Plenty of high powered action can be fun. Just read this.

Jan 27, 2013

by Madpenguin
posted in Speech Bubbles: Comics & Graphic Novels

Rating:

In deep space a Green Lantern Sector House is attacked leaving two members of the GL Corp dead. Next a water-based planet's population are killed when all of the water is mysteriously siphoned. Earthbound Green Lanterns, Guy Gardener and John Stewart, take a small unit to investigate which leads to another planet being stripped of its resources. This lands them into battle against a very tough enemy that handles their abilities very well. -summary

Batman and Green Lantern were two of the titles untouched by DC's New 52 reboot. Green Lantern Corps also happens to be among the untouched, and like Green Lantern Vol . 1 - Sinestro, it also spins right out of War of the Green Lanterns. The good thing though is that GL Corps for the most part has always felt like self-contained stories, with this reboot feeling no different. Newbies can hop into this book and be treated to some type of character development, but your time will mainly be occupied by some cool action and dcent storytelling. Green Lantern Corps Vol. 1 Fearsome is written by Peter Tomasi and it collects issues 1 - 7.

The flashy action panels and vibrant artwork are the elements of this book that managed to stick with me. Usually I'm more towards feeling for the characters and where they're going so this is something rare indeed. Now Fernando Pasarin's artwork is far from the greatest you will ever see in comics, yet it's so captivating when delivering the action, and when it comes down to Green Lantern ring slinging, well, you're going to almost always be treated to nice action. There are plenty of splash pages with the Corp unleashing various power attacks and constructs. Scott Hana was fantastic with the colors; everything has a vibrant and energetic feel making this a very interesting read you may not even want to speed through. The action has some disturbing moments involving swords that caught me by surprise. The backgrounds capture the sci-fi fantasy feel notorious with GL books as you will get to see different worlds. The character designs can't be ignored either, as there are some good panels displaying the racial diversity of the Corp amongst various alien species. I can't see much of a reason why visually this book wouldn't appeal to science fiction fans.

Although I was hooked to the large amount of style the book did well, it also has a good amount of substance that works towards developing the characters personalities. I was never a Guy Gardener fan when he was solo, the same for Stewart as well. However, together they are quite fun to read and I think personality wise Stewart comes out the best towards the end. Now don't take that the wrong way, Gardener's rebellious and good cop/bad cop personality is fun as hell too. He's clearly the cowboy of the group and I enjoyed his antics through out.

While the plot couldn't be anymore simple, "there's the bad guy, kill him".The straight forward story has a reasonable amount of interesting elements that come into play. The enemies posed a significant threat, as they possessed a level of willpower that equaled the Corp. This allowed them to fight very hard and earn a few kills. Their backstory involving the Guardians was interesting as well, and there's this strong sense that this story may be playing into the Guardians plan taking place in the Green Lantern books. The good thing though, is that there's something here to make the whole good vs. evil entertaining. The only flaw I can see in this tale is the constant deus ex machina that comes into play because it bends plausibility a bit much.

Green Lantern Corps: Fearsome is another title that delivers the goods in the New 52. It can definitely rope in some new fans. Yeah, it's very light on what exactly makes an origin tale, and it does not feel much like a reboot. Hopefully though, it can motivate new readers into giving earlier stories a look. This story doesn't at all display just how good the Corp can be.

Pros:
-Fun artwork and action

Cons:
-Although fun to read, typical action story

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FM_ALEX January 29

Large amount of style indeed, still a good one.

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woopak_the_thrill January 28

I just picked up the TPB of Superman: What Price tomorrow, think I'll add this to my wish list. You are making me broke again--as you did me before with anime I had to eat bread and water for a month LOL

Madpenguin January 28

Take notice that I would have given What Price Tomorrow a 3.5. It was decent to me, and I would recommend this and even the Supergirl before it.

woopak_the_thrill January 28

I used to have this title on my pull list but after all the GL Crossovers the past three years, I eventually got a little burned out.

Madpenguin January 28

Considering how the GL crossovers were probably the best comics had to offer. I find it strange anyone would actually get tired of them. I think these were the best crossovers to come out of DC in many years.

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About the reviewer

Madpenguin
Ranked #1

Serious gamer and hardcore comic reader. Currently in my Nintendo Wii U: Currently … more