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REVIEW: Green Lantern Corps #58War of the Green Lanterns Part Two

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It’s Green Lantern Thursday here at MLD as we’re breaking down the current War of the Green Lanterns crossover running through Geoff Johns’ Green Lantern, Tony Bedard’s Green Lantern Corps, and Pete Tomasi’s Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors. I’m not terribly familiar with these books and on the surface it seems like one Green Lantern title would be sufficient. After reading this issue, I can see why page time is being given to Green Lanterns Kyle Raynor and John Stewart. They debuted as replacements for Hal Jordan and while he eventually returned these characters are strong enough to endure.

PTB: I don’t particularly care for the cover to this issue. Something about the figures or the poses just seems off and flat.

KevinMLD: Agreed. It reminds me of a classic issue of New Titans that featured Deathstroke and Nightwing fighting. I think the great Tom Grummett drew that one, but it was equally awkward in it’s posing of the main figures. There’s an interior panel where John and Kyle are punching each other in the face that is pretty horrendously posed as well.

PTB: Tyler Kirkham’s interior art is decent for the most part, but some panels and pages are very different in quality. I can ignore the stuff that didn’t really work for me, especially when the first page after the Green Lanterns are possessed looks as good as it does. The two page spread where Kyle is overcome by his fear is great as well.

KevinMLD: I would actually say the art I don’t like in this issue far outnumbers the art I do like. But the few pages where the Lanterns first get possessed including when John and Kyle first start fighting are pretty strong.

PTB: One of those images may have made for a better cover. The variant cover with Ganthet is much better.

I really liked the one page recaps of Kyle Raynor and John Stewart’s experiences as members of the Green Lantern Corps. I was expecting Guy Gardner though. Last I saw he was running around with Atrocious building something in space.

KevinMLD: Guy should show up in the Emerald Warriors issue. I have to say this issue really felt weird to me. Like the action jumped so far from the Hal Jordan story that it didn’t really feel related. I think the Green Lantern titles kept the tone and story better managed during the Sinestro Corps War and Blackest Night than what we’ve seen with the first two issues here, granted there’s plenty of time for DC to pull it back together.

PTB: I didn’t mind the divergence in this story here because it felt like it was flowing naturally out of what had come before it in the series. The way it ends gives me confidence that things will be more integrated next issue.

I was glad to see that Ganthet isn’t a victim of Krona yet. I had kind of forgotten that he was adventuring out in space with a ring and just lumped him with the other Guardians as having been possessed by an Entity.

KevinMLD: I’m not sold on the whole concept of Ganthet as Green Lantern yet. We’ll see where it all goes.

PTB: Does all this Qward stuff we see at the outset have to do with what we discussed during Brightest Day when Firestorm showed up?

KevinMLD: It’s the aftermath of a weird battle between Green Lanterns, members of the Sinestro Corps and Qwardians that Firestorm played a small role in during his visit to Qward, but it has nothing to do with his experiences in the Brightest Day title itself.

PTB: What exactly are Alpha lanterns? This term is new to me.

KevinMLD: They’re kind of like internal affairs for the Corps. They debuted prior to Final Crisis and played a role in that story. They’re cyborgs and more powerful than the typical Lanterns. Briefly they were controlled by the Cyborg Superman.

PTB: Wow. I have not thought about the Cyborg Superman in a very long time.

KevinMLD:He’s been pretty well integrated into the Green Lantern mythos. He was briefly a member of the Sinestro Corps.

PTB: I was happy to see someone in the book is asking for a reason why the human Lanterns and Ganthet weren’t immediately affected by Parallax with yellow energy
pouring out of their eyes. Their previous exposure protecting them made sense, but they couldn’t hold out forever.

Ganthet pulls an Aquaman saving Kyle and John, and I can’t help but mention how much more powerful his sacrifice was than anything in Brightest Day (though I might make an argument for Deadman).

KevinMLD: We’ll see. I avoid solicitations of coming issues of books as much as possible, because I don’t want to be spoiled. But I stumbled over a Brightest Day image today that made me slightly more interested in where the story is going. It gave me some hope for that series and what has happened to the main characters.

PTB: I think I know the image you’re referring to. Hopefully the book will live up to how cool that cover image is. Provided we’re talking about the same thing of course.

Ganthet being free makes me think he’ll eventually be Krona’s host for Parallax in same way the other Guardians are hosting Entities.

KevinMLD: Could be. I’m kind of sick of Parallax at this point and I hope this series focuses on some of the other entities.

PTB: That would be nice since I haven’t seen any of them developed in what I’m reading. This particular issue is really strong. I was invested in the characters almost immediately. It’s a credit to writer Tony Bedard’s handling of all elements of the story.

KevinMLD: I’m a Tony Bedard fan. I think he’s done a lot of strong work over the years and I’m very happy he’s at DC right now working on some high profile books. I also like the DC Universe Online title he’s currently co-writing, but I didn’t love this issue.

PTB: I also like that this story is shaping up from three separate stories in the individual titles. It seems really well coordinated so far and it’s honestly my preferred way for this these stories to play out rather than a miniseries with tie-ins.

KevinMLD: It’s funny you say that as this is something I complained about above. I don’t know why I was OK with it during the previous series but not this one. It may be because these issues shipped the same week and I read them in rapid succession. Personally, I’d prefer that Hal, Kyle, John, and Guy be featured in all of the titles rather than have the story be so split up with each title follow different characters.

PTB: It is unfolding on a very quick publication schedule. I’m also quickly tiring of the two page Rift ads at the middle of every book. It’s one of a number of double page ads that keep cropping up and I’m just glad it hasn’t interfered with the pageflow so far.

KevinMLD: Ha. I’m pretty sick of the DC Universe Online adds personally.

PTB: At least the DCUO ads keep changing. The issue ends with Kyle, John, and Ganthet trying to mount a ground resistance on Oa. Something about this situation really appeals to me and I’m really looking forward to what’s next for them.


Follow all of our War of the Green Lanterns posts:
Green Lantern #64 (Part One) / Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #8 (Part Three)

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