Green Lantern New Guardians Vol. 1: The Ring Bearer (The New 52)
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| "Why can't we be friends, Why can't we be friends..." |
Writer: Tony
Beddard
Artists: Tyler
Kirkham and Batt
Collects: Green Lantern New Guardians #1-7
Background
Information:
One of the biggest elements that Geoff Johns has added to
the Green Lantern mythos is the existence
of lanterns of all the colours of the rainbow. All of these colours have
different emotional attachments. Green Lanterns harness the light of Will. The
Sinestro Corps use the yellow light of fear. Rage is the source of the Red
Lanterns’ abilities. Blue Lanterns get their power from Hope. Agent Orange,
wields the light of Avarice. The Star Sapphires fight with the violet light of
Love (point- sapphires are blue, not violet). And the Indigo Tribe’s owe their
abilities to Compassion. These different groups don’t typically play nice
together.
Why am I mentioning Geoff Johns in a review of a Tony
Beddard book? You’ll see.
Review:
So New Guardians tells
the story of the fourth Earth lantern, Kyle Rayner. Kyle is an artist, which
makes him pretty well suited to a power that utilises his imagination. Unlike
the other Green Lanterns, however, Kyle has actually felt a range of emotions
outside of will. In the old DC universe, Kyle felt fear when he found his
girlfriend dismembered and left in his fridge. He felt love multiple times as
the Green Lantern Corps’ resident player (he’s had multiple girlfriends over
time).
While nothing’s specifically mentioned about these emotions
in The Ring Bearer, that may be part
of the reason that rings from every lantern group in the universe suddenly pick
him as their bearer. This has the dual effect of irritating the Guardians, the
official bosses of the Green Lantern Corps, and irritating every single other
Lantern out there. So Kyle finds himself on the bad side of the Red Lanterns, Sinestro
Corps, Indigo Tribesmen and Star Sapphire, who each send their own
representative to take out Kyle and retrieve the rings. The only one who is
really on Kyle’s side is the Blue Lantern Saint Walker, but he’s still after
his corps’ lost ring.
Somehow, this all results in a grudging team-up between
these multi-coloured lanterns. Grudging team-ups have happened before; take
Geoff Johns’ Justice League for
example. The difference here, though, is that it works better than Johns’
attempts did. These New Guardians have a genuine reason for not liking each
other- their emotional spectrums are so at odds with each other. The Sinestro
Corps Arkillo, for example, distrusts Saint Walker because hope is naturally at
odd with fear. Where Beddard succeeds, however, is finding meaningful ways for
the characters to grow and reconcile their differences. It’s a great way for
the characters to truly grow and New Guardians feels a better book because of
it.
My only real complaint with the story here is that it feels
less connected to the other two Green Lantern books than Green Lantern or Green
Lantern Corps. In these books, it becomes clear that the Guardians are up
to something no good, and that becomes the real thrust of the two titles. In The Ring Bearers, the corruption of the
Guardians is hinted at, but never really utilised.
That said, the story is still fun to read. The New Guardians
travel to exotic locations and meet and fight a variety of alien life. There’s
an underlying conspiracy here, even if it seems less drastic than the one in
the other two Green Lantern books.
And yes, there’s plenty of great, ring-slinging action. Being an artist, Kyle’s
projections tend to be more interesting than most, and Beddard takes full
advantage of this. Early on, Kyle saves a falling crane by using constructs
shaped as giant construction workers. It constructs like these that really help
New Guardians to stand out against
other Lantern books.
Art here is distinctive from other Lantern books, but not
really distinctive from other New 52 titles. That sounds confusing, but let me
explain. In Green Lantern, Green Lantern
Corps and Red Lanterns most of
the colours tend to be limited to shades of red or green. That’s fine, but
eventually it becomes a bit monotonous. We're still, though, getting a lot of Jim Lee-esque work here. New
Guardians stands out because its story allows the for a wider colour palette,
and it looks bright, fun and just plain wonderous. My one problem with the art
is the handling of Star Sapphire Fatality. Granted, she shows less skin than
other Star Sapphires, but artist Tyler Kirkham crops her head out of at least
two panels, allowing the reader to see only her breasts. At one point, you’ll
even find yourself thinking “Um, why is her cleavage talking? Oh, because we
can’t see her head!”
The Ring Bearers
is a great utilisation of Kyle’s character as a vehicle for storytelling, but
it’s a shame that it doesn’t really connect to the other two Green Lantern books as well as it could
have. It gets a three and a half out of five talking cleavages.
*** ½
+ Characters are excellently utilised
+ Action is genuinely fun to read
- Doesn’t connect as well to other Green Lantern titles
- Fatality’s is too sexualised.
Alternate Option: Green Lantern: Sinestro
No Lantern book feels as significant to the franchise mythos
than Geoff Johns’ work in the new 52- definitely worth your time.
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