Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #9

Release Date: April 27, 2011
Cover Date: June 2011

Story: Peter Tomasi
Pencils: Fernando Pasarin
Inks: Cam Smith
Cover: Miguel Sepulveda
1:10 Variant Cover: George Pérez

Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner, Guy Gardner, and John Stewart escape from Mogo by tunneling underneath Oa. They argue about their next objective, but eventually settle for an assualt on the Central Power Battery to remove Parallax. En route, they discover the Guardians’ ring forge, along with the gauntlet originally worn by Krona, and later given to the First Lantern. A creature named Shedd tasked with guarding the gauntlet accosts them, but they convince it that they’re all on the same side. Kyle and John then decide to go after Mogo, with Hal and Guy continuing on to the Battery. Once the latter duo arrives, they’re ambushed by the entity-possessed Guardians.

The art in this issue was top-notch, and even most of the story was good. However, the issue as a whole was marred by ridiculous inconsistencies and continuity errors.

First, we see the four Lanterns having no trouble firing energy beams and making constructs. In Green Lantern Corps (Vol. 2) #59, this was nearly impossible for them…and later in this issue, they claim to still be having trouble! It keeps bouncing back and forth, and in a moment of utter stupidity, we see John actually firing his staff/rifle…which he later refers to as his “construct.” Ugh.

Next up, there’s a room filled with partially assembled Manhunters in the forge. No big deal, right? Except that sitting next them are their lanterns, and John grabs one of their lantern-powered pistols. Green Lantern (Vol. 4) #64 retconned the Manhunters so that they didn’t use guns and lanterns, but now they do again? Which one is it?

Lastly, this issue proves that Kyle Rayner’s destruction of Oa in Green Lantern (Vol. 3) #0 has been completely retconned away. The Guardians have clearly been storing stuff like the Manhunters, Krona’s gauntlet, and Shedd in the forge for billions of years, and if Kyle had previously reduced Oa to bits of rock, none of that stuff would still be intact. As if that retcon wasn’t bad enough, it gets worse: if Kyle never destroyed Oa, then that causes a chain reaction of more continuity problems. Kyle blew up Oa to stop Parallax from draining it after the events of Zero Hour: Crisis in Time. Which means that if Oa was never destroyed, then Parallax would have drained it, and thus become more powerful, and he would have started up his “setting things right” scheme again…you get the idea. This retcon really makes a huge chunk of Green Lantern history fall apart, but that’s sadly par for the course with the series nowadays. Geoff Johns didn’t even write this issue, but I would’ve thought Peter Tomasi was better than this.

While Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #9 moved the “War of the Green Lanterns” story forward, the constant continuity problems I’ve detailed really bogged it down. Let’s make like a Blue Lantern and hope things get better when Green Lantern (Vol. 4) #66 hits stands in a few weeks.