Release Date: February 22, 2012
Cover Date: April 2012
Story: Tony Bedard
Pencils: Tyler Kirkham
Inks: Matt “Batt” Banning
Cover: Tyler Kirkham and Matt “Batt” Banning
The archangel Invictus is summoned by his followers, and Kyle Rayner overrides his ring in order to warn the other Corps representatives. Invictus emerges from a statue on the fake Okaara, beating the snot out of Fatality and Munk. They teleport away, and Invictus’ next target is Arkillo. He blames all of the ring wielders for being servants of the Beast, but after making short work of Arkillo, he learns that Saint Walker is not evil. Unfortunately, Saint Walker discovers that Invictus isn’t evil, either! Finally, as Bleez returns to the Orrery, she vows to burn down each world until she finds Kyle and crew.
Not a bad issue, though it fell prey to the “new threat wipes the floor with our heroes” cliché. As we all expected, Invictus showed up, kicked everyone’s asses, and seems poised for victory…until a lone wolf (Bleez) arrives to throw a spanner in the works. While nothing new, at least the story worked well. Invictus does not see himself as some world-conquering villain, and it’s often these flawed but well-meaning characters that make for interesting stories. (I also dig how he uses the statues of himself as a teleportation system.) It’s notable that Invictus hasn’t encountered a power ring in billions of years; that means he’s unlikely to be the “ring thief.” Someone else in the Orrery must have reprogrammed the rings to go after Kyle.
Kyle’s “hacking” of the ring’s communication system was cool; you’d think the ring wouldn’t have such a stupid restriction, but it seems to me that it was something put in place by the Guardians after Blackest Night. They’ve had a bug up their collective asses since the other color Corps showed up. Further screwing with the Green Lanterns’ rings to prevent any alliances, as it were, is right up their douchebag alley as of late.
Moving on to the subject of sexism and objectification…how about Fatality’s talking boobs?
That’s not a cropped panel; that is the panel. It’s bad enough that Fatality’s in a brokeback pose on the cover, but this is far worse. The preceding panel has her talking to Munk, and in this one, the viewpoint shifts down just so the reader can check out her massive rack. Even Munk looks ashamed at this embarrassment.
Other than this blatant pandering, Tyler Kirkham’s artwork carried this issue quite well. The battle sequences with Invictus were larger than life, and Kyle’s attempt to stop the archangel with a titanic construct (get it?) looked great. I wish he had a chance to draw more character development instead of explosions, fistfights, and constructs, as Kirkham really is an underrated artist, but that may have to wait for another story arc.
