last of this. And besides, though it's been a month
since the last issue, I don't believe a month has passed in
comic book time (or has it?)... so Guy's still got a date
coming up with her. He just has... a little bit of an extra
commute now.
We're
then treated to a few pages of back and forth banter with
Kyle and Guy on their moving trip out to Oa. The chemistry
is delightful, and reminds us that for actually well over 10
years now, these two have shared a history. I've read
fans likening their potential chemistry to something like a
Riggs-Murtaugh sort of way... and I can see that happening,
once the shit starts hitting the fan.
And
speaking of shit hitting the fan, you'll notice that apart
from Mongul smashing a corpse's head, the issue itself is
devoid of any action. None. Not a bit. But you know what?
That's
absolutely fine.
With
Geoff Johns' core Green Lantern series providing nonstop
thrills at a breakneck speed, one action story arc to the
next, to the next, to the next, with nary a breath to be
caught, this approach seems a breath of fresh air to me --
which is not to slight Mr. Johns. His take on Green Lantern
is fine and well, and the two pages he afforded last issue
to Hal and Cowgirl were much appreciated and deserved to the
characters... but there's something to be said about
decompression. Winding down a bit, getting us to know the
characters out of the uniform, as real people with real
problems and at least somewhat relatable dilemmas. And it's
not like every issue will be like this... but what will
happen is that when the shit does start hitting the
fan, issues like this are going to make us appreciate and
savor the fruition of which that much more. But that's just
me.
A minor
note -- and I'm not sure if this is the guest co-penciller's
take on it or if this is an official change -- I'm not sure
about Kyle's update to his new costume. By that, I just mean
the "V" to his front. Sodam Yat takes Kyle's symbiote and
moniker... and now Kyle assumes Sodam Yat's old GL costume?
Strictly picking at nits here, but I find that the
squared-off existing design was fine (and the three green
bumps on each shoulder were kinda cool, too).
An
intriguing page with the Guardians noting 27 wayward
Sinestro Corps rings that they had been tracking suddenly
vanishing without any trace or signature. No clue where this
is going, but we're led to believe it ties into whatever
Mongul is planning... eager to see where we go from here.
Earlier
in the issue we see Mongul II with his new ring on Debstam
IV, commanding it to tell him "all there is to know about
your powers and limitations," not caring that it will take
96 hours to do so. I like his new uniform... obviously very
non-traditional to the Sinestro Corps. Perhaps we're seeing
shades here of the ring-gathering Mongul II is going to be
doing in the months ahead? Later he has a bit of a
conversation with the decapitated remains of his sister,
Mongal, about properly carrying on the family lineage before
at last heading into space. We're not given a very clear
picture of where things are going from here with him, but
we're left with a distinct impression that wherever it is,
it ain't gonna be very good for the Green Lanterns.
I more or
less dug the art this issue. In an issue containing two
pencillers and five inkers, this came out more or less
pretty consistently. A few pages/panels kind of pulled me
out of things a bit, but not as much as I expected
considering the number of chefs here. Nevertheless, I'd be
lying if I said it wasn't at least a little bit
disheartening that a book as solid as Green Lantern Corps
isn't held up to the same standard as the regular Green
Lantern book as far as giving us a consistent team... if not
over an ongoing number of issues, at least within the
confines of a single, given issue. This has been going on
for three issues in a row now. The Gleason-Rollins team is
gold, I love their style... but when you do one page
Gleason-Rollins (or Gleason-somebody), then the next page
somebody and somebody else... you get sort of a mutt that
does all parties involved discredit. Though I can certainly
appreciate the labors involved in getting a book on shelves
in a timely manner.
On a
sidenote, I just recently realized Peter Tomasi was the
writer of Showcase '95 #8, the very first appearance of
Mongul II. A very compelling story I only just now re-read
that paints a very compelling and sinister look at Mongul
Senior... and perhaps, if the apple doesn't fall far from
the tree, a look at the manifest destiny of Mongul II.
A little
confused as to where things are directly going from here.
This issue is titled "RingQuest Part One" (which I'm
assuming the overall arc of which somewhat revolves around the machinations of Mongul)
and the last page indicates this is to be continued in #23,
three issues from now, with the next two to revolve around
the Alpha Lanterns. Are we to assume that we won't see "RingQuest
Part Two" until #23, or is the next issue kind of
interweaving the Alpha Lanterns with this storyline? I'm not
certain, but eagerly await the next issue.
