Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #8

Release Date: March 30, 2011
Cover Date: May 2011

Story: Peter Tomasi
Pencils: Fernando Pasarin
Inks: Cam Smith
Cover: Felipe Massafera
1:10 Variant Cover: Tyler Kirkham and Matt “Batt” Banning

As Guy Gardner, Kilowog, and Arisia take off in search of Sodam Yat, Parallax’s insertion into the Central Power Battery hits them hard. Arisia is completely controlled, and a swarm of Green Lanterns from other sectors try to capture the resistant Guy and Kilowog. It’s a losing battle, but Kilowog lets himself to be taken to ensure Guy’s escape. Guy manages to get in touch with Hal Jordan, and they meet at the secret Green House. Like other Lanterns before them, however, the two soon begin to brawl over how to proceed. They realize that they’re being played like marionettes, and ditch their rings to plan their next move with clear heads.

“War of the Green Lanterns” has certainly delivered on its promise to feature our favorite Earth ring-slingers beating the shit out of each other. This issue in particular was reminiscent of the classic Guy versus Hal fights from the past, and Fernando Pasarin brilliantly illustrated it with cleverly designed constructs and framing. And let’s not forget the excellent double splash page featuring the possessed Corps! Lots of fan favorite Lanterns were in there, like Torquemada, Amanita, and Rot Lop Fan. (Yes, I know he’s technically not a Lantern. Wiseass.) My favorite scene? Hockey player Guy pummelling Hal with pucks. Hilarious and effective.

The dialogue between Hal and Guy seemed forced at times, but overall it was believable. (If you want, just chalk the forced stuff up to Krona and Parallax.) These have certainly had their differences in the past, and the corruption of the Green Lanterns’ power source didn’t help keep them buried. I especially enjoyed how each of them was working with Atrocitus for completely different reasons, but immediately condemned what the other was doing. As if either of these two could take the high-and-mighty approach!

Now to comment on a seemingly forgotten story thread that causes myself and many fans to laugh: why is Hal still wearing his flight jacket? More to the point, when was the last time that asshole actually flew a damned jet, or even bothered to report for duty? If he ever sets foot on United States soil again, the Air Force is going to clap him in irons. Hal may be a great Green Lantern, but he’s a very poor soldier.

All things considered, Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #8 was fantastic, and likely the strongest issue of the “War of the Green Lanterns” storyline thus far. We won’t get another installment for a few weeks, when Green Lantern (Vol. 4) #65 hits the stands; fortunately, this issue ended in such a way that a brief break makes sense from an in-universe standpoint. Either way, you’ll just have to be patient!

Green Lantern Corps (Vol. 2) #58

Release Date: March 23, 2011
Cover Date: May 2011

Story: Tony Bedard
Pencils: Tyler Kirkham
Inks: Matt “Batt” Banning and Rob Hunter
Cover: Tyler Kirkham and Matt “Batt” Banning
1:10 Variant Cover: Patrick Gleason

The Green Lanterns return from the antimatter universe, only to find the Alpha Lanterns adrift and deactivated over Oa. Without warning, the influence of Parallax and Krona possesses the group, but Ganthet, Kyle Rayner, and John Stewart able to overcome it. The rest of the Lanterns descend to Oa, but Kyle and John come to blows over how to handle the situation. Ganthet realizes that their rings are corrupting them, and manages to forcibly remove them at the cost of destroying his own…and his hand along with it. On the planet surface, Ganthet tells John and Kyle to hide, as they’ll be hard to trace without their rings. Ganthet, however, will be too easy to find due to his Guardian powers, so he plans to deal with the controlled Lanterns on his own.

As I’ve mentioned countless times before, many Kyle Rayner fans grumble that the character has been marginalized since the return of Hal Jordan, often rightfully. It’s no secret that current DC Comics leaders, specifically Geoff Johns and Dan DiDio, are not fond of the character. Since 2004, they’ve consistently retconned Kyle’s history, had him lose battles left and right, and even gone out of their way in some instances to insult his fans.

However, their stance may be softening. Read on to find out why.

Like Green Lantern (Vol. 4) #64, this issue opens with a brief recap of the main character’s origin; in this case, Kyle Rayner and John Stewart. Kyle provides the monologue for both, and I think that this was actually a commentary on the anti-Kyle fanbase.

When Kyle became Green Lantern way back in Green Lantern (Vol. 3) #50, many Hal diehards flipped the fuck out. They refused to accept Kyle as the new Green Lantern under any circumstances, and I’d wager that most of them read little to none of the character’s adventures. All they wanted was Hal Jordan back as Green Lantern, and nothing less. (Remember the embarrassment that was H.E.A.T.?)

These opinions are repeated almost word-for-word on bottom of the first page. Just replace “Lanterns” with “Hal Jordan fans.”

This can’t be a coincidence, and it’s a bit startling that a denunciation like that would make it into print. But wait…there’s more!

This issue had another big surprise, and I’m not talking about Ganthet blowing his hand off. It was something he said to Kyle, and quite frankly, it shocked the hell out of me:

More accurately, the fact that Tony Bedard was even allowed to write this is what shocked me. This is not meant as an insult towards Johns or DiDio; it’s just a statement of fact based on their past poor treatment of the character. I mean, come on; DiDio in particular went so far as to retcon and demote Kyle in a damned editorial page.

But now, we have a writer solidifying in official Green Lantern canon that Kyle is more important than a Guardian, and more importantly, he always has been. We saw some of this towards the end of Green Lantern (Vol. 3), but to see it still alive and well in modern continuity? That’s a big deal no matter how you want to spin it, and I’m honestly surprised that it was approved by the head honchos.

Are the powers-that-be softening their stance towards Kyle? Possibly, but I remain understandably apprehensive. We’ll have to see if Ganthet’s appraisal of Kyle has any affect on the ongoing story. (Also note that Ganthet refers to Kyle as the Corps’ “best hope.” That’s going to add fuel to the fan theory fire that Kyle will become a Blue Lantern in the future.)

“Enough of the Kyle Rayner shit!” you say. “Tell me more about the War!” Okay, let’s move on to the rest of the issue.

Kyle baked up quite the ruckus pie when he attacked John, and Tyler Kirkham’s splash page of various Kyle constructs was breathtaking. If you though his work on “The Weaponer” was good, this’ll knock you on your ass. Kirkham’s art continues to evolve and better fit the Green Lantern “mold,” as it were, and I can’t wait to see what he’s got in store for us.

We assumed that Hal was able to resist Parallax in Green Lantern (Vol. 4) #64 because of his previous infection by the entity, and it’s confirmed in this issue. Aside from making perfect sense, it works out well for specific heroes across the three Green Lantern books: Hal in the core book, Kyle, John, and Ganthet here, and Guy and Kilowog in Emerald Warriors. Parallax’s influence may have egged on Kyle and John in this issue, but hopefully we’ll see more concrete stuff that splits the Corps in upcoming installments.

Oh, and I bet Ganthet will regrow his hand.

“War of the Green Lanterns” continues in Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #8; my review should go up on Thursday. Have your morning coffee ready!

Green Lantern (Vol. 4) #64

Release Date: March 23, 2011
Cover Date: May 2011

Story: Geoff Johns
Pencils: Doug Mahnke
Inks: Christian Alamy, Keith Champagne, Mark Irwin, and Tom Nguyen
Cover: Ivan Reis and Oclair Albert
1:10 Variant Cover: Tyler Kirkham and Matt “Batt” Banning

The Book of the Black spits out Larfleeze’s lantern, but it’s a trap; Lyssa Drak appears, and uses the tome’s power to drag all of the Corps representatives into the Book. Sinestro tells Hal Jordan that overpowering their rings might free them, and it manages to release Hal successfully. The Book seemingly implodes after that, leaving the other Lanterns’ rings behind. But before Hal can catch his breath, Salaak and a group of other Green Lanterns arrive to arrest him. On Oa, Krona appears before the Guardians, effortlessly defeating them and force-bonding them to the emotional entities. Krona places Parallax back into the Central Power Battery, and every Green Lantern immediately falls under his control. Hal manages to escape the squad sent to arrest him, and with his allies’ rings in tow, he desperately flies off into space looking for help.

So, “War of the Green Lanterns” has officially kicked off. Officially. It looks the entire war is based on Krona controlling the Corps, so it’s seems to be a generic mind-control story, but we’ll see how it plays out.

Krona overtaking the stunned Guardians was a great scene, too, especially when he tore Herupa’s jaw open to infect him with rage. Overall, this issue was quite good, and a colossal improvement over the previous piece of shit.

Aside from the fantastic Ivan Reis cover, Doug Mahnke’s art really shines here. His splash illustrations of the Corps and the entities are amazing! Did everyone catch the obvious Nazi imagery? When Salaak attacks Hal, his ring’s energies are forming a swastika:

I guess a malevolent entity controlling the Corps wasn’t enough to drive the “evil” point home, was it?

As exciting as this issue was, there’s a lot of very weird stuff floating around in here that needs to be analyzed.

First off, Salaak needs a bit of a history refresher course. During the issue’s introduction, he says that Hal defeated Parallax through sheer willpower. Wrong. That’s not what happened in Green Lantern: Rebirth at all. Hal’s willpower certainly helped, for sure, but without the aid of the Spectre and the other Green Lanterns (who are clearly shown in the flashback), he would’ve failed miserably. I’m hoping this was just an error; if not, retconning Rebirth in that way actually makes the story even worse!

The Book of the Black has the death symbol emblazoned on the cover…but it has nothing to do with death. Sure, it first appeared during the lead-up to Blackest Night, but aside from that prophecy, it’s simply a collection of “lost” tales of the Guardians. That death symbol shouldn’t even be there; if nothing else, the life symbol should be there, as the Book does chronicle an era where the Guardians wore that emblem. Which reminds me, there’s an amusing art error in this issue: the Book of the Black does have the life symbol on it! Sort of. Mahnke mistakenly drew seven bars into the symbol, instead of five.

The Guardians also made mention of the First Lantern. We can safely assume that he (or she) was the first bearer of a power ring and lantern. This is yet another Geoffcon; before Johns made Krona the creator of the lantern, the original wielders were the Manhunters. They had emerald-powered pistols instead of rings, but the underlying technology was the same. This is a very recent alteration, as the Manhunter action figures and statues still include those accessories.

But I digress. At first glance, you might assume that the First Lantern is the chained figure seen in Green Lantern (Vol. 4) #62. However, that figure is shown imprisoned both before and after the formation of the Corps. So unless the Guardians had a change of heart and released it, then incarcerated the figure again, it doesn’t really work. (It’s still possible, but it would be poor storytelling.) Will the First Lantern be a new character, or someone we’re already familiar with from the Green Lantern mythos? We’ll find out soon enough, since those visions in issue #62 were flashforwards of a sort.

When Krona attacked the Guardians…where the hell were the rest of them? I know some have died in recent years, but there’s still a lot more than six. Are they on vacation? Not that they would have been any match for Krona’ power, but it’s still strange that there weren’t more of them hanging around.

As for the power rings Hal has with him, I bet they’ll find use on other characters’ fingers, at least temporarily. The red one has Guy Gardner’s name written all over it!

On a random final note…did anyone else roll their eyes when Lyssa Drak called herself “the story vampire”? Ugh. I expected her to twirl a mustache and tie Carol Ferris to the train tracks after that.

Weirdnesss aside, “War of the Green Lanterns” is off to a good start, and it continues in Green Lantern Corps (Vol. 2) #58. Expect my review of that issue on Monday morning.

Rogues gallery

Like any other superhero, Green Lantern has had countless villains to contend with over the years. While the recent era has focused almost solely on Sinestro and a pack of new characters that are all interconnected, tales from decades past had a much wider variety of classic bad guys for ring slingers to take down, with wide-ranging motives and personalities.

Let’s take a look at few notable malcontents from days long past…

Lamplighter. The colonial-garbed villain was actually blind, but that didn’t stop him from using light-based powers to give himself temporary sight and foil our emerald hero in Green Lantern (Vol. 2) #60. He’s a villain that’s had precious few appearances, but the very concept of a blind man taking down Green Lantern is a great one that needs to be further explored. (Of course, Rot Lop Fan would make quick work of Lamplighter.)

Evil Star. An intergalactic conqueror, Evil Star steals power from the stars themselves and is practically immortal. More importantly, the guy uses midgets as his minions. That’s awesome. Evil Star hasn’t been seen in many years, but it’s strongly rumored that he’ll soon be coming back to torment the Corps. He was also the subject of a minor retcon in Green Lantern (Vol. 4) #43, which may also hint at future appearances.

Effigy. Imagine a Green Lantern that used flames instead of emerald light, and you’ve got Effigy. He was a man adbucted and experimented upon by the Controllers as their answer to the Green Lantern Corps. In fact, an “Effigy Corps” was indeed planned for use down the line, but Ron Marz left the book before it could come to fruition outside of a brief appearance or two. Later writers ignored it, and Effigy was recently executed by the Spectre. This was done as yet another “fuck you” to Kyle Rayner fans, as the current DC regime has been hellbent on expunging as much of the Kyle era as possible from history.

Alex Nero. A man with a yellow power ring who was completely insane. And not the usual comic book evil insane, mind you; we’re talking clinically insane and highly unstable. As a result, all manner of disturbing crap flew out of his ring, and Kyle had a really hard time dealing with him. Nero’s mental state made for a truly unique villain, and even the JLA was unsure about how they’d handle him. Unfortunately, Nero was executed by the Alpha Lanterns, for the same shady reason as Effigy. Ugh.

The Invisible Destroyer. …never mind. This guy sucks.

Who are some of your favorites? The cheesier, the better! (Unless you like the Crumbler.)

(Thanks to Adamuz for suggesting this topic.)

Brightest Day #22

Release Date: March 16, 2011
Cover Date: Late May 2011

Story: Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi
Pencils: Scott Clark, Ivan Reis, and Joe Prado
Inks: David Beaty
Cover: Gary Frank
1:10 Variant Cover: Ivan Reis

Firestorm discovers that the White Lantern power battery is being experimented on by the Anti-Monitor. The villain wants to use it to create life, so he can then feed on it and become even more powerful. The battery seems able to fend for itself, but Firestorm is no match for the Anti-Monitor and Deathstorm. It takes the selfless sacrifice of Professor Stein for Ronnie Raymond and Jason Rusch to finally get along, and with that, the Entity declares Ronnie’s mission successful and life returned. Firestorm briefly flares into a White Lantern, destroying Deathstorm and the other Black Lanterns, then teleporting to the Star City forest. There, the Entity demands that Firestorm hand over the White Lantern power battery to Boston Brand.

Gotta love an all-Firestorm issue! The long-brewing feud between the Nuclear Man and his dark counterpart finally came to a head, and while the ending was a bit anticlimactic (Firestorm didn’t actually fight Deathstorm), it still made sense within the context of the story. The real shock of the conflict, however, was the death of Professor Stein. Despite being a Firestorm fan, I’m actually not pissed off about this. Let me explain.

First of all, it did come as a bit of surprise that Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi actually killed him off. Stein is a pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths character, and we know how the powers-that-be love them. I would’ve expected Jason to bite it, since he’s a modern character. But given the heat DC Comics got over killing many non-white heroes like Ryan Choi (the Atom) recently, icing yet another minority wouldn’t have done them any favors. (EDIT: An anonymous commenter brought to my attention that Stein was Jewish. I believe he’s only mentioned it in passing, though, and I don’t recall if he was practicing or not. Make of that what you will.)

Stein is an integral part of the Firestorm legacy; I understand that. But if you’re going to bring back Ronnie, either Jason or Stein has got to go. Three’s a crowd, and all that. Getting rid of the “old guard,” as it were, will force the character to move forward, just as the death of Ronnie did for Jason in the last Firestorm series. Finally, remember that this is comics; no one stays dead. (Especially at DC!) Stein will be back, I guarantee it.

Let’s move on. I was wrong in my previous predictions about the Anti-Monitor’s plans for the White Lantern, and that was a pleasant surprise. I figured he’d just want to destroy it, therefore killing everything in the positive matter universe, but instead using it as an infinite fuel source was clever. And we got to see the Anti-Monitor’s ugly-ass face without his helmet! Lucky us?

I mentioned in my review of Brightest Day #17 that Deathstorm was a creation of the Anti-Monitor. It’s likely that I was correct, but no explanation has yet appeared within the series. This is not good; the reader should never have to assume or jump to conclusions regarding important plot points. I know the series is almost over, but that’s no excuse. The good stuff aside, the plot in Brightest Day seems to be getting very rushed. There’s only two issues to go, so this may not bode well.

Now for your random ending tidbit! Did anyone else notice the weird coloring errors that popped up from time to time? In a few panels, the Anti-Monitor was missing his glowing eyes, and Deathstorm was missing his corona. Some skin tones were off, too. Mistakes happen, I guess.