Green Lantern Corps: Peter J. Tomasi, Fernando Pasarin, Scott Hanna
I was a big fan of this title before the relaunch. I followed it from bits and pieces during Geoff Johns’ revitalization of the “Green Lantern” series, through “Blackest Night” and “Brightest Day” and beyond, right up to the end. And it was there…at that end…where the book started disappointing me. I became bored and unhappy with it. It seemed to have lost the spark that made it such a fun, ringslinging series. Maybe the writer got depressed to hear about the relaunch, I can’t say. I don’t remember who was writing it, and I’m too lazy to find out right now. I do think it was Tomasi, though, so how ironic. Anyway, so I was very hesitant to check this book out. However, I was MORE than pleasantly surprised. I really did like how FUN this book was to read. There are people who just really dislike Guy Gardner, but let me tell you…he’s a hoot. YES, A HOOT. I dig him, and I’ll always dig him. He says what we’re all thinking, and he’s not ashamed of it. I kind of wish this were an approved “mature” rated comic, just so I could hear the more colorful dialog he’d use. Seeing both Guy and Jon Stewart try to adjust to normal lives was interesting…. Not sure why they had to, seeing as how they’re STILL Green Lanterns (unlike Hal, who has no choice). And they’re identities are KNOWN to the public. While that little tidbit actually DOES play out in the book, and we get to see how they both react to and treat their “fame”, it was still confusing a little bit. Well, they do eventually come to their senses and decide to whoop some alien butt that’s been doing awful things to other GLCorps members throughout the sectors. So it’s up to these emerald warriors to find out who, what, and why. Doug Mahnke did the cover for this issue…and thank goodness he’s not on interior art. Pasarin makes Mahnke’s stuff look like elementary scratches, it’s so beautiful. It’s so much more lifelike, I find. And the FACE he has Guy make are just…SO funny. Here’s a guy who really understands Guy. The GL constructs in this issue are a nice marriage of the really “hard” substance looking stuff from Green Lantern and the more “light”-looking effects in Justice League, so I was happy. The constructs are very important to me, in a GL book, after all. And I love the shine on Stewart’s suit.
Green Lantern Corps, the verdict: I was not expecting a book this bloody and violent, and that’s something of a surprise, but not one that made me put the book down. I dug it, and I’m definitely going to stick with it…for the art and the writing, and for my love of Guy Gardner. Check it out if you like either of the ringslingers in this title.