Last
issue of GLC we got "RingQuest Part 1" (of 3), this issue we
get "The Curse of the Alpha-Lantern Part 1" (of 2). Not sure
about cutting into the middle of an arc to deliver a
fill-in, but I won't let that bit of an annoyance (granted,
perhaps necessary) get in the
way of my review.
For most
folk, I think this issue pretty much represents Sterling
Gates' first honest-to-goodness foray into Green Lantern
comics en masse (he did participate to some unknown
degree creatively on the Superman-Prime special with Geoff
Johns, see review
here).
First
I'll be succinct, then break it down a bit:
Great --
not just good -- issue, an excellent and
well-deserved character piece on Boodikka, though it ends a
bit in mid-flow... even for a cliffhanger, though maybe that
was the intended effect. I do eagerly await the next issue.
To break
it down a bit...
I'm quite
a bit mixed, to be honest. Not for the issue itself, which I
truly look upon by its own merits -- but rather the GLC
title itself. Though I'm a huge Kyle fan, I can readily
separate myself from that to gauge a story on its own right,
there's still the X factor that we were told implicitly that
"Green Lantern Corps is now Kyle and Guy's book"... and yet
here we are after their big debut (well, the two of them
together in the same book again... you know what I mean) and
they ain't nowhere in sight. Bait and switch? That would be
a knee-jerk reaction. I mean, if the whole reason we're
taking this breather is for Patrick Gleason to catch up on
his art, why does Peter Tomasi need a break as well?
Just
honest questions I throw out that seem to jump out at me,
but I truly don't mind this offering from Sterling Gates. At
all. And logically thinking about it... where would this 2
parter have gone, if not here? If this issue, part 1 of "The
Curse of the Alpha-Lantern" gone last month instead of "RingQuest"
we'd be seeing Boodikka before she's really entrenched in
Alpha-Boodikka mode, and if they'd held off on this
two-parter until after RingQuest, we're talking about four
months down the line... which would put us smack in the
middle of the events of Final Crisis or at least pretty far
removed from the whole "Who are the Alpha-Lanterns? What the
heck are they?" thing we're in right now after the latest
Geoff Johns GL issues.
Here we
have what is essentially an issue straight-out devoted to
Boodikka... and I have absolutely no problem with that.
Here, in this first part of this Alpha-Lantern two-parter,
she seems to be serving as kind of a window into what an
Alpha-Lantern is, how that effects her as a character, and
what this may mean for her going forward (while paying her
past much due credit here)... I think it's wonderful, in the
context of the grand scheme of things. I think by the time
we get the second half of this arc we'll come out with not
only a renewed sense of who Boodikka is -- Alpha-Lantern and
all -- but just what it means to be an Alpha-Lantern.
Basically, she reprimands Lantern Harvid (a guy who's been
around for well over 20 years in the comics and over a
hundred years in DCU time), first appearing in #161 of Vol.
2) for going too easy
on his bro (which I wonder... does Ghanrik = Haasp? or is
Haasp a second brother, also up to no good?), then returns to Oa where it seems like her
fellow (ex?) Lost Lanterns would like her to go with them to
the Guardians to speak on Laira's behalf, picking up a bit
from where the last issue of the core GL title left off. She
gives them an icy response, in many ways kind of closing the
door on that aspect of her life. We get a well-educated
glimpse of her past as one of the Bellatrix Bombers before
the Guardians ask her to check into the status of her
replacement partner in her sector, who hasn't reported back
in some time. We're told by the Guardians, "The
Alpha-Lanterns never need to rest or recharge or show
remorse for what we ask them to do." Grim tidings, I think,
that I'm sure won't end prettily... and with the revelations
of late that the Alpha-Lanterns figure in some way (who
knows to what capacity) into Final Crisis, one's imagination
does swirl.
Boodikka,
following orders, returns to Bellatrix. Descending into a
cave, she immediately comes upon a creature she seems to
recognize. For the first time in the issue, her guard drops
a bit and we get a glimpse of the person beneath... and a
clue that yes, even if you're Alpha-Lanternized, you still
retain a bit of who you are. She reacts to the creature,
"Curl? Aren't you my sister's pet?" And then Boodikka is
ambushed by her ex-compatriots (and sister, who is
technically her new sector partner), who detect Manhunter
technology about her. We're then promised in captions, "Next
Issue: Sister vs. Sister! Green Lantern vs. Alpha Lantern."
I dunno...
the issue totally had me, wrapped me up in Boodikka's story
(past and present) and led me to the finish... but then
yanked the rug out from under me. And I don't mean to slight
the end, I just feel like taking GLC #21 in and of itself,
it doesn't feel entirely like a whole experience. And not
necessarily even in that, "Damn, what happens next?!" kind
of a way. I just mean, even as a two-parter, maybe this
issue could have offered something in the way of an ending
without guillotining things right smack in the middle. Maybe
that's unfair, but it's my honest reaction turning the last
page. I really look forward to the next issue, where this
story can be judged from beginning to end -- Sterling Gates
knows his stuff, gets into characters' heads in the same
manner Peter Tomasi has done of late, and delivers the
goods... I just want to see his first finished product.
The art?
I've honestly had no idea who "Nelson" is until now, but his
artwork (it's very much worth pointing out he pencils and
inks the entire issue -- the same guy doing both the pencilling
and inking chores this issue, cover to cover, and in the
past three or four issues of GLC we couldn't even get a
single, seperate penciller and inker doing all the artwork
within a single issue) is pretty cool by me. To be brutally
honest, it didn't completely blow me away, but it's totally
consistent, detailed where it needs to be, and he pretty
much nails Tomar Tu (I point him out because he seems to be
difficult to peg by a lot of artists of late), and more
importantly Boodikka... who as far as I'm concerned hasn't
been properly portrayed in art since about a decade (I guess
I'm referring to the flashback Boodikka here). Less, if you
count "Legacy: Last Will & Testament of Hal Jordan."
Boodikka, as originally introduced to us, should be a hulk
of a woman, rippling with muscles, taller than most men, and
not even necessarily attractive at all. And let's not forget
she's the kind of gal that banged Lobo once... famously...
for like an entire mega DCU crossover event ("Trinity" in
the 90s).
On a
sidenote, I'm wondering (hoping, I guess) if the next issue
will explore at all Boodikka's relationship with her mother
(either in the past in flashback or the present
post-Alpha-Lantern). Pre-this issue, we've been handed
precious little bones about Boodikka's past, but one thing
we have seen, in Green Lantern Corps Quarterly #6,
was a cute little story about Boodikka and her mom and kind
of how they relate to one another... and it ain't pretty.
So
yeah... good stuff this go 'round! Thank you, Sterling,
Nelson.
