Guy Gardner, Reborn, part Two

Oh, and how the plot thickens.

Guy has managed to con G'nort into making a functional space ship for him, so that he can go and look up Sinestro's old yellow ring. Guy is very proud of himself for coming up with this idea, but as in so many things, there are a few little details to be worked out.

Guy decides that just showing up on Qward may be a bad idea, so he decides to go and find Lobo instead. This is NOT actually much of a better idea, but it is the best that Guy can come up with. Needless to say, Lobo is NOT really that pleased to see Guy, and proceeds to pummel him. A lot. To his credit, Guy manages not only to stay alive, but to actually reason with Lobo long enough to make him STOP pummelling him, by saying that he wants to hire him. Lobo likes the sound of this, but asks how he's gonna be paid, and Guy has to think fast, and promise that he'll pay him with the very ring that he's after himself. Oh, this isn't going to end well.

After agreeing to go with Guy to Qward and to pummel people for PAY, Guy hesitantly asks Lobo for a little help...that is...since he's without a ring now, could Lobo show him a few moves. Lobo is MORE than happy to oblige, and Guy ends up bleeding quite a bit, but agrees that Lobo is indeed a born teacher..'cause he's just a sadist who wants to watch people squirm! Not feeling the least bit bitter there, are you Guy? When Lobo does wonder why Guy wants to go after the Qwardians, since the Justice League is all for justice and crap like that, Guy says that he just wants revenge, so now Lobo thinks that Guy is a pretty good guy after all!

And off they go. First to the Poglachi planet, where the two Qwardians were left behind from way back when. The two Qwardians are NOT too happy to see Guy, or as they like to refer to him..."The one who is NOT Hal Jordan!" Aaeiieeee! More pummelling! The two Qwardians manage to explain that they are just waiting for the rest of the Thunderers to come and save them, so Guy and Lobo decide to wait. Of course this is just a ruse on the part of the two baddies, but at least they aren't being pummelled.

That night, sitting around a campfire, Lobo is gloating about pummellings to come. When he realizes that Guy isn't as enthusiastic, he accuses him of being soft, which insults Guy to the core. So Guy goes off for a walk by himself, trying to convince himself that he IS too soft, and he needs to be hard and strong, and not care about anyone or anything. There is even something of a "As God is my witness...I'll never be nice again!" sort of moment. Then of course, he spoils the whole thing by wondering about his old buds in the Green Lantern Corps. Which leads to a nice segue of Kilowog, John and Brik talking about Guy and his ouster from the Corps. Kilowog, actually being Guy's friend, is worried about how he's doing, while John is just fuming. John then heads back to the Mosaic, while Kilowog goes back to training Brik, Boodikka, Kreon, Amanita and Tomar Tu.

In the meantime, Lobo has lost patience and is beating on the two Qwardians again, who finally crack, and reveal that there is a button on their little Spacecycle that will pull them, via a wormhole back to Qward. It turns out that Guy had been sitting on it the whole time. So off they go. One of the Qwardians tries to stab Lobo in the back, and ends up getting booted out of the wormhole by Guy, which just pisses Lobo off, since he was planning on pinching his head off.

And Kablam! There they are on Qward! Surrounded by thousands of Qwardian Thunderers. Guy and Lobo look at each other, and then Guy asks him if he's ever seen Gunga Din. Lobo just smirks and denies it, but he does know the line that Guy is thinking about, and in one of my favorite moments, the two of them...against a mega-crapload of Qwardians...yell out "You're All Under Arrest!"

Haw!

Pummelling. Lots and lots of pummelling. Guy realizes that he's got to fight the way that Lobo fights...like you got no brain! Throwing a few stolen thunderbolts also helps. They manage to blow up quite a lot of stuff, and then head out to find where the weapons are kept. The Chief Weaponeer in the meantime is dealing with a little typical Qwardian treachery on the part of his second in command, and thinking up a plan to take out the two crazy invaders. The two crazy invaders accidentally bust into a prison while looking for the weapons and happen upon the only Qwardian alive, who is in jail for being nice and sweet and gentle. Lobo, oddly enough begins to identify with the fellow,since he was the same type of oddball, a fluke, the only killer on a world o' sweethearts. So naturally, he ends up kicking the poor guy's head off. Oh Lobo. We can dress you up, but we just can't take you out.

With a bit more pummelling, they manage to find the Chief Weaponeer and bluff their way into getting information on Sinestro's ring. It turns out that there is only one, and it is on Oa...buried with Sinestro's body. Guy's pretty disgusted, the whole fight on Qward has been a massive waste of time in his opinion, and to top it all off, Lobo is furious, because HE wants the ring for his payment. After slapping Guy around a bit, Guy convinces him to go to Oa with him, to find the ring. At which point the smarmy Chief Weaponeer agrees to send the two of them straight to Oa, just because he's such a nice guy. Guy goes along with this, and realizes about two seconds too late ,that he's been suckered, because the Chief Weaponeer is sending them to Oa, all right...along with the entire hoard of Qwardians! Bhwahahaha!

Oh Guy. You really shouldn't trust the bad guys.

If you like a whole lot of incredibly gratuitous violence (and pummelling) then this is the book for you! Lobo is NOT one of my favorite characters, but I have to admit that he's just so gleefully awful that he's rather fun, at least the way that Gerard Jones is writing him. And Joe Staton continues to show off his cartoony, but equally fun artwork. Poor Guy is really having a hard time here, his poor brain-damaged mind is trying to subvert his morals, and it's just not working. He's so incredibly desperate here, that he'll basically do ANYTHING to get some power back. But he still wants that power in order to do good, so he's feeling terribly conflicted.

Part Three tomorrow!