COMICS IN THE CAN- Episode XXXVII (New Guardians #29)

COMICS IN THE CAN
I used to have time to read my comics in a coffee shop. Now I have to read them in the bathroom. Then I write reviews of them. I wash my hands in between.

GREEN LANTERN: NEW GUARDIANS #29

Why am I even still collecting this book? Your guess is as good as mine. I picked it up 29 issues ago because I liked the concept of the leads from all the various colored corps traveling the galaxy together having adventures. That worked for awhile. But now it's devolved into the Kyle Rayner Show and I'm kinda bored.

Kyle was THE GL when I started reading comics. He was young, untrained, rash, creative and impulsive. His constructs were intricate and artistic and there was nary a giant hand to be seen. He was a real breath of fresh air from what Hal Jordan had become with all the other crazy Parallax business and the weight of the universe on his shoulders.

But in the intervening years, his status quo has gone out the window. Now all the other lanterns think he's dead. He's found himself traveling the universe with Hal's ex, Carol Ferris, who is still a violet lantern, and feelings are brewing there. He's got these serious power levels now from being the White Lantern.  He's kinda become this self appointed interstellar hippie Christ figure. Even Carol calls him a hippie (jokingly, under her breath). I mean, I guess characters should change, evolve and grow but that should also make them more interesting and Kyle has just become...less.

So he's found himself now at odds with the god X'hal, who is something of a patron saint to the Tamaranian people (Starfire, currently in 'Red Hood & The Outlaws' is of this planet). She is basically going from planet to planet remaking them to help the inhabitants solve their problems. Kyle, of course, doesn't trust her and needs some proof. This raises philosophical arguments of 'just because you can remake a world, should you?' etc. By the end of the issue a new threat arises. Apparently X'hal isn't always as benevolent as she seems. The race that turned her from a humanoid into this god-like creature of fire and power, found another planet to enslave and X'hal found them. She shattered this planet and now the survivors hunt her under the name 'godkillers'.

So what?

I have a hard time getting excited about the next issue when its most likely going to contain some more soul searchy, conflicted angst on the part of Kyle and a whole bunch of sexual tension between him and Carol. Bored.