I'm a big Judd Winick fan, but I've just never really gotten into his take on Green Lantern. However, with the new costume and the post-150 status quo, I thought I'd take another look, and lo and behold, I actually found this to be kind of fun. It incorporates a lot more of Winick's sense of humor than it used to, and Eaglesham makes the new costume, which I'm generally not all that fond of, look pretty good. The story opens this issue with a bit of a mystery, a nice rundown of Kyle's supporting cast and some fun banter, and if it's a little lightweight, it's hard to argue that it's also a lot of fun.
Winick spends most of this issue establishing that the city is going slightly loony. It starts off looking like nothing more than a bank robbery, unusual but not overly so in terms of super-hero comics, but grows from there into some truly erratic and bizarre behavior. The scenes of chaos put me in mind of Winick's second storyline that introduced Nero, but there's less of an overt death threat going on this time, which makes the scenes a bit more fun and lets Kyle play around a bit.
Kyle's willingness to play around was a big part of what I liked about this issue. His banter would not be out of place on someone like Spider-Man, and it's a nice sign of how his self-confidence has grown that he is able to make jokes (and actual funny ones) in the midst of his duties. His reaction to a man in his underwear trying to kill the computers is a lot of fun, and Kyle's whimsical uses of his powers are likewise entertaining.
The acid test for a Green Lantern penciller is really the ability to make the power creations imaginative and unusual, and Dale Eaglesham does a very nice job in that regard in this issue. Kyle creates intricate stairways, cartoon minions and a variety of other interesting ring creations, and they display the same sense of humor that Winick brings to the dialogue. I'm not always as certain of his regular people as I am of his more fantastical creations, but they're solid enough to provide a realistic backdrop, and the action is top notch.
While I'm not likely to become a diehard Green Lantern fan after this issue, given my general dislike of the main character, I have to say that I was pleased to find how much I enjoyed this issue upon checking in. It's accessible to the new reader, provides some fun moments and is basically as good an example of a basic, enjoyable super-hero comic as you'll find.
