The cover: One punch is illustrated on this cover from Brad Walker, Drew Hennessey, and Jason Wright. Jessica is delivering a right to Guy Gardner, and after last issue who could blame her? The impact of her fist is easily seen on Guy’s left cheek, and some blood from his mouth is charting the freshman lantern’s swing. I love the look on Guy and Jessica’s faces, but Simon, in the background, is stealing the focus for me. I couldn’t begin to count the number of students I’ve seen with this pose or expression on their face. Funny cover. The Variant cover by Emauela Lupacchino and Michael Atiyeh is the cover I had to purchase because of the clear poses of the four lanterns: Baz, Cruz, Gardner, and Rayner. I just love the way all of these characters look and the colors are just as outstanding. Overall grade: Regular A and Variant A+
The story: This is the conclusion to “Lost in Space” by Sam Humphries and it will determine if Simon and Jessica stay in the corps. The story begins with Simon about to be overwhelmed by several Kyle constructs, created by a grinning Kyle. Simon’s training will continue until he can punch Kyle, so the veteran lantern is doing everything he can to keep Simon from him. Rayner is overwhelming him so that he realizes that brute force won’t work all the time to best a foe, prompting Baz to do something surprising and set him up to take a swing at his instructor. However, Humphries quickly changes scenes to focus on Jessica and Guy, who got punched by the smaller lantern last issue. Guy is rubbing his chin. “Hmph. Pretty much anyone in the galaxy would have run for cover by now. But it takes a lot more’n one swing to take me down, Cruz.” This worries Jessica who says, “Th-That’s now what Batman told me.” Guy surprises her by creating a construct of a massive chainsaw, which has her diving for the ground. He praises her for wanting to be lantern, “Real bad.” But now he’s ready and wants her to try again. Then Humphries moves to a four page flashback on Mars, chronicling how one of the first rings went to a Martian. This leads to a reminder that Volthoom is hiding in plain sight before Ganthet, trying to find a way back home. I like the build that Humphries is doing with this villain. The remaining pages details Simon and Jessica’s struggles, though were their positions as lanterns ever really in doubt? I love seeing lanterns train and love hearing “lost tales” of the Green Lantern Corps. This was incredibly entertaining. Overall grade: A
The art: This issue looks incredible. I love the work by Carlo Barberi, on pencils, and Matt Santorelli, on inks. Right out of the gate, a full paged splash occurs with Simon getting attacked by the Kyle constructs from Rayner. This is followed by a terrific fall atop Page 2, with Simon’s contact with the ground and his pose as he hits a wall great. The two panels at the bottom of the page have Baz sporting a fantastic smile. The start of the third page looks like it’s taken from a martial arts film, since Jessica and Guy are about to spar in a bamboo forest — love it! The size difference on the bottom two panels is also great, with Guy looking massive compared to Jessica, which makes her punch last issue all the better. His creation of the chainsaw on the next page recalls the constructs of lanterns when Joe Staton drew their adventures. The action he makes with the device is awesome and Jessica’s reaction to it is just great. Guy is gloriously cocky looking down at her at the end of the page. The four pages on Mars also look good, but I can’t describe any of the action without spoiling things. The library where Volthoom, disguised as Rami, is searching for the missing rings is fantastic. I would love to see more scenes in this location, but I’m sure illustrating all the books drove the artists up the wall. Simon and Kyle’s battle is great, with a wide variety of constructs employed, while Jessica and Guy’s uses only three constructs to reach a conclusion. She looks amazing on these pages and the setting is great. Page 18 is a full-paged splash showing all the lanterns powering up and it’s incredible. The final page hints at ominous sights for next issue and I’m hoping that Barberi and Santorelli get to illustrate them. I’d pay extra money to have this pair on this title for a long time. Overall grade: A+
The colors: The location where Simon and Kyle are fighting has a wonderful orange color, making everything they create with their rings stand out sharply. In contrast, Jessica and Guy are fighting in a green bamboo forest with a blue sky background. Ulises Arreola makes both of these battles look amazing, with him using every shade of emerald for the forest fight. The Mars scenes start out fairly brightly, with a daytime scene that use some bright shades, but when things turn to the evening the colors go dark on one character making this individual extremely powerful. My favorite pages by Arreola are 9 and 10 which feature some incredible work with browns and greens: it’s magical. Overall grade: A+
The letters: Dialogue, yells, the story’s title, the book’s credits, scene settings, sounds, Martian speech, ring speech, Volthoom narration, computer text, a familiar oath, the announcement of a new location, and the tease for next issue all hail from Dave Sharpe. The yells on this book continue to be the best in the business with several different fonts used to show the degree in which a character bellows. Sounds are also incredibly strong and the scene settings looking as though they originated from space. What can’t Sharpe do? Overall grade: A+
The final line: The outcome of this issue is never in doubt, but it’s extremely entertaining getting there. The story is fun, the art amazing, and the teases of impending peril delicious. A perfect Green Lanterns read. Overall grade: A
To purchase a digital copy go to https://www.comixology.com/Green-Lanterns-2016-24/digital-comic/505038?ref=c2VhcmNoL2luZGV4L2Rlc2t0b3Avc2xpZGVyTGlzdC90b3BSZXN1bHRzU2xpZGVy
Share this:
