Green Lantern #49 – Review

By Geoff Johns (writer), Ed Benes & Marcos Marz (artists), Ed Benes & Luciana Del Negro (inkers

The Story: John Stewart guest stars in Hal’s book this month to single handedly take on the Black Lantern planet Xanshi.

The Good: Wow. I love, love, love it when a comic can get me to re-examine characters I thought I knew. It’s not that I never liked John Stewart, but I will admit it was always hard to view him as being anything other than Hal’s wingman. With this issue, my respect for Stewart and his abilities has gone through the roof, and if DC ever wises up and gives Stewart his own monthly series, I’ll be the first in line to pick it up, this issue was that damn good. Under Johns’ guidance, Stewart is the eternal soldier: stoic, taciturn, and utterly dedicated to achieving the mission at hand. When that mission turns out to be taking on an entire Black Lantern planet, conventional wisdom would tell most people to wait for some back up. But not John Stewart, oh no. In the greatest and best-drawn moment of the comic, Stewart…well, let’s just say he calls on a different Corps to help him kick ass and take names. I was initially disappointed when I saw that Doug Mahnke wouldn’t be drawing this issue, but after reading it I have to say Benes was the perfect choice to bring Stewart’s tale to life.