When Dave Gibbons draws him, Vath Sarn is pretty hot.

However, it seems I’m at a point where that’s not enough to make me like the art, because when I put this book down all I could think was “I wish Patrick Gleason was drawing this.”

I didn’t like Gleason’s art at first, when I started reading Recharge, but it’s grown on me. His quirky style really gets the weirdness and alienness of an outer space series across. It meshes well with Gibbons writing which, while competent and entertaining, is fairly formulaic. Gleason’s art adds a little spunk to the series.

Contrast it to Gibbons art. I don’t want you to get me wrong here, he’s a talented artist. But his art is very serious, and of a very standard style. So is his writing at some points. When his writing meets his art, it can be wonderful in a book like The Originals. In a book like Green Lantern Corps? Not so much.

Plus, and this just has to be said, Gibbons’ art is static. Gleason’s is fluid and energetic. There’s a sense of whimsy and wonder to it, a sense I really missed in GLC#4. I hope he comes back soon.

And I studied the motion in the panels. The flow of motion I was wondering about is apparently all Gleason.

Back in January, when the Green Lantern drawing meme was running around, Diane Duane posted a script for an Arisia story she wrote a little after Arisia first appeared. It came up again during Lamashtar’s searches, and I finally got to read it.

I was hooked on the second page, by the background dialogue.

GL 1: I love your new skin color! Where did you get it?

GL 2: — so I follow the distress call,, and what do I find but
this planet entirely inhabited by little balls of fur —

GL 3: Personally, he’s not my type. I mean, he only has two
legs…

It gets better, the second and third pages are a party scene peppered with a bunch of Lanterns talking.

KATMA TUI (in b.g., to another GL standing beside her): So did
you ever find that planet you lost?

I love weirdness. That’s what really makes the Green Lantern Corps concept. That’s why I like the Silver Age better than the Golden Age. The Weirdness.

The rest of the story is Arisia interacting with another Lantern named Cario, who’s a sentient mathematical construct. This is essential to the plot. So, what we have here is a story that not only has the wonderfully imaginative throwaway concepts and jokes that enhance a space story, but it’s a true science fiction story. The plot is based on a particularly weird scientific principle. The emotional tale told would work in different circumstances, yes, but the weirdness is what makes the plot here.

Don’t get me wrong, I love retcons and continuity stories. It’s fun to see Hal have to go back and deal with all his built-up Karma (it doesn’t hurt that we got a Giant Yellow Space-grasshopper with mind control abilities when he first started, but things have normalized a bit). And I’m really enjoying both the CSI-style GLC and the mystery in Ion, but it always comes back to this wish for me. It’s why I like Alan Moore’s GL stories, it’s why I like Grant Morrison’s JLA, it’s why I adored Mosaic. I want to see these characters deal with the abnormal. I want to leave Earth for a story. I want them up to their hairlines in strangeness. I want new, wild, crazy ideas! I want Wall To Wall Weird!

After all, it’s comic books. If we don’t get to play with unreality, what’s the point?

Anyway, it’s a fun story. Check it out.

I’ve procrastinated for nearly a week, but I was resting from the trip. Chicago’s a longer drive from Oklahoma than it looks. But I was there. Kalinara and I were at both DC Panels at WizardWorld last weekend. I was able to ask a Green Lantern question at each. Geoff Johns was there to answer.

My first one was clumsy, because I wanted to know about all three characters but would have settled for a vague idea that one of them would show. It wasn’t reported by Newsarama, but I think CBR got it. Sorry, Soyo, I know you wanted a Carol question but I thought this would be my last chance and I figured he’s say “No” in either case for Carol. I hedged my bets and merged to get “Are we going to see the Zamarons, Carol Ferris, or Star Sapphire soon?” Answered with a yes. Couldn’t get a clarification. Still, it was a ridiculously fun panel to attend. I say ridiculous because of the audience members who voted that Dick Grayson was a “bigger stud” than Hal Jordan when the question came up. I say fun because it was fun the entire time.

At the second panel, I saw Jim Starlin and Geoff Johns in one place so I got in line to ask about Cosmic Odyssey. There was a line of people approaching a microphone to speak, so I had time to think about my question while I stood there. I almost asked a question about feminism, but I was preceeded by an Identity Crisis complaint and a question on labeling, and my issues are much more complex than those. I didn’t want to get a defensive answer on the tail of them, plus I wanted to know about Green Lantern. I’m actually very glad I decided that, because the answer I got from this next question was too perfect. It was so perfect that it was already reported on Newsarama, and Kalinara mentioned it also. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

By the time they’d finished dancing around the issue of labels for the guy right in front of me, I’d made up my mind to ask about Katma Tui. Only I disguised the question so it seemed to be about John. Ended up with “Just a simple John Stewart fan question — he’s had a lot of specials like Cosmic Odyssey and Mosaic that haven’t been referenced in a few years. Do they still count in the new continuity?”

Johns nodded and said yes. I was very surprised by this.

“The end of Mosaic is still in continuity?”

He answered yes again, not seeming to see why I didn’t believe him. At this point a terrible thought struck me. Maybe he didn’t remember the ending of Mosaic. I almost asked specifically about it, but stopped myself. Suppose he changed his mind once he knew?

I felt like I’d stolen a pair of really expensive shoes and had to get out of the store before the clerk noticed. I immediately started for my seat, then nervously stepped back to the microphone and gave him a Thank you! Then I resumed sneaking to my seat.

This had to have been fun to watch, since we had front-row seats and I was attempting to be invisible, walking down the center aisle with a thief’s posture. Dan Didio watched from his podium, where even leaning forward he towered over writer and fan alike. I was directly in front of him, and had to move closer to get to my seat.

“Can I just ask one question?” he said, scaring the living daylights (not to mention the recently passed on nightlights) out of me. I suspect I may have paled, but I smiled and nodded quickly. I think.

“What happens When Fangirls Attack?” He asked.

I blinked, then realized what he meant. My shirt! I had the When Fangirls Attack shirt on! He’d asked the same thing yesterday, and Kalinara had had a nice pithy response (”Wouldn’t you like to know?”) I was relieved, and drew a blank. Kalinara was sitting in the front row, I was all alone on the spot! I badly wanted to say “Your writers get tricked into resurrecting awesome female characters” but didn’t. I just smiled, looked down demurely and continued to my seat. I was aware of some vague joking between the panel and the audience while I did.

I think it was very nice of him to give me a second chance to advertise the website again, but I was too nervous and happy to take it. After the panel, we approached the Green Lantern writer. I asked if he’d read Mosaic’s ending. He nodded.

“Oh, then you know Katma Tui was resurrected at the end?”

The look on his face was beautiful. Just beautiful. I swear, you could just see the light bulb fire up above his head. That look was worth the drive.

Just asking that question was totally worth the drive.