Review: Green Lanterns: New Guardians #24
Written by Justin Jordan
Art by Brad Walker
Coloured by Wil Quintana
So I was supposed to review the first two parts; however, after reading them I just couldn’t get around to it. Thus far the Blue Lanterns are done and Oa was blown up. Oh and the Central Power Battery is done too. We are just four issues removed from Johns’ legendary run. In his last couple arcs the Guardians went full-villain, the Third Army killed a crapload of people, the First Lantern did a lot of damage, Korugar was destroyed, Sinestro vanished, the old Guardians are dead, the new Guardians took over, Nekron came into play briefly which left that door partially open to be revisited, etc. etc. There have been a lot of status quo changes. They continued into the new run, but they were smaller (still important) and they worked. However, I feel like this event has come far too soon. I have event hangover and major status quo change hangover with relation to the Green Lantern titles. This has really hampered my enjoyment of Lights Out. It all feels like too much too soon.
The Plot
Oa is blowing up as Kyle, Hal, etc. are looking on. Hal is distraught and wants to lead an all-out attack against Relic. There is some serious debate about this and then Kyle sees a group of the Entities (Will, Hope, Love, Greed, Compassion, and Life) approaching him. They take Kyle over while changing his appearance. “Kyle” tries to leave, but Hal insists on talking to him/them. He sends everyone to Ysmault, which was Hal’s plan prior to their arrival. Meanwhile John Stewart and a small group of lanterns arrive at the homeworld of the Indigo Tribe. Back with Kyle and he’s struggling to regain control of himself. The Guardians arrive to provide him with some assistance and afterwards he provides them with a startling revelation.
The Breakdown
So Kyle continues to be one of the most interesting characters in the GLverse. He’s always quick to taking a different approach to handling different situations. For a long time I’ve found him to be a well-rounded and well-developed character. I like Hal, but sometimes I do miss Kyle’s time as a Green Lantern. I like the new Guardians as well. They are still naive in some ways, but they are starting to show that they do have some knowledge and skills despite being locked away for like a billion years. Usually John segments drag me down (I’ve gone into the reasons why before), but I did like how his part lead into something kind of interesting. The art had its ups and downs, but there were some panels that I really liked. Quintana’s colours were strong and vibrant as usual, which really suits this title well. The cliffhanger was pretty decent and it did get my curiousity going a bit.
BUT…
So Hal is hotheaded and whatnot, but that does not necessarily mean that he is stupid. Relic just wiped the floor with them and his big plan was to try it again, but with even less resources and power this time around? He was starting to sound more like a reasonable leader, but then he just regresses to such an extreme point. When reading this part it just seemed like he was written like this just for the sake of having others being able to make a counterpoint. I also didn’t like “Life” rolling with the other entities. They are based on emotions and it would seem more logical that Life would be too abstract and all-encompassing to hang with them like that. I didn’t see them seeking out Nekron as well. Life just seemed out of place to me at least in this part. I’m really unsure if whether or not I liked Kyle’s new outfit. First read it looked kind of clunky, but second read I saw some elements I kind of liked. It didn’t last too long anyways, but the outfit could return once again. The very first panel was of Oa blowing up…yeah that kind of took me out of the story right off the hop.
Buy It, Borrow It, Shelf Read It, or Ignore It?
Borrow It. The characterization of Kyle partly salvaged this issue for me and he is worth reading. This wasn’t a bad issue and the entire event has been done fairly well, but I just can’t get invested in it yet. A few more months down the road it might’ve worked better, but as it stands there just hasn’t been enough time to breathe yet. I did have a problem with some parts of this issue, which did hamper my enjoyment of it. I hope that Hal isn’t portrayed like such a dumbass after this event. How’s everyone supposed to trust following him when he was just all in to embark on what was definitely going to be a suicide run. Justin Jordan has put out some pretty damn good stuff in the past and I want to see what he’ll do after this event is done with. Also, I do enjoy reading about Kyle and want to see him in a non-event storyline so I’ll be back for this title.
