So to rest of the universe, Kyle Rayner is dead from his brave sacrifice from the Green Lantern annual. However as the reader knows, Kyle is in fact alive but his “return” is a secret. Now Kyle is separated from the rest of the corps with no idea what Hal is up to or what’s going in the rest of the universe. So the question is, where does Justin Jordan take Kyle next? With out a doubt the reservoir of light will still play a factor and the potential romance of Carol and Kyle should be interesting read. So without any further ado, let’s open page one and find out shall we.
The issue opens up between a meeting between Carol and the Zamarons after Hal made proclamation from Green Lantern #25. The opening page while doing it’s job of explaining exposition it’s done within an organic conversation. Carol comes off as a real person describing what the Star Sapphires should do next. Walkers art in this first page adds to the nicely done exposition page, as mainly due to Carol’s suggested movements. It’s the small details that go a long way.
Carol is quickly joined (to her surprise) by Kyle on an unknown planet. Here the reader is given it’s a legitimate conversation between Carol and Kyle. The conversation feels natural as two friends are reunited after a tragic event. Plus being able to connect readers with two characters even further while also furthering the plot along is an added bonus. Walkers facial expressions here shine the best as he is able to display how the characters are feeling even if you took out the word balloons.
So now we are introduced to the crux of the actual issue itself. Kyle and The Guardians have landed on the planet Exuras, which appears to be paradise. Walker’s impressive double page spread of what to be the main central city of Exuras.The design is quite nice as it has the feeling of giant tents weaved together as one, it fits with the overall theme of this issue.
As some of The Guardians go off, Carol and Kyle are left alone with one of the Guardians who remained behind as they discuss and in doing so set the direction for what the book will be about going forward. It boils down to the Guardians believing that they must find the answers about the emotional spectrum and the Green Lantern Corps is not the solution and there is a better way. So this sets up for Kyle’s “mission” against what Hal is doing on in his title.
Which has led them all to Exuras because it’s perfect and since nothing can be perfect, paranoid Kyle and company decide to investigate and man are they the worst investigators and that’s not a fault against the issue it’s just something that I found pretty funny. So using his White Lantern abilities Kyle detects fear and anger coming from the central area. This felt a little bit like Star Trek and it’s refreshing to see other alien races being introduced into the universe and exploring their cultures.
Kyle is taken inside and shown how the people of Exuras have paid a terrible price for their utopia. It’s such an original concept that I don’t believe I’ve seen done. Even though the Green Lantern books take place in space the tone for most of these books are more super hero oriented which again isn’t a bad thing but the added sci-fi element of different realities and misunderstanding alien cultures. Hopefully this tone will stick around as the series progresses into 2014.
So with all that Kyle is presented, he still disagree’s with what is being done but before some aliens from the same planet but on a different time line have shown up, proclaiming they want their future back. So overall this issue was a good read. It has a nice character development between Kyle and Carol, combined with new direction and tone for this book. Walker continues to impress with each issue, while he didn’t start off mediocre but it’s nice to see an artist start from being a good artist to becoming a great artist. Keep your eyes on Brad Walker folks.
Green Lantern New Guardians receives a 4/5
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