Monday 25 February 2013

B'ZZD REVIEW - GREEN LANTERN: NEW GUARDIANS #16


Welcome to the first B'zzd review, a short format blog post named after the tiny wasp-like sector partner of Mogo who showed size was irrelevant when he defeated the formidable Sinestro Corps usurper, Mongul. Basically the trials of real life (and a little laziness) have made it impossible to keep up with my own self-imposed review schedule. So in future I am going to mix up my standard spoiler articles with these punchy little B'zzd reviews. So without further ado...


GREEN LANTERN: NEW GUARDIANS #16
 
Brightest:

- For the first time since Kyle's quest to master the emotional spectrum began I feel he has actually been challenged with his struggle to obtain the violet energy of love. His refusal to battle to the death with former father figure, Ganthet, shows what a great writer Tony Bedard can be when he is at his best. This is what I had hoped to get from this story arc all along.

- Kyle's back story seems to be suffering from a fair amount of New 52 confusion of late. It is not clear (to me anyway) how much of his life as the GL torchbearer has been retconned. Certainly the party he hosts for Ganthet doesn't fit with any version of events that I am familiar with but it does have the bonus Easter egg of the first reference in the post-Flashpoint universe to historic fan favourites like G'Nort and Arisia.

Blackest:

- Aaron Kuder's art is a welcome improvement on recent fill-in artists but he does not seem to have got to grips Kyle's look at all. In the party scene mentioned above where Kyle appears without his mask I was confused to see two John Stewarts standing inches from one another!

- The only other problem that I had with GL:NG #16 was the couple of panels where they attempted to tie in Green Lantern: New Guardians Annual #1.  I thought it was a mistake in that book to include the current New Guardian line-up with the story that Keith Giffen wanted to tell and I think it’s a mistake to drag up the memory again here as Star Sapphire and her merry ring-slingers returnfrom their sci-fi misadventure.

Beware its power:

- Without a doubt the most amazing moment of this whole book is when Kyle becomes a White Lantern.  The culmination of 16 months of build-up from when the coloured rings first sought out the Green Lantern in the very first issue, through his transformation into an out of control Mega-Lantern in GL:NG #2 and the gathering of his power in the last few issues.  Ganthet drills him with an energy blast from behind, a kill shot.  The power of the seven emotions come together in that moment and breathes life back into his broken body.  New colourist Wil Quintana deserves a medal for his work throughout these pages but in the full page splash of Rayner embracing the spectrum and transcending all of its facets he truly excels himself.  I haven’t felt like this good about Kyle since Green Lantern #145 (vol. 3) when Kyle defeated Nero in the ‘Battle of Fire and Light’ and became Ion.  The Third Army and their twisted masters, the Guardians of the Universe, had better stand well back because White Lantern is coming to Oa and he isn’t going to be pulling his punches.

 
 
 

No comments:

Post a Comment