Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities GREEN LANTERN

Yeah, forget the Iron Man/Green Lantern thing Fraction and Johns want to happen--Marvel and DC need to get a Groot/Dex-Star crossover made, STAT!

Johns talked about the Larfleeze holiday special he wants to write.

Then mentioned a Dex-Starr/Krypto Valentine's Day special.

I've been growing a bit tired of the GL mythos ever since the dropped ball that was Blackest Night and was even thinking of dropping the main book like I had dropped GLC (no one kills off a cool, decades-old, non-humanoid [unlike the 99% of other boring GLs who get focus in that book] GL like Chaselon and gets away with it Tomasi!) but I just read the latest two issues back to back and was pleasantly surprised.

I'm warming to Larfleeze (who I initially found to be very one-note and annoying) and really liked his whole Santa Claus fixation, and am also really interested in what the story is with his entity, and how Hector Hammond is going to figure into it.

Plus, as a long-time Carol Ferris-fan it's great seeing her playing such a big, proactive role in the GL stories now. Can't wait to see what the story is with the Predator next-issue. I loved him and his very cool then but quite dated now costume back in the day and consider the big twist...


<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">that HE was really SHE all along</span></span>


... as one of the first big twists in comics to really shock me.

I'm also curious as to who this figure is collecting all the entities (Appa Ali Apsa? Or is that too obvious?) and hope he turns out to be a more threatening villain than the dudsville Nekron was.

I have no interest in buying that Guy Gardner book (especially at that price!) or GLC without Chaselon (or any other non-humanoid Lanterns in featured roles) though and am concerned that DC is beginning to spread the franchise too thin with all these off-shoot books. Isn't that how it's killed off all its other franchises in the past? You'd think it would have learned its lesson by now.

I'm sure DC is aware they stretched the franshise too far before, but I have a feeling they're in the "strike while the iron's hot" mentality where they will bleed GL for all it's worth now then let it rest for while because they have other properties that they can build up after this one cools off.

I'm also looking forward to seeing the Predator again. When he was first introduced I thought it was ludicrous that Green Lantern could be challenged by a hand-to-hand combatant with a bunch of weapons, but integrating him into this new mythos with the various entities opens him up a lot more.

Larfleeze writing Santa was great. The fact that he has been pillaging the town he's in is hilarious to me. Still enjoying the main GL book.

GL Corps, not as much. Gonna drop this soon, and replace with Guy's book. I like Guy and Kill., so that is obviously a no brainer choice for me at this point. Plus, I have been getting into to many books lately and need to cut back.

I'm also going to pick up "Emerald Warriors" in lieu of "GLC" when it comes out. GLC has been hit or miss with me anyway - I picked it up during "Blackest Night" but that's over and the latest issue left me very unimpressed so that's getting dropped.

What's amazing is that he hasn't killed anyone. Yet.

I don't like that it seems as though Kyle, John, Guy, Sodam and that Rannian guy all seem to have the same haricut.

LOL, good point Drake. What's up with that?

So I spent this morning catching up on the various Green Lantern series, including Brightest Day, which is basically a GL spin-off. Now that there is a serious number of GL comics each month, and I like to let them build up over a number of weeks, the GL comics kind of get pushed back in my pile and lumped together, much like I do with Bat-books and X-books (except that the GL comics are generally all of high quality unlike the other two franchises).

I think all three GL comics, including the new Emerald Warriors, are top quality, great comic books right now. They are varying forms of space-opera, sci-fi, action and adventure, all with great lead characters. Each one stands completely on its own but is very linked to the overall mythos & spirit of the franchise.

In a way, I'm reminded a bit of the X-books at the height of their popularity and sales when they were all pretty excellent. The "type" of stories being told are similar, in which the mythos is incredibly central to every storyline, while the focus is through characters both new & old. Also, the artwork reminds me quite a bit of the Image guys when they were on the X-Books, as well as the group of artists who followed, like the Kuberts, Greg Capullo, and others. In my opinion, this comparison is meant to be very complimentary--I'm referring to an era of X-comics when I think the comics were very entertaining and well-done.

The main Green Lantern title continues to be excellent, and Johns had slowed the pace down just a very slight notch, which was very needed, and I think it's helped produce some solid stories lately. The Larfleeze / Hector Hammond storyline has been great in keeping the sometimes goofy Hector Hammond a very serious threat, while also focusing on Larfleeze, who just space-rawks on a level most characters never see. In the meantime, the larger plot is advancing and the other characters, like Carol and Sinestro, are doing things. My previous major complaint, the lack of down time & non-super subplots, remains, but the stories have been good enough where I can let that go for now. Artist Dough Mahnke has a an art style that takes a bit getting used to, but here on GL, I think it just works incredibly well. He draws the ring-induced formations better than possibly anyone ever!

In GL Corps, Tony Bedard and Adrian Syaf are also telling one hell of a story. Good enough, in fact, to justify the existence of the otherwise under-utilized Alpha Lanterns. Bringing in the Cyborg Superman further rounds out the story by creating a firm threat, and the background of Grenda, Stel's homeworld, adds a deeper flavor to the story. Stel is one of my favorites, and I'm enjoying his small role; I also liked the appearance of Honnu and his badass role, and I hope Boodika is soon restored to her former self. Bedard is doing a great job writing Kyle, Soranik and John, and I'm enjoying John being out and interacting with the rest of the Corps here.

For me though, the real star of GL Corps is the Adrian Syaf artwork, as it is simply outstanding!. He reminds me a bit of Andy Kubert, though he definitely has a style all his own. His action sequences are great, the Lantern formations are cool, and the way he does aliens / sci-fi / space opera is incredible. It's a very energetic, larger than life style, and he's quickly made the short list of artists whose comics I would pick up squarely for the artwork.

Emerald Warriors also launched, by Tomasi and Fernado Pasarin, and I was very impressed / intrigued by #1. Tomasi really had a good handle on Guy and he's able to make the reader *want* to read a solo Guy story. Ganthet is a great character already and I'm glad to see him so high profile here. I'm also looking forward to more Atrocitus, and Belize, whose story in the Tales of the Green Lantern Corps mini was pretty fantastic.

All in all, some pretty good stuff here. The Green Lantern titles have done that rare thing: the sales of the comic are incredible and the quality is also incredible. I think 3 titles is just the right amount too--I hope there aren't plans to add even more titles for quite awhile.

"concerned that DC is beginning to spread the franchise too thin with all these off-shoot books. Isn't that how it's killed off all its other franchises in the past? You'd think it would have learned its lesson by now."

To me, that's EXACTLY how they killed the GL franchise back when Gerard Jones was writing it! (But then-editor Kevin Dooley blamed his "writers" and their "inability to make Hal Jordan interesting". I am so glad Dooley's long gone.)

So Bleez was on the cover of Emerald Warriors #2. And she's actually IN the book for one page.

GL:EW #2 was a pretty good read, but it feels like this book is definately being written for trade bait. Everything that has happened in the first two issues would have taken a few pages several years ago. I'm sticking with it, but I hope it picks up the pace soon.

^I think that's a valid criticism, Dev. I'm enjoying the title too, and loving the focus on Guy, Kilowog and Arisia, but I could use a little more progress each issue. I'm enjoying that Tomasi is establishing several subplots immediately to run along the main story; it seems we have a nice solid first year of story ahead of us. Hopefully #3 kicks things up a notch with some real action; in past eras, no action in the first two issues would have been laughed at.

Green Lantern #58 continues the 'entities' storyline and count me in as a big fan of this book right now.

I've seen posters on other boards complain that there's "nothing happening in Green Lantern right now" and comments like that make me want to lock those posters in a rocketship and shoot them off into space (like the JLA did to the Shaggy Man in a great story once many years ago) so that their strain of ignorant misinformed reading style never influences a comic book writer EVER!

The GL book is ten thousand times more interesting now when we're getting page to page characterisation and plot development than we got in all 200 or whatever pages there were in that never-ending dull slugfest that was the last 5 or so issues of Blackest Night (plus all their boring spin-offs - except the Titans one which went against type by actually being good for a change).

Anyway, that's all IMO of course.

But I loved the conversation between Hal and Carol in this issue (especially the way it ended) and Larfleeze continues to get more interesting/fun to read about - they really need to find a way to make it so all his Orange Lantern 'victims' are just stuck in his ring or something though. The loveable 'pet' role they're trying to give him now is totally at odds with the mass-murderer he was originally introduced as. I can grudgingly accept Hal aligning himself with Larfleeze, Sinestro, Atrocitus, etc temporarily for the purposes of protecting the entities/White Lantern/whatever but I refuse to accept Hal teaming up with a murderer after that's all done. If Larfleeze is going to continue being humanised the way he is then they need to absolve him of those crimes soon IMO.

And the art and especially the colouring are top-notch on this book at the moment too. I took a while to warm to Mahnke at DC but now I love his stuff. And Randy Mayor is the best colourist working at DC today IMO. If only we could get him on the Legion instead of that hair-colour butchering Hi-Fi (who- or what-ever the Hell that is!).

I thought Bedard's first GLC storyline concluded very strongly and it was a terrifc first arc by he and Adrian Syaf. I'm excited where they plan on taking us, and am enjoying the Lantern's they've spotlighted so far.

Syaf's artwork is really spectacular. I think he might be the best GL artist of them all right now.

I liked that Bedard's arc had a nice evolution of the Alpha-Lantern's storyline. I approve of the direction it's going in.

I'm also still loving Green Lantern and thought the latest issue of Emerald Warriors moved things along in a nice way. All three titles are solid buys right now.

I have to agree with Cobie (of course)! Completely digging Green Lantern Corps far more than I thought I would after Blackest Night. Great story with a great use and expansion of all the main characters. I daresay I like the title and think it has more potential now from what I've read so far than from before the vent.

Grooving to the main GL title. Emerald Warriors as well, though not to the level of the others yet. I'm most excited there to learn more about Guy's pact he has going on and the Red Lantern Bleez's role. Arisia has been horribly endearing the whole way through too.

"horribly"?

The good kind of horribly! At least for me.

Looks like Carol will be showing up in Brightest Day, per Brightest Day #13.

"The good kind of horribly! At least for me."

I think the word is "wonderfully".

: )

I got around to reading Emerald Warriors #4 this afternoon, as the initial story-arc continues to move forward, albeit with a few side stories. I don't mind things going off to the side for an issue here and there, since it keeps things interesting, but I am starting to feel like this story is taking forever to get to the point.

All in all, it was a solid issue, though it felt more like a prelude to something better that is coming. I'm really enjoying the combination of Guy, Arisia, Kilowog and Bleeze--so the way those characters all work as a team is very appealing, and Tomasi really seems to really know them all well. Sodom Yat also is a supporting character who is off to the side but his story really is boring me.

The artwork Fernando Pasarin, who is really terrific. Pasarin has a clean, elegant style that also switches to dynamic poses and widescreen shots invoking moments of granduer. I think he's an excellent atist and his artwork takes the comic to another level (without him, the opposite would happen).

The Green Lantern comics right now are very similar to the X-Men comics of the early 1990's. They are all pretty good with some faults, and each one has moments of brillance (while also moments where they feel a bit lost). They are also a little inter-changable at times, but overall have superior writing and exciting artwork. They also are event-driven, building things to the next big event. I happen to think they are succeeding right now, much like the X-titles did for awhile (before they blew up in a bad way--so GL titles, beware). More than anything there is a sense of excitement and a sense of things going in a new direction, something many modern comic books can't capture.

I recommend this GL title, like I do all of them.

Hmmm...

I dropped the Lantern franchise because of Blackest Night, but I love the Lanterns and I'm curious about stepping back into the post-BN waters.

Cobie, your comparison of the Lantern franchise to the X-franchise of the early 90s is an interesting one. If a future Lantern event is as good as, say, X-Cutioner's Song, I certainly wouldn't want to miss it.

Guess I'll have to check out the most recent Lantern trades.

I thought, after what happened with Hal Jordan, they were already pushing their luck having TWO regular GL titles since his return. So, imagine my shock when both turned out to be two of the BEST books DC was putting out. After decades of horrible neglect and misguidedness.


I had to drop out of the loop some time ago, but hearing that they are now doing THREE regular GL titles, well, of course, I can still remember when editor Kevin Dooley had FOUR going at once... until sales on ALL FOUR plumettted. And we all know where that led.


Still after 13 years of bad feelings, I'd hope they don't repeat past mistakes AGAIN. But I do wish DC would stop doing spin-offs of anything that seems even remotely "successful". (Let's not forget what happened in the early 90's with JUSTICE LEAGUE...)

I'm hoping the upcoming crossover will be akin to Ex-Song because I'm told it will be for the GL-titles only (*fingers crossed*). I also thought Blackest Night was a pile of feces but I did like the GL tie-in issues, or least most of them.

I think all three are really solid right now. None are perfect but all 3 are still very good and solid efforts from everyone.

Prof, next year there will be a 4th title by Peter Milligan, Red Lanterns. It has the potential to be the equivalent of PADs X-Factor (to stick with the X-title comparison), but also has the potential to be a franchise jumping the shark moment.

One thing really helping all 3 current titles is the artwork is as good if not better than the writing.

I've got my fingers crossed, too.

IIRC, Blackest Night was originally supposed to be Lanterns-only. Wonder what genius thought of making it a DCU event? But there's been an administrative shift at DC since then, so I'll try to be optimistic.