By: Tony Bedard (writer), Tyler Kirkham (penciller), Batt with Rob Hunter (inkers), Nei Ruffino (colorist)
The Story: What do Ganthet and Aquaman have in common? On the one hand…
The Review: Sometimes you’ll hear in these reviews that so-and-so’s dialogue sounds “forced” or “unnatural,” and you may wonder exactly what we mean. Well, I can only speak for myself, but in fiction, you don’t really expect true-to-life dialogue, but it has to be believable—it can’t be so emotional or expository or stylized (all fictional conventions) that it takes you out of the story. Writing dialogue or narration for comics, as you can imagine, requires some skill.
Bedard’s no hack, but as he’s shown over on R.E.B.E.L.S., his dialogue tends to be more in-your-face, thrusting the facts and exactly what the characters are feeling right at you. This makes for very broad, highly charged kind of voices, which work well with really bold characters (say Lobo or Vril Dox), but comes off melodramatic with more centered personalities.
While it’s true outside forces influence some of Kyle Rayner and John Stewart’s behavior this issue, you still can’t escape how cheesy and caricaturized their confrontation sounds. It’s as if Bedard spins what they say from a summation of their lives (John’s a military architect who lost his wife and planet at the same time; Kyle’s an artistic romantic with a lot of dead girlfriends), which is a very narrow way to portray anybody.
And so the big face-off between John and Kyle, which has been a much-touted feature of this event, seems thrown together because Bedard needs it to happen. After all, Kyle’s narration paints their relationship as mutually respectful, if not even friendly. And most of their fighting words, though rough, come more out of Parallax-induced overreacting than any real animosity between the Lanterns. To take the incident so personally seems suddenly petty for these usually levelheaded characters.
One thing that must be pointed out is how stilted Rayner’s narration comes across this issue, especially in that opening monologue. For a guy who for a long time felt himself unworthy as a Lantern, he suddenly thinks pretty highly of himself (“Ganthet placed his hopes in me, and his gamble paid off big.”). Being Ion and the Corps torchbearer must have finally convinced him he’s all that. It’s a wildly out-of-character take on him.
But at least Ganthet gets some great moments to show just why he’s our favorite Guardian. His resistance of Parallax’s influence and his forced breakup of John and Kyle’s brawl show he has the most spirit of all those midget immortals. You can always count on Bedard to get at least one character right, and Ganthet seems to be that one for this title.
Kirkham delivers some lively, energetic art, especially in the design of energy constructs, but you’ll soon notice how he shies away from drama. He doesn’t really place much expression on the character’s faces, preferring to shadow their eyes to indicate darkening moods. Corps may be pretty much an action title, but he should step up his game for the rare emotional moments.
Conclusion: Some really weak dialogue and narration drags down the enjoyment of this issue, as you soon realize that most of the good stuff is going on over in the main Green Lantern title.
Grade: C+
– Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: – I can’t help making the connection between Ganthet this issue and Yoda in Star Wars II.
– “I can hardly wait to crush this renegade Guardian so Ganthet will stop mewling about him…” Wow, Hannu—from respect to all-out ranking on your immortal superior. Well done, Sir.
Grade
Conclusion