Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Green Lantern #21
DC Comics
Venditti, Tan & Friend
Following up Geoff Johns is impossible. Not only because of the epic run but the issue that ended the run was definitely the end. That's why it's jarring when the very next issue features the breakup of Hal and Carol and the resignation of the new guardians. This comic is trying too hard to make the new set of rules for the next run instead of simply focusing on telling a great story.
The comic book gives us five pages of a battle then jumps to three pages of Hal and Carol breaking up then hops to three pages of the guardians leaving then zooms over to Hal being insubordinate until it ends with a couple of pages of the battle that started the issue. The flow of the book reads like an outline of an entire arc. Each transition left me thinking there was a page or panel missed. Hal ending the Carol discussion with something like, "duty calls" is awful.
The comic book is all over the place and never really establishes anything other than an invasion that isn't defined and changing the general status quo for future issues. There is something to be said for moving an issue along but this is dumping a lot of changes in a small amount of space with little reconciliation.
The aspect of the book that works is that this book action and character definition. The book might not make a lot of sense but at least it tries to make some new direction work immediately. The comic isn't boring.
The artwork struggles in this comic. One of the staples of this series has been the bright and vibrant coloring and that helps this book immensely. The pencils aren't too consistent and some of the characters look a little off page to page and panel to panel but the coloring covers up a lot of the oddities in the pencils and inks.
I expect to see a drop off in quality with the departure of Johns, but this is too much. I can't see sticking with this title much longer with issues like this one. I wasn't a fan of Hal's Earth life but cutting off Carol after all the growth just doesn't make any sense. And axing the guardians so quickly is a really odd first issue choice. The battle and the prospect of a new villain leaves me hopeful that the next issue improves.
2 out of 5 Geek Goggles
