Reilly2040's Blog

Tony Bedard’s debut Green Lantern Corps storyline continues strongly, as John Stewart is setup by the Alpha Lanterns, who aren’t happy that he turned down the offer to join their ranks originally.

After Ganthet got a lot of spotlight last month, this month Tony Bedard highlights John Stewart incredibly strongly. And having touched on his background as an architect last month, here we get another side of John spotlighted as his marine background comes to the fore as he infiltrates Grenda with Boodika. Sadly, for John, its a complete setup, as he’s trapped by the Alpha Lanterns who’ve taken over the planet, but none the less it was a great spotlight, and after John being more or less ignored for years after Rebirth, its really nice to see him getting this attention.

Its nice to see Tony Bedard working in various pieces of backstory we’ve had over the years such as John’s architect and marine backgrounds (albeit, the marine stuff seems to be a post-Rebirth/New Earth retcon to bring the character in line with the JLA animated series), but its nice to see the nod to the previous Boodika story that was in GLC, as John queries why Boodika would give up her soul the way she did (interestingly, John’s feelings about the Alpha Lanterns seem to be mirrored by Cyborg Superman in his voice over).

The reveal of Cyborg Superman being behind the Alphas made sense due to his previous connection with the manhunters, but I’m still curious to see what he’s planning, and more importantly how this will turn out for the Alpha Lanterns. As they convert more and more Green Lanterns into Alphas, they’ve very much become like the Cybermen or Borg, and I have to wonder if there’s going to be a way to restore these Lanterns once this is finished, or if they are now doomed to remain Alpha Lanterns or be killed. Certainly Tony Bedard is doing a great job introducing new Lanterns we’re quickly made to care for before they’re immediately grabbed and converted.

The scenes on Oa as Ganthet immediately recruits Kyle and Soranik’s help were good. Here we see Ganthet’s distrust of his fellow Guardians once again, as he admits to Kyle they’d spend too long debating or ignoring the issue, and Ganthet knows something needs done (similar to when he broke ranks and formed the Blue Lanterns to prepare for the Blackest Night). Again, Bedard also brings up previous story arcs here by raising the issue of Kyle’s lingering feelings for Jade. I’m not sure where that’s going, but with Jade back amongst the land of the living, it makes sense that this would trigger some of those old feelings in Kyle. That said, I hope this doesn’t lead to the breakup of Kyle and Soranik. They’ve not been together that long, and frankly Kyle deserves a break when it comes to his love life. And with Jade being off in the JLA, its not like there’s a reasonable chance of the characters getting back together.

So far I’m really enjoying Tony Bedard’s take on this core cast to the book. In the space of only two issues he’s nicely addressed first Ganthet and now John, and I assume Kyle will get a little of the spotlight next month to round off the triumvirate of main characters. I’ve been really impressed by these two issues and I’m really looking forward to seeing what else Tony has planned for this book.

Its also worth mentioning the art in the book.  I don’t recall seeing any of Ardian Syaf’s work before (although I could be mistaken), but I’m really loving his work here.  I don’t know if they’re keeping him on the book long term or not (I’ve a funny feeling I read about another artist for the next arc) but I’m definitely enjoying what I’m seeing.   Green Lantern has really been incredibly lucky since its relaunch that it continually gets some of the best writers and artists DC has working on it.

This week brought us the first issue of Green Lantern Corps by new writer Tony Bedard, and it was a great start to his run.

Interestingly though, the issue opened with an expansion on the scene we saw a month ago in Green Lantern, as Guy goes to Ysmault with Ganthet.  The expansion of the scene is slight, but gives us a little more insight, and makes it clear that Guy only found out what was going on as they were going there.  Ganthet knows there’s some new threat looming in the wake of the Blackest Night, and so he’s having to recruit Guy and Atrocitus to combat it.  The nature of this threat, and why it was Guy he recruited rather than Hal or Kyle (who he’s traditionally been shown to be closer to) we’ll have to see.

Things quickly move on to establishing the new cast for the book.  The opening scene is built on by showing Ganthet approach the other Guardians about becoming GL of sector zero.  Its interesting, as it shows Ganthet reiterating that the Guardians need to change their ways (of course, Ganthet is the one who needs to do this the least), but also because we see Ganthet forging his own power battery.  We’re now pretty used to the rings duplicating themselves, so to see this as a manual process felt quite different.  Of course, its only the rings we’ve seen duplicate, and its never really been established where the batteries come from.  Kyle’s we know is a fragment of the original central power battery, but aside from that all we’ve had was Salaak complaining about how much the batteries cost to replace when Hal destroyed his in his fight against the Shark at the beginning of volume 4.  So perhaps the fact that they require such work to manufacture is why Salaak was so unhappy?

I also have to suspect that Ganthet forging his own ring and battery is going to be significant, beyond being a cool scene.  The fact that its only his power that’s gone into it, and we know he’s planning to betray the Corps in some way, so I have to assume he’s done this to ensure his battery will lack any of the Guardians safe guards that they may use against the other Lanterns.

This issue also establishes  John as another new part of the main cast.  Its slightly odd, in that nothing is made of John moving from his assignment on Earth to Oa, but aside from that, its nice to see him in this book.  I’ve always liked seeing him interact with Kyle since the volume 3 run, and drawing on his background as an architect in the light of the recent widespread destruction on Oa made a lot of sense.

As a niggle though, while its a good scene between John and Ganthet discussing the new architecture on Oa, Ganthet’s comments about the buildings being a million years old would seem to completely ignore Oa’s destruction and reformation during Kyle’s run.  Both being fairly big events.  Possibly just a piece of backstory Tony Bedard didn’t know, but it jumped out as a mistake, and grates a little, especially in light of Kyle’s run being overlooked so often (including the recent deaths of most of Kyle’s signature villains).

Of course, we can probably explain it by saying that the reformed buildings shared the same appearance as the previous ones (I must admit I haven’t read the Last Will and Testament of Hal Jordan though, so I don’t know if this would be contradicted there).   Alternatively I guess you could say that Oa’s destruction never happened in this New Earth continuity.  And in fairness, Ganthet’s been really busy lately so maybe he just made a genuine mistake

With the new cast introduced, this issue also kicks off a new story arc picking up on the lingering threat of the Alpha Lanterns.  Its a nice spooky start, with the Alphas slowly capturing regular Green Lanterns and converting them into Alpha Lanterns.   I’m looking forward to seeing how this plays out, and I can see the Alpha Lanterns ending up on Biot with the Manhunters.  We’ve seen them get more out of control since they were introduced, and Salaak slapping them down during Blackest Night obviously has pushed them to try and take over.  When they get (presumably) stopped, the surviving Alpha Lanterns travelling to Biot and becoming part of the Manhunters would make a lot of sense.

Its a great sign that the only complaint I can make about this first issue is one continuity niggle.  I look forward to seeing what Tony Bedard brings us now that Ganthet and John are in place, and this Alpha Lantern storyline is certainly off to a good start.

Well, that’s been some big GL news today.  Following Blackest Night, with the launch of Brightest Day, there’s some cast changes afoot as a third Green Lantern ongoing is launched in the form of Emerald Warriors.

Ok, firstly, I don’t think “Emerald Warriors” is that brilliant a title, however moving on.   The franchise has clearly had the legs for a third ongoing ever since the relaunch in Rebirth.  Kyle’s Ion series was originally slated as an ongoing before it was changed to a maxi-series for creative reasons to fit in with Geoff’s plans for the Sinestro Corps War and Green Lantern as a whole.  Ion sold just as well as GLC did at the time, so it proved the audience was there for a third book, so I’m glad to see DC and the GL franchise are finally at the point of launching it (even if my wallet is less pleased).

I’m sad to see Tomasi and Gleason leaving GLC behind, although with Tomasi moving onto Emerald Warriors, we’re guaranteed it’ll be worth reading.  And the great news of Tony Bedard taking over the writing duties on GLC fills me with confidence.  I love his work on REBELS, and its a very similar book  dealing with a large cast of cosmic characters.  Its a natural progression for Bedard.  Its a shame for REBELS, but with the Starro plot wrapping up, its a natural place for a changeover to occur.

As for the cast.  Well principally it sounds like EW is basically going to be Guy’s book, as he leaves GLC.  However the comments in the interview at The Source make me wonder if, while starring Guy, the addition of this third book isn’t also allowing the chance to split up GLC’s very large cast, to hand some off as recurring characters to Emerald Warriors, rather than try to fit everyone into GLC.

However saying that, what about GLC.  Well its losing Guy (and possibly Kilowog as a regular going by the interview) however its gaining John Stewart and Green Lantern Ganthet.   This strikes me as good news.  While the Kyle fan in me would’ve obviously loved for him to get the new book and added focus, Guy’s enduring popularity across GL fandom makes him an obvious choice.  And the combination of Kyle, John and Ganthet was a strong cast during Kyle’s later issues of his run in GL.  I’m very, very happy that John is finally getting a proper home in the GL books, as he’s been largely ignored ever since Rebirth, so hopefully this will give him a proper chance to shine and be developed as a character.

As for Ganthet.  Well, he and Kyle have always had a good relationship, so I’ll be keen to see that built on.  And he does possess a unique status as one of the only Guardians you can actually trust, so him having an active role in a monthly is a welcome thing.  His new status quo is very odd though.  While sporting a green ring currently in Blackest Night, this is just part of the 24 hour deputising thing, so you have to wonder what happens that results in him keeping the ring.  Also how does the ring relate to his own powers?   Will he still have his powers as a Guardian as well (and are those Willpower or Hope based these days)?  And what of the Blue Lantern Corps?  Who’s acting as their Guardian?

What might be interesting is if this is a deliberate move by the Guardians to learn from their mistakes.  Ever since Rebirth they reverted to their aloof  “we know best” personalities, and its backfired on them badly.  Perhaps Ganthet’s new role as an Honour Guard GL is to build a bridge between the Guardians and the Green Lanterns, more for the benefit of keeping the Guardians linked to what’s actually going on and grounded, than anything else.  That’d be an interesting way to go.  And of course, its entirely possible Ganthet will lose his own powers and have to rely on the ring.  A Guardian being stripped of his powers has happened before.

This is a very good time for Green Lantern.  With three books, the franchise has never been healthier, and the rejigging of the casts in the two Corps books should help keep things fresh and carve out a distinct new direction after Blackest Night.

Fresh from having to introduce Captain Comet and Adam Strange into the REBELS title last month, this month writer Tony Bedard has to contend with the Blackest Night now catching up with his little corner of the DCU.

I have to actually take my hat off to Bedard here.  He successfully brings in a summary of the ongoing storyline,  introducing key characters, and then brings in the Blackest Night and make it all seem like a natural beat in the story.  The issue is pitched very much as an entry point to new readers while still moving the the plot forward.  And Tony takes full advantage of the Blackest Night by bringing the various Corps into the plot as well.

And in doing so, he also gives us a different look at events.  We’re very used to seeing the War of Light through the eyes of the Green Lanterns, be it Hal over in Green Lantern, or Guy and Kyle in the Corps book.  Here Adam Strange is relating to Dox and the rest of the REBELS what’s going on, and we get a feel for the impact the war of light has through the eyes of those not directly involved.  There’s a great line where Adam points out that single Green Lantern ring can lay waste to a planet, and so he’s terrified by the thought of all these other Corps running around without the morality of the GLs.

As I mentioned above, what this issue does hugely successfully is incorporating the Blackest Night backdrop into its own-going story.  All too often with these large company-wide crossovers, a series will find its ongoing plot-lines disrupted by the event, however here, the Blackest Night events happen around the main plot, as just another thing the REBELS must contend with as Starro manages to lower the shield containing his forces.  And the final page just worked incredibly well as a brilliant moment while further tying the book into the larger company-wide events in a way most of the other tie-ins have avoided thus far.

This is definitely a comic to check out.  The way Tony Bedard manges to weave together the shopping list of plot elements and characters is impressive in its own right, and next issue promises to be really interesting, as the power Adam Strange was so afraid of has landed right in the hands of Dox.