DCU Comic Book Reviews

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #20

RingQuest, Part One

March 2008

Written by Peter Tomasi

Pencils by Patrick Gleason and Carlos Magno

Inks by Prentis Rollins, Tom Nguyen, Drew Geraci, Rodney Ramos, Rebecca Buchman

Cover by Andy Kubert

Synopsis

On Oa, the Guardians keep track of the green and yellow power rings as they head for their new owners.  On Debstram IV, Mongul instructs his yellow ring on its powers and limitations.  On Earth, Kyle Rayner and Guy Gardner contemplate their futures. They decide to leave Earth and live permanently on Oa.  Guy also decides to open his bar Warriors on Oa, as well.  Elsewhere, the Guardians lose track of the yellow power rings.  Meanwhile, Mongul decides to follow the yellow rings to the source and then everyone will await his mercy.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Well, ain’t that a bitch.  Just as the story of Mongul and the yellow rings gets interesting, it seems we’ll have to wait until issue #23 before we get to see more of it.  In the meantime, we will get more of the Alpha Lantern story, which was first started in Green Lantern, issue #26.  I must cry foul for DC to tease the reader with two issues of Mongul and then go away to do another story.  This is annoying.  It is annoying when it is done in order to wait for a particular penciller or art team because they are slow.  But, here, when the delay has less to do with who is working on those issues and more to do with the stories the editor wants to tell, it is extremely annoying. 

Okay, bad scheduling aside, this was an enjoyable issue, highlighted by the growing relationship between Kyle and Guy.  Tomasi strikes the right balance with comedy (loved the scene with Salaak) and seriousness (Guy looking in on Ice was nice) as well as camaraderie of two men who have been to war with each other.  This is a good thing, because I am beginning to think that Kyle and Guy will become the focus of this book for awhile.  In fact, I really wouldn’t mind seeing these two get their own book so this one could focus on other members of the Corps. 

The switch fro Magno, who drew the first half, to Gleason, who drew the second half, is very abrupt and very obvious.  It was probably to a good idea to have both of them drawing Guy on back-to-back pages; to me, the difference was noticeable.