Post by ryokowerx on Oct 5, 2011 13:00:19 GMT -5
(cross-posted from my Facebook account. I hadn't originally intended on picking up all the new #1s but the 50% off deal at DCBS turned out to be too good to pass up. Feel free to discuss, agree or disagree)
So what the hell is this? I'm going to try to write a review of each of the new #1 issues put out by DC Comics. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, DC Comics (home of Superman, Batman, etc.) is completely restarting most* of the history they have established with their comic books since 1939. (* some continuity remains but all events that remain are considered to have happened within a five year span of time) If you're still confused, think of it as everything being set back to square one and all these superheroes are new things to show up rather than a given part of the world.
Anything I say from this point on is my opinion and reflects only my feelings. Please take your nerd rage elsewhere if you disagree or at least be civil in your disagreement.
NOTE: I have not read Flashpoint #5 which kicks off this new history so I'm going to try to approach these issues as if someone completely new to comics were picking them up for the first time. If you're interested in what I have to say, I'd encourage you to go to your local comic book shop (if you have one) or you can buy them digitally at Comixology (http://www.comixology.com).
PLOT SUMMARY:
The comic opens with a retelling of Kyle Rayner origin story. We then cut to Space Sector 422 in the present day where a lone yellow lantern is massacring a bunch of Khund warships until his ring suddenly becomes decommissioned and flies off his finger, leaving him at the tender mercies of the Khund. In Sector 1009, a red lantern looses his ring while attacking a city, leaving him to choke to death on his own blood. In Sector 22, a star sapphire is fighting pirates and looses her ring, leaving her to suffocate in space until the sapphire formerly known as Fatality saves her. In New York, Kyle Rayner has just saved a worker from a collapsing crane when power rings of all the different colors show up claiming that he has been chosen. Things are bad enough until Lanterns start showing up looking for the "stolen" rings.
THE ART:
Tyler Kirkham is the penciller and I would judge his work to be about average to slightly below average of what you would find in your typical monthly comic book. I really don't like how he draws Kyle and think that there is something odd with the way he draws Kyle's facemask or his hair that just makes him look odd. Other characters however fare considerably better. Credit should be given to the colorist, Nei Ruffino, who almost salvages the linework from complete flatness.
THE STORY:
Tony Bedard is the writer and, unfortunately, can't disguise how little of a story there is here. I know that one of the mandates by DC Comics was to make these new #1s accessible to new readers, but taking up almost a third of the comic retelling a origin story that really equals a guy taking a piss in a bar alleyway is given a power ring seems a bit wasteful of pages. Likewise, the rings deserting their owners and all homing in on Kyle is interesting but could have probably been told in far fewer pages. I appreciate the cliffhanger but the whole issue just seems fluffed to tell a minor bit in a larger story in a entire issue.
VALUE FOR YOUR MONEY:
New Guardians is the weakest of the Green Lantern titles that has been introduced with these fifty-two new comics. If you are a Lantern fan, you're going to plunk down your $2.99 regardless. As weak as this issue was, however, I'm going to pick up the following issue. I like Kyle Rayner and I'm convinced that there must be a deeper more interesting story going on than what we are given in the first issue. I hope I'm proven right otherwise Red Lanterns is going to be the only Lantern title that I'm going to be buying monthly.
NEXT WEEK:
All Star Western #1, I Vampire #1, and Justice League Dark #1.
GREEN LANTERN: NEW GUARDIANS #1
So what the hell is this? I'm going to try to write a review of each of the new #1 issues put out by DC Comics. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, DC Comics (home of Superman, Batman, etc.) is completely restarting most* of the history they have established with their comic books since 1939. (* some continuity remains but all events that remain are considered to have happened within a five year span of time) If you're still confused, think of it as everything being set back to square one and all these superheroes are new things to show up rather than a given part of the world.
Anything I say from this point on is my opinion and reflects only my feelings. Please take your nerd rage elsewhere if you disagree or at least be civil in your disagreement.
NOTE: I have not read Flashpoint #5 which kicks off this new history so I'm going to try to approach these issues as if someone completely new to comics were picking them up for the first time. If you're interested in what I have to say, I'd encourage you to go to your local comic book shop (if you have one) or you can buy them digitally at Comixology (http://www.comixology.com).
WARNING! SPOILERS OFF THE PORT BOW CAP'N!
PLOT SUMMARY:
The comic opens with a retelling of Kyle Rayner origin story. We then cut to Space Sector 422 in the present day where a lone yellow lantern is massacring a bunch of Khund warships until his ring suddenly becomes decommissioned and flies off his finger, leaving him at the tender mercies of the Khund. In Sector 1009, a red lantern looses his ring while attacking a city, leaving him to choke to death on his own blood. In Sector 22, a star sapphire is fighting pirates and looses her ring, leaving her to suffocate in space until the sapphire formerly known as Fatality saves her. In New York, Kyle Rayner has just saved a worker from a collapsing crane when power rings of all the different colors show up claiming that he has been chosen. Things are bad enough until Lanterns start showing up looking for the "stolen" rings.
THE ART:
Tyler Kirkham is the penciller and I would judge his work to be about average to slightly below average of what you would find in your typical monthly comic book. I really don't like how he draws Kyle and think that there is something odd with the way he draws Kyle's facemask or his hair that just makes him look odd. Other characters however fare considerably better. Credit should be given to the colorist, Nei Ruffino, who almost salvages the linework from complete flatness.
THE STORY:
Tony Bedard is the writer and, unfortunately, can't disguise how little of a story there is here. I know that one of the mandates by DC Comics was to make these new #1s accessible to new readers, but taking up almost a third of the comic retelling a origin story that really equals a guy taking a piss in a bar alleyway is given a power ring seems a bit wasteful of pages. Likewise, the rings deserting their owners and all homing in on Kyle is interesting but could have probably been told in far fewer pages. I appreciate the cliffhanger but the whole issue just seems fluffed to tell a minor bit in a larger story in a entire issue.
VALUE FOR YOUR MONEY:
New Guardians is the weakest of the Green Lantern titles that has been introduced with these fifty-two new comics. If you are a Lantern fan, you're going to plunk down your $2.99 regardless. As weak as this issue was, however, I'm going to pick up the following issue. I like Kyle Rayner and I'm convinced that there must be a deeper more interesting story going on than what we are given in the first issue. I hope I'm proven right otherwise Red Lanterns is going to be the only Lantern title that I'm going to be buying monthly.
NEXT WEEK:
All Star Western #1, I Vampire #1, and Justice League Dark #1.