Green Lantern Corps #27 review

Eye of the Beholder part one

The set-up is pretty simple. Someone is murdering the family members of Green Lanterns. After we see the opening of Guy's new bar, We're taken to the GLC crypt where Morro is memorializing BZZD, who died fighting Mongul in the last issue. While doing that, he meets a Lantern named Saarek, a Lantern with the ability to telepathically communicate with the dead. He informs Morro that the dead are cold and afraid. Something big is about to happen. Back to Guy and Kyle at the bar, they're talking about whether or not Mongul is dead. And...no! We skip over to Mongul escaping from Mother Mercy partially digested. Ah, we knew he wasn't going anywhere. Back to Guy and Kyle, they shoot the shit a little more before Kyle takes off. While cleaning up, Guy finds in the trash a very disturbing drawing of a Lantern being killed. Hopping on over to planet Citcra Tana in sector 3598, we see a shadowy figure creep up to this igloo like structure being occupied by a bunch of alien polar bear looking guys. They're the family of a brand new Lantern and are quickly murdered. Moving on over to a training ground on a moon of OA, Kilowog is training a bunch of new Lanterns when Kyle shows up and runs into Natu. After some thinly veiled sexual tension between the two, the whole group os showered in eyeballs. Natu examines the eyes with her rings and discovers that they are all relatives of the Lanterns being trained. While they're all breaking down, Lantern Saarek appears. Taking one of the eyes, he uses his ring to replicate the last image the victim saw revealing the killer to be...some bug eyed monster I don't recognize.

Being part one of a new arc, this issue did feel very much like a prelude to the coming action. We get a chance to decompress a bit while Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner open up their new bar. Guy trying, half successfully, to train a bunch of alien staff on how to serve beer and grill burgers and then following up on that later as they wind down their day. It's an almost silly notion, a bar and grill on OA? Then again, OA culture isn't gotten in to too much. How do these people wind down after a shift? I suppose there are manners of diversion, and it could be fun to use that as a backdrop. This is something Gobbons was doing on his run, but it was mostly lunch room encounters. I suppose a bar would allow for a more intimate setting and less generic. It's actually kinda cute in its way.

The stuff with Morro and Saarek did feel a bit overlong. The whole "burial" os BZZD could have been taken care of in one page instead of three. It picks up some when Saarek enters the scene. Saarek could be a really interesting character, especially since there are lots of dead Lanterns he can potentially communicate with. Saarek could be a lot more eerie and cryptic, but he comes off as more haughty then anything. Still, the scene is...serviceable. Comparatively, the bit with Gardner finding the drawing is much more disturbing.

I also see that Tomasi wants to hook up Rayner and Natu. Mmmmmmmmmmmm, I suppose I should wait and see, but Natu isn't a particularly interesting character and I have doubts on how successful this could be. The sexual tension between the two was obvious, but aside from her huge tits I don't see what Kyle could see in her. The stuff Tomasi wants to do between Gardner and Ice is more interesting, there's history there, but this? If we're lucky, it's all about getting laid. An easy lay. Bitch doesn't wear a bra, clearly she just wants a deep dicking. Tomasi needs to be careful about how he plays this out, otherwise it will feel forced.

It's not a perfect issue, but overall I think it sets the arc up nicely. I quite liked it, with reservations. I'm interested in seeing where Tomasi goes with the notion of a serial killer hunting down Lantern family members. There are so many characters Tomasi can just totally fuck with, I need to see where he takes this. The relationship stuff...well, like I said, just wait and see.

A very good start to what could be an interesting story. As always, if you're not picking this book up I highly recommend you do.