Wes Serafine
Equinox Staff
“You have the ability to overcome great fear, ”is the first thing said to someone when they are inducted into the Green Lantern Corps. As a Green Lantern, one will have to face many things that will bring about great fear in one’s heart. Giving into it can be fatal. In many ways that can be taken quite literally.
A Green Lantern’s greatest weakness is yellow light, as yellow is the color of fear. Sinestro, once considered the greatest of all Green Lanterns, fell from grace and was exiled to a world where such yellow power was in great abundance.
As part of his revenge, Sinestro forged multiple yellow rings and formed his own corps, The Sinestro Corps, each member wielding the yellow light of fear. All who cross the wrath of the Yellow Lanterns do well to remember their sinister oath.
“In Blackest Day, In Brightest Night, Beware Your Fears Made into Light, Let Those Who Try To Stop what’s Right, Burn Like my Power, Sinestro’s Might!”
Previously, Green Lantern Kyle Rayner trained under the savage Attrocitus in order to master the red fires of rage. Rayner was successful, but was forever changed by the experience.
Now, a greater task lies ahead of Rayner, confronting Arkillo, the last remaining Yellow Lantern after the recent destruction of the Sinestro Corps at the hands of Sinestro. Feeling betrayed and alone, Arkillo has exiled himself to a secluded planet where he is worshipped as a fear god.
We begin with Rayner training under the leader of the Indigo Tribe, known simply as Indigo-1. Rayner has a fairly easy time mastering the indigo light of compassion, but compassion is a trait that Rayner has never had a hard time with. Indigo-1, however, is concerned. Rayner will not have such an easy time mastering the powers of love, avarice, and especially fear.
Rayner reminds her that fear is part of the job when one is a Green Lantern. Indigo-1 answers by reminding him that fear can sometimes be a healthy reaction.
Rayner confronts Arkillo on the aforementioned planet. Arkillo is overcome with hatred for his former master and so to calm him down, Rayner produces several constructs of Sinestro but this only serves to further anger him.
Arkillo fights Rayner and nearly destroys him, but Rayner gains an advantage when he does the one thing a Green Lantern must never do: admit his own fear.
Doing this allows Rayner to channel the power of the yellow light. Rayner and Arkillo are evenly matched, and Rayner tries to get Arkillo to release his own power that has been inhibited by his former loyalties to Sinestro, but Carol Ferris arrives and calms the two down.
Their next goal will prove even more difficult, training under Larfleeze, the vile Orange Lantern. Arkillo joins them on their quest that he may find and kill Sinestro and prove that he is the greatest Yellow Lantern of all.
Rayner’s quest to conquer the power of yellow is a decent continuation of the story and thankfully not a repeat of the previous issue. As excellent as that story was, if that formula had been repeated here, it would have become stale and uninteresting.
Here we are given further insight into the character of Arkillo, who was a spotlighted character in the previous story arc. The story could have been a little stronger, but still manages to hold my interest and remain fresh after 15 issues.
However, there is something off-putting about the artwork. There are several inconsistencies and the characters never seem to look quite right, Rayner in particular. Ultimately it is what drags this issue down.
Rayner’s character remains the way it has been in the previous two issues. Arkillo on the other hand is a different story. When Arkillo was first introduced there was little to his character. He was principally created to act as a counterpart to popular member of the Green Lantern Corps, Killowog.
Arkillo was rarely more than a generic brute in his early days and went largely unnoticed, especially considering that the first incarnation of the Sinestro Corps had such noteworthy DC villains as Mongul and The Cyborg Superman on its roster.
In the first arc of New Guardians however, Arkillo came into his own, still a brutish character, but also a passionate individual.
You get a sense of his love and devotion to Sinestro and the pain that came with his betrayal.
This issue continues that arc. Arkillo forces Rayner to admit his fear, yet still refuses to acknowledge his own, that he’ll never measure up to Sinestro. Now that he has a chance to prove it, he will stop at nothing to do so.
A fine story, but this series has produced better. There seems to be a lot of repetition and the artwork never feels consistent.
Still, this is a series worth picking up. Next time, Rayner will face the toughest challenge of his training and one of my favorite characters in the Green Lantern mythos, The Orange Lantern, Larfleeze.
Wes Serafine can be contacted at
wserafine@keene-equinox.com
