By: Tony Bedard (writer), Tyler Kirkman (artist), Batt (inker), Nei Ruffino (colors)
The Story: The Weaponer, Part Three: The Weaponer of Qward makes cornmeal out of five Green Lanterns. Also, Ganthet pukes up Atrocitus blood, sparking a secret revelation!
What’s Good: Visually, Kirkman and Batt have really hit their stride. I loved the art in this issue. The human figures were heroic, realistically, yet dynamically posed, and textured as if they were made of skin and as if their clothes were made of cloth. Dirt and grime and scratches abounded, giving a real tactile sense to the art. The non-human figures (Ganthet and Hannu mainly) were really well done. The draftsmanship and detail made both come alive. I especially loved the level of detail on Hannu. The super effects (green lantern constructs, the rings, the life energy used by the Weaponer to smush all comers, fire) and tech (guns, knives, lightning weapons) jumped off the page. Ruffino’s colors complemented all efforts. Key message: This is a strong visual issue.
Writing wise, what’s to worry about? Our heroes have a rescue mission, an unbeatable foe, and even a secret revelation! The events in the book happen fast and furious and Ganthet’s revelation, although verbose, is fun to follow, and ratchets up the tension, not only here, but in the Green Lantern main series (if you didn’t catch it last week, Kronos, the original half-sized bad guy who created all of our Crises on Infinite Earths, the Anti-Monitor, etc), and presumably in the Brightest Day maxi-series as well. The final double-splash page conclusion to the story was a bit predictable, but fun all the same.
What’s Not So Good: There ain’t much to complain about in this issue and after enjoying this read, I’m not inclined to dig!
Conclusion: Run out and buy this. I was waffling a bit a few issues ago on whether I should keep Green Lantern Corps on my pull list, but if the new creative team can keep this kind of quality up, I’ll sign on for another bunch of issues.
Grade: A-
-DS Arsenault
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Conclusion