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+