Yes, despite the fact that there are no official Green Lantern books out this week, thanks the great people at DC Comics have made a new comic for potential new voices within the comic book community. There is a Kyle Rayner story within this anthology and that will be the focus of this review.

When we discuss lost art forms in today’s current comic book market, it’s the lack of seeing writers being able to tell a complete story within eight pages. A skill that many silver and bronze age writers mastered, but around the 80’s to today decompression has become the norm. For Michael Moreci’s story it’s split further down into two separate stories. Concerning the first half it’s a shame that this coming out the same time that as Sam Humphries’ Phantom Lantern arc as we have a individual who wanted to become a Green Lantern only to realize that won’t happen and becomes a tool of evil. I did enjoy that despite the first person narrative focused on the character N’Thall the art focused on two space explorers, giving this scene a horror tone. I’ll say my problems with once I give my thoughts on the Kyle Rayner portion.

In a complete flip in tone and visuals, the story shifts to both Carol and Kyle fighting off random alien hordes. One of favorite things from New Guardians was Kyle and Carol’s relationship and how effortlessly Justin Jordan wrote their dialog. Michael did a fantastic job of replicating that, with well timed quips and that authentic feeling of love between the two couples. Despite the events of the Omega Men, it’s as if this story picks up right after New Guardians ended. Interesting enough Barnaby Bagenda was on pencils and it baffles me that he’s on this book and not on a main DC title despite having drawn 11 out of the 12 issues of The Omega Men. Despite all that, I felt that Bagenda’s art is slightly cleaner than his previous work, it still retained his unique visual style.

The only problem I had with this story is that is that it’s not a complete story, it does leave it opened ended (especially with Carol’s potential pregnancy) but I would have preferred that had some kinda ending. Moreci has the craft and skill to be a good writer in comics, and despite my criticism I enjoyed his take on Carol and Kyle.

White Lantern: Death Beacons earns a 3/5

Be sure to check out our interview with Michael Moreci