Green Lantern: New Guardians #27

By Justin Jordan, Andrei Bressan & Hi-Fi

The great thing about Green Lantern: New Guardians after the Lights Out cross over is that the stories have been relatively self contained. Anybody could pick up an issue, enjoy it and have a fairly good idea of what’s going on. Kyle Rayner, the New Guardians and Carol Ferris all seem to be planet hopping after Rayner refilled the light at the edge of the universe and it almost has a Fantastic Four space adventure feel to it. They meet new races on new planets, help them with whatever problem they might be having and then move on.

This format of storytelling, while not a new concept, works extremely well in this context and in the Lantern section of DC Comics. Writer Justin Jordan executes these short stories perfectly, while still leaving that impression that there is an overarching reason for each and somewhere down the line the lessons, and maybe even some of the characters we meet, are going to come back and help Kyle Rayner and company. For now, however, we get to enjoy these small glimpse and stories and character building for Rayner, Ferris—particularly something growing between Rayner and Ferris—and the New Guardians. And that suits this reviewer, and the series, just fine.

Taking over for regular series artist Brad Walker, artist Andrei Bressan does an impressive job maintaining a similar tone and style so it’s not as jarring as other artist fill-ins have been in the past. Bressan’s action scenes, and there are a fair amount in this issue, flow great from page to page and the  characters maintain a consistent look throughout, which doesn’t always seem to be easy for fill-in artists especially if they’re rushed or it’s a last minute deal. If there are any other fill in issues required for this series, please DC: make sure it’s Andrei Bressan that handles them. Perfect fit.

It’s also worth noting that while Bressan didn’t design the new look for Star Sapphire Ferris it’s damn nice to see her wearing clothes again and a suit more, well, suited to having a power ring. On the color end of things, Hi-Fi hits all the right marks. The constructs are bright and in your face, the characters are nicely highlighted and stand out from the backgrounds and, overall, the coloring just manages to maintain a high level of quality and consistency throughout the issue.

New Guardians stands out as one of the best, if not arguably the best, Lantern book on the shelves right now. It’s fun, it’s interesting and it doesn’t seem to be tied down by all the weight and seriousness that some of the other titles have. It might help that the rest of the Corps think Rayner sacrificed himself to replenish the light and therefore he doesn’t have to answer to anybody but himself, the Guardians and maybe Carol Ferris who he’s dragged along for the ride, but who can really say? In any event, this is definitely a book you need to catch up on if you’ve fallen behind. Jordan, Brad Walker, Hi-Fi, Bressan and anybody else that has worked on this series since the creator change have done an excellent job with this series and it deserves your attention.