Green Lantern Corps #20

Ok. I have to admit that I giggled all the way through this. YES, Mongul shows up, and he's all dastardly and weird, and seriously demented and all, but I can't help it, I just wanted to read about the Guy and Kyle Roadshow...and it was SPECTACULAR!

Peter Tomasi is writing now, and although I was quite fond of Mr. Gibbons, I think that I may say that our boys are safe in Mr. Tomasi's hands. Pat Gleason has a bit of help in the art detail from Carlos Magno, who is excellent, so I have no complaints about the art. Oh, some of it may have been a little bit rushed here and there, but dammit I don't care.

We begin with the Guardians hanging out, doing whatever it is that they do, and watching the various Green and Yellow rings flying around the Universe. I imagine that it is like watching television for them. Fortunately the action soon swings to Guy and Kyle, each respectively trying to figure out what to DO with their lives, post Sinestro Corps War.


< Guy isn't having much luck with his dart method, at least not on earth, and Kyle keeps flipping through tv channels and finding nothing but Cosmic themes. Each thinks that perhaps someone is trying to tell them something. So Guy calls Kyle, and they decide after a bit of back and forth, to meet up and have beer and Thai food, which sounds like a good plan. Meanwhile, Mongul shows up. He HAS that nice little Yellow ring now, and apparently has nothing BUT time, for when the ring explains that it will take approximately 96 hours to give him all the information he requested, he replies that it's no problem. Mongul is obviously not the sort of person to delegate! Next thing you know, ALL the boys are meeting up at the crumbled remains of "Warriors", which was Guy's old bar, sadly destroyed back in "Rebirth". The BAR! I LOVED the Bar! I MISSED the Bar! Apparently, so did Guy. Hal and John are a bit startled to find out that Guy and Kyle want to move to Oa...on a permanent basis...for a while at least. This slightly confused me, since I thought that Guy was ALREADY living on Oa, especially during the whole One Year Later episode in time, but maybe he commuted. Hal and John aren't completely convinced this is a good idea,but really, why is it any skin off of their collective noses? Guy himself points out that ..."It's a hop, skip and a jump...if things get dicey, just pick up the ol' cavalry trumpet and I'll zip in an dsave your sorry asses as usual." Hee hee! Hal of course can't just leave it at that, and checks with Kyle, who to his obvious surprise is also jiggy with it. Frankly, I don't mind in the least, there can't be a whole lot of people LEFT on Earth for Kyle anymore. His mom's dead, he's not in the League anymore, and he's feeling a bit restless. Besides, as Guy points out, they can be there pretty quickly if they absolutely have to. Plus, he's in the Honor Guard now, so it makes a certain amount of SENSE for them to go to Oa. But of course, the creme de la creme is that they (and I DO mean "they") want to get the Bar going again. On Oa this time. I am about to die and go to GL Heaven. There is also a rather sweet moment where Guy is hovering outside the window of Tora's apartment as she sleeps. He just looks sad for a moment and leaves a note for her, before taking off. *sniff*. THAT'S what happens when you play hard-to-get Tora! Then Guy and Kyle are flying through space, with a giant green Mack Truck construct carrying all of their stuff. Kyle is clutching his Mother's painting, which is a nice little touch, while Guy is in his usual flying-on-his-back attitude, while reading a comic book. They have some manly man talk about Tora and their attitudes to life and love, which is amusing. There is also this.

Hee hee! I DO hope that they eventally noticed that their green truck has sprung a leak!

All of which leads to the confrontation with Salaak. THIS is where I completely lost my composure. Guy is exactly as you would picture him to be, bluff and brash, and trying to snow Salaak, who of course is also exactly as you would picture him to be...gruff, curmudeonly, and sarcastic. I love Salaak SO much. For every point that Guy tries to slip past him, Salaak brings up something inconvenient. There has been some question over why the question of money keeps coming up...especially on Oa of all places, but I really just think that Salaak is doing his best to pull Guy's chain. No matter HOW much they bicker, I have always gotten the impression that deep down, Guy and Salaak BOTH completely enjoy these confrontations.

It isn't until Guy and Kyle drop the big one...that they want to move back to Oa permanently, that Salaak completely loses his composure and just bursts out laughing. I have to say that the expressions here are dead on. Guy's going in for the kill, Kyle's trying NOT to laugh, and Salaak is still in the throes of hysteria.

<

Who knew that this would be the deal-clincher? Apparently Salaak decides that the entertainment value is worth the agony of dealing with Guy. Besides, like I said...I really think he enjoys it.

Kyle's happy anyway.

<

A bit on the minimalist side, but heck, it's a start. And they SO need an Ikea on Oa.

Guy also seems to be happy. Tired but happy.

<

Oh, and remember Mongul? You remember Mongul. He's interested in rings. Lots and lots of rings. He's also a lousy housekeeper, as there are dead and rotting still littering his throne room. Including his sister, poor ol Mongal. He picks up her maggot-infested head, and has himself a fine old time taunting her. Mongul in my opinion, is not wrapped too tightly.

I understand that the next two issues are going to cover more of the Alpha Lantern storyline, in order to give Mr. Gleason a little more time to get caught up. I have no problem with that, I love his artwork so.

Anyway...give this a read, if you are looking for something a little bit on the frivolous side for a change. For the nitpickers out there, there ARE some questions that get raised...such as why was Warriors just left mouldering for a few years, DO Lanterns get paid, and why should there be a housing problem on Oa, but frankly, I don't care. Some of it I can rationalize as Salaak trying to mess with Guy, and as for Warriors, well red tape can eat up a lot of time.

So there.