Green Lantern: New Guardians #1
One of the hardest things DC’s relaunch has had to deal with is the issue of past continuity. Some books have just thrown you into already-running storylines (Green Lantern) or expected you to pick up twenty or thirty characters you’ve never heard of without much of an introduction at all (Legion Lost), while others (Superboy) have given you whole new origin stories, essentially resetting the entire character. And, at least for me, it’s always been better to err on the side of the reset – pretending we know the character in question is presumptuous enough when you’re relaunching 52 titles, but pretending like your entire audience will know the storyline you’re continuing? Well that just seems like arrogance. Green Lantern: New Guardians, which stars Kyle Rayner, hedges its bets, opening with an extended origin story for Rayner, but don’t be fooled – it’s very much a continuation of the ongoing plot from the last few years of Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps comics.
Writer Tony Bedard opens with a 7 page origin for Rayner – an origin that is sure to confuse new readers who saw that the Guardians are alive and well in Green Lantern – before jumping into his stor — oh, wait, sorry, before jumping into a five-page prequel to his story that introduces the main idea: for whatever reason, rings from every lantern corps all over the galaxy have decided that Green Lantern Kyle Rayner should be wearing them, abandoning their current bearers in often fatal situations and rushing to Earth.
It’s a neat concept, and one that artist Tyler Kirkham – who gets to draw some of the truly bizarre alien races common in the DC Universe – seems to have fun with. But it’s also a concept that requires a great deal of explanation beforehand, and I don’t think Bedard does a great job setting it up. New readers have reason to be confused at almost every turn, while experienced readers are sure to be put off by the extended, clumsy reintroduction of Kyle.
While flawed, the book has its memorable moments. The detailed, cartoonish creations of Kyle’s ring – from the caricature of Ganthet to the burly, giant green construction workers who help save some pedestrians on the streets of NYC – are joyously drawn, and Bedard seems to have a good handle on Kyle’s character. With a little time to grow, Bedard and Kirkham could move past their missteps in this opening issue and have a genuinely fun book on their hands. They have a solid hook, an interesting lead and an enjoyable artist: now they need to work on the rest of it.
I am an unabashed Kyle fan and this book put a big smile on my face. I didn’t mind the reintroduction really. On the one hand, I liked the old origin where Kyle got thrown into the deep end by Ganthet with no coaching whatsoever. On the other hand, this was a bit more dignified than, “You’ll have to do.” The art was strong. I loved the constructs. Kyle sounded like Kyle. For a minute there, it felt like I was reading the old Kyle book! And I loved the moment when all the rings chose Kyle.
I am not remotely unbiased, but I loved this book. Whatever flaws there may have been did not bother me in the least.
I do wonder if you’re giving new readers enough credit. As a long time reader, it’s impossible for me to say. But I have to think anyone with a passing familiarity with the GL concept should be able to pick this up reasonably easily. I doubt there are too many people picking this up without the necessary background to follow it.
I don’t know, some surprising things can trip up new readers. I’ve been giving my girlfriend some comics lately, and I’m always surprised by what takes her out of the story vs. what she can handle. And Kyle’s backstory here gives JUST enough information to tell you there’s a ton of information here, but it never actually tells you what that information is or why none of it applies anymore. I think it would have been a better issue completely ignoring Kyle’s origin, or doing it in a single page.
As it is, dedicating that much space to something that doesn’t matter at all just cuts into the already slight plot.
Bedard has Kyle’s voice down, and that makes me hopeful, but this was not a great debut.
Adverb’s comments proved you’re not wrong about new readers. Thanks a lot, Adverb! lol You’re also probably right about the origin. It was the wrong length. even as a Kyle fan, I was hoping it would wrap up. I didn’t want Ganthet training Kyle. Part of what was cool about Kyle was he got thrown into the deep end Greatest American Hero style and had to figure it all out himself.
As I said before, I am totally biased. I own that. You get Kyle’s voice right, you treat him with respect, you have won me over. Beddard did those things. That plus pretty art = a great debut for me. I am incapable of seeing past my personal preferences on this one. So it’s probably for the best I didn’t get to write this review!
I expect to write many a rave review about this book in the future though.
GANTHET PLUSHIE CONSTRUCT FTW! Sorry but I burst out laughing at Kyle’s construct of Ganthet. I was a little confused though reading this, especially after reading the last two GL titles. I mean we start off with the Guardians decimated the GL corps decimated and apparently seeing Kyle’s start as a GL and as the ONLY GL out there (a storyline I never read). But there is no time indicator on just how long ago that part happened! I was thinking it was meant to be present time which put in a lot of confusing questions until we suddenly got to “The Present Day”.
Besides that starting confusion though I enjoyed this issue mostly and want to see what comes next. Other points of confusion: why the rings didn’t just jump on Kyle’s hand (though his reaction was great) and why the rings were being detected as “stolen” when all the Lanterns they came from were announced as “decommissioned”.
You are right though and if I didn’t hear enough comments about Kyle’s run as the only GL from Lebeau and others on here I’d been completely lost to what was going on at the beginning. As a new GL reader though with little GL based background outside of BN, movies, and DCAU I enjoyed the rest of it and didn’t find it confusing after getting past that odd intro bit. But then, I wonder what someone with near to no GL knowledge at all would come off of this feeling.
I did enjoy the issue, Kyle is my favorite GL, but i felt that the issue was too short. It was something that could have been told in 5 pages but was extended to 20. what we have out of this is something that didnt require 3 dollars from me or your or anyone. The entire issue can be summed up in a quick recap.
“Kyle rayner once chosen as the last green lantern, now has deal with why rings of the different corps are leaving their owners and choosing him as their new bearer. “
Yeah. Decompression is a bad thing. Although I do think you could sum up a lot of the relaunch books in a similar fashion. Aquaman, for example, is even less eventful.
I was weirded out that they didn’t establish that the start of the issue was set in the past (yet established “present day” when it switched).
Otherwise, I really, really enjoyed this issue. I had low expectations and it surprised me.
I wonder just how that happened for I was confused too with that. Did they not know just when they wanted that arc of Kyle being the only GL to go on yet and so they didn’t give it a date or did they just not think about it, which means the editor also never thought about it? Either way though they could easily have gone “The past” or something to let us know it wasn’t a recent event if they didn’t know where in the new timeline to put it.
My guess is they didn’t want to define the time frame for Kyle’s career. Which, I get. But some indication that it was not present day would have been useful.
I knew what was going on right away. But I’m a big time Kyle fan. Apparently that was a requirement to understand the opening without a blurb.