Green Lantern (vol.3) #146 (2002)

December 29, 2017 Chris

Green Lantern (vol.3) #146 (March, 2002)
“Hand of God, Day One”
Writer – Judd Winick
Penciller – Jamal Igle
Inker – Al Williamson
Colorist – Moose Baumann
Letterer – Chris Eliopoulos
Assistant Editor – Nachie Castro
Editor – Bob Schreck
Cover Price: $2.25

Had such a good time checking in with our old friend Kyle yesterday, that I thought it might be fun to pop in on him again.

Today we’re going to look at that strange bit of time where there was no Green Lantern… only Ion!

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We open with a shot of Kyle laying in bed with Jade. He looks content with the day he’d just had… so much so, that we’re going to relive the entire thing with him now! A little background first though. In his latest adventure, Kyle somehow absorbed all of the leftover Green Lantern energy from when Hal Jordan sacrificed himself to reignite the Sun. This has given him God-like powers… a new haircut… and a different costume.

He returned to Earth earlier that day… and acted all nonchalant and aloof about his absence to his friends. He’s really quite annoying… actually calling them (including Alan Scott) “kids”, and offering to take them out for ice cream. C’mon Judd, Rayner isn’t supposed to be this face-punchable. Anyhoo… later on Jade visits Kyle at his apartment, where he is cranking out cartoons left and right. She finds this a bit off-putting, as Kyle never resorted to using his powers to create his art.

Kyle’s assistant Terry flips on the television and comments how cool Green Lantern’s new costume… and name are. The news report shows Ion taking care of business in Uganda… and what’s more, the footage is live! As in, ya know… not taped.

Kyle sends Terry to grab some coffees so he can start ‘splaining. He confides in Jade that he can be in multiple places at once… and Uganda’s barely the tip of that iceberg. At this moment he’s currently several places, all over the world…

… as well as on other worlds.

There is an Ion on Tendax right now… which is a place where Kyle and Jade had witnessed some atrocities earlier on. We shift to see Ion speaking with some Tendaxian muckity mucks about a peaceful resolution to their pending war.

After listening for awhile, Ion decides “screw it” and simply says that the war is over. He will not let the Tendaxians fight anymore. Becasue of him weapons will jam, bombs will not go off, fires won’t burn. If they decide to try and go to war anyway… he will shut them down immediately.

Of course just as he says this, they get invaded. Ion appears before them… and they skadoo.

Jade asks “what happens now?” to which Kyle informs her that Ion will always be watching over Tendax… and will step in if things get out of hand.

Jennie appears to be quite uncomfortable with all of this, and compares Kyle’s powers with that of God. Kyle assures her that he has no interest in being a God.

Jade notices Kyle’s new hairstyle and figures if the first thing he did after getting infinite power was change his look a bit, than he’s still human enough for her.

They head to the movies… but not before Kyle promises that she has all of his attention that night. He’s lying of course, but whattayagonnado?

We close as we opened, with Kyle and Jade in bed. Kyle is considering his newfound infinite power, which grants him the ability to do anything… except sleep.

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I had this friend growing up who always referred to things by their brand name. Instead of saying “my backpack”, he’d say “my Jansport”… instead of “my jacket”, he’d say “my Umbro”. Something tells me (and I can’t explain what) that that’s the way Mr. Winick speaks too.

Anyhoo… Wasn’t really a fan of the Ion story back in the day… and I’m still not totally digging it now.

Before we go into the story… gotta address the art. It’s fill-in art… and from the looks of it, rushed fill-in art. This doesn’t look at all like Jamal Igle’s art. He’s usually excellent… so, I gotta assume that this was perhaps inked from layouts… or just a “gotta get this out ASAP” situation. It’s really not very pleasant… all of the characters look to be in a constant state of smelling something foul.

Now, the story. Kyle comes across aloof… which, is kinda the predictable route for someone with God-like power… but he does so in a way that he seems more annoying than superior. His referring to his friends (again, including Alan Scott) as “kids”… and suggesting they all go out for ice cream? This is like eye-rollingly “Chandler Bing” behavior. Really dorky… and I didn’t like it. It’s probably a silly “sticking point”, but whattayagonnado?

Kyle bullying the Tendaxians, however, was really cool. I like the idea that he is still new to the “what I say goes” school of superheroics. He doesn’t quite have the tact of a Superman… however, at this point their power levels are comparable. I’d figure Superman could deliver a speech that would convince the warring factions to stand down… not having the same level of credibility, Kyle has to not only tell them what to do, but remain there as a permanent presence to ensure they follow through.

Overall though… I guess I liked this well enough. I’m always happy to see loose threads picked up… even if they weren’t exactly left loose. Hal Jordan’s sacrifice during The Final Night left enough “wiggle room” for subsequent writers to mine. I always appreciate stuff like that… so I really can’t get all that mad at “The Ion Saga”. Worth a read… available digitally.

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