Green Lantern #40
"First Light" Part 1
Writer: Jeremy Adams
Artist: Scott Godlewski and Vasco Georgiev
Colorist: Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Cover Artist: Fernando Pasarin, Oclair Albert, and Arif Prianto
Publisher: DC Comics
Kyle Rayner returns to Oa and needs a scorecard to keep track of all the changes there. After that, it’s off to help Hal Jordan with whatever he’s tangled up in.
Meanwhile, someone left the refrigerator door open…
Green Lantern #40 begins the "First Light" mini-event, which will cross over between Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps for the next several months. It looks to resolve the "Hal Jordan read from the Book of Oa, and he's been on a quest for something ever since" storyline that's been running in the background for some time. And there are going to be a few surprises along the way.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Everyone Gather Around
This issue is narrated by Guy Gardner, who is talking to an unidentified "kid" and telling the story of past events. So I guess we know that Guy survives this event, at the very least.
Hal Jordan, Jayna of the Wonder Twins, and (ugh) TobiY2k are still flying their spaceship along the literal current of the Emotional Spectrum when they crash-land at the Nexus of said Spectrum.
On Earth, Kyle Rayner is taking on a woman named Temptation, who can take control of you with just a look (although she has pheromones for if you're not looking, too). Thanks to some coaching from his roommate Odyssey and his girlfriend Jade, Kyle is able to take her down without looking at her. It's time for celebratory burritos until Kyle spots Hal's old friend Tom Kalmaku—the Seer—in the crowd.
Before long, Kyle, Tom, and Odyssey are on their way to Oa. Here they find Corps leader Jessica Cruz and old friend Kilowog in new white uniforms, and Guy Gardner is apparently a spiritual figure called the Allsight now? And one member of each Corps on the Spectrum has become a host for their Emotional Entities?
(I have to admit, I don't read Green Lantern Corps, so a lot of this went over my head. Jeremy Adams does a decent job at explaining most of it, but it's a lot, to say the least).
Before too long, everyone is off to the Emotional Nexus where Hal and company already are.
And then... a Black Lantern ring raises an individual from the dead—pulls them out of cold storage in the fridge, you might say—and names them the new Black Hand...
Many (Happy?) Returns
That was a very long recap; I know. Believe it or not, I still left a lot of things out. This issue was dense.
Again, if I read Green Lantern Corps, maybe a lot of it would have made more sense. I don't know. I'm just doing the best I can with what I could follow here.
I'm going to mostly stick to talking about the Kyle of it all, I think. This issue was one of his stronger showings since his time as the lead of Green Lantern began. He's shown as very competent when he takes down Temptation, albeit with a little bit of help. But his "dragon punch" construct was very cool and on-brand for the "manga nut with a power ring" Green Lantern that he is. I don't remember what issue of Grant Morrison's JLA run that quote was from, but I always thought it was a great way to describe Kyle, and it just stuck with me.
Kyle and Jade finally putting a label on their relationship was nice, as that has certainly been one of the highlights of this run. They're really good together, and I hope we get to see more of it.
When we get to Oa, Kyle gets to play audience surrogate since it seems a lot has changed while he's been away. That's a good way to introduce some of these changes, and I particularly love Kyle's reaction to Guy Gardner's new status. I do admit that I'm a little disappointed with how quickly this title went from "pretty accessible" to "holy crap, I hope you have the Green Lantern Wikipedia page open while you're reading this" in no time flat. I don't feel it was necessary to bury us under so much exposition involving the Corps, the Emotional Entities, and the Alpha Guardians, and all that crazy stuff. I'm sure it'll all be important to the story being told, but man, it was a lot at once.
Now I want to talk about the reveal at the end of the issue, where the new Black Hand is introduced. There's no way to do that without SPOILERS, so if you don't want to know who it is, get on out of here now.
Okay, if you're still here, you were warned.
Alexandra DeWitt—Kyle Rayner's first love, the woman who was murdered and stuffed in a refrigerator by Major Force—is the new Black Hand. This is completely unexpected; it's crazy, it's huge. Especially since it comes on the heels of Kyle's massive beatdown of Major Force just last issue. Nothing like finally coming to terms with your girlfriend's murder by pummeling her killer and then taking away his powers with the White Light of Life, only for her to get resurrected as one of the Green Lantern's greatest foes soon after.
This reveal has the potential to be a huge and possibly even character-defining moment for Kyle, and I can't wait to see where it goes.
Corps Skills
Jeremy Adams throws everything, but the kitchen sink, at this issue, and the result is a read that is overwhelming at times. I feel like the sudden transition from "Hal's adventures only take up a few pages on their own" to "that quest is going to drag the rest of the cast into it and take over the book for the next three months" didn't really feel earned. There's plenty of great character work here, and it feels like Adams has finally turned a corner with Kyle himself, and the material has become much stronger as a result. The trope of using the narration as someone telling the story from the future is a well-used concept at this point—but here, getting Guy Gardner's opinions on the different players makes it work. As does the question of just who Guy is talking to.
This issue once again uses two artists, but for the first time I can think of, it actually tells you who is doing what portion of the story. Here Scott Godlewski handles the Hollywood and Nexus portions, while Vasco Georgiev illustrates the Oa parts. I wish more titles did this when multiple artists were used; it makes things a whole lot easier. Both do a good job, and their styles mix together well enough. The Earth section contains the issue's action, and Godlewski handles that well—Kyle's constructs in particular are very striking and creative there. The Oa and Nexus bits are more talking heads so far, with Krona explaining the plot while the Corps tells about all the changes they've made. Both artists make these scenes of exposition look good through varied panel layouts and camera angles. If there's one thing I don't like on the art side, it's how both artists draw Kyle's mask. Instead of having the white eyes like every other superhero mask, they give him relatively large eye openings, and you can see his actual eyes. I don't care for this at all; it basically flies in the face of what a mask has always looked like to me.
Romulo Fajardo Jr. once again uses his colors to bridge the different art styles and give the book a consistent look. The Hollywood scenes are a little brighter lit, as befits the setting, while the space scenes are a bit flatter overall. Oa and the Nexus both have a similar look, as alien worlds themselves. There are plenty of opportunities to color ring constructs and different power effects, which he handles with ease. The Alpha Guardians all glow a different color of the Emotional Spectrum, and just the colors tell you what a big deal they're supposed to be. And I keep mentioning Kyle's dragon punch, but that's because it was so cool. The colors really brought that to life and sold how big a moment that was.
Check the Icebox
Green Lantern #40 begins the "First Light" crossover with Green Lantern Corps, and if you haven't been reading that sister title, then there's no way you aren't at least a little lost here. That's not to say there isn't plenty of character work and plot development here; it's just that it's easy to get lost in all of the detail. The major takeaway is that Hal Jordan's quest is finally drawing to a close, so he and the other Lanterns will get to see what he's been searching for this whole time. And the surprising reveal of the new Black Hand at the end of the issue promises that Kyle Rayner will still be front and center in upcoming events—no time on ice in the fridge for him.