Green Lantern: New Guardians #29 – Review

By:  Justin Jordan (writer), Brad Walker (penciler), Andrew Hennessy with Brad Walker (inkers), Wil Quintana with Hi-Fi (colors)

The Story: They say you should never argue with people about religion or politics. Kyle Rayner argues both and does so exclusively with gorgeous superpowered women. Because Kyle Rayner.

The Review: In recent months Green Lantern: New Guardians has become the DC Universe’s answer to Star Trek, exploring strange new worlds, seeking out new characters and new civilizations, going where the New 52 has never gone before. Last month we were introduced to the Light and the Fire, a cult of interstellar evangelists preaching the gospel of a familiar deity.

Fans of Marv Wolfman’s New Teen Titans will be more than familiar with Starfire’s cries of “X’HAL!” and followers of the series will remember the character’s appearance in the title’s third year. While it might be fun to pit the Tamaranean goddess against the White Lantern, Justin Jordan has other plans for this meeting. When Kyle demands proof that X’Hal has Kalosa’s best interests at heart, the issue becomes a meditation on divinity and what it means.

The tricks that Jordan employs in endearing X’hal to the readers are not new ones, nor subtle ones, but they work pretty well, just the same. Her distant personality and down-to-earth perspective come together nicely and the issue avoids making her seem too good to be true without giving the sense that she and, by extension, her followers are ticking bombs.

Kyle remains eminently reasonable and gets one of the issue’s best lines when he clarifies “I’ve seen gods before. Might have even been one.” Kyle’s personable demeanor and his friendship, or more, with Carol continues to be major draws of the series, but it’s starting to feel like he’s being overshadowed by the fantastic worlds and characters that Jordan keeps introducing.

That worry is hardly unfounded as the titular Godkillers arrive near the end of the issue with a lust for battle and a clever play on X’Hal’s history. While they have all the warning signs of a straw-atheist, the Godkillers’ strange honor is just intriguing enough to avoid the wishy-washy, both sides are wrong/right cliché that often plagues stories about religion. Plus they’re pretty cool.

Brad Walker’s style is sturdy and attractive as ever. All the recurring elements of the series look great, but it’s the Light and the Fire that really stand out this month. X’Hal’s fiery features could easily have looked muddled, but she represents one of the most expressive characters that this series has given us. Her anger, her amusement, her sensuality, her innocence all read clearly, giving a sense of breadth that marks her as divine far better than any fire. Her priestess fares similarly, with the smoldering light behind her eyes amplifying her emotions.

Indeed, Wil Quintana does a great job this issue. The Light and the Fire glow warmly, demonstrating the consideration that Quintana put into the book, while the soft pink atmosphere plays on the dark of Carol’s hair as well as on the cool colors of the Guardians and their auras. It’s actually quite impressive how well he deals with the pale attire of two of the most common subjects, the pair never feeling out of place.

But the glowing contrast of the Godkillers is perhaps his best work. While its nothing new to shine in a Lantern title, Quintana works with the inkers and Walker’s fascinating samurai-eque designs to create a distinctive look that conveys the threat and power of these ultimate humanist heroes.

Walker also continues to use shifting layouts to keep each page exhilarating. While he sticks to fairly simple boxy panels outside of flashbacks, the entire book has an energy about it. There’s never a page where the panels feel default. Even simple slants or uneven edges provide a natural flow.

The Conclusion: New Guardians #29 is a quiet issue, but never a boring one. The script treads familiar ground but frames it from a new enough perspective as to feel fresh and the art follows suite. The use of X’Hal is wonderful and the issue actually does a fine job of reminding us how vague and tautological our definitions of divinity often are.

Green Lantern: New Guardians remains the best cosmic book that DC’s putting out.  Kyle is getting to be a little too much of a reader avatar, but with so many interesting concepts and characters floating around this issue, it’s not hard to understand why.

Grade: B

-Noah Sharma