Green Lantern (1990) #179

July 25, 2004

Quick Rating: Good
Title: Homecoming? Part Four

It’s Green Lantern versus Green Lantern!

Writer: Ron Marz
Pencils: Luke Ross
Inks: Rodney Ramos
Colors: Moose Baumann
Letters: Jared Fletcher
Editor: Peter Tomasi
Cover Art: Brandon Peterson
Publisher: DC Comics

Kyle Rayner’s swansong continues, and as much as I’ve enjoyed this title for the most part, I have to admit to feeling slightly let down by the clichéd nature of this issue. In part three of “Homecoming?” Kyle found out that his old enemy, Major Force, is the one who sicced the Green Lantern-killer called Fatality on him. This issue, Kyle goes after him, only to find he has an unexpected protector – John Stewart.

The circumstances around John’s allegiance are a bit strained and seem like little more than an excuse to bring up the stereotypical hero versus hero battle. As far as the battle itself goes, there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s actually done quite well and basically in-character. It just feels forced. On the other hand, Marz gets points for finally making the John Stewart/“Daily Show” joke that you know writers have been aching to do in the Green Lantern titles for several years now.

I’m still very impressed by Ross and Ramos on art, though. If you’re gonna do a comic book about Green Lanterns fighting each other, than the quality of the ring-constructs is of the utmost importance. This art team does a great battle scene, with both GLs slinging around pretty imaginative weapons and proxies to fight out their battles for them.

These two are great, classic-style superhero artists. Not weighed down with anime-style detail, not so simple as to look like a cartoon, but solid storytellers with a good line and a great style. Ross is one of those highly underrated artists that doesn’t generate the buzz he deserves.

This isn’t a bad issue by any stretch of the imagination. It’s solid, it works. But it feels like a filler issue, something that could have been fit into a few pages of another issue, but got dragged out to help the storyline reach the requisite six issues that every storyline seems to need these days. Two issues left – I think things will pick up again next issue.

Rating: 7/10

Green Lantern (1990) #178

June 29, 2004

Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: Homecoming? Part Three

Fatality faces down Green Lantern on the streets of New York!

Writer: Ron Marz
Pencils: Luke Ross
Inks: Rodney Ramos
Colors: Moose Baumann
Letters: Jared Fletcher
Editor: Peter Tomasi
Cover Art: Brandon Peterson
Publisher: DC Comics

With the knowledge that this entire franchise will be revamped and Hal Jordan will be reinstated in just a few months, reviewing this title almost feels like an exercise in futility, and that’s a real shame because this is one of the best Green Lantern storylines in the last two years. I’m enjoying this book more than I have since the Ion storyline, and it’s picking up steam just in time to get the ol’ heave-ho.

After a heartbreaking prologue sequence with John Stewart, we switch to where we left off last issue – a grieving, shattered Kyle Rayner is assaulted by the alien Green Lantern killer known as Fatality, who has a more specific agenda for him mind than she has in the past. Kyle has taken her down before, but when she manages to tag him with a drug that saps his willpower, he may be in for the fight of his life.

Except for the three-page prologue, this is a straight action issue, one long, drawn-out fight, and it takes a special talent to write a fight that long and still keep the book engaging. Marz does that. This is by no means the first time we’ve seen a Green Lantern story where his brain gets scrambled and his ability to use his power ring is compromised, but the inner monologue and the visuals of Kyle struggling to cope with this chemical attack really make it work. The issue ends with a revelation which, while not 100 percent shocking, is very satisfying, as it implies that this storyline will give real closure and a real capper to Kyle’s tenure as the number one Green Lantern.

Luke Ross does fantastic battle scenes and draws a great Green Lantern – he’s one of those artists that not enough people have heard of, but when you see his art, you start questioning why he doesn’t get more high-profile work. From Kyle’s ring constructs to his hallucinations under the influence of the drug, Ross has an attention to detail and a wealth of imagination that makes these pages click.

Only three issues left, and while I do feel confident Geoff Johns will serve up a good beginning to the next chapter of the ringslinger’s legacy, I still feel a little burnt by DC Comics for ending this title, especially now that it’s finally getting good again. Do yourself a favor – if you like Green Lantern but you’ve been turned off by the past few years of tripe, don’t wait for Hal to come back. Read these six issues, and see Kyle get his well-earned last hurrah.

Rating: 8/10

The Spirit (2007 Series) #13

February 4, 2008

Quick Rating: Good
Title: One Hundred! and other stories

Three short tales of the Spirit

Writers: Glen David Gold, Dennis O’Neil & Gail Simone
Art: Eduardo Risso, Ty Templeton, Phil Hester & Ande Parks
Colors: Max Sinclair, Jim Charalampidis & Alex Sinclair
Letters: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Ben Abernathy, Scott Peterson & Kristy Quinn
Cover Art: Darwyn Cooke & J. Bone
Publisher: DC Comics

Marking time between creative teams, this issue of The Spirit gives us three short stories with different creative teams under – inexplicably – a Christmas-themed cover. None of the stories are particularly memorable, but all of them are okay.

Glen David Gold and Eduardo Risso start the issue with “One Hundred!” On Halloween, a group of thugs sets out to steal 100 blue azure diamonds, and each thug dogs the Spirit’s distinctive duds for the job. It’s an okay heist story, but nothing to write home about.

“Family Treasure,” a funny little tale by Dennis O’Neil and Ty Templeton, shows the Spirit trying to help poor immigrant who has come to America looking for a treasure left behind by a late relative. The trouble is, the place where the treasure is supposed to be buried doesn’t seem to exist.

The best of the book is “The Cold Depths of the Icicle Heart,” a silent yarn by Gail Simone, with art by Phil Hester and Ande Parks. On a freezing night, the Spirit chases after a cold-hearted queen running a protection racket. Unlike most “silent” stories, Simone and the artists communicate mainly through pictures in the characters’ word balloons, a technique you don’t see too much, but which can be quite effective.

While none of the stories in this issue are outstanding, the artwork pretty much is throughout. The three different art teams each has a different style, but all three of them are highly qualified to draw the Spirit’s world.

Great art, okay stories. Now I’m just waiting for the new regular creative team to take over.

Rating: 7/10

Green Lantern (1990 Series) #177

May 22, 2004

Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: Homecoming? Part Two

Kyle Rayner talks with Jade, while someone sends Fatality out to find him…

Writer: Ron Marz
Pencils: Luke Ross
Inks: Rodney Ramos
Colors: Moose Baumann
Letters: Jared Fletcher
Editor: Peter Tomasi
Cover Art: Brandon Peterson
Publisher: DC Comics

Ron Marz was the writer who ushered in Kyle Rayner as Green Lantern, who transformed him from a raw rookie to a strong, confident hero, and who proved that wearing the ring wasn’t an exclusive right of Hal Jordan, and it seems only fitting that he write the story that will evidently be the swan song of the title.

Kyle starts the issue taking out one of the few official “rogues” a Green Lantern has, the villain called Sonar, but the issue is really about him and his girlfriend Jade, and Kyle trying to reconcile the fact that the woman whose love kept him warm alone in outer space found another man while he was gone. This can’t have been an easy scene to write – Marz finds a very thin line between allowing us to feel Kyle’s grief and not making us hate Jade outright, but he pulls it off. As so often in breakups, it’s the wronged party that carries the agony in this scene, and anyone who’s ever been through a tough breakup for any reason can relate to this bit.

Meanwhile, a much nastier old foe, the Green Lantern –hunter named Fatality, has been sprung from prison for one reason: kill Kyle Rayner. Who got her out? Why does he hate Kyle? No telling, but we’ll certainly find out in the next four issues.

Luke Ross is a great superhero artist. The fight scene with Sonar is well-choreographed, the ring constructs are clever and inventive, and he draws a much more realistic (read: less buxom) rendition of Jade than Brandon Peterson does on the cover.

Although I’m sure Geoff Johns will do a fine job in whatever form the Green Lantern franchise takes this fall, I will miss this incarnation. Kyle has earned his place in the comic book pantheon and when written properly, like Ron Marz does, he’s still got a lot of stories left in him.

Rating: 8/10