Green Lanterns #8 *Preview/Spoilers*

[Hypo Lil' Leaguer Find all posts View Profile Close Hypo]

Green Lanterns #8 Preview
Writer: Sam Humphries
Artist: Ed Benes

[W.West Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close W.West]

Issue out. Poll Added. Review here!

[Mister Ed Horse of a Different Color Find all posts View Profile Close Mister Ed]

Well that was a big disappointment. So the big reveal about the Phantom Ring is that...it works exactly the same as every ring ever until they retconned it just now?

Even Johns' retcons of how the rings worked never said that the rings HAD to choose you, and we have TONS of RECENT examples of people using rings of all kinds of colors without said rings having specifically chosen them. So the "innovation" here is something that was common to all rings until they told us in THIS ISSUE that it was an innovation.

(OK, so it supposedly can use all colors, too. Like the White Lantern ring that already exists...)

There are two types of retcons, broadly speaking. There are the ones where you reveal that something is different than even the people in the comic thought it was, and explain how that could be (think Rebirth's explanation of the yellow weakness...whatever you think of how effective or desirable that was, it was definitely of the "secret knowledge revealed now to the characters" type). And there are the ones where you change something, don't explain it, and just have all the characters in the story act as if it was always that way.

Only one of these types works as a big reveal...and it isn't the type that they used here.

[jhpace1 Green Lantern Initiate Find all posts View Profile Close jhpace1]

Well that was a big disappointment. So the big reveal about the Phantom Ring is that...it works exactly the same as every ring ever until they retconned it just now?

Even Johns' retcons of how the rings worked never said that the rings HAD to choose you, and we have TONS of RECENT examples of people using rings of all kinds of colors without said rings having specifically chosen them. So the "innovation" here is something that was common to all rings until they told us in THIS ISSUE that it was an innovation.

(OK, so it supposedly can use all colors, too. Like the White Lantern ring that already exists...)

There are two types of retcons, broadly speaking. There are the ones where you reveal that something is different than even the people in the comic thought it was, and explain how that could be (think Rebirth's explanation of the yellow weakness...whatever you think of how effective or desirable that was, it was definitely of the "secret knowledge revealed now to the characters" type). And there are the ones where you change something, don't explain it, and just have all the characters in the story act as if it was always that way.

Only one of these types works as a big reveal...and it isn't the type that they used here.

You took the words right out of my mouth, Mister Ed. This is the best the writers could come up with? After "Emerald Vision" and "The Miracle Worker", now we get another exception to the rules?

Oh, and the guy in the truck with the M-16/4, backpack, and saying he "deserves" a Phantom Ring? This has shades of Guy Gardner Reborn all over it, except with another person. Or clone, if you will.

Three stars, but only because of the Guardian's flashback sequences. The modern-day stuff was not even worth one star. Well, the part about Simon quoting the Book of Oa to the Guardian was interesting. More smarts than I usually give the character.