Cover Date: 1985
Story: Paul Kupperberg and Len Wein
Art: Gil Kane
Cover: Gil Kane
Hal Jordan has left the Green Lantern Corps, but life goes on as usual for the other Lanterns on Oa. When a white dwarf star fragment hits, a few Corpsmen take care of the problem, but return to find the Citadel in ruins. Worse yet, something’s drained the Central Power Battery, leaving only six Lantern with fully charged rings! Three Guardians were also kidnapped, so the small Corps takes off to find them. The Lanterns split up in pairs, but each finds a seemingly insane Guardian at the end of their journey. In truth, the evil Maaldor the Almighty has controlled them in order to escape from his interdimensional prison. He easily defeats the Green Lanterns, but Arkis Chummuck knows how to take him down for good. Drawing on the combined energies of the other Lanterns, he grabs Maaldor and forces his ring to overload, killing them both in the ensuing explosion.
The story here is nothing special: mystery villain controls the good guys, easily defeats our heroes, and then one brave soul makes the ultimate sacrifice in order to save the day. What makes this issue a great read is the fantastic Gil Kane art.
From the bold linework to his renderings of the alien Lanterns (the only human one is John Stewart, and he only makes a cameo appearance in the last panel), Kane’s expressive art is a treat in every single panel. Maaldor is depicted as an incredibly ugly brute in comparison to the clean, heroic forms of the Green Lanterns. (Go ahead, make any comment you want about Katma Tui’s “form.” I’ll wait.)
On every page, the heroism of the Corps is never in question. As other Lanterns fall to their apparent deaths due to their rings running out, the situation becomes more desperate, and Kane expertly conveys this by quickly intercutting back to the main action as the last few Lanterns seemingly fail in their tasks to stop the insane Guardians. These art techniques may seem simple, but they’re incredibly effective.
Art like this probably wouldn’t stand up to modern audiences. It’s up to us classic era fans to keep it alive!
