Hal Pictures Green Lantern Butt's FOREVER!: They Got The Body Types Right In Ion #10

Green Lantern Butt's FOREVER!

Now with Guy Gardner's Seal of Approval!

Monday, February 05, 2007

They Got The Body Types Right In Ion #10

This is Kyle Rayner. He's a very nice boy.

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I liked the recent issue of Ion, which had an interesting story, and incidentally had Guy Gardner in it, which always boosts a book in my esteem. What I really did like however, was the art, by Greg Tocchini, which I really only mentioned in passing in my previous review.

Why do I like it? It is clear and unfussy, and nicely done, but that's not the main reason. I LOVE the fact, that Mr. Tocchini has presented us with a variety of body types. This is of course, a subject that has come up before, but it is still always a pleasure to get past the massively over-muscled super-heroic musculature that graces the pages of SO many books, and instead have a normally sized hero instead.

Look at this:

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Here, we have Kyle talking with Captain Atom, who it turns out ISN'T dead at all. Wearing some rather massive armor, the good Captain is tall and broad-shouldered, and obviously well-muscled, without thankfully, being freakishly so. In contrast, Kyle is quite a bit shorter, and much smaller. He has a slighter build, and just looks younger...which is as it should be.


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Now here is Kyle talking things over with Guy, and again it shows their differing body types. Guy is older and taller than Kyle, and he looks it. Again though, he's not bulging with incongruous muscles. And, it's always a pleasure to have Guy smiling without grimacing.

Three different characters, and three different depictions of body types. And that's how it should be.

6 Comments:

At 4:44 PM, Blogger Brandon Bragg said...

Good point about the different body types. There aren't that many artists out there( or readers for that matter) who seem to care about such things.

I love the artwork on this title, but I just can't get into the story. I'm gonna have to borrow my friend's GL run to catch up on my Kyle Rayner history.

 
At 7:50 AM, Blogger SallyP said...

Like all GL's, Kyle's history can be a bit...convoluted. But I like Kyle anyway.

I tend to be a bit fussy about the art in my books. Tocchini wasn't doing the earlier books, but I like his style better.

 
At 9:13 AM, Blogger Bully said...

A great analysis of what makes some modern superhero art work (or not work) for me.

I'm like Brandon: I've liked Kyle in group situations but have lost track of what's going on in the history of the GLC, especially since Infinite Crisis. (For 'xample: I don't even know why Kyle is Ion now instead of a Lantern.) Have you ever considered doing a "Green Lantern 101" for each of the current books for those of us who like the characters but don't know what's going on? Brief "The story so far" summary, round-up of the major players, and recommendations of good jumping-on points would be interesting to read!

And hey, in that first Kyle panel: Now those are some shiny pants.

 
At 9:25 AM, Blogger googum said...

Those scenes might not represent the whole issue, but it's so nice to see heroes talk to each other without a whole lot of ideological gobbledegook and/or face-punching.

 
At 7:37 AM, Blogger SallyP said...

Googam...yes it WAS nice not to have the stereotypical punch-out, wasn't it?

Bully...GL 101? Aarrghh! Let's see, Hal Jordan is back in his own book, still angsting a bit over what happened to him before OYL. He went on a mission and was captured and put in a POW camp for a couple of months, because he was stupid enough to fly WITHOUT HIS RING! Last issue he was being chased by intergalactic bounty hunters, the Global Guardians, Rocket Reds, AND the Justice League.

John Stewart hasn't been seen in quite some time, because he's working undercover in Hal's book. Supposed to surface soon.

Guy Gardner is in Green Lantern Corps, and is Honor Guard, 'cause he's just so cool. He and Kilowog are helping train new recruits, and he's also the trouble-shooter for the Guardians. At the moment, Keith Champagne and Pat Gleason are in the middle of the BEST GLC story...ever!

Kyle is still in the Corps, but as the Torchbearer. He's the one who brought back the Guardians, so they have other things planned for him. He's sort of an uber-Green Lantern. Also the Monitors are keeping a suspicious eye on him.

Whew!

 
At 10:45 AM, Blogger Dwayne "the canoe guy" said...

The different body types was what I enjoyed about John Byrne's artwork. Steve Ditko handled it well too.

When ION was launched, I gave it a try for about 4 issues but it never caught my fancy. I guess I'm just nlot an outer-space type guy.

I echo Bully's idea of a GL 101. I get so damned confused trying to understand any of the GL stuff.

 

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