Not so Green

This current arch of Green Lantern has yet to really pull me in like previous stories have. It may still be a bit early in this arch, but after two installments you would think it would at least have a thread to pull you into the story. I have my theories, of course, as to why I'm not enjoying this as much as I probably should.

1) The art.
Being an artist I think I can hold this reason as important. Sure there are artists out there that use one face or one body, changing clothes and hair to make a new person. Afterall, the Earths based Green Lanterns themselves have different masks - Zorro style (hal), ink blot style (kyle), red head (guy), and African American (john). Yes, I know it's not nice to break them down like that, but it appears true to form. There is a lot more diversity in the Corps, but this isn't the Corps title. This is Hal's title, and aside from hair color you wouldn't be able to tell either girl apart.

The other thing I'm not enjoying a whole lot about the art is the painted aspect. Now, I can't be overly harsh since I did like some of the scenes in the previous issue (like inside the jet with the switched land and sky background). This issue, however, didn't have the same feel.

2) I don't care about Star Sapphire.
I've never had any interest in her as a character/villain. This is probably partly due to not knowing the character that well, but after learning the origin of the entity I still don't care much about her. I think this is because she appears one-dimensional. She'll do anything to mate with Hal Jordan. I know plenty of fan girls lust over Hal's rear, but come on. She doesn't need a quick fix by throwing a touch of trajedy or angst, but I think for me to have any interest there needs to be something for me to grasp onto.

Also, and this relates to the art portion of my dislikes, is the fact that the other blue people who appear to be related to the Guardians are far larger than the Guardians. These Oan Amazons, as aluded to in the issue, just don't fit visually. This also leads me to my next reason.

3) Oan Amazons?
Seriously, this is a tie-in to the Amazon Attacks mini if I have ever seen one - and I see a lot that doesn't connect. This likely won't tie in directly, mind you, but isn't it a little obviously timed well with its referencing? Also, isn't the build up very similar in concept? Even the clothing is similar.

On one hand you could probably argue that ideas get repeated through time, or have a tendency to ripple into repitition. It's an easy explination, but it still leaves a bit of creativity to wish for.

In the end, however, I'm still going to finish reading this arch. Geoff Johns is a bit of a trade writer, so you can predict that twists will occur in another issue or two. Maybe then I'll find a chunk of the excitement in this story that I had in the previous arches. Even if I don't I still have the Sinestro Corps to look forward to after this bit.