Green Lantern: New Guardians #2

For the shortcomings of Blue Beetle, I forgive Tony Bedard as Green Lantern: New Guardians was a geat comic to read. Tony Bedard really captures the voice of Kyle Rayner, or as I like to call him, the best Green Lantern ever (suck it Hal Jordan). A tendency for many writers is to make all characters of the same family exactly like each other. And in the Green Lanterns, this is somewhat true. Guy Gardner, John Stewart, and Hal Jordan all have very similar personalities. And while that somewhat makes sense, as the Green Lantern rings look for similar qualities in their soldiers.

But Kyle is different. He's more cautious, smarter, and is less brash. But he still has incredible will when he needs it, and all of this is shown in issue #2. While it may not be super-evident, if one went through this comic and at every choice Kyle makes, asked "what would Hal/Guy/John do in this situation?" one would realize that in most cases Kyle would make a different choice (and often the better one).
This comic is full of action, showcasing the abilities of the different colored-corps, without getting too deep into them. It appropriately addresses how certain colors interact with each other without drowning out the comic with too much detail. It also shows off skilled Kyle is with his ring, holding off an onslaught of 5 other lanterns.

When Kyle escapes to go see Ganthet. member of the Guardians, again Bedard hits all the right notes. He doesn't get too much into backstory and the cause of the other Guardians altering Ganthet, but he briefly touches on why Ganthet and Kyle are close, and why Kyle trusts Ganthet even though the Guardians have repeatedly shown they aren't to be trusted.

In the end of the issue we get to the crux of the book, that Kyle Rayner is the only one who possesses to ability to wear all seven colored rings in the spectrum. This is also why Kyle Rayner is awesome. He's such a mulch-dimensional character.

What I enjoyed: This series is very cool. I can't wait to see what Kyle can do with all seven rings on him. Also, I'm still a big fan of Tyler Kirkham's art. It all just looks so lifelike.

What I didn't: Tony Bedard seems to be from the Geoff Johns school of comic-book writing. The plot moves so slow. Here's an  under 25-word summation of the issue: Kyle attracts the seven different colored rings, is confused, flies to Oa for answers, only for the Guardians to think he's attacking them. You have twenty two pages, use them!

Conclusion: Despite how slow this book goes, everything in it is so cool. And I use the word cool intentionally, not as some generic statement of goodness. This is another series I'm excited to follow. 8.2/10 (B-).