Review For GLC #43

Last month's issue of the Green Lantern Corps left quite a few readers miffed. In the final pages of that issue, we saw Kyle Rayner (known by the Corps as The Torch Bearer due to his carrying the Green Lantern mantle alone during the duration of the late 90's and early 2000's prior to Geoff Johns rebooting the franchise in 2005) sacrifice himself defending the planet Oa's Central Power Battery. As it was under attack by a hefty legion of Black Lanterns, he managed to decimate a good majority of them with his final actions. The final page of the issue showed Rayner's ring flying from his finger off into space to a lay over destination. (Typically, when GL's pass, their rings immediately seek out replacement bearers. Due to the events of The Blackest Night and the Green Lantern Corps' inability to train new recruits in the face of war however, all rings from the deceased are being sent to the planet Mogo to hibernate until the crisis is over.)

In the opening pages of issue 43, we find Rayner's current flame Soranik Natu as well as best friend and GLC's very own tough skinned rebel Guy Gardner attempting to retain the ring from flying off to Mogo while simultaneously fending off an oncoming black ring from placing itself onto Kyle's lifeless hand. Natu, a surgeon on her homeworld attempts to revive the deceased while Gardner, already known throughout the Corps for not having the most level head in his earlier days, goes into a grief triggered rage. In the midst of this, Guy becomes unwillingly indoctrinated into the Red Lantern Corps and proceeds to tear apart more Black Lanterns in his rage.

The final scene in the book sees the arrival of a Star Sapphire who initiates one of the hokiest resurrections ever conceived in the history of comics.

While I've been a fan and out spoken supporter of the ongoing Blackest Night saga, I've also been able to admit that there's a high level of absurdity to the entire debacle. We're talking about undead individuals rising up and feeding off of the emotions of their loved ones before physically ripping out their hearts. The premise in itself isn't the most original, but the high end writing courtesy of both Geoff Johns in the main title as well as the GL title and Peter Tomasi in the GLC title has kept this a series to stay excited about. In GLC 43 however, Tomasi fumbles the ball big time.

What should have been a very meaningful death for a seminal character in the DCU pantheon last issue seems like it was nothing more then a cheap plot device to allow Guy Gardner the avenue to defect to another team. While I've enjoyed the color spectrum of the different Lantern Corps over the last several story lines leading up to The Blackest Night, I can't help feeling that I'm seeing something of a Power Rangers syndrome occurring ever so slightly. Even the speculation of a White Lantern showing up within this series to help tie up the resolution smacks of Saban. While I'm positive Johns in his master plan wasn't attempting to ape a Japanese derived children's show, the similarities are too up front and present to ignore. At the least, can I hope to add a Red Lantern Guy Gardner to my toy collection in the near future?

Having Kyle Rayner pass on in the line of duty was noble. His death was reminiscent of Kara Zor El (the Supergirl of Earth One)'s passing in Crisis On Infinite Earths and Connor Kent (Superboy)'s death in Infinite Crisis. Sure, the internet lit up with fans of Rayner outraged - but to be sure, his passing meant something. His return in this issue felt cheap and further emphasized the idea that this was simply a plot device for Gardner's defection. While I as a Kyle fan am quite happy to see he's now amongst the living and won't be joining the Black Lanterns, it would have been nice to leave the pot on the stove to simmer for a bit longer. In a year's time when this story arc is collected into a trade, folks reading it will find it anti-climatic and undercooked in both plot and execution.

While this particular issue isn't enough to spoil my enjoyment of the overall Blackest Night event, it certainly places a sour note into the overall pace and flow of the story. I hope Tomasi spins quite the yarn around Guy Gardner as Red Lantern considering the cheap tactics he's utilized to get the story to this particular plot point. Again with the action figure, DC Direct could just the sculpt of their previous Gardner figure and give it a new paint job to reflect his new (albeit temporary) color alliance. A mediocre story and the potential for a neat toy - I suppose the trade offs justify the means eh?

Issue Grade: C+