Dear Geoff Johns,
Its time to talk. You have a serious problem. You need help with your dialogue.
Okay, maybe your word processor deleted a few lines in that Kyle-Hal scene. (And in that exchange between Parallax and John, because John's line about staying black came out of nowhere.) But there's not excuse for Kyle's words on the last panel. I know what you intended, it didn't work.
Also, work on your timing. Just because we all know to expect several issues of action that amounts to twiddling your thumbs and then an issue where everything happens at once (well, everything happens one panel after another, but he always packs more in the issue right before the resolution than in the past year of the series, and things seem to move too fast).
Bad stuff out of the way, I liked this issue. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want Kyle free without any help, but I think the way it unfolds works nicely.
I can't express how happy I am you had Hal point out that he had help from the fucking Spectre. I was beginning to think you retconned that out, and it would be annoying. Now, I'm going to go ahead and assume Kyle's stronger since Hal needed an entity of Biblical power, the embodied wrath of God, to get him loose and Kyle just needed a pep talk.
I'm also a little annoyed that Guy was so quick with those construct shorts, but we can't have everything we hope for. I'm going to lose money on the lack of a scar, but we have two months for aftermath stories and there's a chance that Reis missed it.
Thank you for turning Kyle back to a regular Green Lantern, and thank whoever designed that new costume. (except the mask -- what is it about Kyle and masks?) I hope it has a zipper. It looks like the top is a zip-up jacket and I think it would be cool to have him standing around with the coat part unzipped and a Green Lantern T-shirt.
I look forward to the next installment.
(And in that exchange between Parallax and John, because John's line about staying black came out of nowhere.)
ReplyDeleteIt's a reference to Lean On Me. A guy says "I don't have to do anything but stay black and die."
I kind of laughed out loud when I read it, but in a good way. "Ha! Awesome!"
I agree that it's kind of hilariously out of place, though.
David -- Thanks. :)
ReplyDeleteWell it WAS a good issue. Too bad about the glowing shorts though, I do agree with you there, although it was certainly nice of Guy to help out.
ReplyDeleteYou DO realize that Guy had all the best lines however. And the bit with Ganthet and Sayd bringing the lanterns was great...you knew EXACTLY whose lantern was whose.
Heh. Michigan!
Yeah, nice tough on that. Still not feeling Kyle's new uni though.
ReplyDeleteI did love the Guardian ghostbusters. (That's what it reminded me of)
Hopefully this stuff spills over into JSA a bit as well.
You're right, WTF was John thinking when he said that?
WHY KYLE COULDN'T BEAT PARALLAX ALL BY HIMSELF
ReplyDeleteby anonymous, age 5
Because he's a primordial fear avatar whose very presence is enough to drive entire civilizations mad. I would have been extremely disappointed if it required less than two strong-willed fear-resistant men on the inside in conjunction with an alpha-grade point-blank physical attack from the outside to mess Parallax up (and even then, it was only the briefest of victories).
That said, I'm glad Ganthet has acknowledged that earthlings have been more successful than Guardians at confronting Parallax directly. The Guardians may do many things well, but when it comes to direct confrontations they are unaccountably useless.
David, Ragnell:
ReplyDeleteIt's not so much a riff on "Lean On Me," as it is an old expression I've heard more than three generations of family utter more than once and well before "Lean On Me."
That's why I enjoyed that line so much.
I am just glad that Hal didn't just reach into Parallax and free Kyle all on his own with Kyle whimpering holding himself.
ReplyDeleteThen again he did leave him sticky and naked... Standard treatment from Jordan when you get upclose and personal like they were.
Anonymous, Age 5 -- I know, I know...
ReplyDeleteDevon -- Still doesn't excuse Kyle's last line. Made me cringe.
What line? "cool" or "Hell yes" 'cause I didn't see anything horribly wrong with them
ReplyDeleteMike -- "Cool." It sounded fine when Kyle was possessed because it was The Thing parodying Kyle, but it was stiff and corny with Kyle actually saying it.
ReplyDeleteI mean, its not like a word I'm too good to say myself, or a word that's out of use, but it just didn't seem natural in the dialogue. Seemed like Kyle being singled out as the "young Lantern".
But he is the young twenty something Lantern. He's like 23.
ReplyDeleteMost of us in that age group do say much worse things.
Jordan, Gardner, and Stewart are all in their early 30's at least. If Kyle doesn't sound like the Young Lantern something is wrong.
Anon -- That Kyle is the young one in itself is okay, but just the way this was setup was too cheesy, the last page falls flat. Like they are trying to write the young Lantern rather than succeeding at writing the young Lantern. Just not a line that seems right coming from Kyle at a point like that.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that last line was pretty cringe-worthy.
ReplyDeleteJohn's backing it up made it just that much worse.
Kyle should be an old 23, especially after that. He should be at least be about as weary as a ground radar troop who just got back from Iraq for the third time...
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping you're right about Kyle's uni as well. It needs something to me- it seems a bit bland for Kyle at the moment.