Friday, August 30, 2013

Green Lantern #21-23

It’s been awhile. How about a couple reviews?

After Geoff Johns’ run on GL ended with a whimper with the confusing and strange First Lantern story, I had some high hopes for Robert Vendetti’s time on the title. I’ve really enjoyed his work on Valiant’s X-O Manowar. But everyone knows how I feel about the new 52, so this was going to be an interesting showdown.

Unfortunately, I just can’t get invested in the book anymore. Vendetti’s story opens with a flush of new recruits fighting off an attack on Oa. The recruits seem interesting enough, with their non-human and sometimes silly characterizations. We even check in on a few classics like Kilowog, Soranik Natu, and Salaak. The problem is I don’t find Larfleeze funny anymore. He’s the main threat in the two first issues, and his “greedy” motivations aren’t enough to keep him interesting as an antagonist.

Even as a showcase for Hal Jordan, these three issues didn’t impress me. I’m not a Hal Jordan fan, but his stories are usually good enough to keep me interested in reading his book every month. Vendetti tries to make Jordan a little more self-sacrificing and a bit more of a leader, but I still don’t like him. Kyle’s still my GL.

Issue #23 changes the focus to Nol-Anj, a manipulative prisoner who escaped from Oa during Larfleeze’s attack. She’s a fun mastermind-type villain, but I get the impression she’s just here to prep the arrival of Relic, the Villain Month contribution to GL. These new 52 names are killing me! Don’t ask me why Grayven or Effigy didn’t bother me, but Relic does. It just seems like a random name associated with an alien villain.

Billy Tan’s work has never been a big hit with me, and his almost Jim Lee style doesn’t win me over here either. So this is getting relegated to library reads, with the rest of the new 52. Sorry GL!


This comic is evidence that comics are EVIL!

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