Ok...Hal's dead, let's drink beer!

Soooooo...I was just reading Green Lantern #82, where Kyle, Guy, John and Alan all
hang out at Warriors and get bombed while telling the newbie lies about how wonderful
Hal was and how much they all looooved him. Well that's not true, actually it was
a pretty nice issue, and I enjoyed the interaction between an awestruck Kyle and the
other ex-Lanterns. See, Kyle is just so darned cute and sweet, and they can't help
themselves. Guy and John are actually sitting in a booth without trying to kill each other! Guy says nice things about Hal! Alan is afraid of his wife! It just gets better and better.

I actually enjoy this premise, and therefore was delighted to come across "Green Lantern: 80-page Giant", which shows both Hal and Kyle on the cover and smaller
inserts of Alan, John and Guy. The idea is mostly the same, all the guys meet at
Warriors and tell stories. A couple of goons are trying to break into the back door
of Warriors so that they can steal the memorabilia, but are scared off by Alan, and
Guy brings in the beer. Except...Kyle isn't there this time, he's fooling around
in space somewhere. So...what to do? Screw Kyle...let's get drunk and play
ping pong! Hee hee. Well, they don't actually say that, but wouldn't it have been
funny if they did? They decide that they don't actually NEED Kyle to justify sitting around and telling war stories, so of course they proceed to do just that.


There are some rather nice short stories, but my all-time favorite is the Warrior
story by none other than Beau Smith and Mitch Byrd. Guy has to go off and save some
hapless natives on Hogarth from the invading Motarians, except that he got caught up
in watching an "A-Team" marathon and forgot to charge his ring. The Hogarth natives
aren't particularly impressed, and keep making snide comments about getting a REAL
Green Lantern, while the Motarians are of course beating the crap out of him.
Nevertheless, in his usual inimitable fashion, Guy manages to come out on top, sans
ring and save the day. Even better, he manages to shred most of his uniform along
the way which is always a treat.

Wouldn't it be nice if DC decided to publish more of these?