Green Lantern Corps has been one of my favorite titles since Sinestro Corps War. It has definitely been one of DC’s best books and last issue sadly ended Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason’s fabulous run on this title. Even though it was sad to see that creative team go they did end their run on a high not. Now it is time to move on as Tony Bedard and Ardian Syaf come in as the new creative team for GLC. I like Syaf’s artwork but I am not too familiar with Bedard’s work. I have heard good things about his work so hopefully Bedard and Syaf can deliver a solid debut issue with Green Lantern Corps #48. Let’s see if the new creative team can deliver.
Creative Team
Writer: Tony Bedard
Artist: Ardian Syaf
Inker: Vicente Cifuentes
Colorist: Randy Mayor, Gabe Eltaeb, and Carrie Strachan
Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 6.5 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: In Sector 2814 Guy Gardner and Ganthet land on Planet Ysmault. Guy complains that meeting Atrocitus in his homeplanet gives him a homefield advantage. Atrocitus appears and tells Ganthet to explain why he asked for this meeting. Ganthet tells Atrocitus that they must unite for an upcoming danger and any disagreements they have should be put to the side. Both Atrocitus and Guy tell Ganthet to get to the point and Ganthet agrees.
Four minutes later Guy says he is in but that because of what they are going to do Hal and him aren’t going to be friends anymore. Ganthet understands and says that his next move will require a sacrifice but that it is long overdue.
The scene switches to Oa were Ganthet tells the Guardians that he resigns from his post as Guardian of the Universe. The Guardians say that Ganthet already resigned when he created the Blue Lantern Corps. Ganthet says he is not resigning from the Green Lantern Guardians but from being a Guardian to any of the Lantern Corps Guardian. He continues by saying that he will now become a member of the Green Lantern Corps where he will be permanently fill the post of Green Lantern of Sector Zero. (Damn, look at Ganthet acting like a true leader. Wish more of the Guardians had a personality like Ganthet.)
The Guardians don’t understand Ganthet decision to reduce the number of Guardians even further but Ganthet says that it was because one of the Guardians betrayed them that death and chaos spread through the universe. He continues by saying that the Guardians need to change their methods. One of the Guardians says that what causes such madness is that a Guardian has chosen to take on a name.
One of the other Guardians speaks up and says that Ganthet has the right to patrol his own sector if he wants because without Ganthet Nekron would have won. Ganthet starts flying out of the room and turns around telling the Guardians that he is sorry for his decision causing them confusion but that in this new era they must not hide their emotions and ask them to have faith. The Guardians say they want to give Ganthet his ring but Ganthet says he can make his own.
Ganthet flies into the Foundary and starts creating his own power battery and ring. After making his battery he starts reciting the Green Lantern oath which makes him an official Green Lantern. Ganthet then flies off to handle some business.
In the Green Lantern barracks Hraalkar, still recovering from his injuries, is dreaming of what happened during Blackest Night. In his dream he re-enacts the fight when he was sent to the medical bay where he finds a Black Lantern ready to attack him. This causes him to wake up and when he does he is pulled out of his room by someone.
We see that it was Alpha-Lantern Varix who tells Hraalkar that he has been inducted into the Alpha-Lanterns Corps.
A few hours later all the Green Lanterns are helping rebuild Oa. Kyle arrives and tells John that Ganthet has become a Green Lantern and John says he has already heard from all the Green Lanterns who are all excited Ganthet has become a Green Lantern. Ganthet says it’s his honor to be one and not a demotion.
Kyle asks John how the reconstruction is going. John says that 80% of Oa is irreparable. Ganthet says that the ancient Oa was built much stronger and would have withstood that punishment. John asks if the plans for ancient Oa are still available. Ganthet says there are and John says that they can use those plans as well as make updates to them.
Salaak calls John and asks John to meet him. John leaves the rookies to tend to the clean up.
While flying to meet Salaak John asks Kyle why he hasn’t been living in the barracks after his apartment got destroyed. Kyle says he has been staying with Soranik.
John enters the room Salaak called him to where he sees that Glibberquip is telling Salaak that Hraalkar has disappeared. (I wonder how DC comes up for the names for all the Green Lanterns. Maybe they pick the letters at random.) Salaak says that they will look for Hraalkar but he has business with John to attend to.
John and Salaak enter the Guardians chambers where John asks if he is in trouble since Alpha-Lantern Boodikka is there. The Guardians say that John is not in trouble and they tell John that his expertise is needed by Boodikka. Boodikka says that planet Grenda has gone dark and that the Green Lantern that they sent to investigate and they lost contact with him. John wonders why Boodikka needs his help and Boodikka that she needs his stealth skills in this mission and they leave.
Glibberquip, who is hiding, tells his ring to review the interactions he has had with Hraalkar the last 30 days. While his ring analyzes the information he sees Hraalkar meeting with the Alpha Lanterns.
He flies over to Hraalkar and asks Hraalkar why he hasn’t answered his calls (separation anxiety much). Hraalkar turns around to reveal his new Alpha Lantern look. One of the Alpha Lanterns tells Glibberquip that he has been inducted to the Alpha Lanterns as well. End of issue.
Commentary
The Good: After the last issue of Green Lantern Corps gave us the swan song for the creative team of Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason on this title this issue begins a new era for the GLC. After reading Green Lantern Corps #48 I will say that Tony Bedard and Ardian Syaf are off to a good start. This issue did not completely sell me on team of Bedard and Syaf but they set things in motion for me to stick around for this arc to see if they can keep GLC at a similar high level that Tomasi and Gleason had it on.
Probably the best thing about GLC #48 is that it is extremely new reader friendly, and rightfully so since this is the official start for Brightest Day on GLC. Bedard did a lot of character work so that new readers looking for a jumping on point this is the issue to start on GLC. This is a very good approach for a new creative team as they build up various plot points that will be running throughout their run without losing new readers who might be wondering what is going on. Everything is presented in a straightforward fashion for any new and old reader to understand the mission statement of this title being about the whole Green Lantern Corps and not just on one or two members like Green Lantern.
Though the start of the issue is a recycled scene from Green Lantern #53 it helped to establish what the new status quo for Ganthet, Guy, and Atrocitus is now. Also this also makes the issue more new reader friendly as readers not reading Green Lantern will not miss out on this important scene that set the stage for Ganthet’s decision later in this issue. It also nicely set-up Guy’s departure from this series as he is going to star in his own title “Emerald Warrior.”
Easily the star of the show for this issue is Ganthet. Bedard hammers it home that Ganthet will be the star of his run. Even though Bedard has said that Ganthet, Kyle and John are going to be the three stars of GLC it is clear that Gathet will be the main star. Though I usually don’t talk about the cover for a comic in my review I have to say that the cover for this issue helps covey the fact that Ganthet will be the center of this title as we have Ganthet at the front of the cover while Kyle and John are behind him.
Bedard really showed himself to write a kick butt Ganthet with how he did not just tell the Guardians that he is going to be the new Green Lantern of Sector 0 but does so with such confidence that the Guardians don’t even question him. With everything that has happened during Sinestro Corps War to Blackest Night it looks like Ganthet will be the new leader of the Green Lantern Corp, taking the job held formerly by Sinestro and Hal before him. It would make sense for the character and it will be interesting to see how much he will clash with the Guardians as he clearly has the support of all the Green Lantern Corps who all show a great respect for Ganthet.
Also what will be interesting to watch is what happens with the Guardians. It is clear that the events of Blackest Night affected some of the remaining Guardians as we saw the Guardians voice their individual opinions on Ganthet’s decision. It will be interesting as we have seen both sides of the spectrum of what happens when a Guardian has allowed themselves to show emotion with Ganthet and Scar.
I like that the Green Lantern Corps is going to rebuild Oa in how it was before there was a GLC. I like that in the new leadership with the GLC taking more authority that they are accepting the history of Oa instead of choosing to forget it like the Guardians have tried to do for so long.
I am interested to see what the mission that John and Boondika go on is really about. While we are given some details of what their mission is about there is a nice mystery that this mission is more than just a rescue mission. Also it is interesting to note that Boondika has lighten up since last time we saw her, or at least it seemed that way to me as she didn’t purely talk like a robot.
It is nice to see that the Alpha Lanterns continue to make their presence known as the new Manhunter as they continue to recruit new members. I wonder how far the Alpha Lanterns recruitment drive will go as they seem to be choosing various Green Lantern Corp members as they recruited a rookie Green Lantern into their ranks.
While Bedard did not give much screen time to Kyle he did show he had a nice handle of writing the supporting cast for this title. Hopefully Bedard isn’t stretching himself to much as he has built up multiple plotlines. Still Bedard showed some good character writing and that he understands that he is not dealing with a solo book as GLC has always been more of a team book than solo.
Ardian Syaf provided some solid artwork. The art was nothing extraordinary but it got the job done and helped tell the story. Were his art was especially strong was in the close up to character faces like the Ganthet and Guardian scene. Also he draws a wicked Atrocitus.
The Bad: Green Lantern Corps #48 was a far from perfect read. One problem with this issue is the beginning scene with Ganthet, Guy, and Atrocitus. As I said earlier, the scene was recycled from the exact same scene from Green Lantern #53 and it really felt that way. There was nothing new added to the scene as we did not get any info on what these three characters are actually planning on doing. I hated how just in two panels we go from a cliffhanger of Ganthet ready to talk about his plan and then the next panel it says “4 minutes later” leaving us in the dark again.
If you are going to use the same exact scene from another book without providing anything new there really doesn’t seem like there is a point to the scene for readers who already got the same scene somewhere else to read it again. It is just a big WTF moment since Bedard doesn’t give us any hints at all to what is going on and if we should think that Ganthet, Guy, and Atrocitus are planning is good or bad. It is just in the middle.
I am not the biggest John Stewart fan and this issue did not convince me that he is the right replacement for Guy who had such a great chemistry with Kyle and the rest of the GLC. I have always found John’s strict military personality to be boring as it makes him a one note character especially compared to Hal, Kyle and Guy. Even in this issue where John jokes a bit with Kyle it comes off very forced instead of natural dialogue like it should be.
While I like the Alpha Lantern sub-plot there is a sense of been there, done that with the Alpha Lanterns since the Manhunters are still around. The Alpha Lanterns so far have been carbon copies of the Manhunters and while I am interested to see where this all goes the story feels a bit thin and can’t last more than maybe this story arc without them being seen as the same characters as the Manhunters in different uniforms.
Though Ardian Syaf got the job done in this issue I do not think he is the right fit for a cosmic title like Green Lantern Corps. I loved Ardian Syaf’s artwork on Blackest Night: Batman because his style fits much better in Gotham City and the Batfamily than it does in the cosmic setting of Green Lantern Corps. His artwork is just to plain and does not pop out at the readers like Patrick Gleason’s art did. Maybe I have been spoiled by Gleason’s great artwork on GLC but Syaf just does not capture that same grandeur that is space and all the different creatures that inhabit each world.
Overall: Green Lantern Corps #48 was a solid start for the new creative team of Tony Bedard and Ardian Syaf. While I was not blown away by GLC #48 Bedard did show he has a good grasp of all the characters on this title, especially Ganthet. I still don’t know if I am going to be sticking around this title for all of Bedard and Syaf’s run but I am willing to give them at least one story arc to convince me to keep GLC on my pull list. With that said this issue is a great jumping on point for new readers and if you are looking for more Green Lantern goodness than this issue is one you should pick up.