Well, this issue is an interesting one. Given the late change in the solicit of this issue (originally it was a Sinestro Corps Epilogue starring Kyle and Guy) there’s been a lot of speculation that the Sodam Yat/Ion stuff was added in late in the day to capitalise on the success of the story arc.

Now, Sodam Yat’s a character I’ve been running hot and cold over this whole arc. I enjoyed him during the Mogo Vs Ranx storyline, but then went rapidly off him when he spent two issues with everyone going “Oh, wow. He’s awesome!” as he was rushed into the Ion ID.

This issue gives us his backstory, while Superman Prime beats him to a pulp. I’m really surprised, that after all the hype, Yat actually took this much of a kicking. Sure, he gets a couple of good hits in, but Prime still laughs them off and then keeps handing him his backside.

Yat’s backstory is well handled though. We see his upbringing on Daxam, and how it affected his worldview to the point that he was going to leave the planet for its isolationist policies (backed up with a healthy amount of propoganda).

We really get the feeling of a character that’s been messed around a lot by his own people, and who, having seen the evil inherent to his own kind, is now determined to fight back against it.

This is the kind of issue we really needed before he took over as Ion. Or more focus like he got in the Ranx issues. Yat’s status is left ambiguous at the end of the issue (to be wrapped up in GL #25), but given that he’s on the cover of the Ion special, I think its safe to say he’s going to be round for a while.

While I don’t necessarily think the character’s interesting enough to headline his own book, I’m looking forward to seeing how he and Kyle interact in the special. They’re two very different characters.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 29th, 2007 at 14:36 and is filed under Comics, Green Lantern. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.