Green Lantern #145
Story:
Art:

Written by Judd Winick
Pencils by Dale Eagelsham
Inks by Rodney Ramos
Lettered by Chris Eliopoulos
Colors by Moose Baumann

Published by DC Comics
Price: $2.25

My Verdict: Ahhhhh.

Kyle faces down the evil Nero while drifting around the Sun. They can both tap into the same wellspring of power now, and are both getting equally stronger by the minute. While the heroes of Earth do nothing, Kyle has to figure out a way to best Nero before the whackjob reboots the universe. (Not again! AHHHHH!!!)

When I initially heard that Judd Winick, creator of my favorite comic hero Barry Ween, was taking over the ring, I was excited as all hell. Then I picked up the initial issues and bled from my nose. The opening story arc was yet another "somebody kicks Kyle's ass and steals his ring" scenario, the same thing that bored me to tears before Winick showed up on the scene. I fled.

But I couldn't help picking up the book a few months back, and was pleasantly surprised to see Winick trying new things. Kyle Rayner has the most powerful weapon in the universe on his hand, and yet nobody seemed to have any idea what to do with him. Finally, Grant Morrison, in his last story arc on JLA had Kyle finally start to escalate into a bit of a badass. But no one had seemed to take up the baton and run with it. But with the simple act of having Kyle read a book--a closed book from across the room--using the ring, Winick got my attention.

What makes this issue even more encouraging is the handling of the characters. Kyle finally acts like a hero who knows what he's doing, or at least can make it up as he goes along. The supporting characters have enough sense to stay the hell out of the way. And there's a priceless moment with the Hal Jordan Spectre--probably the first decent thing I've seen done with that guy.

This goes back on the pull list for me, thanks. Given the climax of this issue, I'm very interested to see what happens next. When I spoke with Winick at San Diego, he mentioned that he was building towards some big stuff in ish 150. And if the end of this issue isn't big, I'm going to have to stick around and see what is. Nicely done.