Had enough Nightmare fuel yet? As I mentioned last month New Guardians went to a dark place and it looks like this issue will continue that theme. Which leads us as readers to ask who are the Psions? One thing is for sure, they seem to take after Saw in terms of their torture methods. Minus the sick “game” aspect of course. What horrors remain hidden in the darkness for Kyle, Carol, and the remaining Guardians to discover. Well let’s just say that it only gets more sadistic with a dash of sorrow. Enough with idle chit chat, let’s open page one already.

The issue itself opens up where it left off last month, the reuniting of Carol and Kyle. Kyle gives a brief description to Carol on what exactly happened to him after the New Guardians annual. I did enjoy Brad Walker having Kyle basically shrug in comedic fashion while he asked Carol of he was going to slap him. Jordan waste no time and boom Carol goes in for lip lock, making Hal fans cringe.

The kiss itself as rendered by Walker is well done, I love that he has Carol making the first move. Giving all her love, with Kyle still shocked as ever. His own arms can’t even comprehend what to do as he is being kissed by his new love interest. With that their banter is back just as it has been for the past year. Carol and Kyle then proceed further into the ship, unaware of what they might encounter.

Jordan shifts the focus back to the New Guardians, where they are currently captured. I do love how Walker depicts the evolution of said torture with each Guardian given one panel, and as you progress through the page the Guardian changes, but torture becomes worse and worse. It gives the impression that this is happening to all the Guardians at once, without having to show each Guardian go through it the exact same thing.

Now Jordan gives us the first look of the Psions and their grotesque forms. They look connected to the ship itself but they are a tad bit of a let down considering the horrors that were shown last issue. The bigger deal here is that these Psions are connected to Guardians somehow as this unnamed Psion proclaims this Guardian as creator.

Mysteries wrapped in mysteries I tell thee.

We rejoin Carol and Kyle who have seem to have stumbled upon a vast array of tubes. Perhaps they found the true hiding place of the internet. All kidding aside, Carol and Kyle discover the horrors within this tubes. They appear to be twisted experiments and Walker doesn’t hold back on the twisted. Just pour on the nightmare fuel guys, I didn’t need to sleep tonight at all. This enrages Carol, but Kyle is able to reason with her.

Carol’s outburst feels a tad bit out of character. She’s always been one who’s been more levelheaded, and I understand what she saw was traumatizing, but the fact that her acts could kill the beings she is trying to help. Hopefully Jordan will stop making at unrational less and less as time goes on.

Cutting back to Guardian imprisonment, Jordan delves into the tragic origin of the Psions. This is your classic tragedy origin, as the Psions were simple beings who were experiments of the old Guardians. Due to their imperfection they became confused and used the tools that the old Guardians left behind to “perfect themselves.” You can’t help but feel something for the Psions.

Not absolving them, but it’s hard to hate something when they are end of a deranged game.

The issue itself wraps up with Carol and Kyle stumbling upon the seeming dead body of Quaros. For a DC comic this pretty graphic, which I’m not against it’s just a bit shocking to see something this brutal see the printed page. Kyle gives into rage, and demands for this game to end. Leading to an gruesome Psion to rear it’s ugly head. Ending this issue.

The issue itself was another solid one in this long run for the New Guardians. It was all over the place in terms of emotion but it never took this reviewer out of the story. While there some problems they were minor at best and didn’t hinder the enjoyment of the issue,

Green Lantern New Guardians earns a 3/5

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