By Brian Nixon
“To protect the weak and
have the guts, to hunt down the bad guys and kick their…”
What?! You’ve never
heard these Green Lantern oaths before? Well then, you’ve never
read “GREEN LANTERN: THE NEW CORPS” a two issue mini
series by Chuck Dixon, Scot Eaton, Anibal Rodriguez, Janice
Chiang, and Chris Chuckry.
Our story opens with
three aliens commenting about an approaching reading on their
sensors. “It’s a vehicle.” “A craft of PURE energy.” “One life
form on board.” It’s then that we see Kyle Rayner cruising
through inter-galactic space in a green convertible with fuzzy
dice hanging from the mirror and a Hal Jordan Bobble-Head on the
dash. With Jade currently acting as the Green Lantern of earth,
it’s given Kyle time to travel the cosmos. He’s reflecting on
the old Green Lantern Corps and the billions of planets that
need a Green Lantern as much as Earth does. He’s decided to use
his spare ring, which has the ability to create new power rings
and batteries, to recruit a new GLC. His first stop is the
planet Mongo, a world at war. Kyle sees an attacking army
closing in on a citadel and uses his ring to drive them away.
Once inside he meets Magaan Van’n Intraktus, an elder of the
Van’n. Magaan fills Kyle in on the situation there and how
desperate his clan is. Kyle offers Megaan an opportunity for
payback and a second chance for his people by giving Megaan a
power ring. Kyle and Megaan make short of the rest of the clan
who had been aligned against Megaan’s clan. After the victory,
the celebration begins and Megaan tells Kyle that he will use
the ring to lead his clan to a new age. Kyle leaves feeling
very good about his first choice for the new Corps.
After visiting many
other worlds looking for suitable Lanterns, Kyle is lead by a
telepathic summons to the aid of a young woman who says Kyle has
saved her. When our hero asks her from what, we see her change
as she says “starvation.” Turns out the “woman” was actually
the tongue of a giant creature that is going to make a snack out
of Kyle. It’s then we meet the diminutive, but tough-as-nails
Hammeroon. After blowing up the creature Hammeroon introduces
himself to Kyle, who tells Hammeroon of his plan to recreate the
GLC. Hammeroon offers to take Kyle to Waystation to look for
candidates. As they leave they pick up another distress signal.
Upon investigation they discover an old Russian rocket capsule
with a woman frozen, but still alive, inside. Once thawed,
Lieutenant Colonel Anya Savenlovich of the Russian Air Force
tells them of an explosion in the second stage rocket that was
the last thing she remembers happening. She thinks it’s still
1964 and when Kyle tells her it’s actually 1999 she faints.
Once on Waystation, the trio helps Garl Rathbone, a hulking,
four armed, purple alien, from the others attacking him, but in
the end all but Anya are stunned by sentry robots and locked
away without Kyle’s rings. They are brought before Judge Sool
who reminds all there that the Green Lantern Corps is irrelevant
and extinct, and that HE is the only word of law in this corner
of the galaxy. Before he can pass judgment however, Anya barges
in carrying a “bomb,” which Hammeroon tells Kyle he recognizes
as a piece of his ship’s heating system. The four make their
escape while Judge Sool swears he’ll see them hunted across the
cosmos for eternity even if he has to do it personally. The
four fugitives head for Mongo. Kyle starts doubting himself and
his goal. The he remembers Megaan and recalls what a great
choice he made there. Issue one ends with Kyle thinking, “At
least I got one thing right.” While we see that Megaan sitting
on a throne surrounded by slave girls, guards, and peasants
bearing tribute.
As issue two starts
there is a cosmic storm traveling across the galaxy at
tremendous speeds. The fugitives are tracked down by Sool who
is about to battling Kyle when everyone sees the approaching
storm. Kyle uses his ring to protect himself, his new friends,
and Sool from the destructive wave which destroys Sool’s ship
and everything else in its path. Realizing they need to find
out who or what caused the storm Sool agrees to help and Kyle
creates rings for all four of them. When they first charge
their rings, Kyle tells them they can say others if they want.
Thus are born the others from above. As they approach Mongo the
Lanterns come under attack from the natives. Kyle realizes he
knows them and realizes he might have made a terrible mistake.
After telling his new comrades (all but Anya can’t believe he
actually gave a ring to a Van’n.) A titanic battle ensues with
Kyle battling Megaan, while the others try to reach his
citadel. Hammeroon stays back to battle Megaan’s army,
reasoning that he makes the smallest target, while Anya, Garl,
and Sool continue on to stop the storm, which they now know
Megaan created. We discover (through an interesting reveal)
that Megaan is no rookie when it comes to using the ring
anymore. Kyle is finally able to remove the ring from Megaan’s
hand and the three stop the wave. Hammeroon, however, makes the
ultimate sacrifice to give them the time they need. With Megaan
defeated and the wave stopped Kyle must now make a decision. He
decides that he needs more experience and help before trying to
recruit a new Green Lantern Corps and asks for the rings back.
Anya, Sool, and Garl decide to stay together “…and go into the
interplanetary crimebustin’ bizness.” Kyle bids them farewell
and, after erecting a memorial to Hammeroon, heads back to
Earth.
This story has some real fun moments in it, and also some good messages. Just because you CAN do something, doesn’t always mean you SHOULD. It really has no lasting effect on the current continuity of the DCU, but it’s an enjoyable read. The characters are fun and the banter between them (especially with Hammeroon) is a lot of fun. It might be a little hard to find, but should still be about cover price of $4.95. I enjoyed it the first time back in ’99 and enjoyed it again this time around as well.