REVIEW: GREEN LANTERN #14

(w) Geoff Johns
(p) Doug Mahnke

This week, "Rise of the Third Army" continues in Green Lantern #14 as Simon Baz comes face to face with the Justice League. He's been deemed a suspected terrorist already, and now that he's got a Green Lantern ring on his finger, he's just a super-powered suspected terrorist. The first thing you're thinking is, "They get into a fight, right? Superman or Batman misinterprets something, and a construct gets thrown out, then it's just a big brawl, right?" Wrong. Simon knows he can't take on the entirety of the Justice League, and he doesn't plan to. Simon's self-awareness points to Geoff Johns' increasing efforts to make the newest Green Lantern a bit more relatable and realistic. Johns understands how cliched superhero meetings have become in recent years, so this first confrontation between Simon and JL is less about a show of force and more about a show of wits.

Simon attempts to remove his ring and give it to the Justice League when the spectral energies of Sinestro and Hal Jordan burst forth in an explosion of green energy to protest. This is where Johns could have gone the easy route and made all these heroes gang up on Simon Baz. Instead, Simon subconsciously uses the ring to build himself a getaway car, then twenty getaway cars to throw the League off his trail. Sure, the Flash and Superman are probably fast enough to have found Baz in the chaos of everything, but that's not what this story is about -- it's about Simon thinking outside the box and how that type of thinking has been absent from mainstream superhero comics for quite some time.

Johns also takes some time to build mythology through sequences featuring the Guardians conversing with the still-mysterious First Lantern, Black Hand's imprisonment in the Chamber of Shadows, and the Third Army ravaging the universe in the name of peace and order. I'm enjoying Simon Baz's personal voyage as he comes to terms with being a Green Lantern and what that means in the greater scheme of his life. And while there hasn't been a lot of crossover with the Third Army proper, Johns is obviously building to something that will test Simon as a GL and as a person.

GRADE

8.5/10

GREEN LANTERN ANNUAL #1

STORY: Geoff Johns
ART: Ethan Van Sciver

There's a lot going on in Green Lantern Annual #1. There's so much happening, in fact, that the amount of information is almost too much. This over-sized issue has two goals: to finish up "The Revenge of Black Hand" as well as preluding "Rise of the Third Army", the Green Lantern Family-wide crossover starting in October that will see the Guardians of the Universe's new legion of soldiers attempt to eradicate the Green Lantern Corps as well as the rest of the multicolored Corps littered throughout the universe. While Geoff Johns has been slowly dragging the Guardians into madness over the past few years, this singular issue really drives the point home, showing just how ruthless these little blue guys can be.

Johns does an apt job flowing from one focus to the next. The beginning of the issue is all about Hal Jordan, Sinestro, and Black Hand. Slowly, scenes of the Guardians start to trickle in before their crazy crusade against emotion takes center stage. It's an interesting way to segue from one plot point to the next, and Johns knows these characters so well, he can interweave the stories without actually having them connect. Amid major revelations every few pages, Johns manages to keep things light and well-paced throughout the issue, taking time to make emotional jabs when can, and relying on readers' visceral connection to the story to keep the momentum going.

As a whole, Green Lantern Annual #1 is really all about the Guardians and their descent into madness. After millennia of attempting and failing to squelch chaos across the universe, the Guardians have obviously started to show the cracks in their armor. Starting back in Green Lantern: Rebirth when it was revealed that the Blue Ones had imprisoned a 'fear entity' within the Green Lantern Central Battery, causing the yellow impurity that had plagued the rings for eons. The list of their grievances goes on and on, but now, with a universe more chaotic than ever, the Guardians have reached the end of their rope. Plagued by insubordination within their ranks and throughout the cosmos, the Guardians turn to their last hope (if you can call it 'hope'), the First Lantern. While there is virtually still nothing known about the individual encased within a shimmering crystal lantern, it stands to reason that he/she is the origin of the emotional entities that power the seven differently colored lanterns (not counting the Black Lanterns because death isn't an emotion).

One of the best parts of the issue is the meeting between the Guardians and the Hidden Guardians. Billions of years prior, the Guardians decided to leave half of their people behind in the Chamber of Shadows to guard the First Lantern from any who would attempt to steal his power, while the other half would venture out into the universe to create peace in place of the chaos. The Hidden Ones immediately question the Guardians' motives when they demand the First Lantern and his awesome power. The fight that ensues is not only cool for the simple comic-bookiness of it (little blue aliens fighting each other with sci-fi energy ball beams!), but also because it really gives a visual interpretation of the Guardian's insanity as Ganthet kills the Hidden Ones' leader with a knife to the throat. It's chilling, watching a Guardians murder in cold blood. It's the kind of thing Geoff Johns is known for: emotional backhanding that takes you by surprise through shock and awe.

After the Guardians defeat the Hidden Ones and take the First Lantern, the crap really hits the fan. Ganthet uses the First Lantern's power to step through time and space into the cemetery where Hal and Sinestro are facing Black Hand. With his fellow brain-addled Guardians, Ganthet soaks Black Hand in energy, charging up the lone Black Lantern to become their tool against Hal, Sinestro, and the rest of the Green Lantern Corps. After the dust settles, the Guardians throw Hand into the Chamber of Shadows with the surviving Hidden Ones before locking them all up for future use. It's small, but sick detail that reinforces the Guardians' cruelty.

And then there's the Third Army. The Guardians - in their infinite madness - use their own genetic material to create a new creature. I hesitate to call it a 'life'-form because the Guardians make sure it doesn't have a heart or soul, just a direct connection to the Guardians' hive mind. Basically, the little blue guys are waging a war on free will, a frightening endgame if there ever was one.

Next month's Green Lantern #0 focuses on new GL, Baz. Up until now, I'd been confused as to how DC was going to shoehorn a new Green Lantern into the mythos, but after reader Green Lantern Annual #1, things are starting to make a lot more sense. Already, some have criticized this issue - and Johns' direction with the GLU in general - for being a rehash of previously tread ground. To that, I say what isn't? This year's amazing "Court of Owls" is based on any secret society trope, but that doesn't mean it can't be interesting and fresh. "Rise of the Third Army" promises to be a huge (if not long) event that will change the landscape of the Green Lantern books and the DCU at-large for a long time to come.

GRADE

A

GREEN LANTERN #12

STORY: Geoff Johns
ART: Renato Guedes and Jim Calafiore

With a workload as big as Geoff Johns', it's not surprising that some of his work would fall behind the others, even if it's just a little bit. In the initial months of the 'New 52', many agreed that Justice League took the title of the 'less good' Geoff Johns series. Green Lantern is beginning to show signs that Johns has turned his focus elsewhere, which is unfortunate as he really brought the Emerald Warriors back into the limelight with Green Lantern: Rebirth, which reintroduced Hal Jordan back into the world of the living and altered the stats quo for GL forever. Then he took his initial ideas even further, spurring a war between the Green Lanterns and Sinestro's fear-mongering yellow Corps, the revelation of the existence seven colored Corps, the great war against the Black Lanterns, and the subsequent fallout that resulted in the first White Lantern. Really, Geoff Johns has plotted Green Lantern's trajectory for the past eight years. It's this fact that makes the 'New 52' Green Lantern just so disappointing.

Because GL history wasn't rebooted - allowing the past five reals years of comic books to still matter - the three arcs of Green Lantern since last September have all been direct continuations of the events preceding the relaunch. But while Johns' pre-'New 52' arcs seemed filled with action, adventure, and mystery, these new arcs feel bogged down under their own weight. Too often in the past year, I've found myself wondering why so much time is being given to so little plot or characterization. Sure, the Indigo Tribe was a thorn in everybody's side, but their story probably shouldn't have been condensed to a four-issue arc that basically mirrored Hal's earlier encounter with Larfleeze.

And now, "The Revenge of Black Hand"; yet another dredging-up of an old story element that has me (and I'm guessing a bunch of other readers) saying "This again?" Green Lantern #12 is a typical filler issue. Hot off the end of "Indigo", William Hand escaped and killed himself, thereby producing a brand spanking new Black Lantern and ring. Last month's cliffhanger led me to believe a showdown was coming this month between Hal and Will, something that actually could have been interesting. Instead, we're treated to an issue of rhetoric, more of the Guardian's being Guardians, and generally no plot advancement at all.

GL #12 starts off with Black Hand's confusion over the Book of Black - an ancient tome containing Black Lantern prophecies - and it's newly cast claim that "Hal Jordan is NOT your enemy." Before anything is allowed to develop, Hal uses his ring to "fried every synapse in his brain", a torturous technique that's apparently acceptable when the man you're fighting isn't technically alive. Hand is out for the rest of the issue, leaving Hal and Sinestro to talk amongst themselves - a back-and-forth that is becoming increasingly less witty and special when it happens every other issue - and the Guardians to wax poetic about how much they've screwed up and how everybody else is going to pay for it.

Oh, and there are zombies. Because we don't have enough zombies in every inch of media these days.

Then, seven pages are dedicated to a short fight ended by a four-year-old battle tactic against a five-year-old enemy. Hal and Sinestro need a second colored Lantern to make their green constructs lethal to Black Lantern connections. We've known this for years. A bunch of fighting happens, and then Sinestro grabs his Yellow Lantern from a pocket dimension and they destroy it, thereby unleashing the yellow energy and severing Black Hand's connection to his zombie army. And it only succeeded in slowing down the Black Lantern, not destroying him. With a plot so full of cliches from so many sources, it's a wonder anyone is taking Green Lantern seriously right now. Black Hand is back? Boring. Zombies? Just like everywhere else. Multi-colored assault? You mean like the entirety of Blackest Night and Brightest Day??? It's all so mundane at this point that it's hard to even like Hal Jordan anymore. While he's pretty egotistical and vain in Justice League, at least he has personality, unlike the wooden plank he's become in Green Lantern.

The big reveal at the end of the issue leads up to the new Green Lantern, the Islamic one we've been seeing in promo shots and that appeared on the final page spread of The New 52 #1 this year for 'Free Comic Book Day'. A few months ago, nobody understood how this new GL fit into things, but as we get closer to October's "Rise of the Third Army", everything is starting to become clearer. Hopefully, this crossover can inject some life into this series, which has slowly been on the decline since last September.

GRADE

C+

GREEN LANTERN #11

STORY: Geoff Johns
ART: Doug Mahnke, Christian Alamy, Keith Champagne, and Tom Nguyen

With Geoff Johns and Green Lantern, there's never really a down moment. That's not to say 'there's never a dull moment', because frankly, there are from time to time."Secret of the Indigo Tribe" was one such instance where Johns' perspective as GL-series team leader led him to overestimate how interesting the narrative was as it's own arc. Fortunately, this month kicks off "The Revenge of Black Hand" that was teased last month when William Hand committed suicide to escape the imprisoning nature of the Indigo Tribe, only to be resurrected by a brand new Black Lantern ring.


Black Hand gets a good reintroduction in these pages as one of the DC universe's most twisted, sadistic, evil villains. As depicted back at the beginning of the Blackest Night event in 2009, William Hand's family life was less than perfect, leading William to murder his entire family which put him on the path to be the avatar for the Black Lanterns. His power now restored, Hand travels back to Earth and resurrects his entire family as the beginning of his personal army of the dead. Even without the Blackest Night connection, this scene is super, super creepy; Hand has a conversation with the corpses of his family members while they all sit around a dinner table watching William eat. BN was really the last time Johns got to cut loose with the 'misery and death' talk, yet he comes back to it with a passion - Hand pledges, "I'm going to kill as many people as I can in as many ways as I can. And then I'm going to raise them from the ground and they're going to do the same thing." In two speech bubbles, Johns successfully gets the major focal point of the story arc across to readers as well as making any reader squirm in their seat just a little bit. Some villains take an entire six-issue run to get to their point, and more often than not, these characters still feel underwhelming. Black Hand under Johns' guidance has always been frightening, but now he's downright sickening (and not in the drag queen sense).


Hal & Sinestro's side of things is a bit more boring until they get their hands of the Book of Black once again. The duo heads to Korugar to fetch the Book of Black, giving Johns yet another chance to remind readers just how hated Sinestro is on his home planet. Normally, this kind of redundant fact inclusion grates on me, but Johns has used it sparingly since the "Sinestro" arc, and for new readers, it can be helpful to remember that Sinestro was once one of the most hated criminals in the universe. The real meat of their journey to Korugar this issue comes when they open the Book of Black to see what else they can learn about the Guardians' plan to eradicate the Green Lantern Corps, a conspiracy that's been building across the four Green Lantern titles for some time now and will come to a front his October in "Rise of the Third Army".


Here's what Hal and Sinestro's vision tells us:
--> There's a new Green Lantern coming (the Arab GL that's been in teasers and appears on the cover of Green Lantern #0).
--> The Guardians will get their hands on John Stewart to torture and/or kill him.
--> Kyle Rayner is destined to become a Red Lantern (*snore*...DC already did this with Guy Gardner).
--> Guy Gardner is in jail.
--> Atrocitus has command of the Manhunter robots.


Couples with what Sinestro saw in his original vision back in Green Lantern #6:
--> The Guardians will murder the entire Green Lantern Corps (to make way for the Third Army)
--> Sinestro will be taken as a member of the Indigo Tribe (done and done)
--> The Guardians will somehow use the White Lantern rings to execute their plans.


There seems to be a lot (like, a lot) of prophecy and premonitions floating around with not a whole lot of story advancement to back it up. Sure, these revelations are pretty cool (save for Kyle going Red, which is just a silly retread), but one page of awesome images from future events isn't enough to save Hal and Sinestro's lacking narrative. Even their banter feels hollow and flat this issue.


One of Geoff Johns' strongest points as a writer is his ability to create huge, cosmic events that change the landscape of the world he molds. Unfortunately, DC seems to be shying away from imprint-wide events, sticking to family series crossovers (like Batman's "Night of the Owls", or Young Justice's "The Culling") in order to make each part of DC's line stronger on it's own before deconstructing it down the road, which we all know is a question of 'when?' rather than 'if'. The teaser promo for "Rise of the Third Army" doesn't include Hal or Sinestro anywhere in the image, a startling fact seeing as both Hal Jordan and Thaal Sinestro are two of the franchise's most recognizable characters. I'm sure Black Hand will fit into the scheme of things somehow, which will Bring Hal and Sinestro into the fight as well.

GRADE

B-

(COMIC) GREEN LANTERN #10

STORY: Geoff Johns
ART: Doug Mahnke and Christian Alamy

I've been holding off in admitting that Green Lantern is getting kind of boring. It's really unfortunate, seeing as the last few issues have been really action-packed and revelatory. Geoff Johns has taken four issues to give us the history of the Indigo Tribe, and even though it might sound weird, I wish it had only been three. Green Lantern #10 feels totally unnecessary. All the loose ends are wrapped up, and nothing really changes, which is really unsatisfying.

Last month, every Indigo Tribesman was set free from the control of their power battery, thereby releasing a legion of the worst criminals in the known universe against Hal and Sinestro, both of whom are running on fumes - both in spirit and in ring power. This sounds pretty awesome, right? Only thing; they never do any real fighting. Most of this issue is spent following Hal and Sinestro as they attempt to rebuild the shattered Indigo battery and quell the rise of violence. But like I said, there's not a whole lot of action in this issue, even though Doug Mahnke's artwork might make you believe otherwise.

At some point, Sinestro goes off to fight the horde of villains by himself to give Hal enough time to convince Natromo (Abin Sur's partner in founding the Indigo Tribe) to help rebuild the battery. But even then, we only get fragments of Sinestro's struggle, and they aren't even very good fragments. Most of this issue focuses on Hal Jordan and how he somehow has the ability to convince any alien to do what he wants. I mean, his speech wasn't even that good, and Natromo's all like, "Aight, yo - let's do dis."

The one "twist" in this issue happens when Iroque, the first to wear the ring of compassion, recognizes her crimes, even without the ring's power forcing her to feel for others. Sure, it's a nice twist, and one that actually gives Iroque some personal development beyond her role in the Tribe, but it's still a pretty flat scene.

By the end of the issue, Natromo has rebuilt the battery, all the Indigos are back under the control of compassion, and all's well that ends well. But a bow on it and call it a day. One of Johns' issues as a writer is awkward transitions between story arcs. Sure, he builds up certain elements to be used as he moves forward, but really, Hal and Sinestro finished up with the Indigos, and now they'll just head on back to Oa and go on with their lives. Maybe I'm just finding pins in stacks of hay, but Green Lantern #10 was sorely lacking.

Of course, the biggest news from this issue comes from Black Hand. Once the Indigo battery was destroyed, he was freed from their control and went off to search for an escape from planet Nok. Once Natromo gets the battery jiggy again, Hand's indigo ring goes after him. Panicked at the thought of being controlled by the Tribe once again, Hand throws himself off a cliff. Just like the spark of compassion from Iroque that was necessary to rebuild the Indigo battery, Hand's suicide is the spark needed for the creation of a new Black Lantern ring and his own dark resurrection.

But haven't we already done the whole Black Lantern thing? (Snore)

GRADE

C

(COMIC) GREEN LANTERN #8

STORY: Geoff Johns
ART: Doug Mahnke, Mark Irwin, Keith Champagne, and Christian Alamy

As I've mentioned in previous posts about this series, Geoff Johns crafted a whole multi-year plan for Green Lantern when he took over in late 2004 to resurrect Hal Jordan. Part of that master plan was the inclusion of the spectrum of Lantern Corps. Johns introduced us first to the Sinestro Corps, which channeled the yellow energy connected to fear, followed by the vengeful Red Lanterns, serene Blue Lanterns, greedy Agent Orange, caring Star Sapphires, and finally the Indigo Tribe, with rings of light purple that are connected to compassion. It's time to get into the history of the Indigo's a color that's been a persistent mystery since their introduction.

Sinestro spends most of this issue fighting off the Indigos as they try to replace the Green Lantern energy that flows through him (and every Green Lantern, I suppose). It's fun seeing Sinestro beat up on a monstrous-looking four-armed Indigo that seriously looks like something out of an H.P. Lovecraft novel before smashing it's head into a wall. It's Sinestro! But the real meat of this issue comes from Hal Jordan's interaction with Black Hand. After Blackest Night, William Hand disappeared and instead of investigating, the JLA, entire Green Lantern Corps, and every other team and hero on Earth simply said, "Oh, well. Must be hiding!" and didn't think about it again. Of course, Johns wrote that series, as well, and made good and sure us readers knew that Hand had been turned Indigo.

Hand explains the power of the Indigo Tribe, how they feel all emotions where they couldn't before. While bordering quite heavily cult status, it seems like the Indigo Tribe might be some sort of rehabilitation system, a way for wrongdoers to redeem themselves for past actions. Seeing as Indigo Tribesmen are powered by compassion, it makes sense that ex-criminals might finally feel compassion for those they've wronged and willfully follow the Tribe.

However it unfolds, Johns (like always) does a fantastic job of keeping readers on the edge of their seats. The final page of Green Lantern #8 reveals Sinestro's conversion to the Indigo Tribe, a development that will most likely be reversed, but it's still nice to see Johns having fun with one of Green Lantern's most notorious villains.

GRADE:

B+