Green Lanterns #35

Writer: Tim Seeley

Artist: Carlo Barberi

Inker: Matt Santorelli

Colourist: Ulises Arreola

Letterer: Dave Sharpe

Tim Seeley is impressing me with his run on this title so far. What I admire about it is that he's given the Lanterns a whole new set of problems to deal with, and each of them are different. As I predicted, Jessica now has to deal with the fact that her life as a Green Lantern will have to make her skip her job in order to carry on her tasks. Simon on the other hand is being somewhat discriminated against due to his past and is essentially squatting while also hooking up with random women. I'm glad that Simon and Jessica aren't together since it gives each of them a bit more identity. And Seeley is able to blend these two aspects of their lives very well without it feeling contrived. Simon and Jessica operate as a team more than I've ever seen them before.

This story is also fresher than previous stories and I like how Seeley is already building a new long-form narrative that feels much more organic than Sam Humphries' saga. Not only is it tying into itself nicely, but it's also tying into HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS with the Bolphunga character. We learn what happened to him after the Corps arrested him and it's just nice to see the two Lantern books build off of each other.

I have the same complaint about the art that I had when Seeley's run started with #33: I wish that a new artist would have come on board to really signify a new start. Maybe if Humphries and Seeley ended their runs on their respective books at the same time so their own artists would have carried over to the new book, or maybe even a new artist would have joined. There's definitely the sense that a new writer is on board and a new art style would have solidified this transition. That said, Carlo Barberi does a fantastic job on this issue. It's very emotive and there just the right level of detail in the action scenes to give them weight.

Seeley mostly impresses me yet again with this issue. You can see the seeds being planted for a bigger story down the line in addition to him already picking up on some very recently seeded threads. Barberi's art was a joy to behold as well.