“In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight!”
No, wait. That’s the wrong Lantern oath. Try this on:
What’s mine is mine and mine and mine,
And mine, and mine, and mine!
Not yours!
Much better!
Let’s face it, if you had to get rid of all the Lanterns, the greens, the reds, say in a New 52: The Next Generation, and you got to save three Lanterns, who would they be? Hal Jordan? Sinestro? The third would have to be Geoff Johns’ and Ethan Van Sciver’s wielder of the orange ring, Larfleeze.
This week Larfleeze gets his much deserved own monthly series, appropriately titled Larfleeze. The eons old Larfleeze, the dog-like and once only Orange Lantern, is in prime form in Issue #1, pondering his past to the annoyance of his much put-upon conscript, the green elven Stargrave.
Rarely has someone attempted a project that is so zany that gets it all so right. Writers Keith Giffen and J.M. Dematteis obviously embraced this series wholeheartedly, and artist Scott Kolins managed to draw one of the coolest characters–and coolest supersuits–in the process.
At the farthest end of the universe, Larfleeze is bored. Stargrave is beside himself as Larfleeze only has 15 minutes left before his power ring runs down. Yet the self-absorbed Larfleeze must monologue about the golden days of his past. What he says–the story of his past scribed by Giffen and Dematteis–is not what we see in the art panels of Kolins. Kolins reveals what really happened in Larfleeze’s past–a sad and troubled past where his race is enslaved by another alien race and he is forced into slave labor. Yet this is all done humorously, as Larfleeze and Stargrave share barbs and sarcasm. Stargrave asks: How much of the story is the truth? Larfleeze guesses maybe half. By the time Larfleeze winds up his story, a gigantic menace comes along to rescue Stargrave from Larfleeze’s enslavement. Is this the end for Larfleeze?
If you forgot how much fun comic books can be, run out today to your local comic book store and grab yourself a copy of Larfleeze Issue #1. It’s a must read and may end up on your pull list next month.
C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com
