Throughout Blackest Night the Green Lantern Corps title has played mostly a back up position to both the mini-series and Green Lantern. Well, all of that ends with Green Lantern Corps #43, which could be one of the best issues the world of Green Lantern has seen in a while. When I first gazed upon the cover announcing Guy Gardner’s turning into a Red Lantern I was hooked. What I wasn’t prepared for were the other elements brought to life in this issue. This is one of those times in comics where you read the story from cover to cover, pause, and then read it again immediately.
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When last we left our green ringed heroes they had been dealt a grievous blow when Kyle Rayner sacrificed himself to destroy thousands of Black Lanterns. Green Lantern Corps #43 opens with Soranik Natu and Guy Gardner racing to try and save Kyle as his ring flies off to find another worthy bearer. This is where the tension builds mainly because it reveals how callous and cold being a Green Lantern can be. While Kyle’s body is still, warm his ring unceremoniously flies off to find another worth bearer, which is more than Guy can handle. While Natu fights to save Kyle’s life, Guy fights to keep the ring from leaving, crushed at the idea that Kyle’s sacrifice means so little.
Peter J. Tomasi pulls quite a rabbit out of his hat by writing Guy’s transformation into a Red Lantern quickly but without rushing it. In the two pages we see Guy struggle with the death of his friend all of that which has made Guy such a loose cannon comes spilling out until the rage is too much and the red ring takes control of him. Tomasi splits the action up focusing both on Natu trying to save Kyle before the Black Lantern ring takes him over, and Guy basically flipping out. There are some great cheer moments such as the Green Lantern Corps coming to the rescue of Natu as thousands of Black Lantern rings swarm her for Kyle’s body as well as Guy using his untapped rage to rain down vengeance on anybody he can.
Patrick Gleason handles the art and this is some of his finest work to date. The splash page when Guy Gardner turns into a Red Lantern is worth the price of the entire issue alone but that’s just the beginning. The panel where Guy spits red daggers out of his mouth could be the coolest panel all year, same with the last page that, if you’re a Green Lantern fan on any level, will make you cheer out loud.
Gleason also has a mastery of not only making the panels flow together to create real movement in the issue but also layout. The way each page is mixed up, the placement of panels adds an element of action that allows this Green Lantern Corps issue to leap off of the page. Though the resolution of Kyle’s death is a little hokey it doesn’t hurt the over all impact of the issue. I think Green Lantern Corps #43 is going to be a launching pad that pushes this long overshadowed title into the forefront.
