Green Lantern Corps #22 – Review

By: Van Jensen & Robert Venditti (story), Bernard Chang (art), Marcelo Maiolo (colors)

The Story: No time for homesick crying—there’s Lantern work to be done!

The Review: In Green Lantern #22, I took offense at Hal Jordan’s insensitive berating of several frightened recruits dragged against their will to the middle of a Lantern battle.  Even in context it seemed unnatural because of how out-of-character it was for Hal.  Since when was he such a militaristic jerk?  At his worst, he’s stubborn and arrogant, not mean.  The fact Venditti failed to recognize this basic premise of Hal’s character says volumes about his respect for continuity.

If anything, Venditti paired with Jensen produces even worse results, which is truly unfortunate, as John Stewart has been mishandled so much already that he can ill afford any more writing defects.  In Jensens-Venditti’s attempts to liven up John’s personality, they make him seem like—and pardon my French here—a complete douchebag.  Again, this is not to say a superhero can’t have an awful personality, but just not when it contradicts the personality he had before.

Green Lantern #21 – Review

By: Robert Venditti (story), Billy Tan (pencils), Richard Friend (inks), Alex Sinclair & Tony Avina (colors)

The Story: The Corps now has serious reason to consider switching to a democratic leadership.

The Review: If DC has just lost its seminal writer on the most important title in one of its biggest franchises, then probably they want to replace him with someone just as capable of bringing the same level of game.  Call me crazy, but that’s my logic.  So it sort of puzzles me why they ended up choosing Venditti to be that replacement, when his only mark on the DCU to date has been the benign and soon-to-be-axed Demon Knights (#155 on Comichron in April).

Of course, DC happens to have a dearth of big-name writers of Geoff Johns’ caliber as of late; Scott Snyder can’t write everything, and Green Lantern seems to be out of Grant Morrison, Gail Simone, and Brian Azzarello’s alleys.  And it’s not like Venditti hasn’t proven himself capable of sci-fi action on X-O Manowar, a relatively acclaimed small-press title.  But reading this issue makes me wonder if DC editorial actually paid attention when reading his initial scripts.

Green Lantern Corps #20 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Fernando Pasarin (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

The Story: Guy experiences his most excruciating trial yet—a sabbatical.

The Review: In addition to the anomaly that was Aquaman #19 amidst its #20 brethren, we have another bit of scheduling weirdness that resulted in the epilogue of Wrath of the First Lantern released before its final chapter.  I don’t begin to understand how or why this happened.  My best guess is that since Geoff Johns is the undisputed architect of this current era of Green Lantern stories, DC felt he should have the last word rather than Tomasi, his right-hand man.

This does result, however, in a few significant spoilers (alert), though probably none you couldn’t have predicted: Guy and Kilowog belching blood under Red Lantern influence, the appearance of Black Lanterns, and Sinestro in some slick armor killing one of the Guardians (it’s unclear whether it’s Ganthet or not).  Thankfully, Tomasi refrains from any hard information, and we know nothing of the First Lantern’s fate at all.

Green Lantern Corps #18 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Chriscross (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

The Story: John displays a tradition of planets dying on his watch.

The Review: No one who works in a creative field can produce greatness all the time.  We all know that, and yet it’s still a little shocking how someone can produce a masterpiece one day, then deliver a total dud another day.  It’s even more baffling when someone actually does both in the very same day.  A couple days ago, with Batman and Robin #18, Tomasi delivered what is now widely regarded to be one of the finest Batman issues of his or anyone’s career.

That same day saw the release of this issue of Green Lantern Corps, which presents Tomasi at his absolute worst.  This is unfortunate on a lot of levels, not the least being that it reinforces John Stewart’s status as DC’s least-favored Green Lantern.  In a title where he’s ostensibly co-leading with Guy Gardner, he already has a tough time competing with the more flamboyant and memorable antics of his partner.  This was an opportunity to give readers an idea of what makes him tick, and Tomasi almost completely fails in that regard.

Green Lantern Corps #15 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Fernando Pasarin (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

The Story: America just added one more to its unemployed statistics.

The Review: You know what I’ve realized from all this drama around Guy leaving the Corps?  Green Lanterns don’t really retire, do they?  The closest they ever get, going from events of the last year or so, is either outright dismissal or resignation (which is still dismissal, but sneakier).  That means the Lantern survival rate is effectively zero; once the ring comes to you, prepare for an early death, and probable a pretty horrible one at that.

So maybe Guy should be thanking his lucky stars that he got out when he did.  Resigning in disgrace doesn’t seem half as bad as, say, getting assimilated by a mouthless creature in the dead of space.  But that’s just me being a total wuss.  Guy is a cop without fear, not to mention something of a thrill-seeker with a lot of unaddressed anger issues; he lives to put these kinds of threats in their place.  Without that channel for his energies, retirement means death for him.

Green Lantern Corps #13 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Cafu (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

The Story: Even in dead space you gotta watch your back.

The Review: A lot of people have already compared this Rise of the Third Army storyline as a thinly veiled rip-off of Blackest Night, and I can see why.  You are dealing with yet another series of dronish Lanterns who multiply by infecting others—and then you have the similarities to the Rot over in Animal Man and Swamp Thing, who are conceptually a hop, skip, and a jump away from Marvel Zombies, but for the nature themes.

So no, I won’t give much weight to Rise of the Third Army for originality.  Still, I’d be remiss in my duties if I don’t point out the slight, but important differences between these Third Army creatures and their counterparts elsewhere.  For one, it’s unclear if the assimilated people actually die in the process, notwithstanding the disposal of their hearts.  For another, the assimilation itself is a creepier, more traumatic experience for those involved.

Green Lantern Corps #0 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Fernando Pasarin (pencils), Scott Hanna & Marc Deering (inks), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

The Story: When being an interstellar space hero still leaves you the family disappointment.

The Review: What I’ve appreciated thus far from the #0 issues is they’ve avoided retelling the same old origin story of characters you’ve heard a dozen times before.  There’s no point seeing again Batman’s parents getting shot, Superman arriving on Earth in a rocket, the Flash cooking in lightning and chemicals, or Green Lantern coming upon a dying alien with a ring.  If anyone’s origins are ripe for revisiting, it would be those of the “other” Green Lanterns in the DCU.

Tomasi only gives you one of them.  No doubt the choice was made out of economy and to deliver a meatier story, but I still raise my eyebrow at the focus on Guy instead of John.  I suppose there’s an argument to be made that of the two, Guy has the edge in popularity, but stacked against John’s five years as primo Green Lantern on the animated Justice League series (and big cameos on Young Justice), I wonder at the truth of that.

Green Lantern Corps #12 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Fernando Pasarin (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

The Story: Mark my words, heads are going to roll from all this chaos.

The Review: By now, the Green Lanterns have become such an established and important part of the DCU that we just take it for granted they deserve to be there.  Now before you get your mob on, I’m not suggesting they don’t; I’m just saying it’s been a long time since we considered for what purpose the Lanterns were originally created.  To merely police the universe?  To be symbols of hope?  To ultimately bring peace and order to all sentient creatures?

The question seems particularly relevant for this issue, what with the Corps falling apart at the seams and veteran corpsmen questioning themselves.  Granted, the Alphas were never the most popular force even from their introduction, but their total, tyrannical meltdown has to be somewhat disillusioning for the other Lanterns, not to mention the broken justice system we all had to witness with our very eyes.  In these circumstances, how can anyone have confidence, then, that their goals are just?

Green Lantern Corps #11 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Fernando Pasarin (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

The Story: Apparently, some people do escape the Alpha Lanterns.

The Review: If you’ve never had a violent quitting experience in your life, let me just say I recommend it.  It’s actually one of the more satisfying and empowering moments you’ll ever have.  Besides giving you the opportunity to stand up for yourself, which requires you to summon up some necessary-for-life backbone, it also scratches every itch you ever had to stick it to your overbearing, crazy-pants boss.

Totally different context, but that’s the general sense of satisfaction and empowerment you get out of watching the day-to-day Green Lanterns rebel against the increasingly brittle Alphas.  Even Salaak, of all corpsmen, gets in on the game.  At first he uses a pretense of regulation to disobey Boodika’s orders, not even flinching when she threatens dismissal and incarceration, then he goes beyond passive resistance, downright ordering other Lanterns to “Engage Alpha Lanterns!”  And when Salaak gets uppity with you, you have to be on the wrong side.

Green Lantern Corps #9 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Fernando Pasarin (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

The Story: This is space law—you don’t get no Miranda rights out here!

The Review: After a year in law school, I’ve gained a greater appreciation for America’s judicial system, believe it or not.  My property professor made the best observation about our courts and the way they handle conflicts: it’s an everlasting struggle between efficiency and fairness.  Try too hard to be sensitive to the intricacies of each case, and you make bad precedent for everyone else.  Stick too hard to the rules of law and a lot of people will be unjustly punished or deprived.

We definitely have the latter problem in the case of Alpha Lanterns v. Stewart.  While last issue had one of the Alphas make note of the stressful circumstances which led to John’s damning choice, this time around they can’t seem to see beyond the simple facts, which John himself admits.  We know nothing about the corps’ penal code, particularly in how it’s enforced against their own, which makes it all too easy for this case to proceed unfavorably against John.

Green Lantern Corps #6 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (writer), Fernando Pasarin (artist), Scott Hana (inker), Gabe Eltaeb (colorist)

The Story: Admit it, Guy—you’ve always dreamed of a Rambo moment like this.

The Review: I’m no historian, so I don’t know when comic book writers started doing this kind of thing, but nowadays, it’s common practice for them to have a long-term plot in place for their series.  While each arc stands on its own to some degree, they tend to serve some other plot down the line.  You often get that feeling on Geoff Johns’ Green Lantern; no matter how major the outcome of one story, you always feel like it’s setup for the next.

Of course, that’s not really a bad thing, although it does kind of steal the savor of satisfaction you get at the end of an arc.  Not so here; while Tomasi may very well have big plans to use this issue’s aftermath for some purpose in the future, he doesn’t make it obvious.  By the time you reach the last page, you can close the book, sit back, and happily mull over the resolution.  It’s the feeling you get when you can finally close the door and shut out the draft of loose ends.

But I’m getting ahead of myself, talking about the ending when this review has only just started.  Let’s talk about John Stewart, instead.  Since his frequent companion Guy comes off so frenetic and boisterous, you sometimes get misled into thinking John’s somehow less of a warrior.  Here, John’s will proves the equal of Guy’s, only whereas Guy seems to practically leak his will all over the place, John’s feels more contained and centered—to a degree (in response to a Keeper saying he’ll break sooner or later, John screams, “I’d say later you son of a bitch!”).

Left behind as a hostage in enemy territory, John must rely on that will to make some fairly sticky decisions.  As veteran Lantern, he has a duty to look out for the greenhorns under his wing, but he also has to think of the big picture and do what’s necessary to keep that picture from spoiling.  In this case, it means John takes a leaf out of Wonder Woman’s past-universe book and chooses the lesser of two evils.  Despite Vandor’s reassurances that he did the right thing, his actions will undoubtedly haunt John very personally in the near future.

Green Lantern Corps #4 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (writer), Fernando Pasarin (penciller), Scott Hanna (inker), Gabe Eltaeb (colorist)

The Story: Wanted: a suitable candidate to be good cop to Guy Gardner’s bad cop.

The Review: With all these different teams and organizations and forces running around the DCU, with all their various agendas and missions, you’d expect there to be a tremendous about of overlap among them, so it’s kind of a wonder that crossovers don’t happen more often in these comics.  It’s understandable, though; writers don’t always want to interfere with their peers’ projects or establish things their fellows will have to be responsible for.

But when a writer does make an effort to enforce a shared universe, the results can be quite thrilling, like Tomasi’s use of Martian Manhunter in this issue.  The green man’s appearance can’t come at a better time, as Guy Gardner makes little headway in interrogating his captive.  Even after stripping the enemy’s armor and getting some face-time, Guy and Salaak’s “good cop, bad cop routine” goes nowhere, as even the Guardians have zero data on their prisoner.

We don’t get to see how Guy plans to execute on that threat, but we do get the entrance of J’onn J’onzz instead.  Interestingly, Guy and J’onn act as strangers to each other (making you wonder what this means for J’onn’s League membership, as hinted in Stormwatch #1), and there’s even a simmering hostility between them.  Tomasi makes logical sense out this, however, as he has J’onn express his particular grudge against Green Lanterns.  Guy scoffs, “No one’s from Mars.”  J’onn replies, “It was not always that way.  Where was your…Corps when Mars needed you?”

Green Lantern Corps #3 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (writer), Geraldo Borges (penciller), Scott Hanna (inker), Gabe Eltaeb (colorist)

The Story: With the Green Lantern Corps, you’ll learn all about the importance of teamwork!

The Review: While diversity is something we all like to promote in theory, the fact is anytime you have a lot of people with diverse backgrounds all together in the same place, you’re going to have conflict.  The Green Lantern Corps serves as a perfect example.  In the last five or so years alone this intergalactic police force has had major upsets within their system and plenty of strife among members and factions in between.

At the end of the day, though, the Corps stands together, and this issue displays that pretty positively.  When Guy Gardner calls in an S.O.S., good ol’ Salaak, despite his crusty devotion to protocol, sends over thirty Lanterns to their aid.  As he wisely notes, “If Gardner’s requesting assistance, the situation is dire.”

While all the Lanterns risk life and limb on this rescue mission, a few go above and beyond the call of duty.  Teleporting has always been one of the “advanced” skills in the green power ring set, and Lantern Porter manages to whisk himself but a whole cavalry of corpsmen across light-years—twice.  He pays a terrific price for the effort, however, and you can’t help feeling for the guy when he whispers exhaustedly, “Please…tell me the truth…is everyone all right…?”

It’s a credit to Tomasi’s character writing that he can get you to empathize so quickly with a brand-new character such that you actually miss him by the end of the issue.  But he really needs to focus that skill into building up a core cast we can really get attached to.  While he’s done an admirable job giving the non-human Lanterns some strong moments, they’ve still mostly acted in reaction to Guy and John, who continue to drive nearly all the important points of the plot.

Green Lantern Corps #2 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (writer), Fernando Pasarin (penciller), Scott Hanna (inker), Gabe Eltaeb (colorist)

The Story: Here’s a natural resources shortage solution for you: just steal ‘em.

The Review: While the main Green Lantern title offers an epic scope to its tales, Green Lantern Corps shows how even the nitty-gritty grind of a Lantern’s daily routine can have an excitement all its own.  These cops stretch their beat across an entire sector of the universe.  When they get called to duty, it usually means a pretty major threat is going down compared to the, say, grim but still small-scale skirmishes between Batman and his rogue-of-the-night.

So how exactly does a Lantern, or even a group of Lanterns, handle a force that can plunder an entire world of its most precious resource?  Well, they don’t do it by being wimps, that’s for sure.  While our human corpsmen have received the lion’s share of attention, this issue shows just how competent and hardcore any of the alien Lanterns can be.

If you want to make a guess on who’ll break out as a star in this series, I suggest you place your bet on raptor Lantern Isamot.  His rage upon finding two of his former comrades brutally murdered rivals that of Guy at his blood-spewing worst, but he doesn’t let it cloud his tactical choices in battle.  You’d think his first instinct would be to lay into the strike force of the same warriors who took down his friends, but Isamot has enough foresight to fly headfirst into the warp gate and detonate it, preventing others from coming through.

Another intriguing member of the team that accompanies John and Guy on their investigation is Sheriff Mardin, who, despite her rave ensemble, demonstrates a pragmatic, but nonetheless passionate sense of justice.  She may practice coolness in scoping her fallen peers’ bodies for evidence, but don’t take her for emotionless: “We should leave this horrific site as a reminder…so when we bring the bastards to justice we’ll make them do the burying.”

As much faith as want to place in this formidable party of space cops—Isamot loses all four of his limbs (“‘Tis but a scratch!”) and still comes flying by placing his ring on his extended tongue—don’t take the enemy lightly.  These guys can face the full brunt of Guy and John’s energy blast without flinching and, lest you forget, steal en masse an entire planet’s resource, be it fresh water or an entire race of aliens who can create a livable atmosphere with their breath.

Green Lantern Corps #1 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (writer), Fernando Pasarin (artist), Scott Hana (inker), Gabe Eltaeb (colorist)

The Story: Alright, who let all the water run out?

The Review: Don’t let Green Lantern’s title fool you; it may technically apply to any one of the 7,200 members of the universe’s primo space cowboys, but we all know the book’s interested in just one Lantern, Hal Jordan, and his personal dramas.  Those interested in the larger mythos lurking beyond the tunnel vision on Hal must turn to Green Lantern Corps, which has the advantage of 7,199 or so characters to choose from, and the entire universe as their playground.

But of course, even the best ensembles have their first bananas, and for GLC, those bananas are Guy Gardner and John Stewart—the “other” Lanterns of Earth.  Interestingly, in this issue both men face nearly the same question as their more famous compatriot in his solo title: how does a cosmically-empowered cop make a life for himself in civilized society, particularly if the whole world knows he’s a cosmically-empowered cop?  Guy and John’s attempts to recapture some normality offer very strong, character-defining scenes, which Tomasi clearly excels at.

Contrary to the loud, raucous antics he puts on in costume, civilian Guy comes across stable, even inclusive, answering the curiosity of multiple city folk with remarkable self-restraint (“I like that other Lantern from Coast City the best…  Didn’t he get a power ring before you?”  “That’s right, I’m number 2 on the lineup card, and maybe you should move to Coast City yourself.”).  You can tell he had high hopes for the high school coaching job he interviews for, but not too long into the chat, he quietly realizes how impossible that dream really is now.

And in brilliant contrast, the usually centered John reacts to his crushed expectations with a tightly controlled tantrum.  He has good reason to take offense to his potential employers’ tunnel vision on their bottom line, but at the same time, we all can admit their concerns aren’t entirely motivated by greed.  John has a Marine’s code of honor, and his powers allow him to follow it in situations which normal people would find highly impractical.  It may be his awareness of this gaping difference between him and his fellow humans that makes him act out so dramatically.

Green Lantern #1 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (writer), Doug Mahnke (penciller), Christian Alamy & Tom Nguyen (inkers), David Baron (colorist)

The Story: Sinestro, to the rescue!  For once, I’m actually not kidding you.

The Review: One of the few titles sticking to its guns and continuity post-relaunch is Green Lantern, so we can safely start by talking about what happened last time.  The reincorporation of Sinestro into the fold of the Green Lanterns definitely left you with a superb cliffhanger, one with all kinds of intriguing possibilities.  But after the initial burst of excitement dies down, you have to ask yourself: what now?  How does Johns plan to get himself out of this predicament?

Yet Sinestro’s new status counts as only one of many running plotlines in the series, and Johns manages them all masterfully.  While he’s written some series where you never get a sense of direction at all, even well into the course of the story (see The Flash for further reference—or, better yet, see Flashpoint), for Johns’ pet title, we can have absolute confidence that we can trust him to guide us faithfully to wherever these sub-plots end up.

Green Lantern Corps #63 – Review

By: Too many to list—check out the review.

The Story: A Lantern’s life for me—as long as it involves burgers and fries in some capacity.

The Review: Let me assure you, I don’t like handing out bad grades.  To be specific, I don’t like being put in the position of having to hand out bad grades.  Even though the excruciating quality of the two comics Scott Kolins wrote obligated me to give them among the worst marks (one of them in fact receiving the very worst mark) I ever have, I still felt like a jerk doing it, so much so that I never wanted to see that kind of mess from Kolins again, just to avoid another ugly review.

Issues like this one prove that wishes do come true—in a tepid, don’t-get-too-happy-about-it sort of way.  This should in no way imply that Kolins’ writing has improved significantly, or that the ideas at work are much more inspired than before, but at least they attempt to create some unexpected angles to the characters, and that’s above and beyond what he ever gave us before.

Sadly, even when he takes a step forward, he ultimately trips himself up, in this case with a format perhaps a bit too ambitious for his current skill level.  We get a series of vignettes, each featuring a different set of characters, each opening some interesting questions, but none really get invested exploration, nor do they end with what can be considered a satisfying resolution.

Boodikka as a warrior willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of victory may be a shallow rendering of her character, but a compelling view just the same.  But that’s all it is: a view, with no exposition to support it, and no plot to test it, and plagued by Kolins’ tortured narrative: “And now with her emotions restored and her aggressive personality that only accepted victory returned—how can she deal with so many defeats?  How can she go on as an Alpha Lantern?”  Despite the soapy monologues, Joe Prado delivers fantastic detail and dynamism to the wing-helmed lady, enhanced by Hi-Fi’s usually radioactive colors, making it even more regrettable that we don’t get to see her in action.

Green Lantern Corps #62 – Review

By: Tony Bedard (writer), Daniel HDR (penciller), Keith Champagne (inker), Nei Ruffino (colorist)

The Story: Love hurts…love scars…love wounds…and mars…

The Review: Boy, nothing quite like romantic squabbles to make for cheap yet reliable drama, huh?  A dose of it in can definitely spice up your fiction from time to time, though some people can handle far more than a dose.  I suspect for most of us, however, that kind of thing gets tiresome pretty fast.  As in real life, relationship craziness is often best left between the lovers, sparing bystanders from the awkward helplessness of something which ought to be personal.

That pretty much sums up the tense situation between Kyle and Soranik, a couple who have gone through plenty of turbulence together before, making their current rough patch seem forced.  It certainly does nothing for Sora’s credibility as a Lantern.  Personal issues have swayed other Lanterns’ behavior before, but in this issue, her lashing out (somewhat unjustly so) at Kyle in the middle of a firefight comes across unprofessional and borderline childish.

Since the animosity in their relationship seems entirely one-sided on Sora’s part, it makes sense Bedard would attempt to give her something worthy to get mad about with the revelation that Kyle lied about seeing her as his true love in Miri’s gem, some months earlier.  While deceiving Sora certainly wasn’t the wisest choice, Kyle’s reasons for doing so were reasonably, sincerely, even lovingly motivated, which should be as obvious to her as it is to us.

Green Lantern Corps #61 – Review

By: Tony Bedard (writer), Daniel HDR (penciller), Keith Champagne (inker), Nei Ruffino (colorist)

The Story: I don’t care where this gig leads, but I’m keeping the ring.

The Review: In the course of a splashy, eventful storyline, writers will throw in every twist in the book to keep up the momentum, and then neglect to deal with the consequences when it’s all over.  So commendations are in order as Bedard gives us a chance to check out the fates of all those temp recruits Mogo hired at the height of War of the Green Lanterns, what could’ve easily turned into one of those troubling questions that hit you a couple months after the fact.

Allow me a moment to cock my eyebrow at the notion that almost all the “recruits” would be so willing to give up their rings, except for the proactive Qurina.  You can understand why the injured folk would be raring to let their green outfits go, but surely there has to be a good handful of aliens who’d like to hold on to their new bling for noble or unscrupulous purposes.

That little wrinkle aside, Bedard writes a fairly credible guest protagonist in Qurina, a lady cop who sees her membership to the GLC as a major expansion of her jurisdiction and peacekeeping abilities.  Her respectable background makes it easy for us to sympathize with her reluctance to let go of her Lantern status—too easy in some ways, since at no point do you ever feel like she’s somehow less qualified than the other random aliens you’ve seen chosen for Lanternhood.

Qurina probably has a more intuitive sense for her duties as a Corpsman than most, explaining the slightly artificial obstacles Bedard places into her first mission.  Disarming the warring Tog and Vorrinians, after all, seems a very reasonable first step, regardless of whether diplomacy or coercion comes afterwards.  The Vorrinians’ decision to escalate the conflict in response seems less Qurina’s mistake and more their lack of “common sense,” as she accurately concludes.

Green Lantern #67 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (writer), Doug Mahnke (penciller), Christian Alamy, Keith Champagne, Tom Nguyen, Mark Irwin (inkers), Gabe Eltaeb & Randy Mayor (colorists)

The Story: This makes me want to break out into a chorus of, “Feelings…woah, woah, woah…”

The Review: With all this Flashpoint business going on, War of the Green Lanterns has gotten kind of lost in the shuffle (we haven’t seen an episode for over a month).  You have to question the wisdom of DC’s editors for allowing a company-wide crossover and a major franchise crossover to compete with each other for attention, but never mind.  Since Johns is crafting both, he has the luxury of accommodating the fallout from both into the new DCU in September.

So let’s turn our attention briefly away from altered Earth to the center of the normal universe, shall we?  Last we left our Lanterns, Hal and Guy were well on their way to becoming immortal blue midgets, and Kyle and John had just blown up a planet.  Thanks to crossover shenanigans, some major developments took place without my knowledge and so we fade in to see the Corps, free of Krona’s influence and led by the Earth Lanterns, ready to rumble with the Guardians.

Not to imply that Johns’ whole theme about the value of emotion is irrelevant, but when you have several thousand Lanterns giving the beatdown to their former employers, all that touchy-feely stuff really falls by the wayside.  Blame Johns for simply being too good at delivering high-quality action; he has a knack for setting up expectations then pulling them out from under you moments later.  You’d think return of all the other Corps ringleaders (yup, that’s a pun) to the fray would seal the deal, but no—Krona just uses them to his advantage and we’re off again.

Green Lantern: Emerald Knights – Movie Review

Although DC’s big-screen movie treatments tend to run the gamut between terrific and disappointing, their animated original movies have been almost without exception solid.  With all their experience in the field, it’s no wonder they seem to have refined their process to the point where they can churn out a consistently strong quality for their animated ventures.  It’s this high production standard that occasionally makes up for an underdeveloped story.

In this case, you’ve actually got a series of episodic tales, each featuring one or two of the more popular Green Lanterns, and then you also have an overarching plot that allows these shorter stories to be told.  Ultimately these shorts steal a lot of time and tension away from the major conflict of the movie, and considering it involves Krona’s invasion into our universe and his attempt to destroy Oa, you’d expect greater stakes than what you ultimately end up getting.  Even the resolution seems simplistic to the point where you wonder why the Guardians (or anyone who’s watched Star Trek) didn’t think of it themselves.

But as to the mini-features that make up the bulk of the movie, they each stand up well in their own right and offer a tempting idea of what a Green Lantern TV series would look like.  In a lot of ways, the format strongly resembles the Star Wars: The Clone Wars show in that the movie focuses on Hal Jordan and his new apprentice Arisia, while mainly using them as a vehicle to introduce and delve into their fellow Corpsmen.

Green Lantern Corps #60 – Review

By: Tony Bedard (writer), Tyler Kirkham (penciller), Batt (inker), Rod Reis & Nei Ruffino (colorists)

The Story: That’s it—I’m finishing this, Death Star in Star Wars: A New Hope style!

The Review: In my review of #58 of this title, I mentioned Bedard can usually be relied upon to write just about one character credibly, that character being Ganthet.  In #59, I suspected that while Geoff Johns will get to write all the truly impacting parts of this storyline, Bedard will be relegated to getting us through the background action with the secondary cast.  Both these points come into play to make this issue the weakest of this arc and this series overall.

What you get is the same event repeated over and over: Kyle and John try to make their new rings (Blue and Indigo respectively) do something productive, failing at every turn.  It definitely shows how under-developed the other corps’ powers are, none of them being nearly as productive as the GLC’s.  In fact, Kyle’s blue ring just makes everything worse, and John winds up a de facto Green Lantern anyway since that’s practically the only energy he channels.

Most of this issue really feels like Bedard trying out every idea he can think of to kill time before he can get to his big ending.  It almost feels as if he has such a limited idea of how the other corps’ powers work that he tries to play around with them through Kyle and John, which might explain the extraordinary leaps of logic they take in their experiments: “If blue rings can heal wounds, maybe mine can restore Mogo’s mind.”

Green Lantern Corps #59 – Review

By: Tony Bedard (writer), Tyler Kirkham (penciller), Batt (inker), Nei Ruffino & Rob Reis (colorists)

The Story: Things are getting crazy at the GLC—maybe it’s time for a job transfer?

The Review: The Green Lantern universe has really expanded its mythology in the last few years, with the pinnacle undoubtedly being the creation of six other colored, space-faring corps.  As fun and organic as the idea may have seemed at first, these new groups haven’t really sold themselves as equals to the Greens, with the possible exception of the Sinestro Corps.  Not only do they lack history, even the fundamental ideas of what they stand for are vague at best.

This issue points out these shortcomings even as it attempts to use the powers of the other corps to inject new energy into the plot.  Head honcho Hal takes the most useful yellow ring for himself while the others get the gimmicky remainders: Kyle finds himself involuntarily boosting the powers of the other Green Lanterns (who are trying to kill them); John unsuccessfully tries to siphon his pal’s energies; and Guy leaks corrosive blood all over the place.

If you’ve followed any of the GL titles at all recently, these tricks aren’t anything new, though there’s an endearingly pathetic humor in watching the guys try to figure their way through them.  Maybe Bedard will let them founder with their newly acquired powers for a while before letting them rip loose in the next issue—at least, that’s the only thing you can hope for, as this issue turns out a bust, substance-wise.

While this week’s Green Lantern features the actual moment where the guys induct themselves into their parallel corps, Bedard gets relegated to showing the growing pains of their new colors.  Nothing really pivotal happens in this title, except for the arrival of a planet-sized wrinkle to their plans in the final pages—and the fallout from that will play out in the next title in line for this crossover.

Green Lantern Corps #42 – Review

by Peter J. Tomasi (writer), Patrick Gleason (pencils), Rebecca Buchman & Tom Nguyen (inks), Randy Mayor & Gabe Eltaeb (colors), and Steve Wands (letters)

The Story: Along with their new Indigo ally, the Green Lantern Corps make their last stand defending the central power battery.

What’s Good: This is probably the best issue of Green Lantern Corps since Blackest Night began in earnest, and that’s largely due to all of the black lanterns coming together for one attack. The book has felt far too scattered and disparate over the last few months thanks to the black lanterns singling out characters and their change of tactic is welcome, as it brings all of our heroes together. This feels like a coherent narrative once again as opposed to a series of 3 pages vignettes.

As a result, our protagonists feel like a team and not simply a bunch of tangentially related people doing different things in different places. This helps foster some very strong character moments. The character death at the end of the book is certainly a gut-punch and it’s only the book’s newly regained cohesion that makes it possible.

Strangely though, my favourite scene involved Kilowog. The combination of rage, denial, and sadness was fantastically executed and oddly touching. It was a fantastic summation of the emotional reaction, and aftermath, that the black lanterns are capable of bringing forth. Kilowog’s tragic dialogue is only so effective because it hints at deeper, existential issues and personal pain that the character has harbored, and concealed, for a very long time.

Gleason’s art is more intelligible this month and also provides some really jaw-dropping moments, with some particularly awesome splashes and spreads. The size and scope of some of Gleason’s work here is astounding, daunting stuff. The character death at the end of the book is rendered beautifully and the mass black lantern assault is a sight to behold.

What’s Not So Good: While it’s much improved, Gleason’s art still isn’t without fault. The chaotic nature of the action still makes it occasionally difficult to decipher. The opening scenes were a bit hard-going at some points and the later sequence involving a released red lantern is nothing short of incomprehensible. Also, Gleason again shows himself to have some difficulty drawing Soranik’s face, which at times feels overly cartoony, even comical, with expressions that feel exaggerated, misplaced, or both.

What really disappoints about this issue, however, is Tomasi’s handling of the major character death.  Putting it simply, he dropped the ball.  It’s clearly the most important occurrence of the book and the most emotionally significant moment of the series for quite some time, but I just didn’t feel as though it was treated as such.    It comes off as random, rushed, and hence, underwhelming.  It takes just long enough that it isn’t shocking, but there’s also not enough build up for it to carry the emotional weight that it should.  It’s just about the most abrupt last stand and farewell that I’ve ever read.

A major character’s dying, especially in such heroic fashion, should garner more of a reaction from me.  Hell, Tomasi could very well have had me tearing up.  Instead, it doesn’t feel as significant or powerful as the character deserves and the fact that I bordered on feeling non-plussed is almost a travesty.

Conclusion: The best issue of GLC in a while, but I can’t help feeling a little soured by the missed opportunity.

Grade: B

-Alex Evans

 

Green Lantern Corps #41 – Review

by Peter J. Tomasi (writer), Patrick Gleason (pencils), Rebecca Buchman, Keith Champagne & Tom Nguyen (inks), Randy Mayor & Gabe Eltaeb (colors), and Steve Wands (letters)

The Story: Soranik teams with Kyle to fight Jade, Arisia wrestles with her family, and Kilowog is forced to battle an old friend.

What’s Good: This is basically 22 pages of almost  non-stop Lantern-related violence.  The huge blasts, numbers, and scope of what’s going on is impressive, as is some of the gore, which at times pushes the boundary of what you’d expect out of a mainstream DCU comic.

What GLC has done best with Blackest Night, however, is fully convey the emotional impact made possible by having the dead rise.  In fact, I’d say that Jade has made the best of use of a black ring in this regard. She and her mind games are downright evil.  Seeing Soranik team up with Kyle against her is as fun as it is troubling.  Tomasi makes use of every opportunity that raising a dead character provides in this scene: the guilt, lingering emotion, and history all come into play and are manipulated perfectly.

Arisia and Kilowog also provide a nice juxtaposition, as Tomasi shows the nature of a battle with the Black Lanterns.  If you don’t believe them to be real representations of the bodies they inhabit, you’re fine.  But the minute you start to talk to them or treat them like they really are your loved ones, you’re done for.  Tomasi makes this line very clear.  It’s also nice to see someone making use of those  Tales of the Corps stories that came out a while ago.  Readers who picked those up will really dig these two scenes, Kilowog’s surprise opponent in particular.

What’s Not So Good: Though it’ s not as bad in this respect as last month’s issue, as there aren’t any truly detached scenes, the fast and frenetic pace of this book again makes it feel as though its spread a little thin at some points.  While it’s all centered around a battle at Oa, it’s hard not to feel like every scene is its own separate story, treating its own separate characters.  As a result, GLC feels somewhat scattered.  Characters are off doing their own thing, and Tomasi seems to feel obligated to give us monthly updates on all of them.  The fact that I’d totally forgotten the two characters in the book’s final scene is a bit indicative of the book’s current state.  It’s just a bit “all over the place.”  I’m still not sure how necessary Gardner’s scene was.

Similarly chaotic is the artwork, which at times, particularly in the smaller panels, borders on being an incomprehensible tangle of limbs and light.  Though it’s generally all right, at times, it’s a bit hard to piece together what’s going on.

Conclusion: A generally enjoyable 22 pages of chaos with a nice surprise ending.

Grade: B –

-Alex Evans