While Geoff Johns ‘Green Lantern #1’ has left a bad taste in my mouth, Peter Tomasi back on the Corps has got me really excited. His original run on the title quickly became one of my favorite DC books because he put so much care into his characters. Yes he had literally billions of characters to worry about, but he was able to balance it month in and month out. Even with big events he was able to put his own character moments with each issue. Now with the “New” DCU for the Corps we seem to be back to square one with most of the characters. But considering this book will most likely be tied into the original Green Lantern book I very much doubt anything is ‘fresh’.

Still, this was a fantastic issue because Tomasi was able to do two things which I thought was impossible. One, he made Guy Gardner likable and two he actually puts good use to John Stewart! All at the same time too by giving us an insight into why being Corps members isn’t actually easy on Earth with everyone knowing your identity. I love it that even though we do get a touch of smugness in the beginning, Gardner is actually trying to do something good by being a H.S. football coach. Then we get an equally badass moment of Stewart laying some smack on corporate nobodies too. These were such great ways to not only introduce the characters but to make them instantly likable. Now apart from some grisly moments in the beginning and end, the actual plot hasn’t kicked in just yet. But if this is anything like how Tomasi introduced the ‘Batman and Robin’ villain from last week then I’m excited on how disturbing this storyline could get.

I never read the ‘Emerald Warrirors’ comic from before so Fernando Pasarin is a bit new to me. Overall I liked most of what I saw here especially on how real everything felt. There is an insane level of detail in these pages and right from the beginning it’s hard not to notice. So much care is put into the face of that random jailed prisoner on Oa I’m shocked this issue came out on time. His art can be a bit stiff at times though and his take on Gardner can be all over the map at times. I didn’t even recognize him until his ring appeared at the end of his introduction. But I like the art overall in this issue so it’s not much of a deal breaker for me.

This issue did everything that ‘Green Lantern #1’ didn’t. First, Tomasi introduced all the characters with interesting situations and made them likable. Then you get introduced to this mysterious threat that is not only interesting but disturbing at the same time. Add in some insanely detailed pages by Pasarin and you got one gorgeous looking space drama book. It’s like Tomasi never left this book to be honest. While I shutter to think this will get tied into GL in the future. Right now I’m gonna enjoy this ride and see where Tomasi and Pasarin is gonna take it.