Post by Phantom Stargrave on Feb 3, 2011 11:36:04 GMT -5
Peter Tomasi replaced Dave Gibbons as writer of Green Lantern Corps right at the end of the awesome crossover Sinestro Corps war and stayed on until Blackest Night. It is a noticeable drop in quality compared to Gibbons, and the weakest run of the title, and here are the reasons why:
This book can't stand on its own.
This book is one massive tie-in to Johns' GL and Blackest Night. Actually no, because a tie-in is a book with its own plot, beginning and end, which is placed in the setting and whose plot is usually kick started by the main book. Yeah, this doesn't even have that. More than half of the plots in this book either originate or are resolved in another book. So if you want to know how Mongul's occupation of Korugar went, well, tough, go read GL. Those two guys looking for the Anti-Monitor? Blackest Night. In fact, this whole run serves as the backdrop for Blackest Night, utilizing parts of Blackest Night mythos which the writers is counting on you to have already read it, because without it the stories make no sense. The flip side is that, if you don't want to read Blackest Night, you might as well skip this too. You're not gonna miss much.
The lanterns are lame.
Say hello to Sodam Yat.
There's a reason for this picture
Now, when he was first introduced in the much more awesome Dave Gibbons' run, Sodam was a bit of a lantern prodigy. His first feat, as a rookie no less, was punking Ranx the freaking sentient city, Sinestro's answer to Mogo the living planet. This feat was cool and awesome, and by extension, Sodam was cool and awesome. Then the Guardians decide that he should also be the bearer of the Ion power, which you may recall Kyle Rayner used to do such inconsequentially trivial thing as play God. Add to that the fact that he's a daxamite, and you have recipe for one of the most ass-kicking lanterns of all time, right?
Number of fights Sodam wins in this run: 0
No, seriously. Kid gets beaten by everyone. He's not alone. The lanterns are constantly threatened by things which shouldn't threaten them. Don't get me wrong, six lanterns barely taking down a ten ringed Mongul? Yeah, that sounds about right. Five lanterns overpowered by a Sinestro corpsman whose only claim to fame is stealing babies, only to be rescued by a delirious pregnant woman (Okay, she was a lantern too)? That is just lame. The Lanterns are constantly underplayed to the point where, when they actually do something badass, it doesn't make you go "Hell, yeah!" It makes you go "Took you long enough
"The absolute champions, however, are the Guardians of the Universe themselves, who have apparently decided to run things completely opposite of any sort of common sense. Their actions, without exception, make you slam your head into the desk and wonder how the smurfs survived for three billion years without Hal Jordan to bail their asses.
But that's okay, since as we'll see, they don't really fight that much either, since
Lanterns don't act like lanterns
Keep in mind that the Green Lantern Corps is the greatest peace keeping organization in the universe. These individuals are selected from all across the cosmos to kick evil to the curb, and we love them for it. I think I'm on the money when I say that a significant factor of the choice to read Green Lantern is the potential of stuff blowing up on a massive scale (The first 20 issues of Johns' GL run were basically this trope condensed). With that said, What does Tomasi have our intrepid heroes do? Run a bar? Paint a hall? Find a place to move in on Oa? Thrilling.
Again, don't get me wrong, all these things add to the character and can be a fountain of funny and heartwarming moments, but in GLC, seeing Kyle and Guy recruit dozens of other lanterns, who apparently had absolutely nothing else to do, for their pet little project, is jarringly out of place. And of course, all the time we're greeted with the hilarity of those dumb aliens interacting with our superior human culture, reminding us that the most powerful organization in the universe is no different than your everyday workplace.
So by now you're probably wondering what's right with this book?
The art? Well... Not so much. I've seen some of Patrick Gleason's other work and it's not bad, but in this book he seems to have a serious problem drawing people's faces. My guess it it's purpose to emphasize their... alieness, but something like 90% of the faces look astonishingly creepy. The art where you don't see their faces, that's actually okay.
Now the book does have its good moments. Now for its lack of awesome, the book doesn't lack good characters. Issues with Guy and Ice are pretty nice, and Kyle and Soranik are lovely together as well. The big battle once Blackest Night proper starts and lanterns facing the dead also had some very good moments, baring several jarring cop outs and dei ex machinas. Plus, any time Mongul, Sinestro, or Mogo are on panel is bound to be cool. Most other villains come across as vile and creepy (which is appropriate for Sinestros, I guess) but not in a good way. I also like Tomasi's occasional shout outs, like Killowog's drill sergeant, Lantern Ermey, or Kyle Rayner attacked by a Black Lantern fridge, but these are few and far between.
Recommended issues: #20, #26, #36, #42, #44
Rating: 3/10
I probably should have made a recap of the good and the bad at the end or something. Oh well. 
