REVIEW: GREEN LANTERN - NEW GUARDIANS ANNUAL #1

(w) Keith Giffen
(a) Scott Kolins and Andrei Bressan

Green Lantern: New Guardians Annual #1 is fractured -- it's got nothing to do with Kyle Rayner's quest to master the emotional spectrum, nor does it fully realize itself as a lead-in to DC's new sci-fi series, Threshold. There's too much going on in this issue, and with each subsequent page, readers are asked to process more and more characters, lingo, locations, and relationships. Coupled with the hyper-busy artwork by Scott Kolins and Andrei Bressan and GL:NG Annual #1 becomes fairly difficult to read and understand.

I'm not even going to talk about Kyle because Keith Giffen basically shoves the Torch Bearer off-panel within a few pages to focus on Carol Ferris Star Sapphire, Arkillo, and a returned Saint Walker as they attempt to contact the Lady Styx and convince her to join in the fight against the Guardians of the Universe and their Third Army of mindless drones. But really, this isn't what GL:NG Annual #1 is about. Giffen has used this issue -- and it's extra-long 'Annual' format -- as a platform with which to introduce Jediah Caul, a deep cover Green Lantern, as well as 'The Hunted', a sadistic practice involving the hunting down of perceived threats to the Tenebrian Dominion by way of civilian participation. 

Before I get into Caul as a character, I have to mention that the Tenebrian Hunt seems really interesting. Unlike Avengers Arena, which pretty much lifted the premise of The Hunger Games without regard, Giffen tweaks his idea enough to feel original and more believable. In the Tenebrian Dominion, criminals are given a day head start before the entire population of the system is allowed to hunt them down for big winnings. The game -- and it's merchandising, etc. -- provides financial support for the entire Dominion, which means they stay autonomous from the rest of the universe. Overall, the idea is fun, but Giffen "shows" instead of "tells" readers what's happening just a little too much. The use of 'space slang' is simply weird. It took me nearly the entire book to realize that "das'tall" was some sort of curse word and not a person's name.

Who is Jediah Caul? He's one of the few new characters to emerge out of DC's 'New 52' so far. Besides Scott Snyder's Court of Owls, the 'New 52' has been limited to reintroducing old characters in new forms. Unfortunately, Caul is just plan boring. He's supposedly a 'deep cover' Green Lantern in the Tenebrian Dominion, but his mission is never explained. Why is he in deep cover? What ends are he looking to achieve? Lo, we get none of this information. By issue's end, what we know about Jediah Caul can be summed up in one word: blowhard. It's hard to get invested in a character like Caul because he doesn't seem to have any redeeming qualities.

Green Lanterns: New Guardians has a second-stringer title since it began due to a lack of direction and overall cohesiveness. I understand that this Annual was intended to be a lead-in to Threshold, but why? Why can't that series stand on it's own? Why make an already struggling title break focus and lose it's momentum in the process? Last month's issue was a great step forward, but Green Lantern: New Guardians Annual #1 is like taking two steps back.

GRADE

6.5/10

(COMIC) GREEN LANTERN: NEW GUARDIANS #10

STORY: Tony Bedard
ART: Tyler Kirkham and Batt

I find myself finally admitting it to myself: Green Lantern: New Guardians is the best GL book in DC's 'New 52'. Hal Jordan and Sinestro's troubles in Green Lantern are getting long in the tooth, and Green Lantern Corps is similarly going nowhere pretty slowly. Kyle Rayner, on the other hand, has had run-ins with an intergalactic angel, Blue Beetle in New York City, and now the Reach as they invade planet Odym, homeworld of the Blue Lantern Corps. Last month's beginning saw one of the Blue Lanterns lose hope, falling to his death out of sheer despair.


Tont Bedard has done a fantastic job handling all the characters in the pages of Green Lantern: New Guardians. Not only does he have to juggle the seven members of the Rainbow Brigade (Kyle, Arkillo, Fatality, Munk, Glomulus, Bleez, and Saint Walker), but this issue throws in most of the Blue Lantern Corps, the various Reach soliders (some of which were featured in the pages of Blue Beetle), and now the Qwardian Weaponer. 


DC kind of misled readers a bit in their preview blurb about the issue stating that the 'New Guardians reunite to save Odym!' In fact, Bleez, Glomulus, and Munk are all absent. Bleez is dealing with her own drama in the pages of Red Lanterns, Glomulus was disintegrated in Blue Beetle #9, and Munk is standing with his tribe in Green Lantern. So, it's a 'reunion' of Kyle, Arkillo, Fatality, and Saint Walker, which ain't so bad - besides Arkillo, the other three are considered the "good" Lanterns of the New Guardians. Other than this misdirect, the issue is quite enjoyable.


The Reach has basically already won as this issue opens. Kyle Rayner sees that Odym is already halfway cocooned and tries to reason with Saint Walker to not sacrifice his Blue Lanterns to a lost cause. Of course, the Blue Lanterns of Hope don't really understand the meaning of "lost cause", and they show it by uniting their rings into a single wave that they use to free the Reach soldiers from the scarabs fused to their spines. Many of the Reach begin to see the horrors they've unleashed, while others resist and continue fighting.


I'm a little worried about the direction Bedard is taking Green Lantern: New Guardians. The invasion of planet Odym feels like it should have warranted something like four or five issues, but alas, Bedard only gives it two. And while NG is definitely the best Green Lantern title currently running, it still feels broken and fragmented - not necessarily within individual issues, but in the overall narrative flow and how each story segues into another. It rarely feels natural and often happens suddenly, without much explanation until much, much later.


By the end, Saint Walker recognizes the source of all the New Guardians' troubles; the person who led the Reach to Odym, a world that's virtually undetectable; the one whose actions have ripple awful consequences for the entire universe: Larfleeze. Agent Orange went from being a monster to comic relief, and now - it seems - criminal mastermind, manipulating those around him to get what he wants.

GRADE

B

(DC NATION) MAY 26, 2012

Green Lantern: The Animated Series

Season 1, Episode 13

"Homecoming"

SAINT WALKER!!!!!!

I know I've ragged on GL: TAS before. Multiple times, actually, and with some pretty solid malice behind my words. And honestly, this show struggled for the first six or seven episodes before it really shifted into it's groove and became comfortable with Hal and Kilowog actually using their power rings. Fortunately, the latter half of this group of episodes has been getting better and better each week. Bruce Timm, the show's Executive Producer, obviously has a lot of love for Green Lantern, as evidenced by his various fan service inclusions this season like the Zamarons, the episode about killing a GL for his ring, Saint Walker, Mogo, the Thanagarians, and oh so much more. "Homecoming" is by and far the best episode of GL: TAS, marking a turning point in quality and content.

This episode, the Red Lanterns are moving in full-force toward Oa as Atrocitus has stolen the GL Interceptor, and the rest of the fleet moves toward the path through the asteroid field and into Oan space. Oh, and Hal, Kilowog, and Razer are stuck at the edge of Guardian space, and 18-month flight away from the Guardians and Oa. It's not looking too good for the Green Lanterns right now.

Hal and Razer travel to Zamaron to get help teleporting across a great distance like the Sapphire's did to Carol Ferris in "In Love and War", while Kilowog stays at the asteroid field to stave off the Red Lantern invasion fleet all by himself. Though Hal is able to travel to Earth - based on his base emotions for Carol - and therefore much closer to Oa, he loses his memory in the process. This sequence seems somewhat unnecessary since amnesia usually lasts a long time, and it takes Carol all of ten minutes - after she realizes Hal doesn't even know what a Green Lantern is - to find Hal's power battery and "reboot" him. Again, it simply feels unnecessary. Why couldn't Hal just come to Earth and fly off? That's what ended up happening anyway, it just took longer.

Kilowog, on the other hand, has a very necessary role and is soon joined by Saint Walker, complete with his new Blue Lantern ring and the ability to super-charge Green Lantern power rings. Of course, "two soliders won't change anything," as Kilowog points out. That's when Mogo shows up. Like I mentioned earlier, this is my favorite episode of the series thus far and part of it comes from this scene. Seeing Kilowog, Mogo, and Saint Walker ripping up some Red Lantern armadas was breathtaking and something that should have been on the screen years ago. It's such a compelling scene that I had to pause my DVR and just sit for a moment and think about how awesome it was.

Atrocitus succeeds by landing on Oa and nearly bringing the Guardian's to their knees. I was a bit confused by this scene at first. I kept wondering, "where are all the GL's?" Of course, they've all been sent toward the asteroid field to prepare for Atrocitus' armada. But this is a plot point that was only glossed over a few times in the past couple of episodes, and it just kind of felt like a way to get rid of the Green Lantern Corps so the animators wouldn't have to render 3,600 GL's at the same time. Salaak - the Guardians' right-hand-man/secretary/assistant - makes a fantastic appearance and even throws his computer module aside in favor of four energy daggers that seriously make Salaak cooler than he's been in years in the pages of the comic books.

I really have loved watching Green Lantern: The Animated Series grow from a childish, non-ring-having show that could be about any old space travelers, to a solid series that takes the legacy of Green Lantern and molds it into a more digestible form for a wider audience. If Blue Lanterns, Mogo, and Villius Vox as the leader of the Red Lanterns doesn't excite you for second season (which, at the time of this writing, hasn't been announced), then this just might not be the show for you. If space odysseys, the Rainbow Brigade, and action is your thing, I'll see you right here when season two begins!

GRADE:
A+

Young Justice

Season 2, Episode 5

"Beneath"

So far, what's made Young Justice: Invasion compelling has been the deft way the writers balance the A and B stories each episode. In the first season, there was a group of six main characters to follow, so splitting them up was usually confined to one-on-one interactions. This season, however, the extended cast gives writers room to create diverse teams that can be interchanged whenever they want. At the same time, more characters means more character development, which is never a bad thing. This week, Blue Beetle stars in his own solo adventure, while the Team's female furies - Miss Martian, Bumblebee, Batgirl, and Wonder Girl - gather to investigate one of Queen Bee's many illegal military compounds for signs of alien technology.

The girls, the girls.

Jaime Reyes' background has been tweaked a bit (as seen in last week's "Salvage"), but he's still the same character at his core - constantly fighting with the voice of the Scarab in his head. This episode, though, Jaime spends little time as Blue Beetle, instead forced to keep the Scarab at bay as he attempts to investigate the disappearance of his friend, Ty. It's not the most interesting plot, but it's nice to see any character in street clothes and it gives Jaime more personality that simply being the crazy kid who seems like he talks to himself.


On the other side of the globe, the girls' mission in Bialya takes a turn for the worse when Wonder Girl is spotted and taken down by a group of metahumans led by Psimon - who was thought to be safely under watch in an induced coma. Again, this is not a very plot-heavy tale. I would even argue that it was simply a narrative designed to bring the female members of the Team together in some meaningful way. There didn't need to be a very deep story, so there wasn't.


Overall, this might be one of the weaker episodes of the season plot-wise, but as far as fan service and character inclusions, this one's a winner.

GRADE:

B-

(COMIC) GREEN LANTERN: NEW GUARDIANS #9

STORY: Tony Bedard
ART: Tyler Kirkham and Batt

Green Lantern: New Guardians is the least straightforward of any GL-related titles in DC's 'New 52.' Hal Jordan and Sinestro are battling the Indigo Tribe, while Guy Gardner and John Stewart are getting ready for an Alpha Lantern incursion. Kyle Rayner, on the other other hand, is on his own, cut off from Oa and forced to ally with the other colored Lanterns in a string of events that's been somewhat hard to follow, but enjoyable nonetheless. After an initial arc where the Rainbow Brigade is pitted against galactic archangel Invictus, subsequent issues have focused on individual characters rather than the ensemble cast.

This month, the Reach has arrived Odym - the Blue Lantern homeworld - and plan to drain it's natural resources. The Reach is the alien cult responsible for the beetle Scarab that attached itself to Jaime Reyes in the pages of Blue Beetle. In fact, every member of the Reach wears a blue scarab that takes control of the host and turns he/she/it into a living weapon at the disposal of this galaxy-conquering parasitic force.

Saint Walker is revered as a demi-god on Odym - all of the new Blue Lantern recruits idolize him as The Blue Lantern, the first of their kind. It's not too far off base, as Walker has proved his tenacity over and over again. When the Reach invades, Walker is who they look to as their leader, and he takes the mantle with conviction.

One of the best scenes of the entire issue comes from a new character, Shon. A relatively new Blue, Saint Walker sends Shon off-planet to find a Green Lantern so the Blue Lanterns can use their rings offensively. When young Shon finds that the foot solider blitzkrieg was just a diversion for the 'cocooner' machines wrapping the entire planet in the Reach's control, he loses hope and his ring. With a cold, "HOPELESS", the ring flies off Shon's finger and drops him to his death. It's a harrowing scene that drives home the idea that the Reach is not to be messed with.

It's hard to make beetle-men seem intimidating, but Tony Bedard does a fantastic job of keeping the pace steady and giving more information on a need-to-know basis. Tyler Kirkham's art is spectacular in conveying the hopelessness of the Blue Lanterns' defense against the Reach. This GL: NG / Blue Beetle semi-crossover looks to be very interesting, not only from a narrative standpoint, but also for it's ramifications on the DC universe in general!

GRADE:

B+

(COMIC) GREEN LANTERN - NEW GUARDIANS #7

Written by Tony Bedard
Artwork by Tyler Kirkham and Batt

Green Lantern stories have a way of sneaking up on you. With eons of history in which to place new ideas, GL titles tend to introduce a new, mysterious threat that eventually gets explained near the end of the arc. While this sounds like a general storytelling technique, it's used abundantly for GL tales with good reason. Green Lantern: New Guardians #7 starts the 'wrap-up' phase of it's first arc by giving the readers a little history on Invictus and how he fits into the Lantern mythology.

Quick history lesson: Millions of years ago, Larfleeze - the Orange Lantern - attacked the Vega system and it's protectors, the Angels of Vega. After discovering he couldn't steal the Angels' souls to use as orange constructs, Larfleeze slaughtered all the Angels, their souls merged into their lone surviving brother, Invictus. In their final battle, Larfleeze cast Invictus into another universe where he stayed trapped for eons.

Tony Bedard's history of Invictus finally gives some context for the galaxy-inspired orrery ship. In his grief, the lone Angel built a new Vega system for himself in the universe of exile, complete with genetic copies of the species that inhabited the various planets.

The story of the Angels of Vega points to Larfleeze as the culprit behind the creation of the New Guardians. In a somewhat annoying info dump, Kyle Rayner explains how Larfleeze was the one who stole the various-colored rings and sent the team on their mission to kill Invictus. The manic-depressive Invictus finally shows some restraint and decides to not replace the current Vega system with his copy. How nice! Instead, he wants Kyle to kill Larfleeze. Who's ready for next month's issue? This guy.

GRADE:

B-