While Hal is busy elsewhere's. It's time to see what Kyle is doing.
Kyle Rayner, the 4th Green Lantern of Earth receives a few unwanted gifts. It appears that he has been chosen to carry the power rings of the other Lantern Corps. This causes a member of each corps to head for Earth with intentions on not only taking back those rings, but also avenging the death of their comrade who died when their ring left them stranded. Kyle finds himself quickly in battle and then later leaving for the planet Oa for answers. -summary
When DC began the New 52 to reboot their universe. Batman and the Green Lantern's worlds were left pretty much untouched even going so far to acknowledge past events and enemy threats. It appears this has carried over completely through the Green Lantern universe as Kyle Rayner is already familiar with the other Lantern Corps and even select members. Despite this though, like the other books this makes a very good jumping on point for new readers, plus the cool action along with awesome artwork helps out with this. Green Lantern - New Guardians Volume One: The Ring Bearer follows Kyle Rayner's adventures and it's written by Tony Bedard. This TPB collects issues 1 - 7.
While many people recognize Geoff Johns as the man behind the pen for just about anything Green Lantern. I will point out that Tony Bedard has carved out his own little corner in the GL universe with past stories such as, The Weaponer and Revolt of the Alpha Lanterns. He pretty much knows what makes a Green Lantern story click, and for the most part he hits the mark. The story crashes out the gates with an energetic vibe that results in near non stop action. Kyle Rayner defends himself from each of the Lantern's who would rather attack first, take back the ring representing their respective corp, and leave without answers. Saintwalker whom represents the Blue Lanterns is the only one willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on stealing the rings. This leads them all to Oa, and they learn that The Guardians of the Universe are up to something.
I will quickly mention that the book's only real weakness is solid character development. If you're hoping to know these characters like the back of your hand, then forgot about it because outside of how they behave according to their corp, you won't learn much about them; Bleez of the Red Lanterns is always angry and looking to kill, Arkillo of the Sinestro Corp wants to spread fear and he rushes into every battle with fist flying, and Munk of the Indigo Tribe is pretty much calm and calculating. Fatality of the Star Sapphires and Larfleeze the Orange Lantern are the only ones aside from Kyle with some real personalty. Even Kyle doesn't receive much back story and old fans will catch the retcon in his origin. Strangely though this just doesn't feel like a problem, since Bedard works too well with what he has here. The dialog at times is too fun to read, and Larfleeze can be damn hilarious as he represents greed. I can imagine most people falling in love with his antics. Kyle is also different from the other Green Lantern's: Hal Jordan, Sinestro, John Stewart and Guy Gardener. This is a really good thing because copy and paste characters are an easy way out. To be completely fair though, towards the end of the book the characters begin to show some type of promise.
This entire storyline feels like its setting up towards something bigger leaving plenty of dangling plot threads. There's just loads of build up; even a battle against the main threat with an alien by the name of Invictus is left opened. The battle is pretty fun and he does have a believable drive, but he comes off a bit too powerful for my liking though. I haven't read the second volume yet, and I'm looking forward to that one since the cliffhanger triggered my curiosity.
For a comic book focusing on action, it better damn well deliver with the visuals. I'm glad to say that Tyler Kirkham and Harvey Tolibao's pencils along with Batt's inks gets the job done. There are some very nice splash pages flowing across one page to another delivering some gorgeous designs of each character. Star Sapphire and Bleez look sexy without going all out, and there are just many details separating everyone from each other. There's plenty of details in the backgrounds with on-lookers, one way signs, building designs, and car crashes sticking out quite well.
The sci-fi feel is very well established in space through giant vessels and alien races. This book does a very good job matching the other two GL series with its other-worldly atmosphere; but it's the awesome inks and colors delivered through the energy and ring construct battles that steals the show though. There's a good deal of imagination when handling Larfleeze's construct minions making him into such a cool character if you're unfamiliar with him.
In closing, it must be stated that New Guardians isn't exactly a Kyle Rayner title, it's a team book and I think Bedard is on to something here. I'm happy to see he was able to keep this book interesting enough without major star power. This title doesn't reach into any other part of the GL universe, in which it's clear that DC has given Bedard some type of creative freedom to sell these characters. New Guardians is a fun series that doesn't take itself seriously and for me it's one of the better opening volumes of the New 52.
Pros: All around fun to read with very good artwork
Cons: Some folks may want more characterization
