Green Lantern #41 – Review

By Geoff Johns (writer), Philip Tan, Eddy Barrows (artists), Jonathan Clapion, Ruy Jose, Julio Ferreira (inks)

I really wish I can write a review for this book in our typical format, but there just isn’t enough good to write about. Earlier this week, I had chosen this book to be my top pick for Wednesday. But thinking back now,  I wasn’t really expecting much, since I only chose this book after coming off of the Blackest Night oneshot high. Johns may have restored my trust in him with the free comic book day book, but I can’t help but feel that the Agent Orange arc has been doomed from the start.

In the third part of a prelude to Blackest Night, secrets are revealed. Johns crams a very last-minute history behind Larfleeze, and the truth behind the Guardians’ relation to the Vega System are finally explained. Meanwhile Hal Jordan struggles with his new blue power ring, as the Orange Lantern hungrily comes after the hope-powered ring. However, even with all of these situations transpiring, the creative team’s flaws are just too obvious, failing to make this issue and this story worth re-reading.

It’s unfortunate how the writing has been really disappointing. It’s gotten to point where you have to wonder if DC had decided to keep Johns’ name on the cover, while bringing in a ghostwriter to tackle these TPB-filler preludes. I honestly can’t see anything appealing behind the story in Green Lantern #41. There’s nothing deep or profound, and there aren’t even anything exciting moments. The nonsense simply carries on, as the Blackest Night prelude continue to steer away from any sort of development. You’ll continue to see Hal Jordan have an underwhelming presence within the story, and you’ll find yourself caring less about this chapter on the Orang Lanterns.

As for the art, it is fucking awful. Philip Tan and Eddy Barrows offer nothing appealing, as they manage to make the final product look like a a complete mess. There’s no art here, just garbage. Your eyes are going to want to omit the numerous busy panels in the book; and the look on Hal Jordn’s face on the final splash will have you laughing for all the awesomely bad reasons.

Conclusion: Although these preludes have been rocky, we just need to sit tight since we all know Blackest Night will be way much better. It’s just frustrating to buy these books and think about jumping ship as we get closer to the summer event. Thankfully, we still have Green Lantern Corps.

Grade: C-

-Raymond Hilario

Green Lantern #40 – Review

By Geoff Johns (writer), Philip Tan (artist), Jonathan Clapion (inks)

There is no doubt that the War of Light tales haven’t exactly been up to par with Rebirth or Sinestro Corps. Yet, in Johns’ second new corps story, the arc continues to fall. The second chapter to Agent Orange is no better than the first. Just like the previous issue, you have the same amount of easily forgettable scenes, where unimportant characters (in the previous issues it was the Controllers, in this issue it’s Fatality as a Violet Lantern) engage in dialogue that is lacking in the signature moral debate that we’re used to reading.  At this point, everything and everyone is just a plot device, used to fast forward this already fast-paced story. With the first two chapters absent of the deep context that we’re used to seeing in Johns’ works, Agent Orange is starting to read like a fast-paced 90’s space opera comic book.

What’s troubling about Agent Orange is that the villain is not quite established. Instead, this arc is packed with lots of subplots that are either being developed, or are finally being revealed. To make up the bulk of the story, new laws are added to the book of Oa (which we’ve seen before), and a new thread is introduced involving John Stewart (which is supposed to play some role later on, and not validate Fatality’s boring monologue in the beginning). But this isn’t what the fans were looking for. They wanted what they got in Sinestro Corps War, where Johns introduced a new color, and a new emotion. In a story that is supposed to introduce a new formidable opponent for the Green Lantern Corp, we are only getting a childish villain that seems to be making a cameo appearance. In a story that’s supposed to be rich in metaphors and overtones, we’re treated to fast-paced action sequences that are to be forgotten.

Grade: C

-Raymond Hilario

Green Lantern #39 – Review

By Geoff Johns (writer), Philip Tan (artist), Jonathan Clapion (inkers), Randy Mayor & Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

In the previous arc, Geoff Johns sprayed the pages with Red Lantern keywords such as, “RAGE” and “HATE.”  In this one, he does the same thing, except using only one word: “MINE.”  And along with using one word, Johns introduces something different, he make the Orange Lantern Corp an army of one.  Unfortunately, this and the ongoing debate of Hal Jordan and the Blue Lanterns– Will vs. Hope, make you wish that the Black Night came already.

Green Lantern has been so good for so long, it’s easy to expect that the next thing Geoff Johns cranks out is the best thing coming out of DC.  However, with a surprisingly uninteresting previous arc, and now a silly brand of Lantern introduced, it looks as though Johns’ preamble to the big blockbuster — Blackest Night, is starting to fizzle out.

Fans had reason to be excited for the ongoing War of Light in Green Lantern.  You had an assortment of Lantern Corps emerging, new oaths to secretly memorize, and new characters that you would hope would stay in the DC universe.  Yet, it’s all been pretty drab.  Hal Jordan going red and then blue, all seemed like cheap ploys.  The droning text and dialogue that accompany the new color Lantern Corps  have either been silly or unintentionally funny.  And the absence of Ethan Van Sciver haunts the pages with a lack of vivid emotion and code of conduct that each ring is attributed to.   We see this all again in the first part of Agent Orange.

In this issue, the Orange Lantern emerges within the Vega System after the wannabe Guardians (the Controllers) discover its location.  A secret that the the little blue men have kept is revealed, and violence and avarice ensue in the form of orange light.  Meanwhile, you get a few forgettable pages of Hal Jordan engaged in a conflict with the two rings he now holds: the blue and the green.  Encountering the new color introduced is inevitable, and their reason for getting caught up in the mix with the other Lantern Corps is easily set up in the first few pages.  There’s nothing complex or deep, here.  Just another all out battle between two Lantern Corps…

From the Red Lanterns puking out “RAGE” and “HATE” and “PAIN” to the Orange Lantern crying like a child, “It’s MINE…”  The battle of all these colors is turning out to be a silly event that fans will second-guess when they finish reading it for the first and last time.  But for some odd reason, Green Lantern is a book that’s still kinda worth getting.  Let’s just hope Johns is able to deliver just the way he did in Sinestro Corps and Rebirth, come Blackest Night.  Till then, I look forward to the Black Lanterns overshadowing these previous arcs.

Grade: C+

-Ray Hilario