By Sam Humphries, Eduardo Pansica, Julio Ferreira, and Blond

Green Lanterns has been an under the radar a bit in the DC Rebirth line. The pairing of Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz has been fun and enjoyable in the series. If there was one drawback to their team up and protection of Earth, it’s that they don’t often interact with other members of the Green Lantern Corps. Well, look no further; this new story arc has the two rookie lanterns being trained by professionals in the form of Kyle Rayner and Guy Gardner. If that’s not a recipe for fun and good story telling, I’m not sure what is.

Sam Humphries gives us two different approaches to the Lanterns training. Jessica is subjected to a boot camp by Guy Gardner, while Kyle takes an artistic approach to helping Baz. Even though he doesn’t write Kyle and Guy on a regular basis, he gives them a good and accurate voice. Humphries makes it fun to see the two rookie lanterns interact with Kyle, Guy, and Kilowog. There seems to be a decent rapport forming between Kilowog and Jessica, almost like a big brother and little sister bond. If there is one drawback in the issue, it’s the bits about the guardians. Although this is a necessary part, and Humphries has been building it up, it just isn’t as interesting as the training of the lanterns.

The pencils this issue are handled by Eduardo Pansica with inks by Julio Ferreira and colors by Blond. For as good as the story is this issue, the art steals the show. Eduardo Pansica has big time talent displayed here. From the opening page, the veins in Guy Gardner’s neck as he yells at Jessica Cruz draw your attention. Julio Ferreira’s inks make Pansica’s pencils look extremely smooth, which adds to the excellent style. Humphries and Pansica takes a more creative approach on some of the constructs during the Kyle and Baz pages. Let’s be honest, it’s cool seeing a ring make a giant pinball machine with Baz as the pinball. Most of Pansica’s pages are flawless, and you’d be hard pressed to find a bad panel. The colors by Blond are very vibrant here and almost leap off of the page at you. The greens from the ring or from the constructs are insanely bright and immediately catch your eye. There are also some dark panels, most noticeably in close-up and intimate moments. An example of this,would be any panel where Guy is yelling at Jessica.

Anyone who has been on the fence about this series should be brought around by the first two issues of this arc. Sam Humphries and co. have found a way to break down both of his lanterns and show them that they don’t know as much as they think they do. You can’t say enough about the art in this issue. Everyone involved brought their A-game and it shows on the page. We’re getting spoiled with the quality of the Green Lanterns books during Rebirth.

About The Author Jeremy Matcho

Jeremy Matcho is an employee of Amcom/ Xerox. He was born on the hard streets in Guam, and once met George Wendt at a local Jamesway department store. He was first exposed to comics at the tender age of 9, picking up X-Men #1. His favorite character then, and to this day is Cyclops. While he has been a Marvel fan for 20 years, DC is steadily becoming heavy competition. He also is the proud owner of a 2002 ford escort.

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