FEATURED REVIEW: GREEN LANTERN CORPS ANNUAL #1

(w) Peter J. Tomasi
(a) ChrisCross

"Rise of the Third Army" concludes this week with Green Lantern Corps Annual #1, a rather fantastic finish to a somewhat lackluster 'crossover' event that spanned all four Green Lantern Family titles from the 'New 52'. Things started out well enough last August with Green Lantern Annual #1, but the actual "Rise" of the Guardians' new army has been slow-burning, to put it lightly. In fact, the Third Army was rarely more than background noise that happened to pop into the main story every so often. Fortunately, Green Lantern Corps Annual #1 offers a bit of redemption for "Rise of the Third Army" with a satisfying conclusion that smoothly leads into the upcoming follow-up crossover, "Wrath of the First Lantern".

The Guardians of the Universe have been losing their marbles for quite a while. Geoff Johns provided the catalyst with the reveal that the Blue Ones had been hiding the fear entity Parallax within the Green Lantern central battery for eons. Besides giving explanation to the ineffectiveness of the Green Lantern rings against the color yellow, Johns' revelations in Green Lantern: Rebirth were the first of many that showed how billions of years of immortality have made the Guardians lose sight of their ethics.

In Green Lantern Corps Annual #1, Peter J. Tomasi picks up all the plot pieces -- from Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, Green Lantern: New Guardians, and Red Lanterns -- that have been piling up over the past four months. The Guardians' endgame is near, and part of that includes deceiving all Green Lanterns ignorant to the threat of the Third Army into returning to Oa for a mass genocide. Guy Gardner, new Lantern Simon Baz, and the squirrel-like B'dg concoct a plan to exploit the Guardians and inform the rest of the Corps as to what's happening by manipulating the Guardians' massive egos. John Stewart and Star Sapphire Fatality finally manage to see Mogo's reconstitution through. Kyle Rayner and his Rainbow Brigade show up near the end to add some seriously needed firepower. Finally, Atrocitus' reprogrammed Manhunters join the fray against the most powerful, most insane beings in the known universe.

This is Green Lantern storytelling at it's best: crackling interconnectedness that conveys the larger-than-life essence of science fiction storytelling. And unlike Geoff Johns' previous epic Green Lantern story arcs, the Guardians sit firmly at the center of this conflict, not through past mistakes or misinterpreted intentions, but by the will of their own machinations. Parallax, the Sinestro Corps, the Black Lanterns; all of them pale in comparison to the Guardians of the Universe in terms of raw power. Ganthet and his sorely misled brethren want peace in throughout the universe, no matter what the cost. In one sense, their endeavor is no different than in the past. Just like any other technology, advancements are made as time moves forward. For the Guardians, upgrading their technology means having a singular goal, a shared focus that allows for the best possible results. Under these guidelines, the Green Lantern Corps is like an old PC from the mid-90s: slow, outdated, and not worth the effort it would take to make it better.

Just like any nefarious villain bent on total control, the Guardians bite off more than they can chew, leading to the explosive -- if not foreseeable -- escape of the mysterious First Lantern, now named Volthoom. Without spoiling the circumstances of his escape or his intentions, the First Lantern's plans are a natural step forward from "Rise of the Third Army" that will give all the different Lanterns a lot to deal with in the coming months. Geoff Johns' Green Lantern plans have been coming to fruition for the past eight years, and it will be exciting to see how the Guardians' fall from grace will end. I word it like this because I can't see an outcome to "Wrath of the First Lantern" where the Guardians are still in power. Already in the 'New 52', the rules have changed for the Green Lantern franchise in significant ways, and introducing a First Lantern into the mix makes logical, if not yet evident, sense.

Green Lantern Corps Annual #1 does a great job finishing up one story arc and starting another. While the entire "Rise of the Third Army" event was less fast-paced as I had originally expected it to be, the conclusion makes it worth the build-up because we've been able to slowly integrate the idea of a hive-minded army of locust soldiers assimilating sentience into the basic setting of Green Lantern series. Instead of "Rise" being a one-month blitzkrieg (like, say, "Night of the Owls"), Johns and Company opted for pacing that made the threat of the Third Army all the more real and disturbing.

GRADE

9/10

REVIEW: GREEN LANTERN #15

(w) Geoff Johns
(a) Doug Mahnke
(i) Keith Champagne, Christian Alamy, Mark Irwin, Tom Nguyen

For the first time in three months and eleven issues (including this week's Green Lantern: New Guardians #15), "Rise of the Third Army" feels really grave. So far, the new army created by the Guardians of the Universe has been more theoretical in it's horror and scope, mostly growing in the background and scattered panels throughout Green Lantern Family titles. In Green Lantern #15, Geoff Johns brings the Third Army to a horrifying forefront, as well as continuing Simon Baz's journey as the most grounded and believable superhero in a long time.

Even before this issue, Simon Baz rebuffed most superhero cliches. Sure, he's a nobody from some city in Michigan, but Kyle Rayner was also a nobody in an alley. No, Baz stands apart because his journey didn't start with a power ring. Most any other hero you can think of (besides characters like Wonder Woman) begins their story with a mask, with the desire to do good in a world gone bad. Baz is simply trying to clear his name of terrorism charges for something he didn't do. Geoff Johns recognized how normalized the process of character introduction had become in the mainstream superhero world, and how the community at-large had just come to accept it. Sure, there's a whole world of independent comics that explore alternative origin concepts, but applying less conventional character development to a hero as popular as Green Lantern is admirable. (For the record, I love independent comics and the previous statement is in no way meant to undermine the quality or caliber of independent comics or publishers.)

The Third Army is so f*cking scary. I couldn't say that before reading Green Lantern #15. Geoff Johns managed, in two sequences, to achieve what Green Lantern Corps, Green Lantern: New Guardians, and Red Lanterns have failed to convey, and that's the pure breadth of this parasitic legion spreading across the universe. Maybe it was an editorial decision, but it seems like Johns simply had to punch things up a bit in order to get a little momentum with "Rise of the Third Army" going. And while the 'crossover' event has been enjoyable, it mirrors Scott Snyder and Jeff Lemire's "Rotworld" crossover in that they both seem to be floundering a bit, offering stories with little advancement or affect on the greater tale. Either way, seeing a planet-sized swarm of grey monsters made my stomach drop.

Green Lantern #15 is simply exceptional. Geoff Johns is literally building Simon Baz's character--his moral, his ethics, his personality--from the ground up as he deals with his personal issues while simultaneously trying to learn why he's received a Green Lantern ring and is being approached by a talking squirrel (for those who watched Robot Chicken: DC Comics Special, B'dg's inclusion in this storyline is just awesome.) "Rise of the Third Army" finally feels real, like something ominous and terrible is getting ready to devastate the entire universe.

GRADE

9/10

REVIEW: GREEN LANTERN CORPS #14

(w) Peter J. Tomasi
(p) Fernando Pasarin

The Guardians are really, really sick and twisted. Seriously -- these little blue guys have, in the past, suppressed ancient omens about the Blackest Night, hidden the secret of Parallax in the Green Lantern central battery, basically massacred an entire sector with their Manhunter androids, created the terrifyingly omniscient Alpha Lanterns, and now, they've built themselves a new army to destroy the Green Lantern Corps and all other free will across the universe. These plot points are worth reiterating because of all four GL titles offered by DC's 'New 52', only Green Lantern Corps has been getting deep into "Rise of the Third Army". Over in the eponymous series, Simon Baz is still coming into his own as a Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner is off recruiting new New Guardians or some such, and Atrocitus is jump beginning to understand what these Third Army soliders can do. Green Lantern Corps #14 gets personal as the Guardians' scheming to de-power Guy Gardner come to a head.

John Stewart has been sent off to rebuild Mogo using a baseball-sized chunk of the former planet as a sort of diving rod to help in collecting more pieces of the planet-sized Green Lantern. Unfortunately, Star Sapphire Fatality shows up sporting some mysterious connection to the chunk of Mogo! Right now, John's side quest isn't very interesting, thus Peter J. Tomasi doesn't seem to be writing it as such. Sure, Fatality shows up, but that's where John's side of the story ends this month, so there's no sort of resolution or even explanation. Over in Guyland, the Guardians are pretty pissed at him for abandoning a peace delegation transport after learning one of his oldest and deadliest enemies was on the loose. But in reality, it was the Guardians themselves who freed the murdering enemy of Guy, and they were the ones who made him massacre the peace delegation to embarrass and discredit Guy. It's all very sinister, and obviously part of something bigger.

Guy and John have been going down their separate, yet intertwining paths for months now -- it would be nice to see them side by side to take on the Third Army, but the events at this issue's end have me worried for the future of the Corps. 

GRADE

8/10

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