Green Lantern #40: Transition to a New Crossover

Kyle Rayner’s semi-comedic visit to Earth comes to an end in Green Lantern #40. Adams returns the series’ recent headlining character to Oa where he catches both Kyle and Green Lantern readers up on recent events from Green Lantern Corps. Meanwhile, Hal Jordan and his companions confront Krona in the nexus of the emotional spectrum in Krona’s first major appearance since returning in The Starbreaker Supremacy. This convergence of storylines marks the beginning of the new Green Lantern crossover, First Light.

Adams does a good job bringing Green Lantern Corps’ recent storylines into Green Lantern #40, setting up a springboard into a major First Light storyline. This couldn’t have happened soon enough as, despite Hampton’s talent at juggling multiple storylines in Green Lantern Corps, the Guy Gardner/emotional entities plot had started to grow stale. Linking Green Lantern Corps’ recent storylines to the Book of Oa plot that was seeded following The Starbreaker Supremacy lends considerably more import to what has been going on in that series.

Kyle Rayner’s fun excursion to Earth gets its last hurrah in five pages early in Green Lantern #40 before the character is shipped off back to Oa. He leaves Earth on the word of another character who is having visions of Hal. This is quite sudden, and it undercuts an advancement in Kyle and Jade’s relationship that occurs in this very sequence. Adams plays the Kyle/Jade relationship revelation for a bit of humor. Unfortunately that falters when the characters separate without discussion on the page following said relationship revelation. And it’s made still worse because this character thread has been a major part of Kyle’s entire visit to Earth. A much more successful use of humor comes later when Kyle returns to Oa and is caught up on Guy’s new position.

Guy Gardner narrates Green Lantern #40 in such a way that he’s talking to someone at a point presumably after First Light has already occurred. This kind of narration usually increases a story’s urgency, and that is what happens here. What is Guy talking about and who is he speaking to?

Art duties in Green Lantern #40 are split between Godlewski who handles Hal’s story in the nexus and Earth, and Georgiev who handles Kyle and Guy on Oa. The two artists are a good choice as their styles don’t differ heavily.

One clear distinguishing element between the artists, though, is how characters are presented. Character features are a little softer under Georgiev’s pen as opposed to the straighter, crisper angles that Godlewski employs. Both artists deliver expressive characters though in different fashion. This might be the area in which Godlewski and Georgiev’s styles differ the most. Godlewski leans more on eye shape and less on feature defining lines which can result in slightly exaggerated expressions. Georgiev, on the other hand, typically employs short, thin lines to enhance features–cheekbones, foreheads, chins, etc.–to help deliver more subtle expressions.

Fajardo Jr. uses an overall bright color palette for Green Lantern #40, and it’s an effective choice for both Godlewski and Georgiev’s art. That coloring style works especially well during an action sequence in the opening pages featuring Kyle and a later action sequence between Hal and Krona. It does a good job implying the large-scale energies involved in the fights.

Sharpe does his usual good job keeping dialogue bubbles and caption boxes organized. In a nice bit of continuity he uses the same color format for Guy’s narration boxes here as is used in Green Lantern Corps.