By: Tony Bedard (writer), Ardian Syaf (artist), Vicente Cifuentes (inker), Randy Mayor with Gabe Eltaeb (colorists)
The Story: Boodikka, the dying Alpha-Lantern, narrates the end of the Revolt of the Alpha-Lanterns arc. Green Lanterns Ganthet, Kyle Rayner, John Stewart, Hannu and Soranik are in deep trouble against Cyborg-Superman and the army of Alpha-Lanterns on Grenda.
What’s Good: Cover to cover, Syaf, Cifuentes and Mayor/Eltaeb delivered the artistic goods in this emotional story. They picked the right camera angles, put emotions on the faces of heroes and villains alike, drew some spectacular aliens and created some action scenes that came pretty close to epic. Hannu in particular was textured and real, but the Alpha-Lantern batteries in people’s chest were also spooky. Boodikka’s face unmasked was reminiscent of some old sci-fi horror movies, while the color work on the batteries made the pages look like they were shining. The mid-book splash page with the hand is worth a long slow perusal as well.
The writing was a lot of fun and the sorts of emotions the issue inspired felt a lot like the tension release at the end of Lords of the Rings or Book Seven of the Harry Potter series. I’m not saying anything that big is going on, but Bedard hit almost all the right notes to make this a very heroic and dangerous ending for the arc, one that required so much from the heroes to ultimately put up the necessary fight. Another interesting choice for Bedard was having Boodikka narrate. I don’t know Boodikka from Adam, but I didn’t need to. Bedard correctly picked the character who (a) hurt the most, (b) had the most at stake and (c) underwent change. The choice worked for this book and added an emotional multiplier to the story.
What’s Not So Good: Syaf and crew were great at the tech and the aliens, but had a bit more trouble on the human and humanoid figures. The faces often looked a bit plastic or rubbery, and sometimes they didn’t get the perspective or poses right. This is a bit surprising, considering how well the texturing worked on Ganthet and Hannu. This was a turn off at a couple of points and ultimately detracted from the comic as a whole. Check out the poses and realism of the clothing and faces in Boodikka and Cyborg-Superman near the end.
I did have one plot quibble that hopefully doesn’t sink this story: If Cyborg-Superman wants to become mortal and die, and the Green Lantern Corps is going to try to get him off Grenda, is the whole conflict a little false? Couldn’t the heroes have sat back in their chairs and let Ganthet perform the operation that would have allowed Cyborg-Superman to die? Not sure I understood that. Bedard patched this up with a precipitously bad timing on the heroes’ part, but the story might have worked better if Ganthet had not figured out a way to make Alpha-Lanterns alive again, thus making the big fight at the end more necessary.
Conclusion: This ending felt right and satisfying. My plot and art quibbles do not change my recommendation for you to go out and buy the issue if you love the Green Lantern mythos.
Grade: B-
-DS Arsenault
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