‘Green Lantern Corps’ #3 ended with John Stewart and his band of Green Lanterns fighting for their lives against the “ring slayers” as Guy Gardner and his crew were whisked away by a teleporter. As issue #4 opens, thinking that the situation is hopeless, John prepares for a final stand against the “ring slayers” in an attempt to take down as many as he can before they kill him and his crew. Meanwhile, back on Oa, Guy Gardner has captured one of the “ring slayers” and is attempting to find a way to save his friend and maybe even turn the tide of the battle against these seemingly unbeatable foes.

After the slow on story but heavy on action issue that was #3, this issue is a sucker punch! By the fourth page, there’s already a dead Lantern and, by the issues’ end, the mystery of the identity of the “ring slayers” is revealed with a little assistance from a certain Stormwatch mind-reader. (Also of note, the appearance of Stormwatch reveals that, while ‘Green Lantern Corps’ may have continued directly out of pre-relaunch stories, they were indeed affected by the New 52.)

With this new information, it’s now up to Guy Gardner to prepare a defense against the newly dubbed “keepers” (the villains formerly known as “ring slayers”) before they launch their next assault. Meanwhile John, with is ring low on power, must find a way to save his friends and maybe launch an assault from his side of the universe. Also… it might be a good time for Guy to man up and get some answers from the Guardians as the identity of the “keepers” proves that they have even more secrets that they’ve not revealed to the Green Lanterns.

After last issue’s build up that showed the extent of the power of the “keepers”, writer Peter Tomasi tightens the thumbscrews this issue and really puts the hurtin’ on the Corps. It’ll be interesting to see how he uses the personalities of the two main Lanterns of this book (John and Guy) to bring an end to this new threat. Tomasi is a wonderful writer and, in his hands, ‘Green Lantern Corps’ bounces from buddy-cop story, to military tale, to epic space opera with apparent ease.

This issue, penciller Fernando Pasarin picks up the reigns and does a wonderful job conveying the seriousness of the Lanterns’ plight. There’s no epic scenes as there were last issue when Geraldo Borges was doing art duties, but some of the detail (especially in the shocking opening scene) proves that Pasarin is more than up to the task of a Green Lantern title.

Verdict: Buy

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #4
Written by PETER J. TOMASI
Art by FERNANDO PASARIN and SCOTT HANNA
Cover by ANDY KUBERT