THIS ISSUE IS MINE!
The Good: Oh Larfleeze, don't ever leave me again. If I had to pick just one Geoff Johns creation to keep it would be this guy. Agent Orange, the greediest being in the history of the universe. Tony Bedard manages to write a perfectly balanced Larfleeze, one that's both intimidating and hilarious. And he refuses to get used. When someone was attempting to send all the rings to Kyle, Larfleeze hitched Glomulus aboard the ring train to the source, and then snatches all present to assist his fight against the Guardians. He seems like an idiot, but he's a devious schemer.
We FINALLY get to see the fate of Sayd, and after worrying about what horrible situations Larfleeze may or may not have subjected her to, it's ironic that she's now the only Guardian who's truly free.
I could've gone with either artist, both have been great, but no matter what, I'm SO happy to see we've got the series back to a single artist rather than switching between two for no reason. Tyler Kirkham puts some excellent detail into the constructs, and he's really done a great job making his art style work on a broad scale for this series as opposed to the simpler Steampunk kind of look he had for The Weaponer.
This is a really interesting team being built here. All of them share a few goals with others, but they're not totally unified. There's enough of a patchwork to make a unique and interesting dynamic, like a basket unlike no other basket before it, but not a very stable basket. It's a surprising concept for an ongoing team series.
Our heroes are fighting the Guardians of the Universe. I've never seen this happen before. The Guardians of the Universe aren't just in the way of progress or hiding some kind of secret, they are potentially full blown villains, as many many arcs have hinted at the possibility of casting them this way, and many characters have painted them in this light, but never before have the two ideas crossed over so directly.
We're finally introduced to the beginning of what the big threat bringing this team together is, and it's something of absolutely cosmic proportions. We've only seen the tip of the iceberg, but the tip is about as big as an entire normal iceberg.
The Bad: Kyle keeping the stored power from temporarily wearing all the rings is a little cheesy.
I'm not entirely sure what the point of the big battle with the Guardians was, it dragged on a bit, and in the end they all just kind of retreated. Larfleeze seemed to be in it for more antagonistic personal reasons, while Kyle just wanted to leave. As for the rest I'm not entirely sure.
In Conclusion: 4.5/5
After a vaguely rocky start, always doing something slightly wrong, this issue hits all the right notes with a big blast of an issue building up to what will likely be an explosive climax.
