Hal Jordan has been stripped of his power ring and booted from the Green Lantern Corps. It only gets worse from there. Hal’s arch-enemy and intergalactic villain, Sinestro, has been given Hal’s job. The only upside? Sinestro needs Hal’s help to reclaim his homeworld of Korugar from his ex-teammates in the Sinestro Corps. In exchange for Hal’s assistance, Sinestro has offered to return Hal to his old job as Earth’s Green Lantern.

This issue picks up just after the events of ‘Green Lantern’ #2 with Sinestro giving Hal some pointers on how to actually be a good Lantern. Hal is making his decision whether he’s willing go against his better judgement and help Sinestro. Meanwhile, back on Oa (home to the Guardians of the Universe, the creators and real leaders of the Green Lantern Corps), the Guardians make a decision that threatens the very future of the Corps.

[Warning: epic space spoilers below!]

After Hal agrees to Sinestro’s bargain, especially in light of Sinestro’s offering to give him a ring free of the Guardian’s control, the pair travel to Korugar to retake the planet. Sinestro has a plan that will allow the two Green Lanterns to take down all 200+ members of the Sinestro Corps. However, an unexpected event springs Sinestro’s trap too soon and the pair are thrown headfirst into a battle that they may not be able to win. Things go from bad to worse when Hal attempts to disable the yellow power battery that provides energy to the Sinestro Corps’ rings. When the inevitable cliffhanger finale finally arrives, I had to put my issue down. It’s not something you’ll want me to spoil here but it seems that I may have been wrong about my predictions about Geoff Johns’ plans for this title.

[Okay… the spoilers have ended. Read on!]

Even before the New 52 relaunch, writer Geoff Johns has been the mastermind behind returning the DC Universe to its past glory. To that end, he resurrected two heroes that were once part of the backbone of the DCU. He returned Hal Jordan to his rightful place as Green Lantern of Sector 2814 and he brought back Barry Allen as the Flash. Now that the relaunch is in full effect, Johns is starting to shake up the status quo in some major ways. Often comics end on a major twist with the final page. With this title, Johns has ramped that traditional formula up to 11 by dropping some major twists throughout each issue and ending on some of the best cliffhangers I’ve ever read. This issue, though, breaks the scale!

Verdict: Buy

GREEN LANTERN #3
Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art by DOUG MAHNKE and CHRISTIAN ALAMY
Cover by DOUG MAHNKE