Take a look yourself for one second. Yes I am talking to you reading this right now. You have something buried deep inside you, something that you don’t want to acknowledge or accept. It’s okay we all have something we store deep inside so that we can continue to function normally. That being said bottling up problems can only lead to problems later and potentially worse. Like a dam waiting to burst. For a super powered individual like Kyle Rayner, bottling up emotions could lead to something far worse. How much worse do you ask? Plus what exactly does all this have to do with Kyle’s brief period in the Source Wall? Well let’s open up this bag of emotions and find out.
Classic Kyle fans will love the opening scene, as it briefly takes our protagonist back to artist roots. It’s a breath of fresh air from all the space adventure stuff. At least that’s what it appears to be. The rug is quickly pulled as it looks like something happened to Kyle since the last issue of New Guardians and something is amiss. It’s certainly a bold choice to open up the annual in this fashion, but if anything it should keep readers chugging along for the rid.
Carol herself has returned to Ferris HQ and in a fun comedy bit she is chewed out by her underlings over her missing for unseen amounts of time. Jordan showing that he understands who Carol is and what’s she’s been through has her lay down the law. It’s a bit of a tone shift from the previous two pages, but it’s not to jarring.
Stephen Segovia joins the group for the annual and it’s rendering of how the characters body language and their facial expressions. He captures the mood perfectly. More on Segovia as the issue progresses.
Carol learning that something is amiss in New York City finds Kyle in his current state. Carol being the woman who she is realizes that something is wrong and that this isn’t Kyle at all! It’s somebody else with a black costume. This certainly raised an eyebrow and it adds to the mystery of who or this person actually is.
Looks like Segovia gets a chance to draw space sharks as the scene shifts to the real Kyle and the New Guardians. Segovia sure added a rows and rows of teeth for these space sharks and it looks awesome and it makes them more menacing. Jordan and Segovia introduce space squids.
Segovia’s Kyle is rich with detail and it looks like he gained a few muscles over the past two weeks as well. All joking aside Segovia renders a fantastic Kyle, hopefully he’ll come back for more.
Kyle returns only to see how wrong things have become and he runs into Carol. For some reason Kyle appears to be disappearing and after months of teasing Carol brings Kyle back. With a beautifully rendered passionate kiss between the two. The moment isn’t forced and it’s a perfect blow off of months of sexual tension between the too.Plus the mixing of the white and violet lights is a nice touch, symbolizing the love between the two.
Kyle finally comes into contact with this unknown assailant along with odd looking doubles of people in Kyle’s life. The fight itself is a decent battle but this fight comes off as more a battle of the soul for who Kyle is. A question he’s been asking since he came out of the Source Wall.
Kyle’s evil twin turns into a Venom inspired design and the battle resumes. Kyle realizes that this is his darkness and doubts in physical form. See what I meant about bottling stuff up? In perhaps the most shocking aspect of the issue Kyle manages to recreate the Source Wall and surrounds his home town.
It’s fantastic double page spread and seeing the facial expressions that Segovia went with making the image haunting. It’s truly a sight to be held.
Kyle realizes that he has to stop fighting to stop this now named Oblivion. In true Kyle fashion, he finds another way to resolve a conflict other than his ring or fist. True to this current iteration of the character. We learn that Kyle changed operating codes for the Source Wall without realizing it. All of this adds a whole new dimension to what Kyle can do or what he will do? It leaves the reader with so many questions, but in a great way.
After Kyle surrenders the Source Wall along Kyle and Oblivion vanished with no answer or hint to where they went. Leaving love struck Carol Ferris alone once again, with Kyle gone.
This was an amazing annual and while it didn’t answer everything and really gave us more questions it still was a sold story from start to finish. The only complaint I have is the artist change near the end of the issue, and it’s noticeable. It’s not terrible art but it’s different enough from Segovia’s that it took me out of the story just bit during a critical moment. Other than that, another winner for the Green Lantern crew.
Green Lantern New Guardians Annual #2 earns a 4/5
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