Green Lantern (Vol. 4) #67

Release Date: July 13, 2011
Cover Date: August 2011

Story: Geoff Johns
Pencils: Doug Mahnke
Inks: Keith Champagne, Christian Alamy, Mark Irwin, and Tom Nguyen
Cover: Doug Mahnke and Christian Alamy
Variant Cover: J. G. Jones

The Green Lantern Corps wages war on Krona, but the villain and his entity-possessed Guardians are more than a match for them. The heroes need to yank the entities out, but they need help. Hal Jordan decides to free the other Corps representatives from the Book of the Black, asking Kyle to simply draw a page of them escaping. It works, but their rings all lock on to Krona instead. The mad Guardian tortures Hal, but Sinestro saves him…and is reinducted into the Green Lantern Corps by an errant ring. Hal then blasts Krona through the chest, causing his apparent death and ending the threat. The other rings settle onto their previous bearers, with the exception of Sinestro. He’s still a Green Lantern…and the Guardians are very angry with Hal, which they demonstrate by taking his ring and kicking him out of the Corps.

And thus, “War of the Green Lanterns” ends…sort of. There’s still the two-issue Aftermath series, plus a few issues of the other Green Lantern books before the big relaunch in September. (Plus, you know Green Lantern tales never really end anymore; we’re still continuing the emotional spectrum storyline from 2007.)

But I digress. This issue had its high points, and I really liked the speechless panels, particularly the first two pages and the shot of Hal “killing” Krona. Doug Mahnke’s art on those pieces was absolutely stunning, but more importantly, they showed that superheroes don’t always have to run their mouths. Those three shots were incredibly effective without a single word being spoken.

I also dug the new tidbits we were fed about two of my favorite supporting characters; e.g., Indigo-1′s real name, and Larfleeze’s fear of the orange ring. Lastly, using Kyle’s artistic skills to rescue the trapped Lanterns was excellent, though there’s no reason why he should’ve been unsure of himself (other than the writer’s bias, of course).

After that…the issue starts to fall to pieces. Come on, does anyone seriously believe that Krona’s dead? Aside from the fact that he’s a comic book character, Krona’s been killed and brought so many times that it defies description. Not only that, Hal just shot him; that’s a pretty cheap death. Krona will be back within the next few years, I can practically guarantee it.

And what happened to the entities? They were all freed from the Guardians, but where did they go? Considering how incredibly dangerous they were supposed to be, everyone suddenly forgets about them, and the entities aren’t seen again.

Of course, the big deal in this issue was Sinestro’s return to the Green Lantern Corps. Yeah, I’m sure no one saw that coming, what with the movie and all. It’s worth noting that Sinestro’s been responsible for the deaths of millions and countless acts of violence and villainy, yet the Guardians have no problem with him whatsoever being a Green Lantern again. Hal disobeys orders a bunch of times to ultimately save the universe, and he gets thrown out with no chance to defend himself? Dumb.

Hal’s on the cover of Justice League (Vol. 2) #1 in full Green Lantern uniform, and that comes out weeks before Green Lantern (Vol. 5) #1. Even if those initial Justice League tales are flashbacks — which I highly doubt — Hal’s been a central hero in the DC Universe for a while now, and he’s a cornerstone of the marketing for the new team. Why bother even wasting our time with a pointless dismissal when there was no question that he’d ever stay out of the Corps?

I know, I know…this is all just setup for the next story, but it’s still a bit silly. As for the other stuff, I remain cautiously optimistic. There’s some really cool storytelling opportunities here, but story threads failing to pan out have happened quite often in Green Lantern over the past few years.

Speaking of things that happen quite often…how about some retcons? Kyle mentioned that in order to remove an entity, you can’t use force; you need an “emotional exorcism.” Well, that’s odd, because force certainly worked just fine when Sinestro ripped Ion out of his chest in Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps Special #1, or when the Spectre and Carol Ferris tore Parallax out of Hal Jordan in Green Lantern (Vol. 4) #51, or when Krona stole the entities from various hosts in Green Lantern (Vol. 4) #60. And what does Hal use to finally free the entities in this very issue? Force. So not only is that a retcon, but inconsistent storytelling in the same damned issue!

Then there’s the bit that power rings are unable to affect Guardians. Makes sense in theory…except that it’s happened before. Hal and friends killed Scar in Blackest Night #5, remember? Sure, that was by combining their powers to summon Captain Planet into white light, but they were still run-of-the-mill power rings. I know there’s been other instances where Guardians have been attacked by Green Lantern rings, but they’re not coming to mind right now.

The mess of plot threads aside, I’m looking forward to seeing how the Corps picks up the pieces. I’ve got a feeling many more Geoffcons are coming in order to explain all of these new twists. The powers-that-be have gone on record saying that the relaunch will barely affect the Green Lantern line, if at all, but at this rate…it should.