I really thought this issue was going to be tough to review. Fortunately, having been spoiled to the big event yesterday, I had a day to process it in advance, which let me digest the issue without giving into fanboy rage.
So to get right to the main talking point of the issue. Kyle dies.
As a Kyle fan, this isn’t something I was pleased to hear about. With Kyle spending most of the Sinestro Corps War possessed by Parallax, and now getting killed off in Blackest Night, it was hard not to feel a little hard done by, as Hal races around the universe getting ready to save the day through his sheer silver aged awesomeness.
However, having time to digest it, and then read the issue with a clearer head, I’ve got to say, its a brilliant issue, and if this is indeed Kyle’s curtain call, then its not a bad one.
Kyle really gets to look the hero throughout the issue. He takes charge of the Black Lantern assault on the central battery by coming up with the idea to release Vice and use the Red Lantern as a blunt instrument against the zombie hordes. Then when Alpha Lantern Chaselon mucks everything up and is about to go nuclear, Kyle gets to play the hero, grabbing the Alpha battery and using it and sacrificing himself in order to take out all the Black Lanterns in the resulting explosion.
(Of course, presumably said Black Lanterns are just going to rise again, but it made for a good scene nonetheless).
Once again the Alpha Lanterns prove to be more trouble than they’re worth with Chaselon mucking up Kyle’s plan to use Vice (which was working and saving the central battery), and then refusing Salaak’s orders to withdraw, resulting in his own death and endangering others (finally killing Kyle) with his ruptured Alpha Battery. I’m at the point where I just really, really want to see the Alpha Lanterns get their comeuppance.
Things are now nicely in place for Guy to fall as a Red Lantern next issue, with Kyle’s death presumably pushing him over the edge, and Vice’s ring on hand (pun unintended) to grab him, and from a larger plot point of view, we know that after Salaak, Guy and Kyle were the only things standing between the Alpha Lanterns and control of the GLC. With Guy and Kyle gone, Salaak’s going to have to watch his back.
Special mention must go to the art in this issue. Patrick Gleason really brought some of the best art he’s done to this issue. The splash page of the Black Lanterns attacking the Central Battery was a great image, and Kyle’s final stand is beautifully drawn. He also continues to excel at some of the freaky visuals, such as the Black Lantern construct that attempts to tear down the battery, and mention must go to both Gleason and Tomasi for the creepy image of the Green Lantern orphans, finally reunited with their parents as Black Lanterns.
With regards to Kyle’s death though, while its a good scene, I’m not counting him out yet. This whole story is about the dead coming back, and I’ve speculated before that we’ll see some sort of mass resurrection at the end to bring back big names like the Hawks, Aquaman and J’onn. No reason we can’t add Kyle to the list.
There’s also the cover to GLC #44, which shows Red Lantern Guy and features Kyle. Now this could be symbolic for Kyle’s death having pushed Guy over the edge, or maybe a running change will swap Green Lantern Kyle for Black Lantern Kyle, but it still leaves things open.
I guess after 52 I’ve tried to learn to not let deaths of characters I love knock me as much. Back during 52, fandom went into outrage overload over Booster Gold’s death (later revealed to be an elaborate hoax he’d setup to allow him to operate freely as Supernova) and then later Animal Man’s death (resurrected by aliens the very next issue). So with that in mind, I’m not ready to drop Green Lantern yet or anything. We’re in the middle of a story here, and where exactly Geoff and Peter have planned for it to go remains to be seen. I’m fairly optimistic that Kyle’s going to be back in short order, with this death serving to move various subplots on, and provide a nice big halfway-mark shock to the readers. If he’s not brought back, then I might be a bit unhappy, but for now, I’ll see what comes next month.
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