Looking To The Stars: A Rant On Green Lanterns

Green Lantern has always held a special place in my heart. When I was a kid and watched Superfriends, he quickly became my favorite hero. In the first place he had brown curly hair, just like me. Silly, I know. But for a five-year-old boy that was an identifying factor and a stand-out feature in a world where most of the superheroes were black haired and blue eyed.

In the second place, his powers appealed to me; to be able to do anything I could think of. Who wouldn’t want that? Even if I couldn’t effect yellow.

That was a third point. Green was a color I liked. I hated yellow.

And then there was the fact that whenever Superman got in trouble, it was usually Green Lantern who saved him. Now being the guy who saves Superman…. that’s just super ultra cool!

I didn’t read many comics as a kid, but at some point I learned there was more than one Green Lantern. In fact, there were a whole LOT of Green Lanterns; all of them aliens from other planets. And that was even cooler to me. Because that meant that any one…. any thing, could be a superhero!

I didn’t actually get into comics until my first year of college. I had a job in a bookstore and was unpacking magazines one day. There were comics mixed in with the magazines and one of them was an issue of Green Lantern. I was amazed by the cover, as it showed a strange man in a strange costume with black hair. This was not the Green Lantern… what was his name again, Hal something… that I grew up with!

Intrigued I opened the book up and learned of Kyle Rayner; the latest man of Earth to bare a Green Lantern ring. But I found no explanation in that issue of what had happened to Hal Jordan. One trip to the local comic shop later and I was hooked, picking up Green Lantern every month since then.

At first, I was a bit apprehensive when I learned of what had happened to my favorite boyhood hero. Still, I came to appreciate the merits of Kyle Rayner. Later, I began to enjoy them. See, at the time I was in much the same place as Kyle. I was just starting college, a new job and was slowly and clumsily trying to find my place in what was a whole new world. Like Kyle, I’m artistic and creative, though my art is words and drawing or painting. Kyle also had a sense of humor which similarly matched my own: self-depreciating and sarcastic.

In short, it was Hal Jordan who got me into superheroes. But it was Kyle Rayner who got me into comics. As such, it was with a great deal of disturbance that I read this week’s most recent news.

The basic upshot of the news is that Green Lantern is being canceled. Ron Marz (the creator of Kyle Rayner) is writing one final six-part story arc to close the book out and has said that this story is his final word on Kyle Rayner. Geoff Johns (writer of JSA, Hawkman, Teen Titans and The Flash) has announced that after that, he is doing a five-issue mini-series which will end with Hal Jordan coming back from the dead with a Power Ring.

This news has been hailed by members of HEAT (Hal’s Emerald Attack Team- an organization dedicated to getting Hal Jordan back into the comics as Green Lantern) and by die-hard fans of artist Alex Ross (a notorious Kyle Rayner hater, who swore he would only paint Hal Jordan) as a sign of great news. Conversely, it has also been hailed by devout fans of Kyle Rayner as a big mistake, a step backward and the final straw that will make them drop the book.

Of course this is all assuming a great deal. Just because Hal is coming back that means that Kyle is going to lose his ring or be killed off. Small chance, because if that happens then, by this twisted logic that Kyle must die in order to redeem Hal as “The One True Green Lantern”, then they are going to have to kill off John Stewart, Kilowog and everyone else on Oa who rejoined the Corps under Kyle.

This is all, in my professional opinion as a Green Lantern fan, pretty damn silly.

Ignoring the fact that it is just a comic book and that there are much more constructive things to argue about in this world, there is plenty of room for more than one Green Lantern in DC Comics. They got along fine for many years with a few thousand of them: I don’t think we need to pick and choose which one we have to keep.

Besides, what about the new generation of fans who, thanks to Justice League, think John Stewart is the one true Green Lantern? What about the vocal but sizable minority of fans who want to see Guy Gardner come back into the role of ring barer? What about us lonely few who consider Kilowog the definitive Green Lantern? And what about all the people clamoring for the return of G’nort?!?!

Thanks to the efforts of Judd Winick, Joe Kelly and Ben Raab we now have the planet Oa and the Guardians back. The ability to create new rings and raise a new GL Corps is there. Why then, is it totally unreasonable to think that we can all have our cake and eat it too? The Hal fans can have Hal back un-Specrteized. The Kyle fans can have their Kyle. Heck, we can even get G’nort back if we want. Anything is possible now. And deep down, wasn’t that the whole idea behind Green Lantern in the first place?

So color me optimistic. I’m looking forward to this next year immensely, as a fan of Ron Marz and Geoff Johns. As a fan of Kyle Rayner and of Hal Jordan. As a guy who realizes that Green Lantern isn’t just One. Indeed, it is a symbol of every One.

Tune in next week. Same Matt time. Same Matt website.

Green Lantern #174 - A Review

Written by: Benjamin Raab
Penciled by: Jamal Igle
Inked by: John Dell
Colored by: Moose Baumann
Lettered by: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Peter Tomasi
Publisher: DC Comics

This book is filled with something of a sense of futility. After one more issue, Ben Raab will end his run on this title and Ron Marz, who created Kyle Rayner, will return to do a brief run on the book which will bring Kyle back from Deep Space and return him to Earth to find how things have changed in his absence. This news has been greeted with much joy by Marz’s fans who have argued that the book has suffered in his absence and by Marz detractors (including the inafamous HEAT) who will be glad to have him to kick around once more.

This all distracts from the fact that as everyone waits for the return of the Marz, Raab has done quite a lot to restore that which HEAT complained of the absence of. There is now a Corps, of sorts, though they lack rings at the moment. Kilowog, a fan favorite GL, who gave his life trying to stop Hal Jordan during his time of madness, has been restored to life. And in these last few issues, he has restored the epic “space-opera” storylines for which Green Lantern was famous, which were for the most part neglected during the Marz run on the book. More, he has restored a classic Green Lantern enemy, bringing The Qwardians race back into active duty alongside his own creation: The criminal syndicate known as The Black Circle.

Raab develops all these plots of his own even as he expands and even closes off those plots that were left for him to solve in the wake of Judd Winick’s departure from the title. This issue, for instance, lets us see Kyle’s assistant Terry attempting to make peace with his family before moving to California with his boyfriend. I don’t know if Raab is working Terry out of the title or not, but it is nice to see SOMETHING being done with the character, who lay by the wayside in the wake of the “Hate Crime special.” We also get an update on Jade and how things are going with the man whom she started seeing after her boyfriend went into deep cover in order to destroy the Black Circle.

Still, the issue proper does center upon Kyle, the new Corps, and their storming the Black Circle’s main base in an effort to stop an attack on the planet Oa itself. Fans of the old Hal Jordan Corps stories will love these scenes, including Kilowog and company blowing a blast door down and his line: Knock Knock, Poozers.

The book has lacked a steady art team in the last year while Raab has written the title. Still, this issue’s team of Ingle and Dell do the title proud. Indeed, I didn’t notice the change in the artists until looking at the title page to write this review! While Kyle doesn’t get much chance to use his ring this issue and doesn’t use it much in the way of creating projections (the usual measure of an artist on this title), we are treated to some wonderful images in the form of a sun going to pieces as well as a bevy of exotic alien foot soldiers.

The Phantom #1 - A Review

Written by: Ben Raab
Penciled by: Pat Quinn
Inked by: Pat Quinn
Colored by: Ken Wolak & Dawn Groszewski
Lettered by: Jeff Eckleberry
Editor: Joe Gentile & Garrett Anderson
Publisher: Moonstone Comics

Nearly two months ago, I was given a rare chance as a critic to preview some of the unfinished proofs of a new book. That book was The Phantom #1, and I wrote about the history of the character as well as my initial impression of the proofs in Looking to the Stars. If you are unfamiliar with the history of the world’s first true superhero, follow the link above for an in-depth discussion of the character and his history.

The proofs just gave me a look at the first twenty pages or so; lettered and inked, but not yet colored it. This gave the art a somewhat appropriate film noir feel, making me feel like I was watching an old Republic serial or reading some reprints of the old black-and-white daily Phantom strips. The story was classic Phantom material; a masked man of action fighting those who would seek to oppress the innocent. All that was missing was the final pages and the color...

And with these elements added, you have one of the best books to come out in recent memory. The colors by Wolak & Groszewski do not diminish the nostalgic feelings inspired by Pat Quinn’s inks and pencils. If anything, it takes what looked like a classic comic strip and transforms it into an epic worthy of the big screen.

Raab’s story has brought the potentially archaic Phantom concept into the 21st century with ease. Rather than try to upgrade The Phantom with a new angsty personality, a darker costume or a load of new weapons, he has simply changed the name of the enemy. The Phantom has always fought against all those who would rule through terror, strong-arm the weak or force people into anything. So instead of fighting pirates and poachers in the jungles of Africa, why not have him turn his attentions to terrorists and diamond-mine slavers; both very real issues in Africa today? This allows the book to feel topical yet timeless, as groups like Al Quaeda are mentioned, but not specifically blamed for the events of the book.

Worry not about politics, fans of escapism! The conclusion is high-action heroism, with the Phantom chasing after assassins on horseback and somehow keeping pace with a speeding van… with an explosive cliffhanger that I guarantee with leave you desperately waiting for Issue 2, just like me.

Looking To The Stars: Dead Man Walking

Pop quiz, kids. Who was the very first superhero ever?

Batman? No, but you’re close. The hero I’m thinking of is just as popular, after a slightly longer history.

Since I’m feeling generous, I’ll give you a hint - His marriage to his leading lady after decades of adventures attracted world-wide attention. In fact, it even inspired the Parliament of New Zealand to hold a mock debate about whether or not said leading lady should quit her job and devote herself toward living in the hero’s secret hideaway and raising their children as she did in several “imaginary” stories.

Superman? Closer still, but not quite early enough. Besides, who honestly thinks the post-Crisis Lois Lane would ever settle down to raise the Super-spawn?

The year was 1936. Not quite 25 years old, a young writer by the name of Lee Falk was about to unveil a new character. Despite his inexperience and lack of training as an artist (Indeed, he had always fancied himself more a writer than an artist), Falk had tremendous success writing and drawing a regular daily strip centering upon the adventurer “Mandrake The Magician” and had been given a chance to try his hand at something else.

Inspired by equal parts literature and history with just a dash of the theatric for flare, Falk spun a tale of the Walker Family.

Christopher Walker had been the cabin boy on Christopher Columbus’ voyages to the New World. Now a captain himself, he sails himself with his son Kit. Kit is the soul survivor after the vessel is attacked by pirates, shipwrecked somewhere off the coast of Africa. Taken in by the Bandar; a peaceful tribe of pygmies, Kit was nursed back to health and vowed vengeance on his father’s murder. Later, he found the body of the pirate who killed his father and made an oath on his skull that he and his descendants would fight for "the destruction of piracy, greed, cruelty and injustice."

Adopting a costume based on the garments of an idol in the Bandar village and operating out of The Skull Cave, Kit Walker would sail the seas and travel throughout the jungle, fighting evil wherever he finds it. He always leaves his calling card of a skull symbol in one fashion or another. He has used engravings of a skull, though most often he “brands” his foes with a punch, the skull emblem from his twin rings grinding into their faces. He becomes known as “The Ghost That Walks!” He is… The Phantom.

Nearly 500 years later, The Phantom still lives, thanks to the strict carrying-on of the tradition along the Walker family line, from father to son. Each son is also named Kit Walker and over the years, the comic detailed the exploits of The Phantom throughout the history. The Kit Walker of today is still active, devoting himself equally to continuing the battle against evil and his family. He married Diana Palmer (now Diana Palmer-Walker), an adventurer in her own right and now an official with the U.N. They have twins; a son and daughter. Kit and Heloise have both begun training to follow in their father’s footsteps… this being an enlightened age, women are hardly unqualified to assume The Phantom’s mantle. Indeed, several of the past Phantoms were women.

Now some of you nit-pickers out there are probably saying that there is nothing unique or unusual about the idea of a masked man fighting evil and that The Phantom is not the first to do this. And you would be right, the idea of masked heroes being older than even the pulp novels which featured masked detectives like “The Shadow” and “The Masked Detective” years before Batman was gunning down thugs in Gotham. The Scarlet Pimpernel predates them all. And a certain Mr. Borroughs was doing tales about a hero who fought various evils in the jungle a scant few decades earlier. So what is it that makes The Phantom the first superhero, or indeed unique?

It is because The Phantom was a blending of several elements that had never been combined before. Like a chef who can make a banquet out of the random odds and ends, Falk created something unique out of several seemingly incompatible elements. While masked men were not unusual, most of them tended to be detectives operating in urban settings. Jungle adventurers, while not as popular in the pulps as detectives at the time, were common enough to be an established genre, though they tended to follow the model of either Alan Quartermain or Tarzan.

The Phantom has also provided several of comics’ other famous firsts. Kit Walker married Diana Palmer in 1977, years before Spider-Man or Superman would tie the knot. And while not the first adventuring couple to have children (I believe Reed and Sue Richards hold that honor), Kit and Diana would be the first to actively bring their children into their adventures, as compared to the many heroes who try and keep their family (and especially their children) out of their other lives.

Astonishingly, Lee Falk kept writing the daily Phantom strip, in addition to a number of novels and other specials for over 60 years, up until his death in 1999. He is one of the few writers who can boast being continuously published in any medium for so long; a feat all the more astonishing when you consider that Falk was also an active playwright, as well as a producer and owner of six theaters.

Today, The Phantom’s popularity is as undying as the character’s legend in the books. The Phantom is the only superhero to have an entire theme-park devoted to him (It lies near Stockholm, Sweden) and an adaptation of the very first Phantom story "The Singh Pirates” was filmed in 1996. Even today, licensed stories featuring The Phantom are published worldwide in over a dozen countries and just as many languages. The Phantom is still the most popular daily comic strip in Australia and New Zealand.

And now, later this month, “The Ghost That Walks” shall run again in a monthly periodical published by Moonstone Books. Written by Ben Raab with art by Pat Quinn (and I don’t think it’s the same one who played Magenta- sorry Rocky Horror fans), I was fortunate enough to get a sneak-peak at the first issue and all I can say is that I think Lee Falk would be proud.

Raab does a splendid job of taking the Phantom concept and upgrading it for the 21^st century. He does this in the way that all good updates SHOULD be done, not by changing the trappings of the character but just the setting. After all, with a world-wide following and over sixty years of continuous publishing it is quite clear that there is nothing “broke” about the concept of The Phantom himself. Tackling a current, but rarely discussed in the American media, event, The Phantom finds himself wanting to confront the enslavement of the Bandar tribe in a diamond mind even as Diana’s duties as director of the UN Human Rights Afro-Asian Division require him to be elsewhere. It seems that both missions coincide, however, as one of the terrorist leaders Diana’s department is hunting is responsible for the enslavement…

While this could get very preachy and very dull pretty quickly, Raab keeps the action going and makes his statement without hitting us over the head. Indeed, he holds himself very strictly to the standard set by Falk himself, who once said that his only politics were ”..up with democracy and down with dictatorships, down with human rights violations and down with torture.” Al-Qa’ida are mentioned but once, among a few other real terrorist organizations and the blood diamonds of Sierra Leone that partly inspired this story are also barely mentioned to give context, not to preach.

Quinn’s art is just as wonderful It is everything you would want in a story of this nature, with the heroes larger than life, the women beautiful as any old pulp pin-up and the same theatrical quality that Falk and the legions of artists who followed after him put into every panel of the original daily comic. It is hard to put a name to Quinn’s style. The strength and size of his male characters reminds me of the late and great Gil Kane but it also has the simplicity and cleanliness of the works of Alex Toth.

Regardless of the influence, the work is enjoyable and I can’t wait to see the full-color version later this month. I highly recommend that all of you join me in picking up a copy of Phantom #1 when it hits the street. Whether or not you’ve ever enjoyed a Phantom story before, it will be like welcoming home an old friend and I predict a lot of copies running, not walking, off the shelves.

Looking To The Stars: Thank You, Mr. Kurtz!

In the course of writing about comics over the last few years, I have gotten some attention from the creators whose works I critique. Some were thankful, saying that it was nice to see someone who got what they were trying to do and spread the word about their good works. Some thanked me for the criticism, which hurtful as it may have been, ultimately made them think of things in different ways and attempt to be better writers. Some have hurled insults and questioned my manhood, my mother’s virtue and my own intelligence after reading a bad review of their work. But only one man has gone through the effort to make a public stink about a negative review and in so doing inspired dozens of his fans to write me and tell me about what a horrible person I am for not seeing the brilliance of said writer’s work. That writer is Scott Kurtz, and I am forever indebted to him.

Last week Mr. Kurtz linked to one of my columns from about six months ago from his comic’s website, comparing it to a more favorable review at thefourthrail.com. I’m pleased to report that thanks to Mr. Kurtz linking to 411 Comics, our hits on the first day after his news post were triple the usual rate- a trend that continued throughout the week! The editorial staff couldn’t be more pleased and have in turn tripled my salary in response and have given me carte blanche to stir up as much controversy as I want in my future writings. Look for “Reasons Why I Am A Better Person Than Jesus: Part One” next week.

I feel it worth noting that while I did get quite a few unflattering letters from Mr. Kurtz’s fans, not all of them were filled with profanity, poor spelling and poorly spelled profanity. Some of them did make some good points about my original column that showed me that some of the statements I made were slightly inaccurate. Well, in the interest of clarity and fairness, here are some quick corrections taken from the mouths of the fans themselves…

Apparently Mr. Kurtz has made mention, in the six months since my review, that his book was always intended to be an “anthology” of his past work and was meant to give him a chance to go back and improve old comics. PvP #4, for example, was done to allow him to redraw the first few strips featuring teenage female Marcy in her new and improved form. Any fault in failing to advertise this fact to those of us who don’t regularly review the PvP website is therefore the fault of Image Comics, who advertised the comic as new material. I would like to apologize for implying that Mr. Kurtz was intentionally scamming the comic-reading public and applaud him for making an effort to go back and improve his past works.

I stated, incorrectly, that Mr. Kurtz does not archive the daily comments from his main page, regarding various bits of news and complaints about the current story arc – such as the one I noted regarding his anti-Furry arc and his comment that the people sending him angry letters should stay away from his dog. In fact, he does archive these comments. I simply missed the link, which is not on the prominent display bar at the top of his page under “Rants” but in size 2 font, lower down on the page, between a banner ad and the most recent news articles. I would like to apologize for this oversight.

I stated that based on what I had read of some of Mr. Kurtz’s comments and strips that he seemed incapable of taking criticism in any form, negative or comparative. One reader, who agreed with most of my comments, informed me that the very same week my column saw print, Mr. Kurtz saw fit to shut down the official PvP forum on his website, for reasons that are detailed here.

I make no comment upon this, save that you should read all eleven pages here and judge for yourselves the thinness of his skin.

Finally, I was accused by some of bad-mouthing Mr. Kurtz just to get attention and to break into the comics business. Ignoring all issues of the wisdom of trying to break into a business by insulting the people in it, there are many writers and artists with a much larger readership who I could spew bile at in a pathetic attempt to get a few more readers of my work. I could say bad things about Geoff Johns, for example, and expect a sizable amount of hits from the readers of Teen Titans, JSA, Hawkman, Avengers and The Flash. That would certainly make more sense than my attacking a writer/artist who self-published most of his work – assuming my goal was to drum up publicity for my own work.

However, that is not my goal in writing this column. I am not out to destroy anyone’s career nor promote my own. I doubt quite frankly that I have so much power that my word can sway so many hearts and minds as to make a major difference in a comic company’s policies of what they will and won’t publish.

And even if I did possess that kind of power, I would try to use it, not to end careers, but to save them. Like I would dearly like to save the job of Ben Raab, whose work on Green Lantern I was enjoying immensely. Sadly, I seem to be in the minority as DC Comics has announced that Issue #175 will be Raab’s last on the title. Raab wrote to me earlier this week regarding last week’s “Looking To The Stars”, regarding his work on Green Lantern.

Just read your defense of my run on GL thus far and wanted to say "thanks". Nice to see someone gets what I'm doing with these characters and their ongoing stories... Sincerely hope you (and everyone else at 411) will enjoy where I take them in the upcoming months...

I know I will, Ben. I hope that everyone who agrees with me will join me in writing to DC Comics and asking for you to remain on Green Lantern.

Before I go, one final thought. I write this column simply as a voicing of my opinion, which is no more valid or invalid than any other. We all have the right to our own tastes and opinions and should have the right to voice those opinions without having to worry about the negative reactions of other people.

So if you enjoy PvP, good for you. I personally do not, but that is just me. If you don’t like Green Lantern, that’s fine too. I love it, but that’s just one fanboy’s opinion. If you don’t enjoy my critiques, you don’t have to read them. I certainly enjoy the comments I get about my writing but nobody is holding a gun to your head and making you read my work. At least I hope not. If you want to send a letter to my editor demanding that I be fired for my opinions, ask me for his e-mail address and I’ll refer you to him.

Tune in next week. Same Matt Time. Same Matt Website. Assuming I’m not fired before then.

Looking To The Stars: Emerald Explanation

Ever since Benjamin Raab took over this title, he has faced great hostility from the critical and fan communities alike. I can think of two writers alone at 411 who made statements regarding last month’s issue that I’d like to address as a Green Lantern history buff and one of the apparent minority who is enjoying Raab’s run on the book.

From Kevin Mahoney’s review of GL #168… “When a story has not one, nor two, but three separate and unrelated interludes, that's a rather large red flag.”

Not really. Actually, I take that as a sign of quality writing or at the very least a sign that the writer respects my intelligence enough to think I can keep track of more than one ongoing plotline. Stan Lee sure never went wrong with having several ongoing plots in his work. And I do believe many of the more popular writers today- Geoff Johns, Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore come to mind immediately – made some very popular and award winning series based upon the idea of having a book center around several characters and shifting focus on an issue by issue basis. Consider pretty much any issue of JSA, Sandman, Swamp Thing or the five-part “Jack/Ted/O’Dares/Mikhal’s Day” story arc in which we see the reaction of eight different characters to the events of the same day.

From Kevin Mahoney’s review of GL #168… “If the dialogue of the main character closely resembles a previous incarnation of the character (Hal Jordan) that's an even larger red flag.”

Funny how I don’t hear many HEAT members rejoicing that Kyle now sounds exactly like Hal. Honestly, I haven’t noticed any change in Kyle’s dialogue other than the fact that he’s now being written as an hero with some experience instead of the idiotic novice that he was shown as under Winick and still is portrayed as outside his own title. Then again, maybe Kyle is subconsciously trying to sound more like Hal as he now finds himself trying to become a space-cop in Hal’s old sector.

From Kevin Mahoney’s review of GL #168… When the writer rehashes an ancient sub-plot for new material (Terry's beat down), a reader should resign him or her self to sub-par work.

I’d hardly call a sub-plot, continued on a near-monthly basis, that began barely a year ago “ancient”, but that’s just me. What must that make Issue #169, which refers to the nearly 18-month old “Legacy: The Last Will and Testament of Hal Jordan” as well as the Green Lantern 80-Page Giant #3, published August 2000? Mesozoic? Prehistoric?

In all seriousness, it is called CONTINUITY. Making historical links? Used to be quite a serious thing for comic writers to keep up with, but many modern writers (Winick in particular) seem to have problems with it. And I don’t mean obscure things like “what issue did Kyle declare he doesn’t like Mexican food?” but simple matters of fact like the identity of Jade’s brother (Obsidian, not Effigy. See GL #142)

From George Gebhardt’s review of GL #168… “Let's start with Terry Berg. Raab, and Winick before him, never seem to deliver when writing Berg's character. First, it looks like he has aged quite a bit--that he's not a high schooler anymore. Maybe DC realized that some problems could arise dealing with his relationship with David and any age difference between them.”

Surely that’s the fault of the artist, not the writer, if the character LOOKS younger? And while the passage of time is rather spotty in the DCU, I seem to remember it being about two years since Terry got hired by Kyle. Since most businesses I know of require interns to be at least 16, that would put Terry well within legal adult range now or close enough to it that the law probably wouldn’t be concerned about the statutory laws. Besides, if David is young enough to get into the teens-only clubs (or maybe it was teens-only night?) then there shouldn’t be any issues with his age.

From George Gebhardt’s review of GL #168… “Next, I still say he should be walking with a cane, to add some dramatic effect to his injuries. If not that, I think seeing him in a panel before going live with "Barry" should have shown his nervousness. Are we to expect that he's this great spokesperson all of a sudden?”

Adversity can do a bit to change people and I’ve seen a lot of people be able to speak with amazing eloquence after a tragedy inspired their passion. And while I agree that some emoting beforehand would be appropriate, a cane would be more melodramatic than dramatic and smack of some of the more pointless “crippling” of a character for dramatic effect that has been all too long a part of comics… particularly in a title where such a thing has happened once too often already, ala John Stewart.

From George Gebhardt’s review of GL #168… Now with Kyle. He wants to prove to the ex-Corpsmen that there's a need for them. Yeah, we get it. Enough is enough with that rhetoric. And why is Kyle being "snookered" all of the time? Gee, no wonder the others don't join.

Hey, Hal got suckered into a lot of “distress” situations where he was called in by the bad guys to do some dirty work, found out who the real good guys were and then turned the tide when he realized he screwed up. Happened to Kyle a few times in the past too... in fact, the whole major driving story arc since Raab took over (busting the Black Circle) has been built around Kyle’s trying to correct some past oversight of being too quick to trust.

As for them repeating Kyle’s goals to rebuild the Corps at the start of each issue, I quote the man who once said “Every comic is somebody’s first comic.”. Certain allowances must be made for the people who just pick a book at random based on the cover and want to be able to read the story without twenty pages of footnotes. And so far, I think Raab has done an admirable job of balancing the accessibility needs of the newbie against the old timer’s need for history.

From George Gebhardt’s review of GL #168… Merayn. She's no longer an item with John Stewart, so why is she referring to him as her boyfriend?

Moving out does not necessarily equal a break up. Based on what she says in GL #167, she isn’t breaking it off with him. Just wanting to move out and find some space in the relationship to find something in her life besides making him happy. God forbid a woman should want to have something for herself besides being a trophy girlfriend, right?

And finally, to confront a complaint I read on a message board, the rebirth of the Guardians in the form of male AND female bodies is not far-fetched nor a violation of the much vaunted continuity of the GL Corps. While is true that the Guardian race (blue midgets) that founded the Green Lantern Corps was made up entire of males and the females evolved along different lines to become beings not unlike the Amazons of Earth (aka the Zamorans), both races descended from the ancient mortal race of the planet Maltus, where the natives were basic humanoids with blue skin- exactly like the toddler grown to maturity Lianna; a one-shot villain at the end of the Winick run, who Raab obviously has bigger plans for.

All this said, I don’t think the Raab run has been completely flawless. As I said, I would like to have seen a little more emotion in the scenes handling Terry. And there has been a little too much faith taken that the readers have read certain key back issues. Consider how Kilowog was presented with it just being taken that the reader has read the story detailing his resurrection. And even then, I would like to have seen the story of how Kyle and Kilowog met and became friends.

Thankfully, I thought Raab was building towards something with the rather slow development over the last five issues and I believe the most recent issue (reviewed by yours truly here) has shown the fruits of those labors as Raab tries to weave a tapestry from the tangled and torn threads of the Winick and Marz runs.

Tune in next week. Same Matt Time. Same Matt Website.

Green Lantern #169 - A Review

Written by: Benjamin Raab
Penciled by: Jamal Igle
Inked by: John Dell
Colored by: Moose Baumann
Lettered by: Kurt Hathaway
Editor: Bob Schreck
Publisher: DC Comics

This book is filled with something of a sense of futility. After one more issue, Ben Raab will end his run on this title and Ron Marz, who created Kyle Rayner, will return to do a brief run on the book which will bring Kyle back from Deep Space and return him to Earth to find how things have changed in his absence. This news has been greeted with much joy by Marz’s fans who have argued that the book has suffered in his absence and by Marz detractors (including the inafamous HEAT) who will be glad to have him to kick around once more.

This all distracts from the fact that as everyone waits for the return of the Marz, Raab has done quite a lot to restore that which HEAT complained of the absence of. There is now a Corps, of sorts, though they lack rings at the moment. Kilowog, a fan favorite GL, who gave his life trying to stop Hal Jordan during his time of madness, has been restored to life. And in these last few issues, he has restored the epic “space-opera” storylines for which Green Lantern was famous, which were for the most part neglected during the Marz run on the book. More, he has restored a classic Green Lantern enemy, bringing The Qwardians race back into active duty alongside his own creation: The criminal syndicate known as The Black Circle.

Raab develops all these plots of his own even as he expands and even closes off those plots that were left for him to solve in the wake of Judd Winick’s departure from the title.



It hit me this month about how much Benjamin Raab must write from personal experience.

Think about it; Kyle Rayner was given the most powerful weapon in the Universe despite his inexperience and is trying to rebuild a defunct institution, re the Green Lantern Corps. With only one omnipotent being and a few friends to help him, he must face hostility and nay saying from former members of said institution as well as a harsh and lawless universe in a lonely battle to resurrect the Green Lantern Corps.

Now compare that to Raab, who was given a popular comic title despite his inexperience, and is trying to rebuild a defunct institution, re the Green Lantern franchise. With only one editor and a few plot-threads left by pervious writers, he must face hostility and nay saying from former fans of said institution as well as the critics and HEAT in a lonely battle to make Green Lantern readable again.

Personal connection to his main protagonist or not, one thing cannot be denied. Green Lantern hasn’t been handled this well in quite a long time! Raab handles the neat feat of balancing the complex and complicated history and continuity of the Green Lantern Corps while making each issue accessible and easily readable to newbies. Pair this up with some wonderful artwork, and you have one of the best… indeed, probably the most underrated book in the business.

In this issue, we open on Kyle preparing for battle as he readies himself to journey into another dimension to rescue his friend Kilowog. Kilowog was a Green Lantern who gave his life trying to save the Corps from Hal Jordan and was brought back from the dead (in a story which is summarized quite well in this issue) as a being of vengeance known as The Dark Lantern. Now, Kilowog has been forcibly dragged back into the afterlife he was just as forcibly removed from, just as he was beginning to get a handle on the all-consuming rage that controlled him.

At the same time, Jade engages in some girl talk with Merayn that fills us in on her job hunting and vents about her problems with having a boyfriend who never writes or calls. The fact that he is literally a million miles away doesn’t hurt the authenticity of the scene, nor Jade’s reaction when a stranger asks for her phone number. And in a scene that will send even the most hardened of DC Historians scrambling for their Who’s Who Guides (I’ll save you all the trouble- see GL 80 Page Giant #3, August 2000), the former Green Lanterns from a few issues ago are visited by another figure who has been shown the light by Kyle Rayner.

About the art, I can say little except that it is perfectly suited to this title. I’m not familiar with Burchett’s previous work, but he fills this book with a beauty that was sorely missing throughout the “Urban Knights” crossover. Each character manages a distinct look and personality… and not just because many of them are aliens, have with unusual bodies, strange eyes or have unusual skin colors. Unlike many artists who draw the same face for each female characters, you can tell Jade and Merayn apart based on face alone- not hairstyle, skin color or ears. These unique pencils are well served by the light inking of Rodney Ramos (who knows just when to put in shadows for contrast) and the colors by Moose Baumann.

Green Arrow #25 - A Review

Written by: Ben Raab
Penciled by: Charlie Adlard
Inked by: Charlie Adlard
Colored by: Titjana Wood
Lettered by: Jack Morelli
Editor: Bob Schreck
Publisher: DC Comics

It amazes me how with every part, this series gets worse and makes me think “Well, at least it can’t get worse than this.”

Silly Rabbit. Of course it can get worse.

We’ve talked about the plot and the art in past incarnations… and rest assured, those elements are still sub-part. But this issue… this issue achieved new depths with some bad logic and horrible characterizations and dialogue.

For the bad logic, consider this. Oliver Queen is about to pull his “bad cop” routine on a captured alien gangster when Kyle stops him and who tells him “There are other ways to make people talk than just threatening to bash their face in”. He suggests using psychology and ushers Ollie into the hall. In this, case he then uses the psychology of threatening to do something even worse than bashing his face in with his ring, just talking about how it can do “anything” that he thinks of.

Okay… so Kyle resorts to making threats of violence. Ollie Queen backs down from a confrontation. Yeah. This sounds natural.

As far as the characterization goes, Ollie and Dinah both sound perfectly in character… for a Denny O’Neil book from 30 years ago. I don’t think anyone, even in comics, has used the words “lech”, “broad” or “fracases” seriously since then. And while I enjoy a good retro tale as much as anyone, it is a bit distracting in a story that is supposed to be set in the modern day.

Not to mention the “Saw this coming a mile away” splash page at the end. With no spoilers, I will say that there is a revelation on the final page that will have all scholars of Green Lantern ring function history screaming and moaning about how what we see conflicts with everything we know about how the Kyle’s specific ring works.

Green Arrow #24 - A Review

Written by: Ben Raab
Penciled by: Charlie Adlard
Inked by: Charlie Adlard
Colored by: Titjana Wood
Lettered by: Jack Morelli
Editor: Bob Schreck
Publisher: DC Comics

I’m really starting to regret having asked the editorial team to let me review all six parts of this story line. If you read my complaints about the series so far what I have to say will probably sound familiar. For that, I apologize. But since Raab and Winick are recycling the same tired plot devices and running gags, I feel little need to think up new complaints.

Just kidding. There are new complaints! So, with a little nod to Nick Piers for the format…


The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Green Arrow #24.


Synopsis (Skip if you want no Spoilers!)

Kyle and Jade are settling in for a night of romance, when he gets a call from Connor. Within minutes, Kyle has flown across the country and is introduced to Amon Sur. Amon, it turns out, is a major Green Lantern fanboy as well as son of Abin Sur (the GL who gave Hal Jordan his ring) and member of a new space cop force: The Ungaraian Elite “Light Brigade”. He explains that Earth is the latest target for an intergalactic crime syndicate called “The Black Circle” and that they are responsible for all the problems Ollie and Kyle have been investigating the last two issues. After thwarting an intergalactic assassin, Kyle and Amon head into space as Ollie does his conducts his own investigation on Earth.


The Good

As I’ve said before, the best parts of the series are the ones that don’t involve the increasingly forced team-up/conflict between Green Lantern and Green Arrow. The scenes with Kyle and Jade ring true. And the scenes with Ollie working alone in the urban environment, tracking down leads work very well. And I have go give Raab credit for some wonderful dialogue lines. Particularly…“I’ll be the first to admit when I’m out of my depth, but I’ll be damned if I’m not the last man standing when the smoke clears.” And the GL fan in me cheered when Kyle refered to The Book of Oa.


The Bad

More Ollie/Kyle fighting. More forced name-calling. Yawn. The characterization seems even more off this issue, with Ollie being unusually insecure regarding his image as a hero when his charges draw pictures of their favorite superheroes… and Green Arrow isn’t one of them.

Am I the only one who thinks it is odd that one of the kids drew Black Canary, but not ONE drew Green Arrow? Star City’s hero and local legend of over a decade? Especially since (more on this in a minute) the kids apparently know who Ollie is?

I’ve talked about the overshadowing in the artwork before, so I don’t need to say anything this time except that Adlard’s artwork is still over-inked. This time, I noticed that the colors are also far too muted. With the exception of the dark blue worn by Connor and the dark green of Kyle’s costume, everything is a light pastel and the whole book looks muted as washed out as an old pair of jeans. It looks horrible, especially Amon Sur’s uniform, which can’t seem to decide on being blue or green.


The Ugly

Would it be too much to ask for a definitive statement as to where Oliver Queen stands on his secret identity? In the Smith run, the soulless Ollie was trying to protect his ID but was informed by Batman that his being Green Arrow was public knowledge, thanks to the obituaries published after his heroic death. In the Meltzer run, Ollie was trying to track down items that could reveal his secret identity, presumably a non-issue according to Smith. And now, Raab has Ollie hosting alien entities in his place of business… and THINKS NOTHING OF THE KIDS WHO APPARENTLY DON’T KNOW HE IS A SUPERHERO PLAYING WITH HIM?

I mean, what are these kids saying when they got home? Suppose that one parent actually DOES believe it when their child tells a story about the odd red-skinned man at Mr. Queen’s place?

I’m just going to hope that this was a mistake on the part of the artist, since no reference is made to the kids in the dialogue. Adlard has very little sense as a visual storyteller, neglecting to draw anything around Kyle to show him being protected in deep space, though Amon Sur does get a nice spiffy space suit.

Green Lantern #162 - A Review

Written by: Ben Raab
Penciled by: Charlie Adlard
Inked by: Charlie Adlard
Colored by: Tatjana Wood
Lettered by: Jack Morelli
Editor: Bob Schreck
Publisher: DC Comics

Welcome back to the Steel Cage! This Steel Cage continues our new experimental format, where a book is discussed between two reviewers. This time, our own “Starman” Matt Morrison and Daron “The Editor” Kappauff will be trading words (and possibly blows) over Green Lantern #162. We encourage all our readers to let us know if they like this new format or the old one where two differing reviews were pieced together. But for now, enjoy a very surprising rumble!


Matt: Okay: our topic is Green Lantern # 162. Part Two of the highly-anticipated Black Circle: Urban Knights miniseries. I think the first question should be what did you think of the first part of this mini-series, Green Arrow #23?

Daron: To be honest, I wasn't too thrilled with it. I thought the dialogue… actually, the whole situation was forced.

Matt: You mean the scene with Ollie and Kyle toward the end or the whole book in general?

Daron: The whole crossover. It feels more like a hyped event than a real story.

Matt: I know. Its like the only reason for the story’s existence is to bring in the Nostalgia dollar. "Hey kids! Look! GL/GA together again!"

Daron: Pretty much.

Matt: Is there anything you did like about the first part of the story?

Daron: Not a lot. I think Kyle has grown a lot since he took the ring and the depiction of him getting pissed off because some back-from-the-dead-hero says he's not GL just didn't jive with how he is now.

Matt: *nods* Well, this may be a shock but I actually agree with most of that assessment.

Daron: Any other thoughts on the previous issue then?

Matt: I won't go into much detail over what I thought of the book (you can read that in my previous review) but I think the whole story derailed the minute they put Kyle and Ollie in the same room.

Daron: Agreed

Matt: Rabb did a good job depicting the two apart. The first half with Ollie was classic Mike Grell urban avenger material. The second half with Kyle felt lie a mix of the darker Winnick stories with more of the Ron Marz-style humor. But as soon as they put them in the room and try and try and make the two not like each other.... it just gets BAD.

Daron: And then goes from bad to worse very quickly.

Matt: Well, I did point out in my review that when you consider how badly Ollie treated Kyle a few issues back in the GA title, Kyle having a bit of attitude is understandable.

Daron: Yes, but I still think he over reacted and has shown he's normally above childish name calling.

Matt: Well, the key word is normally. I mean, he's a lot more capable than he was in the early Marz days. But Kyle is a fairly emotional guy.

Daron: I hear you, but I still think it was forced and thought it could be handled better.

Matt: I agree. And there's something I noticed in the rereading : Kyle actually does refer to that incident. There's no "See Issue 19” box or anything, but he does make a sarcastic reference to their "hanging out and talking on the JLA Watchtower". The only problem is that you have to have read that issue to get the reference.

Daron: Right.

Matt: Which brings us to Part 2 and the book we are actually supposed to be discussing..

Daron: Well with that in mind, what was your thought on the two of them at the beginning of the issue, with the "no, we weren't fighting”, “of course not" talk to the police?

Matt: You ever see a pair of five-year-olds fighting over the last cookie and then getting yelled at? Put them in costumes and that's what it looked like.

Daron: That's what I thought too. It annoyed me even more than the end of the last issue. I mean, how old are these guys?

Matt: Well, it isn't like either of them has ever been the poster boy for maturity

Daron: Well, they're definitely not making any headway either.

Matt: No. Of course immediately after the cops leave, they DO try to reconcile.

Daron: Kyle tries anyway.

Matt: Actually, Ollie apologizes first. He does it in a very rude manner, but he does apologize first.

Daron: An obligatory one, just to get Kyle to leave.

Matt: I suppose.

Daron: And then we get the usual Batman-esque scene where the "partner" states that they need to team up, and Batman says "NO! Get out of my town.", with Ollie in the Batman role.

Matt: And then Ollie gives the very forced "You aren't Hal Jordan" speech. Thankfully once Connor shows up and the name calling stops.

Daron: What are your thoughts on the issue in general?

Matt: I like parts of it. But in general, the whole thing does feel forced and the best moments come when the two characters they are trying to team up are working apart. Still, it got better as it went along.

Daron: Exactly. Personally, I thought this issue was a lot better than part one. But it would have been pretty hard for it to be worse.

Matt: The big problem is that there really is no reason (aside from my observation about the events of GA #19) for these two guys to not like each other. Connor even says as much, saying the two are a lot alike; they are both are stubborn and when they get ticked off, they do get insulting towards their friends to the point where they just deserve to get hit. And growth aside, that is true. Kyle got downright mean to The Flash and Batman during the whole incident with his friend Terry in GL a few months ago.

Daron: That's true, but hardly the basis for a conflict that is the basis of a six-part story.

Matt: Yeah. If they had built this up a bit and had them driving each other crazy over the middle of the journey, like the old Hal/Ollie stories... or even the more recent Kyle/Connor stories....

Daron: Well as you said, it seemed to pick up as the issue went along, though not till much later.

Matt: Yeah... the scene with Kyle shaking down the thugs was funny, although somewhat inappropriate considering the story a few issues ago where he nearly went over the line. But the scene with Ollie working with the kids.... and the final page..... ooh, that was good.

Daron: And I want to get to that scene with the kids in a second, but I want to talk about the thugs first.

Matt: What about them?

Daron: This is what we basically are told. When another hero insults Kyle he first pops said hero then he attacks random muggers and drug dealers. But when a group of mobsters all shoot at him and literally try to KILL him, he just says "Stop it", takes away their guns and goes on and has a nice sit down with them?

Matt: Yeah. And Jade chews him out for that.

Daron: Which was good, but him doing it was the unbelievable part.

Matt: So maybe he's trying a more reasoned approach? Or maybe he's hoping "Hey, if I don't go in looking for trouble, they'll be reasonable.” Heck, I'd even be willing to allow that Kyle is at the point in New York that when he shows up, a crook will just surrender rather than draw things out. It does happen in the Superman books in Metropolis.

Daron: Maybe, but it's hard to believe that he wouldn't be more upset about someone trying to kill him than insulting him

Matt: Well, it isn’t like he has much to fear from a bunch of gangsters with guns.

Daron: I guess, just something that annoyed me

Matt: I understand. And I have to stretch to find a way to justify it myself. I don’t know. I think one writer should have written this story.

Daron: I think so too, and I don't think it needed to be done as a "crossover"

Matt: It is weird that two good writers can’t make something together. I like Winnick usually. And I liked the solo story Rabb wrote for the GL Secret Files even more. It was one of the more thoughtful and mature stories in recent memory and showed a great respect for the past history that Winnick often ignores. Not much superheroics. Just pure talking heads and emotion.

Daron: I read that same story and liked it. That's the type of thing I was hoping we’d see here. Not some intergalctic bleach smuggling story where half the action is between the two “heroes” fighting.

Matt: Just action action action…

Daron: Have you noticed that both Ollie and Kyle try to be Batman throughout the story?

Matt: Well, Ollie has always been Batman lite.

Daron: True.

Matt: And Kyle? Well... he's been getting closer and closer to it.

Daron: Maybe that's their problem. They both want to be Batman and feel threatened by the competition?

Matt: Hmmm... not so much. I think perhaps they are both used to being the one in charge and don't like having another person pushing on the top of the pyramid. I mean, they DO work well with others. Ollie has his extended family and Kyle has his group of Lanterns and Darkstars....

Daron: Well as Jade says, what spandex wearing male doesn't?

Matt: True.

Daron: As you said earlier though in relation to the Kyle/Ollie situation, I think the whole thing with the children really came out of nowhere. I’ve read the title since issue #1, and it's been so long since they've mentioned that he works with children that I forgot about it entirely. I also have some problems with the continuity.

Matt: Yes, I remember you said that you were wondering about where this story fit in the timeline, considering Kyle's presence on Earth. For that matter, Connor says Ollie needs a vacation. What about the vacation he took last issue? The whole “finding his roots” trip he took back to the island where he first perfected his archery skills?

Daron: I don’t know.

Matt: Me either. I mean, this COULD be happening before Kyle went into space, but after the whole Archer's Quest story line. And the one-shot story COULD take place after this. But we don't want to nitpick the hows and whys of when this happens. We just want a decent story!

Daron: But that's what we do, as fans and readers.

Matt: Yes. I mean that we do this, but we shouldn’t have to.

Daron: Right. We want a cohesive linear story but we shouldn't have to fight tooth and nail to make sense of the different stories take place. Would it be so hard to throw in a little box saying these events take place before Kyle left for space or something?

Matt: True. But DC is trying to give their writers greater freedom to tell good stories and not be slaves to continuity. To give the best example of this right now, in JLA Batman and Wonder Woman are dating while in Batman, he's dealing with his feelings for Catwoman. And I heard there's yet another woman in one of the other Batman books....


The Art

Daron: What do you think of the art?

Matt: The constructs are gorgeous. I did laughed out loud at the sumo wrestlers and the one gangster yeling "Boss! He's throwing Big Japanese Guys at us! RUNNNNN!"

Daron: That was amusing.

Matt: The sumo. The demented elves. Ther’s the Kyle Rayner we know and love.

Daron: Oscar the Grouch too.

Matt: I missed that.

Daron: When one of the muggers was about to hit Kyle with a trash can? Oscar pops out and hits the mugger.

Matt: Oh yeah! I forgot that one.

Daron: That was a nice moment. The constructs were good.

Matt: Yeah, but most of the time the artwork seems a bit too heavily inked.

Daron: My thoughts exactly.

Matt: I mean, I know we're going for a darker atmosphere than usual.... but when the guy who has a glowing green chest emblem looks like he's lost in the shadows…

Daron: At first I wanted to rip into the penciler, but it's hard to tell what his original lines might have been.

Matt: The penciler and inker are one in the same, in this case. Art by Charlie Adlard.

Daron: So why this guy? I've never even heard of him before. You'd think they would want a big name on something like they've been hyping so much.

Matt: Yeah. I miss Phil Hester and Matt Wagner.

Daron: My original thought stands, then. The inks are far too heavy. I want to know what the pencils look liked before. I can't even honestly say I don't like them cause I can't see them for the inks.

Matt: Well, there are places where you can see the pencils, but even there they are too finely detailed. Like the scenes in the woods at the end with Ollie? Everything looks sketchy... like the pine trees where it looks like every individual needle was drawn.

Daron: It's funny how clean the constructs look in relation to everything else.

Matt: Yes. And aside from the overshadowing, there are some points where the proportions are weird too. Like the third panel on page 21? There is an Up-view shot of Ollie where his arms and head are freakishly tiny, but his torso and legs look like Chris Farley.

Daron: Nice!

Matt: I don't know. I don't mind some shadowy artists. Tony Harris, for example, is one of my favorites. But he usually keeps his lines simple. This is just too complex, except for when the constructs are done.

Daron: My thoughts exactly. Tony Harris is great with shadows, but his lines are cleaner.

Matt: See, at first I thought the art was intentionally like this. Like the shadows were to represent Ollie's world... and here comes Kyle, butting in with his big cartoony light shapes. Like they are trying to combine the art to fit both characters and creating something that doesn't work for either.

Daron: Yeah I thought that too, but Kyle's scenes are just as dark

Matt: In this issue, they are yes. Last issue that seemed like a valid idea but the whole thing is too shadowy this time.

Daron: Getting back to the plot for a second, earlier you mentioned Ollie and the kids on the mountain…I didn't get that scene at all. Who are these kids? I've been reading the series and I can't remember having ever seen them before. Who are they and why do they know he's GA?

Matt: Did you read the Kevin Smith GA series? Ollie's day job is running the Star City Youth Center. It wasn't touched on during the Meltzer run, but presumably he's still been working at that.

Daron: Okay, but do they know he's Green Arrow?

Matt: No. He just tells them to stay put while he takes a look at something. He never says anything about putting on his costume or anything. He just does the protective responsible elder thing: stay put, I'll check it out... call for help if I don't come back.

Daron: Looking back over the last few panels it's kind of funny how his bow just appears…

Matt: Tell you the truth, I thought it was odder that Ollie has a celphone than his suddenly having a bow. I mean, he could have put it together while on the run…

Daron: It's not a compound bow show in the art.

Matt: Well, I know (comic geek moment) Ollie does not like using compound bows.

Daron: I know. In fact he made fun of Arsenal in an earlier issue for using one.

Matt: Aha! So he DID pull a bow out of nowhere!

Daron: Exactly. To me that's bad story telling, plain and simple. It's the little things like that which make people take notice.

Matt: Yeah.


The Big Finish

Matt: I don't know anymore... I really want to like this story. There are parts that I love... and parts that I hate. And the whole thing is just kinda... blah. Last week I couldn't wait to see this issue to see what would happen next. This time, I can't wait for the whole mess to end.

Daron: My thoughts exactly, I wanted to like this story a lot, GL is one of my favorite characters, and I've always found GA to be interesting. I've liked their interaction before, but this just doesn't feel right in this story.

Matt: I still want to know what is going to happen next…especially with the final page cliffhanger.

Daron: The story line has a lot of potential, but we’ve basically learned nothing more than that these aliens are using bleach to make drugs in the two issues.

Matt: Yeah, it does feel like they are dragging it out a bit. Still, it has some good points. I’ll give this a solid 4.0. Not the best or worst thing ever written, but it should be a LOT better.

Daron: Agreed. 4.0 for me too.

Green Arrow #23 - A Review

Written by: Ben Raab
Penciled by: Charlie Adlard
Inked by: Charlie Adlard
Colored by: Titjana Wood
Lettered by: Jack Morelli
Editor: Bob Schreck
Publisher: DC Comics

A while back, I expressed some concerns about how this mini-series might turn out. I spoke of how a traditional Green Lantern/Green Arrow team-up story would be folly since Kyle Rayner and Oliver Queen are too similar as personalities to have the same conflicts as Hal Jordan and Ollie or even Kyle and Connor Hawke during their many groupings. Silly me, being so unique myself, forgot that often times having to work with someone who is very much like you can be more annoying than dealing with your total opposite. And that is what happens at the very end of this story.

In two acts, in which we are introduced to Green Arrow (Oliver Queen) and Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) as they both discover something rotten in the state of Denmark. Oliver Queen is just about to confront the gang who made him look like foolish in front of the police earlier when he finds that a grinning Kyle Rayner has already captured them. Kyle then smugly asks if Ollie wants to do a team-up and “stick it to the fat-cats”.

Now, my first reaction was that Kyle was being a major jerk, sarcastic and flippant as he is. And then I remembered that the last time he and Ollie did meet that Ollie pranked him big time and stole something off the JLA Watchtower right under Kyle’s nose (See GA #19 for that tale) . More than that, he gave Kyle an apparently faked speech about respecting him, but being uncomfortable because he reminded him of his own advancing years.

Now when you consider that, its more than natural for Kyle to be a little ticked off about having to deal with Ollie and wanting to show him up in his own home town. It is just as natural for Ollie to be fiercely territorial, unlikely to put up with being called an “old-man” and ready to punch Kyle’s lights out the minute he gets any lip. Passable conflict achieved and the premise of this new Hard-Traveling Heroes story established.

The art lends to this feeling of things not belonging. Adlard’s style emphasizes shadows and detail, which lends itself well to the first part of the book where Green Arrow is tackling a group of drug dealers. It also serves to make the light generating Green Lantern look all the more powerful in the second act, where he glows in a dark nightclub and evening sky. Finally, in the third part, it makes Kyle look all the more out of place in Star City; so as he pushes into Oliver’s territory, so does he appear to have pushed his way into this book from the brighter pages of Dale Eaglesham.

Of course the book does have a few flaws. Devout a Green Arrow fan as I am, even I have trouble believing the chain of events in the first part where Oliver Queen manages to disable three cars fleeing the scene of a crime, while seemingly perusing on foot. And as nitpicky as this is, I can’t ever see Green Arrow saying “Uh-oh” after trying to anger someone enough into starting a fight. Still, this book hits the target more often than not (ah… sly archery humor) and I am looking forward to Part Two in Green Lantern #162 next week