Green Lantern #55 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (writer), Doug Mahnke and Shawn Davis (artist), Christian Alamy, Tom Nguyen, Keith Champagne, Shawn Davis and Doug Mahnke (inks)

The Story: The New Guardians, Chapter Three: The Spectre is on the trail of an entity (in the Brightest Day, power ring sense) that is brutally slaughtering livestock. In the meantime, Lobo explodes into town looking to collect a big bounty on Atrocitus. Hal Jordan, Star Sapphire and Sinestro are forced to take sides. Atrocitus seems to know something he’s not saying and is hunting a particular entity himself.

What’s Good: Hal Jordan didn’t come off in this fight looking like he owned it, but Sinestro, Carol and that psycho red cat sure did. Props to those three, and to Johns for writing them well. Hal’s solution at the end seemed like it fit his character, but I loved the surprise ending which showed that some architect of events had been banking on those very reactions. Surprise is good. Well done to Johns. Red Lantern Dex-Starr’s part in the story and its origin was also a lot of fun. Whether Krypto, this spazzy, angry cat, or Lobo’s dog, Johns writes good pets (keep in mind how badly animals can be written…).

On Lobo, I had such low expectations that it wasn’t hard for Johns to meet them, and even exceed them. My major impression of Lobo prior to this was that he is a zero-dimensional, ultra-powerful white trash contribution to the DCUs affirmative action and diversity strategy who looks like he’s either coming from a Kiss concert or going to an audition for the Village People. His reactions and role in any story are unsurprising and uninteresting. Gee, do you think Lobo is going to do something violent? Duh! So what did Johns do right with Lobo? The one-liners were good: “Tour’s over everybody!” and, talking about all the power rings around, “I don’t know what god ate a rainbow and threw it up across the universe…” If we were to go more tongue-in-cheek and start rumors behind the school, I’d have to say I like where Johns is taking Lobo’s sexuality. Lobo called Hal “square jaw” and “handsome” and I definitely got the sense that he was overcompensating with Carol….some might say he’s trying to hide something? He is dressed like he’s going clubbing at the Blue Oyster Bar from Polcie Academy. Maybe Johns is laying down some subtle markers to show some real questioning and growth. I’m just saying….

Artwise, Mahnke and company delivered a fine issue with the detailed energy constructs you’d expect for a fight involving four flavors of power rings. The faces and expressions were detailed, as were skin, clothing and the environments, so there’s a lot of art for every panel, something I definitely dig. Shawn Davis’ work on the backup story was also quite fine and reminded me a bit of Quitely’s stuff.

Green Lantern #51 – Review

by Geoff Johns (writer), Doug Mahnke (art), Randy Mayor (colors), and Rob Leigh (letters)

The Story: Parallax returns to battle the Black Lantern Spectre.

What’s Good: This is a really, really fun issue.  A lot of this is thanks to the twists and turns that Johns provides with the emotional spectrum.  One such twist, involving the Spectre and Atrocitus, is particularly well-played and is, at least for a moment, absolutely jaw-dropping in a “why didn’t I think of that” kind of way.

Then there’s the real star of the issue, Parallax.  Johns writes the character as well as he ever did, sounding absolutely monstrous with just the right amount of sneer.  The great thing about Parallax’s presence though is how Johns essentially writes the character as if he was pulled out of a timewarp from back issues.  Suddenly the old Spectre/Parallax conflict takes centre stage, as the two characters almost forget the Blackest Night around them.  The total disconnect of these two characters, Parallax in particular, from their current surroundings in favour of their old animosity feels clever and a little surreal, as though things are put on hold.

Another highlight is the grappling between Lex Luthor and Larfleeze that we all knew was inevitable.  Suffice it to say, the dynamic between the two is about as much fun as expected.  Hearing Luthor dress down, contemptuously deride, and belittle Larfleeze is comic gold, particularly since the latter never seems to really understand Luthor.

Then there’s Dough Mahnke’s artwork.  This issue is visually awesome.  The level of detail Mahnke manages to pack into the book while still completely maintaining traditional comic sensibilities is truly a sight to behold.  He’s able to pack a great deal onto the page while never having it become overwhelming, while also delivering the massive, iconic images that make a comic like Green Lantern great.  Truly, his Spectre looks amazing and his Parallax looks about as insidious as I can imagine a character being.

It also bears being said that this issue is the first to give us some real hints as to where Johns intends Green Lantern to go after Blackest Night, as he plants some very ominous seeds, one involving Atrocitus and another regarding Parallax’s fate.

Green Lantern #50 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (writer), Doug Mahnke (artist), Christian Alamy, Rebecca Buchman, Tom Nguyen, Mark Irwin, Doug Mahnke (inkers)

The Story: The newly reinforced armies of light are making good headway against the black lanterns, but black lantern Spectre is still there, and nothing they do will stop him. So it’s time to pull out the one thing that has a chance of matching the Spectre’s power: Parallax.

What’s Good: There’s a lot to like in this book. It’s a high-stakes, epic adventure. However, Johns, as always, finds ways to squeeze in some good character moments. In one, black lantern Aquaman tries to get under Mera’s (now a red lantern) skin. Her reaction to this deep, personal, manipulative attack leaves Atrocitus with nothing to say, but “Welcome to the Red Lantern Corps.” Scarecrow as a member of the Sinestro Corps was a delightful a show-stealer, and a quiet moment with Luthor and Larfleeze was classic. Hal Jordan had a few good moments too, with some snappy dialogue that seemed more suited to Spider-Man than to Hal, but it didn’t get in the way. Mahnke had some great moments too on the art chores. The splash page release of Parallax was awesome. The staking of the Spectre was a brilliant panel, as was Green Lantern’s “mallet-to-the-head” panel. The poses and layouts were dynamic and carried the story from panel to panel, page to page.