| Title | : | Green Lantern: New Guardians, Volume 2: Beyond Hope |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1401240771 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781401240776 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 144 |
| Publication | : | First published August 6, 2013 |
Collecting: Green Lantern: New Guardians 8-12 & Blue Beetle 9
Green Lantern: New Guardians, Volume 2: Beyond Hope Reviews
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For what it is, it's a decent book.
That doesn't mean I think anyone needs to run out and buy this thing, by the way.
Although, the best thing about it is still the art. I'm not talking about anything mind-blowing, but with so many colors in use, it really is a quite beautiful volume.
Now, if you're not a fan of GL, this isn't for you. It's not a good jumping off place for anyone who hasn't been following this story relatively closely for quite a while. In fact, I'm pretty sure even if you are a fan, you really don't need to know what Kyle and the Rainbow Brigade have been up to in order to enjoy this story arc.
Having said that, for all of you completionists out there...
This is where we find out who stole the rings and sent them to Kyle.
To be honest, I didn't really care enough for the shock value to really have much of an effect on me.
Although, it does give the conclusion in
Green Lantern, Vol. 3: The End even more of an Awwwww! So sweet! kind of feeling. You know, when Sinestro does that nice thing?
The rest of the book is filled with the different Lanterns running around playing a seemingly endless cycle of catch-up.
First, they all have to split up and recharge their batteries.
This results in Kyle and Bleez fighting an assassin working for The Reach.
Which brings us to a team-up with Blue Beetle, that really doesn't go anywhere...
The Yellow Lantern ends up rescuing the guy who engineered the Sinestro Corps battery and rings, while searching for a way to recharge his own.
Sapphire Lantern finds out that Invictus had help getting the portal (or whatever is was) open.
And the Blue Lanterns get their asses handed to them by The Reach.
Everything leads back to Larfleeze.
Of course.
After another team-up to save the galaxy, the Big Secret is finally revealed.
Ta-Da!
My sincere hope is that all of these Green Lantern titles are going to eventually get whittled down. One, maybe two at the most, would be totally sufficient to keep me interested.
Do we need to know what is happening in the life of every GL in the galaxy?
No.
More importantly, do we want to know?
No. No, we do not.
Cull the herd, DC! -
Ho-hum, "Lanternkyle" and his rainbow brigade follow the multi-coloured brick road all over the universe to recharge their batteries. Literally.
Results in a Blue Beetle crossover...completely unnecessary. It made more sense now, having read both volumes it appears in, but still...I see that BB is tied into the baddies that attacked the Blue Lanterns, but what does that mean? BB is long cancelled.
Red and Green have an interesting sexual chemistry going, want to see where that goes...but no such luck.
Glommy, our resident orange DC version of Doop, is heroic here (aww special little guy!).
We see what Sinestro is up to with Hal (thru the eyes of another Yellow Lantern/Sinestro Corps eyes).
Sapphire Fatality gets a bit of screen time, but yawn. Nok, the Indigo Tribe member is the one we get nothing much about and he's interesting me.
Saint Walker may be one of the few characters to come out of this whole Reading Rainbow that might be worth salvaging.
Kyle is...well...boring. Hal's original, Alan Scott moreso, and even John Stewart is an angry badass. Hell, Guy's got a story, and this new Simon fella is probably interesting...but Kyle? Nope. Just...no.
Let's hope for a culling. I think it's stupid that the whole universe only finds willpower (Green Lantern Spectrum) on Earth...Hal/Kyle/John/Guy, etc. Really? some planets have no one...
So some shit happens, and if you follow ALL the GL titles closely...you're still going to have to call Geoff Johns at home to ask WTF?
Not really worth the effort.
Get this review and more at:
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This volume was messy at first but the ending got me hyped for what is to come.
So as expected, a new race comes into play and they want to get rid of one of the lanterns group. Sadly it's the Blue Lanterns. The nice guys who only help people. WHAT THE HELL, MAN!? But we gotta do what we gotta do and the new Guardians all team up to protect them against Blue Beetles crazy Scrap race people.
Like I said the start was jumbled and too much happening at once. Now as easy flowing as volume 1. But luckily about 2 issues in it begins to change course and fix itself and I really ended up enjoying it by the end. The last few pages really build up some horrible shit heading their way and with Kyle alone now, how will he face it?
A 3.5 out of 5. -
Pretty good second volume after a great first volume. A bit messy jumping from one mini story to the next so that you're not really invested in any of those stories. It's just kindve hard to care about what happens. Great Art. For GL fans only!
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Today looks like the day where I show my appreciation for under appreciated comic books. The general public will most likely not be able to name a single character in this book, and that is more than fine. This is an example of a comic made for comic book fans, so in love with a world, that they will spend money on a story featuring the most obscure of characters. I am one of those types of fans, and I love the world of Green Lantern so much. There were MANY times, before the new 52 started and after, where it felt like every single Green Lantern story and every single spin off book dealt only with fighting between the various corps and only served as a tie in to some major crossover (Blackest Night, Brightest Day, War of the Green Lanterns, etc.). That is actually the reality. That is what these books were (are). That doesn't mean that the books were bad, quite the contrary, the many different colored ring wielders have their own distinct personalities, and each title had a strong lead character to follow. I think the only problem was that there was too much going on in too short a time. In the end, it is all thanks to Geoff Johns for taking the Lantern concept and blowing it up the way he did.
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It's weird - there's a lot that happens in this volume, including epic battles (and the unexplained reappearance of previously dead characters) and universe changing ramifications. But it doesn't feel important. I don't understand what happened - the stakes just don't seem to be built up (and it feels like part of the story is missing - maybe it was in the Green Lantern volumes). Kyle and his rainbow team go from a tactical retreat into facing down an invasion of the Blue Lantern's home planet. The use of the Weaponer of Qward as a companion rather than an enemy was an interesting turn, and sets in motion further plots. The use of Blue Beetle's background for the invasion was an interesting choice as well. Not sure it really worked, but it was creative. Ultimately, though, I think too much happened for any of it to resonate.
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This seemed more like a cross-over volume for Blue Beetle than it did a supporting title for the GL universe... That it was kind of nice to see some focus on the Blue Lanterns. Larfleeze starts to become entangled more into the plot as well.... Meh. What plot, really?
It's support material for others storylines, so I guess I shouldn't be expecting so much from this series.... But, I mean, Kyle Rayner is a significant character in the DC universe. If they weren't going to treat him with dignity, then why didn't they just delete him in the New 52 the way they did with Donna Troy and Wally West?
There is a lot of room for improvement on this title.
2.5/5 -
A well drawn but slight title. Good enough to pass the time but not anything special.
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I have to say I'm a complete Green Lantern converter! I've never really been a huge fan up until I read Blackest Night about a month ago. I've been reading the Green Lantern title along with this and both are stellar.
There's a lot of things that make this book so awesome and there's not enough time to list them all. It's packed with action and twists and I enjoyed every moment of it. The art is amazing and as always the colours make this book stand out.
I don't often give books 5 stars but this volume deserves each and every one. I'm looking forward to starting the Green Lantern Corps and Red Lanterns next. If your into GL you can't miss this. If your not, give it a go anyway cause you might surprise yourself! -
I love the Blue lanterns and I’d have liked this volume much more if not for a blunder by the writer.
I feel like there were a lot of missed opportunities here. Khaji-Kai should have gone from Blue Beetle to Blue Lantern. Narf narf. It looked like the natural direction after the loss of Shon. I do still appreciate that the nuance to the power rings are explored. For instance, it was fun to see Arkillo mad at his ring for summoning constructs of dead angels, which is exactly what Invictus would fear.
There’s a few panels I did not enjoy at all. The art was leaning on its sensual aspects when accentuating the curves on Bleez and Fatality. Comics are like that sometimes and I can overlook that (sometimes), but to have Blue Beetle pop a boner when pinned down by Bleez is low. Bleez is the victim of rape, man. Sure, it MIGHT have been the reaction she would have given…But that little bit just feels wrong. Not only with the background knowledge, but just as a few panels in the story its intention is unclear. The only thing I can gather is humor. And that’s just...Damn, it rankled that whole portion of the story for me.
Bleez would have ripped out Beetle's throat in all reality. She's a Red Lantern...I could go on all day about that, but for me to have to mention it in the review and affect how I felt about the comic...it just sucks. Maybe it's just me. -
This remains to be a rather odd book as we finally get a bit of an explanation for why these different lantern corp representatives were brought together, but naturally, it's not a satisfying one. It's the superhero equivalent of the romantic comedy trope where the two get together under false pretenses and when the truth comes out, it all falls apart. This book ultimately ends in this manner, but as to why remains a little unclear.
There is the blatant statement that something is targeting the different lantern corps and that's support to excite us about the big crossover event among the different Lantern books. But at the same time this period really had too many Lantern titles and it muddies down the storytelling. -
Reading this straight after the first volume is the best way to fully appreciate it, as it works as one story. After the heavy volume, this one serves are more of a payoff to things that were set up. Don’t worry it does it’s own thing as well, Kyle goes back to earth bumping into . Which was a nice foreshadow to what was going to happen to the blue lantern home world.
This is still a Kyle Rayner lead book, this time Bleez does get a little more love which I appreciate. Apart from Sinestro, she’s one of the other corps members I’m interested in. Fatality and Saint Walker get more attention as well which is welcome. It’ll be interesting to see what happens the new guardians from here. -
Tony Bedard's multi-colored Lantern book is still good but there is too much going on here. I'd love to see the focus be more streamlined onto just a couple Lanterns and not the entire spectrum at once. I also feel like this story has been told before. The Blue Beetle single issue needed more exposition but served its purpose. The art overall was good and a decent step up from the first volume. The series is very dependent on a very good knowledge base of what came before and that's tough for new readers.
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The New Guardians have to find a way to defeat Invictus,while they are being hunted themselves.They find out that Sayd stole the rings from the Lanterns of various corps to make the team and avenge the loss of emotions of Ganthet under the hands of the guardians of Oa.
It felt slightly less without Hal Jordan but it was quite good. -
I'm a big Kyle Rayner fan from way back, so I really like this series, which has the Green Lantern team up with all the other corps of the emotional spectrum. And if you don't stan for Glomulus, don't @ me
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I love Kyle and St. Walker. The journey here is everything I want in a comic book, and the writing delivers.
As we come into Rise of the Third Army, this builds into the foundations of one of my favorite books in the New 52 -
The Reach vs. The Blue Lantern Corps, Larfleeze vs. Invictus.
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As a side note, I would totally buy a print of the Glomulus character sketch in the back of the book.
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3,5/5
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They could do so much good in the universe if the corps united. Such a shame it fell apart.
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The Lanterns recharge and go to fight Larfreeze and Invictus.
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Aight
It was a bit of a mess of a book that dealt with an enemy that was pointless and just there to fill issues.
World: The art was alright, the strengths of the lantern books has been it's colors and framing, however the coloring of this book felt off for me. The world building arc was a bit of a mess. It was really good in parts and completely boring and pointless in others, I really did not need a story about the Reach. The reveal of the Ring thief in terms of what it meant to the world was also a bit off for me, it didn't really make much sense.
Story: So far this series has been trying to find it's tone and legs, much like Red Lanterns. Kyle I a great Lantern but there are just too many human Lanterns floating around that he's lost in the shuffle. I like that he has this series but the series needs to have a point. The first arc was interesting cause of the central mystery of the thief. With that resolved, rather limply, where does this series go from here. The pacing and the writing were okay this arc but the Reach story was just boring and pointless, a side quest with no point but to add issues. Meh.
Characters: I liked the first arc where we get to meet the characters and had time to develop them. This arc is not the case, this is barely any character development to be found here, it's all action and nothing else. The Reach storyline pretty much took over everything, even the main Invictus story.
This was not a good arc, flat, pointless and boring. This series needs to pick up it's slack.
Onward to the next book! -
Again, I fail to see the significance of this. Kyle is just so bland. His background, his life, his everything is just not interesting. Actually, some of the best moments in this book were without Kyle, which is kind of insane since he's supposed to be the focus.
The Beyond Hope story line was great. Hands down the only reason I liked this. Saint Walker and the other Blue Lanterns fighting against The Reach, and failing, was really interesting and felt important. How do you deal with hopelessness? What a weird thing to discuss, but they did and I appreciated that. The rest is really just filler. We find out who gave Kyle all the rings, although the "why" is still kind of a mystery. We also get some closure on the fall of the Sinestro Corps and Akrillo's reaction to it. He even has a moment with Saint Walker, which was so out of character, but again I respected the effort. I suppose this whole book was just meant as set up for the big finale, because a plot just never comes out of this mess. Maybe if there was, I'd have liked it a little more or at least could see the point of reading this. There was even a pointless Blue Beetle crossover, which I may have been angry about, except his suit kept announcing his erections. Boner jokes are always welcome here.
As far as spin off titles go, this one is my least favorite. I'll trudge along since I have nothing better to do, but I'm bitching about it the entire time. -
Thank goodness this picked up in volume 2! The first installment was a drag but, while this one certainly isn't perfect, it definitely is a step in the right direction.
Tony Bedard has finally given these characters some real life and I cared about many of them after just a couple of panels this time. The interactions are gaining a lot of speed, too, where the personalities are actually mingling rather than just hashing out plot points. The art is also pretty good, at least when Tyler Kirkham is handling it.
That's one of the drawbacks. They still have a handful of artists who added inconsistent levels of talent. Another that really stood out to me was an extremely and obviously forced run-in between Kyle and the new Blue Beetle. I haven't read that book and don't intend to, and the entire issue felt like DC was just trying to get me to buy another title. It definitely hurt the momentum.
On the bright side, it really picks up after that. There's a while story in addition to the overarching plot from the last volume. It's that great mix of having a self contained arc in the context of the big picture. The end was a bit melancholy for my tastes, almost unrealistically so, but it was still appropriate. I just hope it doesn't lead to retreading stuff that's already been done. Ironically, this book isn't "Beyond Hope" - it's just starting to gain some. -
The sheer goofiness of the series continues, though it is not quite as carefree as the first volume, perhaps because it now has something to live up to. The Invictus storyline draws to its inevitable conclusion, replete with more stereotypical sci-fi tropes ... but that really is part of the fun of this series. It feels like an homage to 10-cent sci-fi novels, complete with scantily-clad maidens, though this time they are rescuing the scantily-clad males more often than not. Worlds are shattered, hopes are crushed, but hey, love wins in the end, so it's all okay. Kyle Rayner proves himself a fairly worthwhile hero and leader, even though the band breaks up before it really gets the chance to shine. The guy's gotta a big heart, and that will see him through. This is possibly the lightest-hearted series of the New 52 (though I admit I haven't read them all).
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This one wasn't as good as the first one, because there was less background's of all the different lanterns and more fighting. The fighting scenes were so beautiful, I think that's what the Corps do really well. All the different lanterns have their colors streaking behind them while fighting and it's literally a rainbow. This book was just alright, because I wasn't at all interested in who stole their rings. Clearly it wasn't Larfleeze so I don't know why they even explored that avenue. I want to know more about the Reach! I'm always surprised that I'm interested in these books, but Kyle is definitely my favorite Green Lantern (sorry not sorry Hal Jordan). I always get super annoyed that the two ladies on the team having to be in tiny outfits and have sexy jokes made about them. We're pretty much in the future now, can't we move past all of that?
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So in this volume, we get some beautiful art and full page spreads again. I love the spectrum we get. Makes it worth getting the book alone. Story-wise, it was a bit looser than volume 1. We get set up for future plots with the invasion of Odym. A few reminders that we still don't know who helped Invictus open the white hole door from this side. Some continuation of the main plot from volume 1. And the answer to who called the rings to Kyle. Who did it was fine. Why? I wasn't totally satisfied with. I also thought this volume suffered a bit from needing to have read other books. Most obviously was the inclusion of Blue Beetle, but also there seemed to be some things going on in the Red Lantern series. Minor deductions. I agree with another reviewer. Story: 3. Art: 4.
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I'm a big fan of the character Kyle Rayner. As the main star, he comes off pretty well in this book. However, the stories in this collection are scattered and require knowledge about the goings on in other Green Lantern books that came out simultaneously. Some characterizations felt off, especially an aggressive, unforgiving Saint Walker and the Blue Lanterns. The art was very good. I especially appreciate the coloring since the book has so many different colored lantern corps in it. Overall the story is worth 3 stars but the art bumps it up to 4.
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I am enjoying this new team and series, and I fall a little more in love with Kyle with each story of his I read, but there is definitely a been-there-done-that feel to this volume. It seems any story dealing with the Guardians has to start with half a (or whole) planet or race being destroyed. The team dynamic is the best part of this series and I hope that future volumes flesh that out a little more and don't feel as compelled to annihilate a planet on every other page- the universe is only so big!
