And Then I Read: GREEN LANTERN CORPS 17, GREEN LANTERN NEW GUARDIANS 17

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In this issue writer Peter Tomasi is exploring the life of Guy Gardner, particularly his pre-Corps life in an interesting way, by having the First Lantern open up Guy’s past to feed off his emotions. There are some impressive visuals by Fernando Pasarin and Scott Hanna, particularly the opening spread on pages 2-3, which forms an overview of that life in detail. The villainous First Lantern seems a typical bully in the “I’ve been tortured for aeons, now that I’m free I’m going to torture everyone else” style, not terribly interesting, but the looks into Guy’s past are. Nicely done.

In this book the First Lantern gives Kyle Rayner a similar treatment, though here his focus is more on showing Kyle how his life could have been better if he’d never become a Green Lantern. In both these books, while the villain isn’t too compelling, the back stories revealed are, and it’s a clever way to introduce character development rather than just stage another slugfest. Again, the art by Aaron Kuder is quite impressive.

Both books are recommended.