When they announced that Bedard and Syaf were going to take over for this series I was really happy. Sure I’d miss Tomasi and Gleason doing some of the best cosmic stories around; but if there were anyone to take over this title it would be these two. Bedard is fantastic on REBELS and this should be no different for him to do a cosmic cop team. While Syaf has slowly become one of the best new talents to come out of the company since Blackest Night started. Last issue was a nice, #1 issue feel, to start their run. With this issue they totally show why they are perfect for this job.

Finally! Someone can write John Stewart and make him a great character. Bedard gets Stewart and there is more characterization here then what Johns/Tomasi did in the entire Blackest Night event. Bedard also is able to weave in exposition without making it boring and for once Boodikka is interesting to read as an Alpha Lantern. Speaking of Alpha-Lanterns, if there was one thing Tomasi could never really do during his run was to make these robot monsters intriguing. With only two issues Bedard has made them HUGELY revelent and with a final page reveal (more on that in a minute) on who is making them such evil bastards makes me giddy with excitement. Kyle Rayner is still a bit underused here, but then again when hasn’t he? By the time Ganthet came in to get everyone read to save Stewart all of the lack of characterization for Rayner was forgotten by me.

When I look at Syaf’s artwork it gives me a lot of ideas on who he’s like. Sometimes his pencils are like a rougher Gary Frank; and when you see his panels for Ganthet or Stewart you can definitely see that. But when it comes to detailed panels or splash pages then he fully reminds me of Ivan Reis. Mind you he might not have the insane talent Reis has, but he comes darn close to impress me with hugely detailed enviroments. His art always stood out because of inker, Vicente Cifuentes, who does slight touches with the faces and backgrounds to make it stand out. Just slight, rough, lines on faces (again see Ganthet) make Syaf stand out from the usual pack of artists.

My only hitch with this issue was that stupid, and so far, pointless insert of Brightest Day #3. I’m sorry but in the same vein as Green Lantern proper, this just felt shoehorned in rushed. I’m going to assume that whoever these people are they will be integral to later issues in GLC. At least I hope…..Either way it didn’t bother me too much and if I could rate it I would give it a 4.9/5 instead of a full 5/5.

Slight nitpicking aside, this was my pick of the week for just being a fun title to read. It might not have the writing charm of Tomasi or the unqiue style of Gleason; but there is something special slowly growing here. In two issues Tony Bedard has made John Stewart from irrevelent to intriguing and made the Alpha Lanterns a force. The art by Syaf has also been good but here he is finally showing his talents by being put into this cosmic title. The cherry on top is the shocking last page reveal which makes me giddy for the next issue.