Green Lanterns #41 – Tim Seeley, Writer; Barnaby Bagenda, Penciller; Tom Derenick, Artist; Mick Gray, Inker; Ulises Arreola, Colorist
Ratings:
Ray – 8.5/10
Corrina:
WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW
Ray: Tim Seeley’s run on Green Lanterns continues to prove itself a worthy successor to Sam Humphries, with Green Lanterns #41, an issue that smoothly blends the cosmic with the human. The opening segment, showing one of Simon’s early dates with Night Pilot, finally gives us the context we need to understand why Simon is so concerned with tracking her down beyond her just being someone who needs help – they only had a few dates, but there’s a genuine connection there. But now, Night Pilot’s been taken, and Simon and Jessica are in space with teenage space pirate Scrapps, who may be the only person who knows where they need to go. Scrapps was a very serious, tragic character in Omega Men – an innocent girl turned into a ruthless soldier by the brutality of war – but here, she sort of made me laugh. She’s trying so hard to appear intimidating, but it’s really not working.
Scrapps’ clearly self-motivated information leads the Lanterns to a chaotic, lawless planet known as Hellhole, in a sector that the GLs have all but given up on. This segment didn’t work nearly as well for me – although a curious cult of beggars was intriguing, I didn’t feel like the criminals Simon and Jess wind up tracking down and cutting a deal with really worked as well. One’s a generic space pirate, but the other is a strange man who looks like a zombie and seems to be able to expel mass amounts of bodily fluids at will. He sort of comes off as a lazy, gross-out element in an otherwise strong story. Still, even if the plot isn’t quite as strong as the last issue, Seeley’s take on Simon and Jessica is excellent and watching their rapport develop on this mission is great. The villain reveal at the end was a great twist, and I kind of want Scrapps to become a regular.
Corrina: Back when Seeley started this run, I questioned his focus on Simon’s love life, especially since Simon seemed to want few commitments, hopping from Night Pilot to the alien princess. It seems clear that Seeley was setting up the realization for Simon in this arc that he truly cares for Night Pilot and regrets being so casual.
His feelings for her also provides extra impetus in his search but that part of the story makes me a bit uneasy, as all of the D-list superheroes taken for sale from Earth have been mostly passive in their captivity. We’ve seen Night Pilot mostly through Simon’s eyes, rather than her own. I could have used more of her and the others in this comic rather than the somewhat comic efforts of Simon and Jess to go undercover which were cute, but, hey, they are Green Lanterns. Couldn’t they find the heroes somehow using their rings and will?
On the other hand, there’s Scrapps and she’s been a nice addition to these past two issues because it’s impossible to predict whether she’s telling the truth. She could turn out to have played our heroes. Or not. But wondering adds extra tension to the story.
Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
