Writer Geoff Johns has certainly put the Green Lantern Corps, DC Comics intergalactic league of space cops, through the ringer over the past several years. First, they were brought back from the dead in Green Lantern Rebirth when along with DC Comics Icon Hal Jordan, the Corps returned to protecting space and life one sector at a time, with their wits and power ring protecting the innocent.
If that wasn’t enough rogue Green Lantern and all around baddie Sinestro returned from the dead to wage war on the cosmos and Green Lanterns in the Sinestro Corps War. Armed with the Yellow Power Ring wielding the power Fear in the emotional spectrum, the two Corps battled from one side of the galaxy to the other culminating in a final battle right here on Earth.
Now if you haven’t noticed there is a bit of a theme going on in the Green Lantern-verse… things returning from the dead. This leads right into the Blackest Night, when millions of the dead rose all across the universe to reign havoc on not only the Green Lanterns, but all seven lantern corps in the War of Light. You read that last line correctly SEVEN different lantern corps both good and evil working together to rid the universe of the plague of the Black Lanterns.
So after spending the better part of a decade (in real time not comics time) and having faced all manner of threats and foes, the Green Lantern Corps has finally turned on themselves. Parts 1 and 2 take place in the pages of Green Lantern #54 and Green Lantern Corps #58. In part one, Lyssa Dark uses the Book of the Black to capture the leaders of most of the corps, including Atrocitus (Red Lantern), Sinestro (Sinestro Corps) and Carol Ferris (Star Sapphire). This leads to one of the cooler moments, in decades of cool moments, between Hal Jordan and Sinestro. When being threatened by being swallowed into the Book of the Black, Hal and Sinestro lock up rings and unleash a full blast of power allowing Hal to escape to fight another day. Unfortunately this only leads to him being arrested by a group of his fellow Green Lanterns just as Parallax was reinserted into the Green Lantern Power Battery and taking over their minds and restoring the ring’s yellow impurity.
Part 1 was a good story and a great way to kick off this latest Green Lantern event. And while it took until the last couple of pages to feature any real Green Lantern on Green Lantern action, it was good to see a solid beginning to a story I honestly wasn’t too terribly excited to read. Now on to Part 2…
Green Lantern Corps #58 serves as part of the War of the Green Lanterns, and before I get into the story, I want to make special mention of the artwork in this book. It took me a few pages to acclimate to Tyler Kirkham’s art, but then I found myself totally in love with how the look and feel of this book came across as epicly epic!
This part of the story focused on Kyle Rayner, John Stewart and their group of merry lanterns returning from the Anti-Matter Universe and in doing so having the yellow impurity returned and their minds taken over. Of course like Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner and John Stewart showed an amazing resistance to Parallax’s influence. While there was a brief moment of Kyle vs. John, in what was an amazing battle before Guardian turned Green Lantern Ganthet was able to remove their rings and thus Parallax’s control at the cost of his ring bearing hand.
I was never so happy to see advertisements in a comic book after Ganthet saved Kyle and John watching him struggle with his own ring received a huge pay off with a very graphic and heartbreaking splash page with his ring and it’s associated hand exploding all over the place.
Of the first two parts of this new Green Lantern event that were released last week, I definitely enjoyed part two more than part one. That being said, I am really looking forward to the next part when it is Hal Jordan vs. Guy Gardner. I’ll admit I’m beginning to get a little burned out on all of these epic Lantern events, but I think the War of the Green Lanterns is exactly what the Comic Book Guy ordered to move past the Brightest Day event and get the Green Lantern Corps back on track and back to the business of protecting and serving.
