Green Lantern Corps #24 - A Review

Picking up right where Green Lantern #24 ended, Green Lantern Corps #24 sees John Stewart taking the fight to the energy-draining villain Relic.  At the same time, the rest of the Corps attempt to evacuate their home base on Oa, fighting a running battle against Relic's technology and the incarcerated villains eager to flee the collapsing planet's prison.   


Van Jensen does a fantastic job with the script.  The characters are all made distinct through the dialogue and all the Corps regulars are given some time on-camera.  Even the newer rookie Lanterns get their moments to shine - no pun intended!  The only weak spot is some Air Force/Marine rivalry added into the dialogue between Hal and John.  While I welcome anything to give the characters more personality, this seems uncharacteristically antagonistic and detrimental given the mission at hand.


Bernard Chang is easily the best artist currently working on the Green Lantern family of books.  His talents in depicting the various unusual aliens consistently is unparalleled.  He's also a brilliant fight choreographer and no slouch when it comes to creating imaginative ring projections. 

Green Lantern Corps #23 - A Review

While the creative team for Green Lantern Corps may have changed recently, one thing remains the same.  GLC remains the strongest of the books in the Green Lantern family of titles, despite an increased association with the plots of the other books in the line.  Hopefully writer Van Jensen will be given a freer hand to focus on his own scripts once the new status quo is more firmly established. 


As it stands, the interaction between the characters remains the strong point of this series.  There are many subplots for Jensen to balance, assisted by co-plotter Robert Venditti, but we never feel that any one regular character is getting preferential treatment over the others.  Indeed, this issue sees the return of some long-neglected characters from Peter Tomasi's run on the book!


Bernard Chang's artwork is excellent as always.  With a keen creative mind and a vivid eye for detail, this is a book Chang was born to draw.  I've sore missed Chang's work in the waning days of Demon Knights and am relieved to see him working on what remains one of my favorite books.

Green Lantern Corps #22 - A Review

Two issues in to Van Jensen's run on Green Lantern Corps and I'm still satisfied that my favorite book in the Green Lantern family of titles is in good hands.  My main concern remains the same as it was last month - that a tight connection to the other Green Lantern books would limit Jensen's ability to focus on his own characters and storylines as more and more pages are given over to crossovers.  This seems a legitimate concern given that the plot thread involving the rings of the various Lantern Corps failing (first seen in Green Lantern) continues throughout this issue and the final page of the issue seems to hint at events in New Guardians.


Thankfully, these moments are few and far between and the best parts of the book involve John Stewart taking a group of newbie Lanterns under his wing.  He we see a side of John Stewart that hasn't been seen in a while - John the Leader and John The Teacher..  Given that my first exposure to the character came back in the days with John was leading The Darkstars and acting as a mentor to Kyle Rayner, it was like old times to see John put in this role again.  I'm also gratified that Van Jensen has given Fatality her own storyline to pursue, giving us the first chance in a long while to see her as a warrior and not a love-sick young woman.


Bernard Chang's artwork is as wonderful as ever.  I've sorely missed Chang's work on Demon Knights of late and his detailed smiled proved a perfect match for the aesthetic that a Green Lantern book demands.  The only complaint I have about the art lies with colorist Marcelo Maiolo, who has given Fatality a far lighter skin tone than she should have.

Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer and the Great Puppet Theater - A No Flying, No Tights Review

For the benefit of those readers who had not had the good fortune to read the first volume of Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer (or those, like me, who hadn’t read the original book in a while) this second volume begins with a performance, staged by the titular Great Puppet Theater. They tell us the real story of Pinocchio and how he never became a real boy but did live happily ever after with his father, Gepetto. At least, he lived happily ever after until the night when vampires came to their home and killed the old toymaker. Thankfully, as a bloodless wooden puppet, Pinocchio was uniquely suited for the life of a vampire hunter. Aided by The Blue Fairy and Master Cherry (the carpenter who originally found the magic wood that Gepetto later shaped into a puppet), Pinocchio protects his home village from the vampire menace.

We soon meet The Great Puppet Theater in the flesh – er, wood – as the story begins in earnest. Made up of the other puppets made of living wood whom Pinocchio encountered in his original journeys, the troupe of wooden players have been seeking their lost brother since they, too, had had an encounter with vampires and since their master, the showman Fire-Eater, was killed. The troupe happens upon Carlotta, Pinocchio’s only friend, who has also been looking for Pinocchio ever since he and his entourage left their village in search of a mysterious Master Vampire that – legend has it – rules over all of the blood-sucking undead. Eventually family and friends are reunited and the quest continues, leading up to a stunning cliffhanger.

Fans of the first volume hoping for more of the same will not be disappointed, as this sequel features more of what makes this series so amusing – slapstick and sarcasm in equal measure, as Pinocchio throws out increasingly insulting lies in order to make his nose grow so he can break it off into a stake. Yet Van Jensen’s scripts continue to build beautifully upon the original premise, further fleshing out the world with the addition of The Great Puppet Theater and its colorful cast of characters. Based off the archetypes of both the Commedia dell’arte and classic Neapolitan puppetry, the stock personalities of the troupe’s members do not make their antics and arguments any less entertaining.

Dusty Higgins’ artwork has evolved along with Jensen’s scripts. I noted in my review of the first Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer that Higgins’ work resembled that of Jhonen Vasquez of Johnny The Homicidal Maniac fame. The puppets and vampires still sport a similarly stylized look, but there’s a subtle softness to Higgins’ human characters this time around. Indeed some of the panels featuring Caroltta are downright mangaesque.
If you own the first Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer book, you owe it to yourself to pick up this equally excellent sequel. And if you don’t own the first book, you should get it immediately along with the rest of this series. I consider this series a must-have for any serious Young Adult Graphic Novel collection.

Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer, vol. 2 — Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer and the Great Puppet Theater
by Van Jensen
Art by Dusty Higgins
ISBN: 9781593622039
SLG Publishing, 2010
Publisher Age Rating: (13+)

Green Lantern Corps #21 - A Review

I must confess to being somewhat more anxious about the new creative team for Green Lantern Corps than I was for the main Green Lantern title.  Though I've always been a big Geoff Johns fan, I found Peter Tomasi's take on the many characters in the GLC to be a more reliably enjoyable read.  I was somewhat reassured when I heard Bernard Chang (whose recent work on Demon Knights I'd enjoyed greatly) would be taking over the art duties and that the plotting would be done by Demon Knights writer/new Green Lantern writer Robert Venditti with the actual scripts being written by Van Jensen of the excellent Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer series. 

So did the book measure up to my hopes?  Yes, but it was nothing like what I'd expected and I'm quite relieved by that.



The events of this issue take place concurrently with Green Lantern #21 but it appears this issue starts at a slightly earlier point.  The primary focus of the issue is John Stewart and Yrra of Xanshi (a.k.a. the former villain formerly known as Fatality) as the two work to save an endangered planet while discussing their relationship... or lack thereof.  The rest of the issue shows us the new status quo for The Corps command structure, as Salaak retires from his post as The Guardians' majordomo.  Four new characters are forcibly recruited into the Corps, seemingly arriving in time for Larlfleeze's attack on Oa in Green Lantern #21.     

Already Jensen has proven himself capable of handling this diverse cast of characters.  Indeed, he's given John Stewart and Yrra more character development and analysis in this one issue than they received during the entirety of the Wrath of The First Lantern saga, pointing out how incredibly screwed up Yrra's become in recent years as he recalls her history for new readers.  Star Sapphire brain-washing aside, it makes little sense for her to be head-over-heels in love with the man who was directly responsible for her homeworld blowing up - an incident which inspired her to become a slayer of Green Lanterns and eventually a Sinestro Corps member.  Ah, but when does love ever make sense?  And no sooner do I start to question why the love-empowered Yarra simply can't use her ring to detect the love in John Stewart's heart instead of asking him repeatedly if he loves her, we get a simple, logical explanation why she doesn't. 

Another welcome touch is the return of Soranik Natu.  One of the best Green Lanterns created over the past decade, Soranik had a lot of baggage that caused her to disappear from the series as The New 52 began - presumably because it was easier to ignore Sinestro's daughter/Kyle Rayner's ex-girlfriend than to try and fit her into the new timeline.  Thankfully, Jensen ignores these issues and focuses instead on presenting Soranik as the awesome character that she is.



Bernard Chang's artwork proves as skillful as usual.  Chang's excellent eye for detail displays itself in every panel of this issue.  It bodes well for the series - so dependent on diverse and physically distinct characters - that Chang is signed on for the long-haul.

Apart from my continued concerns that this book may soon become too heavily interlocked with the other series in the Green Lantern family of books to stand on its' own, I have no complaints about the new Green Lantern Corps.  The scripts are solid.  The artwork is grand.  And despite being heavily dependent upon the continuity of the series so far, Jensen does a fine job of explaining it all and making this book accessible to new readers.  If you haven't read a Green Lantern book in a while or are just a fan of good science-fiction, this is the book to get!

Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer - A No Flying No Tights Review

SOURCE: Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer, Vol. 1

It was, perhaps, inevitable that the trend of combining classical literature with monsters begun by Pride and Prejudice and Zombies would eventually find its way into the worlds of graphic novels and fairy tales. This is the only logical reason I can think of for a book like Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer existing. But sometimes Logic must take a back-seat to Awesome and this little graphic novel is nothing if not awesome.

We know from the beginning that this is not going to be a Bowdlerized Walt Disney’s Pinocchio. A brief comic at the start summarizes the original, darker Pinocchio stories by Carlo Collodi, informing us that things did not end Happily Ever After. Now, Pinocchio is older and somewhat wiser, fighting to avenge the death of his father Geppetto at the hands of the vampires who have secretly taken over the village of Nasolungo.

A writer could just play off of the amusing title and trust the story to sell itself but thankfully author Van Jensen is better than that. Oh, we get vampire-slaying in spades, as Pinocchio tells lies and breaks his own nose in order to give himself stakes but there’s more to it than that. There is a mystery, as the vampires work toward an unknown goal under a shadowy leader. There is drama, as Pinocchio weighs his desire to be a real boy and seek love with a real girl against his responsibilities as a hero. And yes, there is even slapstick comedy as that poor cricket, who tried to steer Pinocchio down the straight and narrow path, returns as a ghost only to experience more abuse.

The art by Dusty Higgins is perfectly stylized for this story. This book has some of the best use of shadow I’ve seen in a story printed in gray scale, avoiding the trap so many horror books fall into obscuring the original pencils in inks. With the blocky characters and cartoonish expressions, Higgins’ work is reminiscent, though distinctive, from the work of another artist famous who once worked for Slave Labor Graphics – Jhonen Vasquez of Johnny The Homicidal Maniac fame.

This book, which was already named one of the Top Ten Graphic Novels for Teens by YALSA is a must-have for any public library graphic novel collection. There’s nothing here the 12 And Up crowd can’t handle though I would advise being careful to make sure this doesn’t accidentally get shelved in the children’s section because of the title. Promote this book to your Hot Topic teens and tweens as well as all fans of Fables and Tim Burton’s films. And I suppose it should go without saying that any Buffy fans among your patrons will be equally amused by this book.

Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer, vol. 1
Written by Van Jansen; Art by Dusty Higgins
ISBN: 9781593621766
SLG Publishing, 2009