Ion #2

May 30, 2006

Quick Rating: Good
Title: Torch Bearer Part Two

Kyle fights for his life – but what has he been doing with that life?

Writer: Ron Marz
Pencils: Greg Tocchini
Inks: Jay Leisten
Colors: Jeromy Cox
Letters: Rob Leigh
Editor: Eddie Berganza & Ivan Cohen
Cover Art: Kalman Andrasofszky
Publisher: DC Comics

As word reaches Oa of the destruction allegedly caused by Kyle Rayner, Kyle finds himself face-to-face with a Thanagarian bounty hunter out for his blood. The battle reveals some unpleasant questions to Kyle, and he’s forced to wonder about the true nature of his new powers.

This issue goes by really quickly – the battle is swift and the things Kyle finds after he leaves go by just as quickly. It’s issue two and it still feels very much like setup. The good news is, the setup is intriguing. The questions about who really destroyed an entire world are lingering, and even Kyle has to question whether he could possibly be guilty. The nature of his new powers gets a little more explanation this issue, about what exactly the merging of Jade’s powers with his own Green Lantern abilities means, and it’s that merger that seems to be throwing things into question.

Last issue, Greg Tocchini handled the artwork solo. This issue he’s joined by inker Jay Leisten, and the improvement is dramatic. A lot of the problems Tocchini had with muddy characters and unclear forms are done away with. The art still isn’t perfect, however – in particular, Kyle’s face still isn’t working. Tocchini swings back and forth between a sort of cosmic effect and Kyle having a strange, “melting” mask, and neither look really works all that well. I find myself wishing they would just settle on a traditional mask.

As this is still the second issue of this 12-issue maxiseries, I can forgive it for being setup heavy – but that’s a card that the writer can’t play much longer. It’s imperative that Ron Marz get into the meat of the story, and soon, if he wants to keep his readers with him to the end.

Rating: 7/10

Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps Special #1

June 28, 2007

Quick Rating: Excellent
Title: The Second Rebirth

The greatest threat to the Green Lantern Corps rises!

Writer: Geoff Johns
Art: Ethan Van Sciver & Dave Gibbons
Colors: Moose Baumann
Letters: Rob Leigh
Editor: Peter Tomasi
Cover Art: Ethan Van Sciver
Publisher: DC Comics

For months now, a mysterious force has been going throughout the universe, recruiting beings with the ability to create great fear. In this exemplary special, the full power of the Sinestro Corps is known, and the DC Universe knows fear like never before.

While on Earth, the Justice League rounds up members of the Society to inquire about Sinestro’s whereabouts, in outer space, Kyle Rayner and a pair of fellow GLs encounter Sinestro rings spinning through the universe. The rings are only the first salvo, though, and before the book is halfway over it is clear that the Green Lantern Corps is in for perhaps the deadliest war it has ever known.

Geoff Johns does what he does best here – he pulls together disparate continuity threads to tell his story. It’s clear, reading this issue, that he has been planning this epic for a long time, as he picks up on story threads from his own Green Lantern: Rebirth, Infinite Crisis and 52, as well as several tales written by other writers (Ion, for instance), to create a story with a universal threat, but that is singularly unique to the Green Lantern titles. This is a story about fear – that’s Sinestro’s weapon. And to have any chance at victory, he has to find a way to create fear in a warrior class specifically chosen for its fearlessness.

And he does it.

Johns re-teams with his Rebirth partner Ethan Van Sciver on the artwork, and Van Sciver again proves just how good he is. His designs for the disparate aliens that make up the Sinestro Corps are the stuff of nightmares, and it’s easy to see on the faces of our heroes just how much hell they’ve been put through. They look like heroes who have already come through a war, and this is a war that’s just beginning.

Johns and Dave Gibbons team up for a back-up tale as well, re-telling Sinestro’s origin from his own particularly biased point of view. This works well as a nice primer for a newer fan who may not quite recognize Sinestro or understand what makes him such a threat.

If you haven’t read Green Lantern in a while, this is the book to come back for. Johns and Van Sciver have made magic together more than once in the past, and it’s a blast to see them doing it again.

Rating: 10

Ion #1

April 24, 2006

Quick Rating: Good
Title: Torch Bearer Part One

It’s a new universe for Kyle Rayner… what’s his place in it?

Writer: Ron Marz
Art: Greg Tocchini
Ink Assist: Jay Leisten
Colors: Jeromy Cox
Letters: Rob Leigh
Editors: Eddie Berganza & Ivan Cohen
Cover Art: Ivan Reis & Marc Campos
Publisher: DC Comics

A year after the Crisis, Kyle Rayner is still struggling to find his new place in the universe. He has accepted what he was intended to be all along, and knows he now has a new role with the Green Lantern Corps – but somewhere in all that, Kyle Rayner himself got lost.

Let’s face it, Kyle’s luck has sucked since early in Judd Winick’s run on the previous Green Lantern series. He goes into space, his girlfriend leaves him, he’s replaced in the Justice League, and even though he’s instrumental in the resurrection of the Green Lantern Corps, he soon watches his third girlfriend since getting the ring killed – and this time, he gets her power to add to his own. He’s been through the wringer, and even though it’s a year later, it’s not far-fetched to believe that Kyle still doesn’t know who he’s supposed to be anymore.

Marz was a fine choice to guide Kyle Rayner once again – he created this incarnation of Green Lantern, after all, and turned him from a green rookie (pun intended) into a proud, capable hero. Not to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but since Marz left him the first time, he’s been put through hell. Hopefully the point of this series will be to bring him back.

Marz’s characterization and setup is fine, but I’m afraid I have to take off points for Greg Toccini’s artwork. He has a definite style, but I don’t think it works for this story. It’s too scattershot, too disjointed – kind of like a less-refined Bill Sienkiwicz – and the issue suffers as a result.

This issue isn’t a knockout, but it’s a solid setup. The real question is going to be, of course, where it goes from here.

Rating: 7/10

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #7

March 1, 2011

Title: Last Will: Seeing Red
Writer: Peter J. Tomasi
Pencils: Fernando Pasarin
Inks: Cam Smith, Oclair Albert & Fernando Pasarin
Colorist: Randy Mayor
Letterer: Steve Wands
Cover: Rodolfo Migliari
Editor: Adam Schlagman
Publisher: DC Comics

Guy Gardner, Ganthet, and Bleez are left to battle Zardor, the rest of the Green Lantern’s having left him behind after the truth of his mission was revealed. Guy could use a little help, though – former Ion-avatar Sodom Yat is back, and he’s got a mad-on for the Guardians and the Green Lantern Corps. It’s good to see just how events of the past year or two have been planned out. Guy’s temporary reversion to a Red Lantern comes back into play this issue, as does everything that happened to Sodom Yat during the time he was the host for Ion. Kilowog and Arisia’s anger at Guy is understandable and palpable. Fernando Pasarin is even more impressive this issue than he’s been in the past, with really exciting, energizing battle sequences, cool looking monsters and aliens, and real anger on Guy Gardner’s face. This book is part of the run-up to War of the Green Lanterns, of course, and it’s been incredibly exciting for that. I’m more excited than ever for that storyline to unfold.

Rating: 8/10