-- There's a bunch of good stuff here with Hal resettling into his new life, setting up his new status quo and the introduction of an alien threat (or two), but this was ultimately a little disappointing. Granted, considering the expectations and the LOOOONNNNG wait for this it'd be hard to live up to all that, but I can't help but feel that the first issue could've capitalized more on the momentum from "Rebirth". There was a real sense that big things are coming and unfortunately, the events here are just a little too routine.

Rebirth did a great job of making you want to see what happens next. While Hal was returned to us in "Rebirth", there could've been more for Hal to do in terms of reclaiming his life and I think the first storyline could've been more about that instead of just throwing us into a situation where Hal's already got a job, an apartment and is just hanging out chatting with his bro.
-- Pacheco does a pretty good job with the airfield and stuff around it. There's a real sense of place (same with the new Coast City as well).
-- Interesting that Pacheco is already losing some of his new design elements in Hal's costume. There are several places where the boots and gloves look to be "straight" again rather than angled. He also gave John gloves when he's sporting green armbands now with no gloves (like the cartoon)
-- "Cowgirl" looks like an interesting addition to Hal's life (in terms of blonde fihgter pilots though, I thought maybe he should've hooked up with Zinda from "BoP")

But was the threat hinted at on the last page actually a threat Hal's battled before?

It looked kinda like an android.
And the only words it spoke were the first words of an old ... mantra/oath/code/whatever.

well, I haven't read GL in many moons. I enjoyed Rebirth and I am looking forward to this series developing. The yellow weakness is gone. and while that was a bit contrived, how do you prevent a GL from overcoming anything that they face?

like I said, haven't read GL in a while, I am sure Johns will come up some powerful and crafty villians to take on Hal and company.

One of the things I liked about some of the silver age stories wasn't that it was just about overcoming the enemy (and they usually used either the yellow weakness or Hal running out of juice as the main obstacles), but that some of those sci-fi stories presented challenges that required some kind of problem solving, ethical dilemas or figuring out what to do in the first place. Hal coming in the middle of an interplanetary conflict, or some other threat that wasn't just a villain, but a problem that Hal needed to use his brain to figure out. The willpower and ring was almost secondary.

"No Man Escapes ... The Manhunters!" It appears to be a Manhunter of some kind under the tarp, but I can't guess who that other guy is. He seems to be tracking the Manhunter and called it his "predecessor" (he also seems like an android). Maybe that's the latest Manhunter model.

BUT the Manhunters were the predecessors to the GLC. Maybe they're gonna introduce a whole new layer to the Green Lantern mythos.

Or maybe it's a rogue ring slinger?

Drake, i think we got a lot in the first issue.

First and foremost, the GREATEST GL is back. I said it on the DC boards, and i say it here.

Second, i don't know if Hal has a job yet. He was given a favor on the flight, and he still has to go through a requalification thing. Maybe they could have shown us more of the steps in doing that, but lets be honest, as much as we love Hal's backstory, we love the action as well, and if the entire story had been the backstory, we might just as well have had Kyle instead.

We got a new possible friend/love interest, we saw the return of his brother, we got info on Coast City, we had John show up, we saw Hal in action in space, learned that Yellow is still a weakness, but now it is defeatable through willpower, which the man has in spades. We had the first bad guy of the first storyline show up and be a ruthless anal sphincter void, and we were introduced to a new/old friend that may turn out to be a stable member of the new cast.

By my count, thats about 8 things going on. Not too shabby.

Stick with it. Johns has shown a tendancy to take about six to ten issues to really get a handle on his books, and then the fur starts a'flyin.

Man, i think i am gonna change my name to threadkiller, lol.

Ah, you're no thread killer, rickshaw!

I only found the first issue to be ok. I thought Hal rejoining the military to be a bit far-fetched since getting time away to do GL stuff would be quite difficult.

As for greatest, I can't say I was ever a huge Hal fan. I hate to see Kyle get shafted this way. Yeah, I hated Kyle in his first couple years but then Grant Morrison showed me that _any_ character can be interesting under the right writer. For me, I like to see progression, which means I don't mind Kyle taking over or Connor succeeding his father as GA.

Did he rejoin, or is he just a civilian contractor now?

So what did they do to Kyle?

Owl, Kyle is still around and is still Green Lantern. Actually, Kyle and Hal have begun a friendship that appears to be based on mutual respect and knowing what its like to deal with being a GL.

He is currently featured with Guy Gardner (also a GL) in Rann/Thanagar War, alongside Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Adam Strange, Captain Comet, the Omega Men and L.E.G.I.O.N.

If you like Kyle or sci-fi, I’d recommend that title.

I’m very satisfied with the respect shown to ALL GLs in recent months.

Will review comic once go out and buy it

I'm pretty psyched to see Hal back. I was a huge GL fan in the early '80s, but stopped reading after Crisis (one of my favorite aspects of the book has always been the concept of the Corps and when that was gone, so was a lot of my enthusiasm for the book). I've never been a huge Kyle fan, however.
I really enjoyed the first issue. It dropped lots of stuff for them to work with later. But mostly, it established a better rounded Hal. The last time we saw him, he was a standard-issue super-hero: all heroics, not much real personality. This Hal is confident almost to the point of arrogance (the stereotypical fighter pilot), friendly, and flirtatious. I like the whole "dad's jacket" thing too. It's a simple device that give him some deeper history. The old Hal begins in a simulator at Ferris Aircraft; the new Hal actually has a childhood, with relics to prove it.
I'm looking forward to seeing where Johns goes with the character and the series. He's usually pretty good about honoring a character's history without wallowing in it. In fact, he's really good at using that history as a jumping-off point for new stories and directions.

Can you be a civilian pilot for the military?

I know all of this but I also know that the new Green Lantern title is specifically a vehicle for Hal Jordan. That means that Kyle's appearances will be here and there rather than on a continual basis.

I think you can be a civilian test pilot. Not a fighter, but one that does flights in new models, etc... I may be wrong, i don't profess to know all the workings of the military.

I've never been much of a GL fan and never read any of the series regularly. I also usually just ignore news on it (or any comic that doesn't interest me). So I was surprised that I had forgotten I ordered two copies of #1 from DCBS. They were probably doing one of their deep discounts for the first two copies and the old collector in me kicks in when I see those specials.

Anyway, I got my May shipment today and found two copies. Each one with a different cover. Did #1 go back to print already and come out with a different cover?

It shipped with two alternate covers by Ross or Pacheco in a 50/50 ratio.


I liked the issue, but not being a GL fan am undecided on whether I care enough to budget it in my monthly pile.

Just found out that the military DOES employ civilian test pilots. My dad was a private pilot. Don't know why i didn't think to ask him before.

Never been a Hal fan but man... I love Geoff Johns so hardcore, I'd read anything he wrote. (Even Bette Kane and she's lamer than Blue Devil.)

I enjoyed the first issue and I have... hope for the series. And faith in Geoff. I think it'll be good. ^_^

Did you pick up the new "Crisis of Conscience" storyline in JLA? Johns is doing that -- it's pretty good so far.

Oh yeah. I picked it up. I have the love of Geoff.

I also read Teen Titans, Flash (ohmigodWallysquee) and JSA.

He's leaving my boy though!! *sob*

This was made official awhile ago, but "Green Lantern" #1 was #1 on the sales chart!! That's very encouraging. I love that Hal's getting this much support - #1 baby!!

That's awesome! #1? Who would have thought that a few years ago?

***SPOILERS for #2*******
-- More groundwork is laid for Hal's new status quo and his supporting characters. The mysteries of the new alien and what's under the tarp are revealed and another mystery is introduced, X-Files style.
-- While I enjoyed this issue, I think I'm still a little too anxious to see Hal back in the saddle and getting into "bigger" adventures. While there is a lot of great characterization going on, the Manhunter threat in itself isn't exactly wowing me. I wish Pacheco had tweaked the old look some more - this new guy doesn't look impressive, though he obviously is.
-- I'm totally biased, but I thought Hal should've had a LOT less trouble with one badly damaged Manhunter.
-- The part where he explains that the green parts of the uniform are hot and the blakc parts are cool seemed to come out of nowhere and wasn't even really explained. Maybe it'll be relevant later? (and it made it kinda contrived how Cowgirl was copping a feel).
-- Great art. I liked it more this issue for some reason.
-- I can't imagine what Johns has in mind for Coast City, but the "ghost town" is an intriguing notion (I know it's going to be giving me 9/11 flashbacks... they need to tread lightly here). Interesting that Bruce Wayne was one of the big donators - It'd be nice to see that acknowledgment between Hal and Bruce at some point.

I like what i am seeing with the book a lot.

John and Hal are even starting to "seem" like space cops. Using the ring to examine things, like John did, Hal's use of it to examine the "rocket".

SPOILER


SPACE


HERE


Okay, so, they found Abin's Rocket. My question is....Did they find his body. And if so, where is it? Is it the subject of illicit government experiments? Given that he was wearing a GL costume, and GL popped up on the scene either right after they found it, or before, they had to know that they would be in highly dangerous territory if they did and that a GL would take experimentation on a Passed GL personally. So, would they have contingency plans if Hal found out?

On the surface, it seems like a nice read. But the more you think about it, the more Geoff has set up a possibly incredibly complex web.

And all that doesn't take into account the looming threat of Hector Hammond, the Shark...etc...

Then there is "Herc". Gotta be careful here or it could start to seem like a retread of every military story ever told about an ass of a higher up, to seeming like a lifted riff from Captain Atom.

Cowgirl...seems nice. But i gotta say that i prefer the raven haired women and redheads.

All in all, very nice.

The art...okay. Very crisp and clean, except oddly enough for Hal's brother. I love crisp and clean, but it seems like a bunch of "still shots" instead of giving the impression of movement and energy. Maybe thats just me.

Anyway, i am loving the book.

For me, it wasn't a lack of energy or movement, but there were a couple of parts during Hal's fight with the old model Manhunter where I needed to reread it to understand exactly what was happening from panel to panel.

I guess i can see that, but it seemed to work for me. Not saying it didn't for you, or that im better than you, lol...it just seemed to work for me.


I like the art, but i am really looking forward to seeing what Ethan has in store for us. If i had to say it, i would say i like Carlos' John better than Hal.

i've enjoyed the first 2 issues so far !! although i wouldn't say that they were AMAZING in aspect !! but i have every faith in GEOFF, i love everything else he currently writes, so i guess it will take a couple of issues to really get going .....

Matthew.

Geoff really seems to take about 6 months to a year to hit his stride with a character. So far, i think he's a bit ahead of the curve for my tastes, lol.

I am ejoying the series.
I just love the Green Lanterns... just gotta love the Wog man.. Glad they brought him back from the dead too.

I wonder if Hal and Kil will chat over coffee.

Kil- You killed me.

Hal. Yeah...but your looking good.

Kil. Thanks..so are you. Using just for men. No gray nice touch.

LOL

Ah Dave, you have a terrific sense of humour, dude LOL

But Seriously, is Kilowog from a race who can renegerate in a similar manner to Dr. Who?

nope, Kyle went into Wog's afterlife and rescued him from demons or something. Then a body was regenerated for him, i forget how, and bingo bango badoingo, there ya go.

Kilowog was brought back in the "Legacy" graphic novel by "the brotherhood of the cold flame" - a group of bitter ex-Lanterns who sought to eradicate all traces of Hal's legacy. Kil was "the dark lantern" for awhile, a killing automoton, but Tom Kalmaku used Hal's old ring to revive Kil's personality. Kil entered the Central Power Battery at the end of the graphic novel from where I guess Kyle later retrieved him.

I'm more glad that they're bringing back Salakk from possible death in "GL vs. ALiens"

How about the female Lanterns Arisia and Katma Tui - are they still part of the current GL mythos?

Dead and deader

Bummer

I agree. The GLC is becoming too much of a boys' club. Arisia and Katma were the only two prominent female GL's with a long history. It would've been great if one of them got the same treatment along with the others during "Rebirth".

I've been a huge Hal Jordan fan for a long time and needless to say, this new title has been a long time coming. I thought "Rebirth" was great and I was really excited about the new series after Johns' work in the mini, but four months into it, I'm seeing signs of Johns going really off track with what made me enthusiastic about the start of this series.

Johns has been taking time to establish Hal's new status quo and his life on earth, but I'm afraid that Hal's title will be too earth-centric. One of the reasons I never got into Kyle Rayner was that after losing the Corps, he seemed like just another hero walking around DC. One of the things that was exciting about "Rebirth" was the epic scope of the adventure. Cosmic foes, universal stakes and Hal Jordan as the man who knew how to deal with it. As much as I like some of the old guard rogues, I want to see Hal deal with larger issues.

Kilowog telling Hal that he's "just not that important" is worrisome to me. Hal is supposed to be important -- not necessarily to the universe, but there's nothing wrong with building *UP* the hero of the book. I've felt that some writers of GL in the past have treated Hal as second-rate even in his own book. I had thought that Johns felt differently about Hal -- I think he gave an interview where he even voiced how unique Hal is because of what he's been through. He's gone further than most heroes have and experienced things most people can't even dream of. Let's see some of that in Hal rather than trying right away to make him a "regular guy" again.

Seeing Hal with the Corps was a great scene, but the fact that he's called away from OA to investigate something on earth seemed almost backwards to me. Isn't Hal supposed to get called away from earth by the Guardians to investigate something of galactic importance? One of the things that made GL great was the connection to the corps, and now I'm worried that Hal will just be stuck on earth mostly while Kyle and Guy will be more involved with Corps business. This again seems backwards to me. Kyle and Guy were the least connected to the corps -- Hal and John are much more suited to space opera and more cosmically minded stories. I don't want to see that sacrificed in Hal's title because DC is trying to franchise the GL concept again. I fear it'll be spread too thin the way it was before "Emerald Twilight".

I still have great hopes that we'll see Hal restored to glory and I hope this series is able to build on the monumental success of "Rebirth", but I can't help feel that Johns has been losing that momentum.

I have to agree Drake. I want to like Hal... kinda... but, it's hard. I do like some of the ideas and the art and writing is supurb but I want... more. And I feel like Hal's getting of too light. I mean, I realize that they've retconned away the crazy but that still doesn't mean everyone should just forgive and forget. Batman alone can't be paranoid here...

I'm keeping this title at the moment because I am hopelessly in love with Geoff and I have more faith in him than a girl should. No, seriously, it's true. But I haven't exactly been floored overall... though, I must admit, I am intrigued with what the other Lanterns (Kyle, Guy and John) new roles will be in the new Corps and whatnot. Can't wait for the mini... ^_^

We'll see. I have hope... but not too much to back it up quite yet.

One interesting thing that Johns has introduced that has taken on much more relevance lately is Coast City. After what's happened with New Orleans, the notion of an entire city being destroyed and needing to be rebuilt/repopulated is no longer the thing of fantasy. The ongoing parallels will be eerie and it'll be interesting to see where Johns goes with it now. The notion of GL being a beacon of hope in this kind of situation might be extremely relevant.

"I've felt that some writers of GL in the past have treated Hal as second-rate even in his own book."

I always thought he came off better in the JLA. Looking back, I'm wondering just how much of it was a young generation of writers not relating to a "policeman" character. Let's face it, the O'Neil-Adams run was REALLY all about GA, not GL. Since then, MOST writers & editors have done all they can to drive Hal into the ground (Englehart, Jones & Johns being the exceptions).


"One of the things that was exciting about "Rebirth" was the epic scope of the adventure. Cosmic foes, universal stakes and Hal Jordan as the man who knew how to deal with it."

As fun as Hal's earliest adventures were (I have the first 2 Archives so far), it's long bugged me that this member of a galactic police force keeps fighting Earthbound super-villains... and often, 3RD-RATE super-villains (AND having trouble with them!!).


"I don't want to see that sacrificed in Hal's title because DC is trying to franchise the GL concept again. I fear it'll be spread too thin the way it was before "Emerald Twilight"."

I keep saying, having 4 GL titles AND having Hal in the JL (and making guest-appearances in L. and other books) really killed all the efforts Gerard Jones had put into trying to "revive" the character during his 4-year run. As usual, we can blame the editor. "Success" breeds "excess". Plus, from personal contact, I know when I see a promotion going to a guy's head-- BADLY!


"After what's happened with New Orleans, the notion of an entire city being destroyed and needing to be rebuilt/repopulated is no longer the thing of fantasy."

Man-- that IS spooky, isn't it?

I'm reminded of the History Channel documentary, COMIC-BOOK SUPERHEROES UNMASKED. They mention 9-11, and asked, "Who could have foreseen such an event? Comic-books did!" The example they showed was Marie Severin's cover for SUB-MARINER #21, which showed Manhattan in flames! (I did think they should have at least mentioned her name...)

The last couple of panels of GL #4 proved what I have long suspected... GEOFF JOHNS IS OUT TO GET ME!

Why else would he have ended the issue by featuring so prominently the two things that scare me titless?

Sharks and... semi-naked women?

(BUMP!)

Man, DC is royally trying to screw up this title but good. "Rebirth" as well as the first couple of issues of this title does gangbuster sales and our reward? The book is constantly delayed and we are already on the third artist team in 6 issues with the fourth team taking over in the next issue or three. I am loving what Geoff Johns is doing, but seriously, I enjoy going to the dentist more than the torture it takes to get the next issue.

With the grand scale of "Rebirth" and all the big goings on in the DCU right now, this title seems ...lacking. With Johns writing this, I'm suprised there aren't more tie-ins with "Crisis". Instead we get Hal slapping around Hector Hammond and fighting The Shark. What happened to the whole "space cop" thing? I hope those little yellow gremlins lead to something bigger.

According to my latest issue of Wizard, a space cop story line takes off with issue #8. I expect it to arrive in the stores sometime around Memorial Day.

Re: #6
-- Johns is doing something interesting (and really creepy) with Hector Hammond. He's playing off of the initial rivalry between Hector and Hal as men rather than simple "hero/villain". Having Hammond as envious of Hal is a very strange twist to the hero/villain dynamic that we haven't seen explored before. It's good to see Johns seems to be going somewhere with this instead of just laying groundwork.
-- Good to see he's also made Black Hand a formidable foe. Rather than just someone who leaches GL energy, he leaches life itself and Johns puts it in plain terms what he now represents: the "Blackest Night" that Hal, as a beacon of light, has to fight.
-- The Shark was less impressive here. Johns didn't really do much to advance him as a character or threat - he's still just a dangerous beasty, and not as interesting as he used to be.
-- The Gremlins were a bit disappointing if only because I was hoping there was more to them. The throwaway line of German being a cribbed dialect from aliens seemed too clever and doesn't make sense in my mind in terms of how languages developed on earth - it's not like German exists in a vacuum without traces to other languages that can be followed. I almost prefer that it wasn't explained at all - the same way it's not explained how some aliens speak english from nowhere.
-- It's getting a bit irksome to me just how much verbal instruction Hal has to give the ring - especially when it comes to translating stuff. It should either be automatic at this point or he can certainly do it without having to *tell* his ring to do it.
-- The art was an interesting change of pace, but I'd rather not see it as a regular thing.

Just read the new GL #8 today. Terrific stuff! "For The Man Who Has Everything" remains one of my favorite SUPERMAN stories of all time (thank you, Alan Moore!) and it was neat that someone did a sequel.

My favorite moment came when Ollie said, "There we go. Finally got one that WORKS." Followed by, "uh oh." I laughed so hard at that panel! I just imagined him emptying his entire quiver, shooting a couple dozen arrows that did nothing until he found one that had an effect-- and then he reaches for the NEXT one-- but there ISN'T any! Oops!

I also loved the next page-- what a COOL idea! Hal created NEW arrows for Ollie! Now THERE's a TEAM-UP!!!

I was a bit shocked by the fate of Mongul Jr.'s sister... AUGH!!! You know, this got me thinking back to the previous continuity... Mongul was always basically a SUPERMAN villain. With the current Superman not being so easily a space-going chafacter, it sure seems the current Mongul (or his son) is more naturally a GREEN LANTERN villain.


Actually, when I think about it... hmmm... wait a minute...


The Mongul who appeared in the Post-Crisis SUPERMAN titles (the one who destroyed Coast City) was SOOOOOOOO different in personal history, etc., from the Earth-1 version created by Jim Starlin (who appeared in several issues of DC COMICS PRESENTS with Martian Manhunter, Supergirl, WARWORLD, The Spectre and Starman). I'm suddenly wondering... how is it possible that Alan Moore's later story is part of the POST-Crisis continuity?

Or, is this really NOT a sequel, but instead a current-continuity variation on the earlier Alan Moore story? (Remakes! Reboots! It can drive a person NUTS!)

The best part of this two-parter for me was the Hal/Ollie dynamic. Johns does a good job showing us their ease with one another as well as their long and storied pasts. It did irk me a bit though that Ollie's still serving up Hal life lessons - are we ever going to see this "man who's been through everything a human being can experience" that Johns was talking about when he took on the job of rejeuvenating Hal?

Interesting twist to see how Hal envisions Ollie's perfect life. I'm surprised he didn't include Dinah and Roy since Hal knew them a lot more than Sandra and Connnor and knows how much he loves them.

I'm also surprised that Hal's perfect life didn't include Carol at all. At first I thought he'd want a happily ever after with her, but I almost think in his perfect world he'd prefer it when she was just his boss and their relationship was all potential and tension - Hal being the kind of man who might enjoy "the hunt" more than the having.

The ending with "Mon-gal" was pretty brutal for a GL comic, but I guess it's par for the course with the new DC.

There was some kind of mix-up the last time I went to the comic shop, and when I got home, I discovered I had accidentally put GL # 8 in the pile that stayed behind in my pull box. So now I'll have to wait another week-and-a-half to read it.

"I'm also surprised that Hal's perfect life didn't include Carol at all."


I didn't even think about that... Probably because the Steve Englehart run is still SO much one of my favorites, and what he did to "resolve" the decades-long bad situation with her.

I thought # 7 was a great set-up, but # 8 was just underwhelming to me. There's no getting around it anymore, I find this to be a very hit-and-miss book.

I often wonder whether the real passion behind "GL: Rebirth" came not from Johns, but from Peter Tomasi?

That revolting panel seems to me yet another indicator that misogyny is running riot at DC right now. No wonder Ron Marz has a new ongoing book.

I couldn't help but think of "IC" and the whole misogyny issue as well, but it's hard to make that argument these days considering how many people are getting hacked or blown apart in general - men and women alike (Bushido, Firestorm (twice), a slew of Manhunters (one of whom got beheaded), the various villains from "Villains United" (a couple of whom also got it in the face), Beetle of course, etc.)

It is true that either gender is fair game, but on the other hand, I think it looks like the women's deaths have generally been more graphic, and they've been drawn in such a way that they're emphasized more than the men's deaths.

One of the worst cases, imo is Mr. "My girlfriend's in a fridge" himself Kyle Rayner, where his ex girlfriend Jade dies sacrificing herself to give her man all of her powers so he can be reborn as Ion. Two lame origins for Kyle and counting (it's almost like they want fans to not like him).

Yeah. I wish that scene had been somewhere other than the Rann-Thanagar War Special. Preferably in a book I didn't read.

They killed JADE now? Boy, somebody really DOES have it in for INFINITY INC.....

Number one rule in the DCU....never date Kyle Rayner.

Has ANY of his SO's ever lived?

Jamie

Donna Troy returned.

She still 'died' for no other reason than shock value. It still technically counts.

<G>

Jamie

Hopefully that means that Jade has a good chance of being resurrected less than five years from now.

With my expectations lowered, Green Lantern # 9 turned out to be a pleasant surprise. A highly effective self-contained story teaming up Hal and Batman against the new Tattooed Man; by the end, Hal and Bruce appear to put their enmity aside.

Ethan Van Sciver was back for this issue, and I have to say, it was a great idea to set things up so that Pacheco and Van Sciver rotate on this book. They're both great artistic talents, with their own individual strengths, and Johns seems very conscientious of tailoring his stories to suit the artist. The monsters manifested by the Tattooed Man's powers fit Van Sciver to a T.

In fact, with his outstanding work on both "GL: Rebirth" and the ongoing, I'm close to nominating Van Sciver as the definitive Green Lantern artist for the 21st Century.

This was a very nice one-shot team-up. It read more like a buddy film than the usual superhero joining of forces - there was the initial reluctance, the male bonding through punching, the banter in the car (I liked Hal's "I thought you said this thing was fast" line), taking down the badguy through teamwork, then they find common ground by the end.

The precint scene at the beginning with Hal as the "cop with a history" was also straight out of cop films more than previous GLC depictions. It was odd to have Salakk mention the monetary value of a power battery though - it opens a whole can of worms regarding the financial structure of Oa and the Corps.

Johns continues to show us interesting new aspects to the ring and what it means to wield one. I definitely like that it really takes someone special to operate it (though I don't see why they never put in a failsafe command that it could only be used by the designated GL it was assigned to, but whatever...)

I think this was my favorite issue of the relaunch so far. The back and forth between Hal and Bruce was spot-on and extremely dynamic. The end, with a mutual respect being established and a sense that it was time to move forward again, was very enjoyable.

I really liked Batman here, and want to see him and Hal team-up more.

Also, I wasn't the biggest fan of Van Scriver's work in the past, but I've really warmed up to his GL stories. I thought his art kicked ass here. The new Tatooed Man was badass too and I want to see more of him, with perhaps a bit more exploration of his character and his origin.

The one thing I wasn't so crazy about was just how much of a reconciliation there was. I might've preferred if this was just a first step towards trust rather than Bruce calling Hal by his first name again. I kinda liked the constant tension between the two heroes.

But I guess with the one year gap they might as well have skipped to the happy ending anyway...

Jeepers! No comments on how awesome this title has been OYL?

I thought the latest issue was especially awesome, with the return of <span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">Arisia</span></span> and everything!

Now, if Ch'p turns out to be alive, I may be going all Caliente on Geoff Johns!

I haven't read it, but treated myself to EDE's spoilers.

To say its made my day is an understatement

I've been waiting, nay, demanding!, the return of that character for a decade! I love her! Johns is continuing to restore the GL mythos after the horrendous destruction wrought in the horrible late 90's. Yay!

GL (like Titans, Aquaman and Supes) has been the best thing OYL from DC. Its really just *that* good...everything about it so far...Hal being kick-ass Hal, missing year mystery, John Stewart subplot, Rocket Reds, Global Guardians, Cyborg Superman (really a GL villain as well as a Superman one), GL Corps...GL is KICKING ass. Now I'm beyond excited for the latest issue!

Thanks Eryk! I never click on spoilers, but for some reason broke today and did!

I knew that would get you excited, Cobie!

That was a hell of a surprise, to be sure.

Made my day.

Jamie

FYI -- for those who missed The All-New Atom #1 last week, they provide a possible spoiler that Hal is going to be in the JLA! (it was one panel of a scene that takes place "one hundred days from now") I'll believe it when it when I see it...

I'm excited about A***** too.

But, I can't believe that no one on a Legion board pointed out that Hunger Dog is from Zuun!

The Legion-reference in Superman was even cooler than that, however!

I wonder if the aforementioned female character is being brought in as a romantic interest for Hal? If so, it seems like they just switched gears really fast with Cowgirl. It seemed like something was going to be happening with her and Hal, but this whole "POW" storyline needs to be fleshed out soon so we can get back to developing her and finally just to lay it to rest rather than keep hinting at it. Is this leading to some emotional climax with the parallel of the GL's being held prisoner with Hal and Cowgirl being prisoners?

It was nice to see Hal fight against the Willhunters (knocking off Henshaw's jaw to boot!), but I feel I need to see Hal really let loose with the ring slinging and prove again why he's been called the greatest GL of all time!

Hands down the best book of the week.

I love all the GLS!

We even get Chaelson? back - the crystal guy with the mohawk.

! Now I've got to go read that book.

I love that "funny animals" ep of GLC starring Ch'p and Dr. Ub'x.

I can't imagine how they're going to explain whatsername not being dead, but Boodikka was in the "Legacy" graphic novel -- unless she was captured a lot later then conveniently forgot everything that happened after "ET", this is just sloppy.

but she still had a mad on for Hal Jordan in 'ET'. and none of those GL's there knew what happened afterward anyways...

This issue of Green Lantern was *EXCELLENT*!

I agree with CK and EDE that this title and Teen Titans are the 2 comics that have emerged from Infinite Crisis the strongest. In fact these 2 series are the best they've been in many, many years IMO.

Everything about this issue rocked but most especially the return of....


... Chaselon! I bet you thought I was gonna say Arisia didn't you! Well she's cool too but the cute crystal guy has always been one of my fave alien GLs, along with Ch'p, Eddore and the floating eyeball one. Good to see at least one of them make a comeback!

I read #12 and loved it. Nice to see some of the old guys coming back. Arisa? That was a suprise!

but my favorite moment? The Dog guy from Zunn!

Interesting that Hunger Dog apparently has blue skin. How many shades do Zuunians (Zuunites?) come in?

What really strikes me about recent issues of GL is how Ivan Reis seems to be "doing" NEAL ADAMS, and better than I ever remember Neal being. Most of Neal's run on GL was dragged down by Denny O'Neil's "down-to-Earth" / "grim-and-gritty" / "RELEVANT" (augh!) stories, which went completely against-the-grain for the GL series. (Let's face it-- Denny wasn't writing GL-- he was writing GREEN ARROW!!! Poor Hal just got dragged along against his will for the ride, and has been suffering the legacy of that brief run almost ever since.)


Meanwhile... I didn't read the spoiler, but just reading the references TO the spoilers I kinda figured who was being referred to. Now that I've read the issue in question... hmm.

See... Arisia is my FAVORITE Green Lantern. Period! And frankly, after Steve Englehart left the series (as a result of having it shifted into ACTION COMICS WEEKLY-- the editor who made that decision should never work in comics again!!!), she's been mistreated as badly as Hal Jordan! So, right now, I'm just gonna hang back and see what happens... the way I did when REBIRTH started.


(She also happens to remind me of someone I cared about VERY much in real life, and that story hasn't worked out well, either. Yet. Hey, you never know...)

Thoughts on #13:
-- The art was pretty amazing - worth the wait? I dunno - I'm not even sure if the art was the reason for the delay, but I hope they figure out a way to get the book on the stands on time. I can take a bit of a hit on the art, or maybe Reis should figure out a style that he can use for a monthly and use the more detailed style when he has more time.
-- Nice to see them explain the whole "underage Arisia" thing at the onset of her introduction. They obviously fudged some stuff (like her actually looking physically older when they met rather than her using the ring to become more developed), but hey, it's just another Superboy punch... I hope we get to see Arisia again soon (otherwise what was the point of bringing her back?)
-- It was pretty cool to see Hal take over the Grandmaster and turn the tables on Henshaw. At least they admitted he's definitely coming back.
-- Nice to see the Superboy Prime thing followed up on. I hope the Guardians' "secret" won't be something sinister - I really never like how they've been portrayed as less than enlightened elders of the universe - I get using them as allegories for authority, but why can't they stand in for something more ... hopeful? I feel it weakens the whole notion of the GLC, but that's me.

The "52" thing was such a tease! And we still have no idea what it refers to (though I guess it falls in line with "52's" space heroes having possibly seen something they shouldn't have from beyond this universe.)

Ok, so ... where's John?!?

John shows up in GLC.

And I was waiting for the 52 mention. Makes me wonder if they saw whatever it was that is beyond the Source Wall.

Jamie

Arisia has long been my favorite GL. This issue almost brought tears to my eyes.

Although they never specifically said how old she was in EARTH years, I'm pretty sure it was indicated (and probably during Steve Englehart's run) that her race and Earth people don't age at the same rate. Even so, age difference has never bothered me... though it seems to be a very hot button these days, sending more people than ever into a fit. (I think about Jerry Lee Lewis. It wasn't his marrying his 13-year-old COUSIN that bothered me... it was that the idiot didn't bother to get divorced from his 1st wife beforerhand. That, and the fact that, after she stuck by him thru all his career problems, when he finally pulled out of his nosedive and got his career back on track, THAT was when he became mean and abusive toward her... I like his music, but as a person, WHAT AN A**H***!!!!!)


I love Ivan Reis "doing" Neal Adams here. Neal's run--reprinted more than any other in GL history-- was bogged down from start to finish by Denny O'Neil's "down to Earth, grim-and-gritty, revelant" crap. Denny wasn't interested in writing GL-- he was writing GA, and Ollie dragged Hal thru the mud, where his career has been tainted almost ever since.

Similarly, when Dave Gibbons first signed on as GL artist, he wanted to do space adventure. Instead, Len Wein stuck mostly on Earth, with the same old 3rd-rate super-villains, and (GOD HELP US!!!) that B**** Carol Ferris screwing over Hal's life for the umpteenth time. No wonder Gibbons left... I notice he seems quite happy to be back, doing GREEN LANTERN CORPS-- and-- whatta ya know-- SPACE adventure!!

Issue #13 -

GL continues to be DC's best comic OYL, tied with Titans. Absolutely a great issue that I wish was twice as long.

Great action, amazing art, more of that cool-ass new dynamic b/t Guy and Hal, tension with the older Lanterns, Cyborg Superman being a very good GL villain...this issue had a lot packed in. Add in a referene to 52, the possible secrets to 52 (connection to the Source & New Gods?), and then even Superboy Prime.

I like how Salaak is showing up more and more all over. I'm becoming a Salaak fan.

But by far, the best part of this issue was Arisia. I really just love that character, as the past couple of pages show, and Geoff had her nailed down perfectly. Not only strong-willed and action-driven, but sweet, loyal to Hal and...well, just Arisia again. I can't wait to see more of her.

I'm loving this book, and hope it isn't delayed anymore. Looking forward to getting back to Earth, the Global Guardians, the equally awesome Hal/John dynamic and Alan Scott. I hope we see more of the Rocket Reds too!

Preview of this week's #14 is up at Newsarama .

I really like the art here, but I continue to feel that this title just isn't living up to the fanfare that Hal's return originally generated. I don't have a sense of where Johns is taking all this in general - there's a sense of a bigger story being told, but it's not being told in a way that's intriguing - just that we're getting pieces here and there, but I'm not overly excited by it yet.

This latest storyline just rubs me the wrong way from the get-go because I always thought it was stupid of Hal to not wear the ring when he's flying. I'm also tired of Hal cleaning up his messes - he has enough in that area redeeming himself to the corps. I guess I want to see him be more proactive and ... heroic. Swooping in, battling evil and saving some alien planet -- old fashioned, but it'd still be cool once in awhile...

The delays aren't helping at all...

Drake, thats part of his history now. I do agree with you that its time to see some newer stuff, a lot of it is mined from his past, but its such a rich past.

And Geoff is known for restoring characters as well. We know the badguy from the last year now, and while it is a newer character, there is a vast amount of potential conflict there. I like what he is doing.

As for the ring on missions, here is something I have thought, and issue 14 really brought it out. As a GL, Hal cannot kill. Now, as an airforce member, his job as a pilot may involve killing the enemy. If he was wearing the ring, he would still be a GL, kinda like cops being cops, even when off duty.

Would the ring prevent his doing his military duty if he was wearing it? I think that is a very good question. He might not be acting as a GL at that moment, but the ring might not see it that way.

I think Drake's point is that adding in the extra guilt over the POW stuff is a little bit of overkill, since Hal already had more than enough to give him a massive guilt complex.

I really like the power-ring-would-interfere-with-his-military-duty angle, however.

That's a great question.

I think that it would, simply because I can't see the Guardians caring one whit about U.S. military protocol.

Awesome art again - the splash pages really warrant spending an extra minute or two to pour over the details. I still find the story a bit lacking - is it just me? Johns brought Hal back with the notion of having him be a source of light, a beacon of hope etc. or somesuch, but I don't see how being persecuted by fellow GL's, Global Guardians and intergalactic bounty hunters qualifies. I guess I wish Jonhs had a larger arc or purpose for this title -- one with a larger scope than just Hal dealing with one thing after another in his life. Even on that front it seems like Johns isn't following through on what he's laid down, in terms of the rebuilding of Coast City and reattaching to his family.

This is still one of my favorite titles, but maybe I had higher expectations from Jonhs.

In light (heh) of what you said, Drake, it seems like Hal's just getting dragged thru the same mud as the rest of the DCU-- and he's had decades of that before this!

GLC seems better-written right now than 95% of GL comics have been over the last 45+ years-- especially when Dave Gibbons is DRAWING the book (I think it looks AND reads better with his pencils!!). Although Ivan Reis strikes me as "channeling" Neal Adams (and having the chance to do more "proper" GL stories than Denny "drag 'em thru the mud" O'Neil ever allowed), this conflict with other GLs, The Global Guardians, AND the JLA is a bit too much. When the JLA showed up on the last pagfe of this month's issue, I could have puked. For once, Supes & Bats DIDN'T seem to have the worst of the "bad attitude" CRAP the JLA have had for the last 5 or more years, but I'm really sick of the WHOLE DAMN GROUP just showing up, over and over, while radiating so much arrogance-- ESPECIALLY when it's aimed at OTHER heroes!

As for The Rocket Reds... somebody NEEDS to clean their clocks. "Heroes" who can't be reasoned with-- AREN'T.

I think Hal needs to get out of the Air Force, and he if needs to split his time anywhere, it should be between FAMILY-- and being a GL-- PERIOD. If situations call for his stepping in and taking care of business, he (and perhaps several other GLs as well) should smooth things out with these various S***-hole countries to let them know what they're about, and that the GLs are NOT a force you wanna F*** with. Otherwise... well, they might as well be the UN or something...

Oh yeah-- and who the HELL really cares about The Global Guardians-- or what they "think", anyway? The whole group seems to be nothing but a perpetual, recurring target for group-wide MIND-control. Here it is, ONCE AGAIN! They should just disband that bunch of losers for sheer embarrassment, and slink back to their respective holes...

Newsarama has a pretty nice looking preview of "Green Lantern" #18 (especially if you liked "Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighers"):
GL Preview

Nice to see Carol again. It looks like she'll be sticking around to fill in Hal about the Star Sapphire if nothing else (although I'm certainly in the camp of wanting something more between the two of them). I can't say if I'm disappointed or relieved that the gem left her for Cowgirl. On the one hand, they've done the "Carol's finally rid of the Star Sapphire" story way too many times and on the other, I really like the tragedy of Carol being one of his worst enemies. I'm also not sold on the color scheme of a blonde Star Sapphire.

It was also nice to see Johns follow up on Cowgirl's introduction. It's just too bad it's taken this long for it to come to fruition. While I think Cowgirl has potential, Johns hasn't done anything to make me interested in her as a character (and I think he's had plenty of chances in her handfull of appearances). If anything, it only makes me wish we could see more of Arisia since she's back from the dead.

hey !

what about the LEGION connection in the backup story ......

Matthew.

YES!! I saw that too. Man, now I wish I'd finished reading L.E.G.I.O.N. (And maybe that R.E.B.E.L.S. ting, too-- that was them as well, right?) I don't understand why whats-her-face is part of the Sinestro Corps, though that book being chained to her does amuse me greatly. It was interesting, though. Very interesting.

Wait - I thought the character in the backup was a new character, just from the same homeworld as the lovely Mallor lasses. Am I wrong? Who is she? Where has she been seen before?

I mentioned the "lady" from Talok IV in that other thread in the main Legion forum. I also thought she was a new character though -- am I wrong?

Her name is Lyssa Drak. This is the first I've seen of her so far...

Wouldn't she also be from a different Talok? I always get it confused, but I think the Mallors are from Talok VII or VIII, right?

Mallors - at least the ones we know - are from Talok VIII. Is this the first we've heard of someone from Talok IV?

I'll be reading the issue later in the month (I schedule my visits to the comics shop around the weeks where a new issue of X-Factor arrives) but reading these posts leaves me with mixed feelings. I love anything about Talokians, but I hope this is a new character. I don't want Lydea brought back because I don't like most of the things DC has been doing lately with their non-icon characters. And I don't want Lyrissa brought back because she had a full character arc and one of the most tragic deaths in the history of the DCU, which I think should not be negated or cheapened.

I don't think i've ever heard of Talok IV.

Talok III has been mentioned as the homeworld of Mikaal Tomas (a Starman) in the Robinson series.

Bad news:

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=110415

I'm still convinced that it's his passion for GL which has been the secret ingredient over the last 2-plus years. His loss will be felt.

And it would have to happen right before the big Sinestro Corps epic. Couldn't he have waited just a few months more?

Interesting developments regarding Star Sapphire, the Guardians and the Zamorans in this issue. Wacky motivations that actually sort of make sense (I can only imagine how my world view would shift if I'd been cooped up with those Guardians for millenia...).

I think all those 'your fate is to mate with me' villainesses should form a team and scour the DCU from one megaversal plane to another. Surely, in 52 realities, *one* of them'll get what they're after. Talk about your 'Birds of Prey'...

Let's see... Star Sapphire, Maxima, does Lady Styx apply? Who else?

Oh, yeah-- I'm finding Shady's uniform on the grisly new character particularly disturbing. At least she's not wearing the tuning fork. There, I draw the line.

I'm loving the current storyline in GL! Daniel Acuna's art and coloring are *phenomenal* and it's great seeing one of my favorite 'super-hero girlfriends', Carol Ferris, back - along with the uber-sexy and cool Star Sapphire!

And to top it all off - another Chaselon appearance! Yes! He rocks! I just hope they're not showcasing him a little bit so people will know he is and then Geoff can kill him off in the Sinestro Corps War. That is SO his MO.

Interesting take on the Zamorans and the crystals. I hope Geoff doesn't get out of hand with each color representing an emotion ("Rainbow War" doesn't sound like something I want to read). It'd quickly get as out of hand as Superman and all that colored Kryptonite.

And while I don't have anything against the Zamoran redesign, it also seems an unnecessary retcon that every time we've seen them before it's been an illusion.

I remember when Steve Englehart had the big revelation that the reason we never saw any female Guardians was because the Zamarons WERE the females of their race! It was one of those "so obvious you'd never think of it" moments. The current story definitely seems to be adding several additional spins on it, and not very nice ones...

I'm still rather frustrated that Gerard Jones never got to do his big "Guardians vs. Guardians" epic. I suspect there's still a ton of stuff out there left unresolved because of the last 15 years.

I must say, as much as I'd come to genuinely HATE Carol Ferris, I do also recall when Gerard Jones "cured" her of her recurring problem(s)... and it's actually refreshing to see there is a real "human" person in there! It's like I've heard it said-- there are no bad characters, just bad writers. This is one more thing that makes me think GL is currently being written BETTER than ever.

I remember reading some of the "Guardian vs. Guardian" stuff that never got published and I'm glad they didn't do that story for two reasons:
-- the reveal that the Guardians orchestrated Hal's father's death to make him the best GL.
-- turning Hal into "The Protector". bleh.
I don't remember though - was it that the Guardians were fighting each other or was it going to be revealed that the Guardians we had been seeing since the beginning of the series were fake?

I've always liked Carol and she had a really good showing here. The image of her in the cockpit last ish really conveyed a lot in terms of her growth and it was great to see her happy as opposed to the wet blanket role she was forced to be in too many times. It was also cool to see "Green Sapphire" but too bad the fight didn't last long.

Also interesting to note that Hal seemed a bit hurt that Carol got married not too long after Hal's death (C'mon Hal -- that just screams "rebound" -- get it??)

This book keeps getting better and better.

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text"> Carol getting to play superheroine -- now that is cool. </span></span>

I'm really enjoying the Sinestro Corps back-ups, too. All my fears about Lyssa Drak seem to have been unfounded, and I think she has the potential to be a totally awesome supervillainess.

I just hope my fears about Peter Tomasi's departure from the editor's desk negatively affecting the Sinestro Corps storyarc turn out to be unfounded. What I'm hoping is that all the most important stuff was already set up before he left, so that there's almost no possibility of his sucessor screwing things up.

I have loved this title since it started. The current arc is pretty good but I'm not loving it as much as others.

I like the Zamarons stuff. But I've never been a big fan of Star Sapphire and the Carol Ferris thing.

The art and colors along with theme is just a bit too rainbow warriors for me. Still pretty good though. The quality is pretty high all around.

The Corps War is BIG TIME! This is a true followup to "Rebirth" in tone and scope! I guess I can understand Johns' reasons now for grounding Hal so much to start the series, especially if he was building towards this. It was still a little too much of an abrupt change of focus, but I'm really glad to see that he's going to follow up on all that "Hal's light shines brightest" stuff he was talking about before. Seeing Hal come back was great, seeing him in the JLA again is awesome, but seeing him take charge again and shining as the "greatest" of the Corps would make his *return* complete!

Not for nothing, but the solits that show Kyle as one of the "Challengers" is a real killjoy in terms of him becoming Parallax - we know he's in no real danger of dying or becoming a bad guy (unless it's one of those red herrings DC seems so fond of these days...)

My sentiments exactly.

I'm not sure if this is the right thread to post this or not but...

In the latest issue of S.F.X magazine (a British sci fi mag), there is an interview with Nathan Fillion (of Firefly) and one of the questions that they asked which comic book superhero would he like to play.

He said Green Lantern.

I'm assuming he meant the Hall Jordan version.

I could soooooo see that. I think he would be GREAT.

Any feedback on that one guys?

Yeah, I could see it! I loved him on Firefly and I think "Captain Tightpants" could totally pull it off!

So, nothing about the latest chapter of The Sinestro Corps War in GL # 22? The vertical splash page of Hal and Kyle fighting? The horizontal splash page of the Green Lantern Corps charging? The cliffhanger with the awesome Lyssa Drak? God, I love this story.

Sorry, I was too busy having a heart attack and crying about Kyle. (Not literally crying... anymore.) I have to say the "lost" corpsmen really bring an interesting perspective to the conflict with their very strong feelings toward our hero Hal.

I love this event. It's so great. I love that the books are enough independent of each other that if I wasn't reading both, I could still just read one. And I love the complexity. Geoff is definitely still my hero. *fangirl sigh*

Ahh, Geoff. The first comic of his that I read was Green Lantern: Rebirth # 6, fresh off the comics rack at Borders. And the first thing I thought was: this guy is writing the kinds of stories I wished were being written back in the nauseating nineties. Thank God for Geoff.

Seriously! Geoff is my hero! I effin' love him! But, then, we already knew that...

Ditto the ditto. Fillion actually walks in the door with both the look and the personality.

I think this is a great story so far, but the only problem I have with it is the problem I've had with most "BIG STORIES" lately -- that the plot doesn't really seem to involve more than: "The villain attacks, the heroes fall back, the heroes rally and beat the bad guys." I feel like I've been seeing this A-B-C throughline too often lately.

Hal's battle with Parallax wasn't as powerful as I'd expected, but let's hope his showdown with Sinestro is more dramatic.

The latest GL issue was pretty good.

Geoff is really trying hard to clear Hal's image. One of my favorite subplots is the anger some of the old school guard has for Hal.

Well Hal is the first one to defend Kyle when Boodikka blames him(Kyle) for killing Lanterns. I don't have a problem with it. I like the friction between Hal and Ke'Haan's camp.

The latest Tomar(Tu) and another Lantern stand up for Hal. In other words non earthers. Guy, John, and Kyle are usually the ones always defending him.

Again...love the art! All the colors!

So, the Sinestro Corps Special is getting another printing?!? (this time with "Prime" - that's S-Boy to y'all) on the cover) Pretty cool. It's good to see the GL franchise becoming an important corner of the DCU.

And of course Green Lantern was mentioned in the "Simpsons" movie - woohoo! (or should I say, "EEpahh!")

The Sinestro Corps story is hands-down the best DC Story of 2007, and we're not even through with it yet. I mean--wow, fantastic!!

I'm loving everything so far: the tension, the sheer amount the GLs are up against, Hal and the problems with the Lost Lanterns, Tomar-Tu and the other Lantern standing by Hal, Boodikka planning to kill with her ring, the pure awesomeness of the Anti-Monitor...its just pure action & adventure at its best.

Even better though, is that the GL mythos continues to be the real star. The Guardians and the irony that its fear that's driving them in their actions, the awesomeness of Ganthest and the new female Guardian with a name, the color spectrum of emotion in the universe. All very awesome.

Kyle is also getting some major screen time, and though I can see his fans who *aren't* reading the story complaining, I really don't have any fears that he won't make it through this. I, in fact, am looking forward to where this leaves him and think he'll emerge stronger. His visual as Parallax is definately pretty scary.

I'm also loving the GL Corps part of the story. GL Corps is probably one of the most underrated titles in comics right now. Its just plain awesome, with the vast amount of characters. Mogo might just be my favorite GL and his partner is hella-kewl! I love Stel and the Green Man and the major role they have. All the other new Lantern's are hella-kewl, and Arisia, also a favorite, is shining. Kilowog is the biggest bad-ass in the universe, and I like Salaak too. Soranik Natu (sp?) vs. Sinestro was especially well done.

I'm also loving the camraderie of the Earth GLs, including Guy and John, who have been great too, even though they've slightly been more background here.

And the villains, from the unique coolness of all the Sinestro Corps members to the big bads themselves is just highly appealing as a reader. Countdown and Infinite Crisis sorely lack(ed) the tension and magnitude that Sinestro Corps has. Not only is there Sinestro and Cyborg Superman, plus a whole army of Yellow Lanterns and Manhunters, but the big two: Anti-Monitor and Superboy Prime, just waiting.

One thing about the GLC part of the story that rubs me the wrong way is the increased importance of Mogo to the GLC. Mogo's been around a long time, but it was never mentioned how much he's the "soul" of the GLC or that without him, the recruits would never be able to gain the mental discipline to wear the ring etc (I guess "Willworld" isn't canon then, is it?)

I do love the fact that they're picking up on the prophecy that was introduced all those years ago -- Morrison was just so effective in crafting his little tale of the GLC's downfall that it begged a followup!

I agree 100%.

I've loved this take on the GLC from day one, starting with the mini-series and continuing into the ongoing. Dave Gibbons will, sadly, be leaving GLC at the end of the Sinestro Corps War, but combining all his GLC stories results in about two dozen issues, a nice body of work. The good news is that Gibbons's replacement is Peter Tomasi, until recently the Green Lantern group editor, whose vision was what originally inspired the whole Rebirth-Recharge-Sinestro War cycle; the book couldn't be in better hands. And the spotlight on Kilowog in the most recent GLC issue was awesome.

The only complaint I have about the villains is that Lyssa Drak was built up by Geoff Johns as a villainess to be reckoned with (plus, she's a Talokian, which wins her points with me) only for her to be defeated with ridiculous ease. It's like in Flash, when Johns, introduced a promising female villain (can't remember her name right now) who took over leadership of the rogues, only for her to be easily defeated and cast into that particular kind of limbo where there's so many forgotten characters (villains and heroes alike) who creators seemingly failed to realize their true potential.

The "Corps War" is great so far, but the closer we get to the climax, the more nervous I get that all this setup won't pay off. With such a stellar lineup of baddies, I'm too concerned about Prime, Parrallax, Cyborg Superman, Sinestro and the Anti-Monitor getting good screentime to worry about how Lyssa Drak comes off.

I'm also hoping for a big payoff with Ganthet and Sayd building up Hal's importance. I know the GL mythos is the real star here, but Hal's my man and I wanna see him shine (and in more than one obligatory show of willpower that leaves everyone impressed). The cover image of Hal with all those yellow rings might've taken place in the book, but I feel there wasn't much of a payoff in that confrontation with Sinestro.

I respect your opinion, but I think there's only so many times that the well-established villains can be used effectively.

There's always a need for new blood.

Many writers, in the past and the present, treat villains with potential as throwaways, and the universes are all the poorer for that, except for those obscure villains lucky enough to be embraced by writers from the next generation. For example: Alan Moore's re-invention of the Floronic Man in Moore's first Swamp Thing arc.

Oh, I certainly have nothing against new blood. I've long thought that Hal's rogues gallery could use some beefing up with more space oriented villains and I would love to see some of these Sinestro Corps members in the future on their own. But for a story this jam-packed, I hope we don't get short shrifted on the Big'uns.

Slight change of topic, but what about the GL rings now capable of lethal force against Sinestro Corps members?? Big Picture-wise, I don't quite agree with DC's vision of the Corps. They see them as cops and soldiers, but I want to see the GLC rise above the grittiness that's become so prevalent and actually represent something better.

I'm somewhat with you there Drake. Rather than cops and soldiers, I'd see them more as 'Knights', in that they stand for something more than maintaing order and battling bad guys. Something else else more akin to solving problems and mediating non-violent disputes, things like that. Actually, its hard to put into words what I mean.

I totally get what you mean, Cobie. A knight rights wrongs and protects the weak and the just, but in a somewhat idiosyncratic fashion, rather than in the supposedly systematic, uniform way a police force would. More importantly, a knight is valuable more for the inspiration he provides than the actual deeds he performs. A shining beacon of light, life and hope in the darkness--an E.B. White/Arthurian approach. Realistically, that's all the GLC CAN be -- no way 3,600, 7,200, or 1.2 million sentients could police the cosmos.

That's exactly what I mean DC (and what I thought Drake meant)! It also gives a wider backdrop for motivations for GLs to have on missions (though of course, seeing them do things with less action repeatedly could get boring, but it provides great set-up and stronger characterization IMO).

Thinking of them as a police force/army also invites questions about the legitimacy of their actions. Police enforce law, but whose laws? It makes the Guardians seem as though they've just set themselves up as the de facto government of the universe, who just send their soldiers/police around to enforce their will. Seeing their mission as an essentially moral one, with them serving as "beacons" for all species, alleviates some of that concern (while still leaving room for the occasional conflict regarding the legitimacy of the ideals they represent).

Cobalt when you talk about Knights your talking about Arthurian knights of legend aren’t you? I mean you do know just what Knighthood and its associated Barony’s mean for the poor downtrodden and repressed Saxons when it was introduced into England in 1066 and all that?

Of course!

And of course, knights on mainland Middle Age Europe (especially northeastern Europe) don't have exactly the best reputation either...

I think this notion of heroic example vs. enforcer in the employ of the (little blue) man is precisely the dynamic those stories with Ollie were considering 35 years ago. For that matter, the whole question of Sinestro imposing his wil on the populace because he could is really just the other side of that coin.'

I've been wondering - why haven't we seen the 2814 precint house? would there even be anyone on it right now? I think Johns took the cop analogy too far with the precint houses since there are only two Lanterns per sector - what could they possibly need all that space for?

Okay. Okay. With #24 out this week, can I just say?

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">THANK GOD FINALLY KYLE IS FREE OF PARALLAX.</span></span>

There are a lot of things about the Sinestro Corps war that I'm still on the fence about, especially the "new law". But, honestly, I am enjoying the ride. Especially in regards to Gauneth and Sayd (or whatever the little blue peoples names are). They're the breakout stars, IMHO.

And the scene with Parallax and Hal's family-- golden. I guess I never really appreciated the fact that Hal has an interesting backstory. He wasn't my GL and I wasn't interested. But the family stuff that Johns has brought in has really made me sympathize with him. So yay for that too!

I read # 24 almost a week ago, and I still can't quite put my finger on why I didn't enjoy it as much as previous chapters. I'm hoping that next month will give us a rousing resolution, and then I can go back and read the whole epic at once and see how it holds up overall.

Y'know, I'm not sure what I think about #24 as compared to the other chapters of the story. On the one hand, I got a resolution I like and there was character development with Hal that made me actually care about him. But, on the other, it felt kind of... convenient in a lot of ways. Especially the part with the blue men showing up with their lanterns, Guy finding the package on the porch and what happened with Parallax. Oh, and John saying, "All I need is to stay black"?? I don't get that.

I agree that # 24 seemed to run out of steam or something. I think I need to read this story arc all over again once it's done. It will flow much better.

Caliente, I agree about the John Stewart comment and the convenience. And I can never tell if Johns loves or hates Kyle.

John gonna be keepin it REEYULL, fo' shizzle.

So I caught up on the latest issues of GL Corps (awesome) and the latest GL, and I agree that it was still pretty good, but felt like it ran out of steam a little.

I guess the biggest thing with me is that we now have Superboy/man Prime and the Anti-Monitor in addition to the entire Sinestro Corps, so I keep feeling that things should be so much larger than they are. After all, the A-M should be able to battle the entire Corps and the entire DCU at once and almost win. But we still have time so maybe we'll see that. But honestly, shouldn't A-M be able to eat Darkseid, Monarch, all the Monitors, and hell, all the Marvel Universe and DC Universe alive at the same time? I wonder if we'll get a resolution with him in this or if his story continues on in Final Crisis.

The Superman-Prime issue was a good rematch against the entire DCU, but it basically was one large slugfest. My one complaint was that it was a 'dog-pile on the rabbit' approach, when really the DC super-heroes are much smarter than that and should have had some strategy.

Yeah, I hate that crap. I remember when writers bothered to try writing clever ways to defeat an opponent.

Anybody get the conclusion? It was awesome!

Yes I did, and yes it was.

An unqualified success, so rare in modern superhero comics -- all the more reason to treasure it.

It was pretty WOW. And it is set up for tons of more stories. I really liked it. One of the better comics I have read in a while.

I can't wait to read this.

Geoff Johns has a good interview about it and the GL future!

Love, love, LOVED it! Just wish Gibbons was still writing GL:C. But still. Brilliant all around.

KYLE I LOVE YOU!

*cough* I mean, good times. Great story. Beautiful art. And excitement for the future!

As do I. I think he's currently the most underrated writer in superhero comics, with a true flair for space opera, and I still hope that one day he'll write LSH (maybe sooner rather than later if Shooter tanks.) Not only do I love his GL:C work, but, going against the grain as I usually do, I really loved The Rann-Thanagar War (the main complaint, Shiera being killed by Kommand'r, didn't bother me because I have no emotional investment in any of the hawk-people; that said, Jade's death initially bothered me a lot, but I got over it.)

There was a lot to like,(most notably just the higher profile for GL) but I ultimately felt let down. It was 11 issues plus specials and the story wasn't more complicated than "bad guys attack, everyone fights, bad guys lose".

I read GL for Hal and that was a letdown as well. I get that the Coast City thing was meant to be the emotional payoff for his arc, but when Ganthet said he needed to step up, I thought he'd up end doing something more inspiring than telling the people of Coast City to run for the hills (Maybe I'm spoiled by memories of Hal leading the corps to victory on many occassions). Also, I think I've seen one too many "Hal fights Sinestro mano a mano, sans rings". It's overdone now. I wanna see Hal do some ringslinging.

I loved it. I think it's the best GL story I ever read. The story and art rocked. Geoff has really added to the GL mythos.

I also didn't care for hand to hand fight either. And while I think Geoff has added much to the mythos I'm not a big fan of the emotional color spectrum Rainbow Bright stuff. It works and people love it. I just don't. Still think it's good for the mythos overall.

I love the spectrum. It reminds me of Alan Moore's expansion of the concept of Swamp Thing.

The latest issue is mostly set-up. I was sort of relieved to see that Lyssa Drak hasn't been forgotten...but she's on death row (that's her in the cell on top of Sinestro's cell) and I hope she doesn't become cannon fodder.

On the plus side, it's always nice to see Mike McKone art (especially at the service of a good script) and the powerful cliffhanger ending reminded me of the ending of one of my favorite Avengers issues, where Sersi took the idea of avenging all too literally.

I wonder how death row works - is there some kind of judicial system? Why not summary executions? I'm flashing back to the first time Sinestro was "executed" - things didn't go well then...

Interesting teases about Sinestro's past as Hal's trainer. I know we're going to be delving even more into that later, but the hints here are intriguing -- especially Sinestro's friendship with Abin Sur.

So now John used to be a marine?!?! I wonder where that came from... grumble, grumble...

Is anyone else getting annoyed and grossed out with all this Alpha Lanterns crap?

@#$@$&(^&*^*&^@#@# Grant Morrison, he should keep his stupid ideas away from Geoff. I hate Morrison, his writing reminds me of Mark Gruenwald minus the flashes of fanboy wistfulness.

Geoff seems to be more impressionable than I figured -- he did a recent interview where he professed his admiration for Brian Michael Brainless and said he hopes they can collaborate one day.

On the other hand, since I prefer the MU to the DCU, I'd be very happy if DC lured Brainless away from Marvel.

I agree the Alpha Lanterns are a bit extreme and I don't really care for the idea overall.

But I don't hate it. The Corps needs some diversity in rank, etc. It's interesting. I am guessing they won't last very long either.

I'm interested in BMB writing DD and that's all at Marvel. Infact his DD is not worth all the damage he's inflicted at Marvel. Go indy man!

I must admit I haven't read all through this thread -not having read a Green Lantern story in a long time, but someone handed me a copy of the Green Lantern Rebirth TPB recently and I had to write something about it because it was easily the worst piece of crap I've read in a long time. I mean the plot was relatively convoluted but not horrible. However, the dialog was unforgivable. Seriously, real people don't talk like that, it was like reading a mid-seventies issue of the Justice League, one would think DC had a quota on how many times a character's name should be mentioned on every page like the reader would forget once they turned the page. Then there's the obtuse explanations of why whatever is happening I guess I just want that hour and a half I spent reading it back. It's weird because I'm rather enjoying Geoff John's current run in Action, I don't think it's great but it's sure keeping my attention more than the regular Legion book right now. I didn't really pay attention to when this rebirth was published, maybe he was just starting out or something because it reads as if it was penned by a 16 year old fanboy. Maybe he just has no affinity for the Green Lantern, I don't know, but damn it was bad. As for the art, I suppose Van Scriver is okay, he sure does pay attention to detail but detail isn't everything. His people seems so posed and stiff. His panels jump around a lot making the story a bit hard to follow -for all that's worth. I guess you can chalk this one up to another example of style over substance. I had hear this was a really popular run, I just can't figure out why.

What's this about James Robinson writing a new "Green Lantern/ Green Arrow" book? All's I knows is that it's happening, but little else. Is there any chance it's not Hal and Ollie?? I'd be super-bummed if it weren't.

So, anyone read All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder #9?

This series keeps getting worse and worse. I really mean it. What in the world is Miller thinking?

Heh.

You seem rather desperate to derail this thread, Gerard. It won't work.

Here, Vu, you can post your thoughts here:

All Star Batman and Robin thread

Those images are not showing up in my computer. I assume that some Frank Miller-verse version of Green Lantern appears in the current ASB&R issue. That didn't occur to me until it was too late. Sorry about that, Gerard, I was just kidding around.

But it does beg the question: why should we care about how Frank Miller sees Green Lantern? The guy has devolved from an overrated superstar creator to a pathetic Dave Sim-level drooling crypto-fascist lunatic.

Now, don't hold back on our account, Stealth!

LOL

Did I mention that Miller is the LAST person I'd want to direct a Spirit movie? They're not getting MY money!

I think I'll stick with the way Hal was depicted in DKSAII - that was cool. At least with this series Miller's making all the heroes (Batman included) seem so wildly out of character, it doesn't matter that GL is treated shabbily.

And the Lanterns splinter even further...

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">Laira is banished from the GL corps, but becomes a Red Lantern, apparently a very ends-justify-the-means new order!</span></span>

This issue was better than the last couple of them. I'm really starting to like Laira, she could make a really good anti-heroine if Johns does it right. McKone's art is good as always.

I forgot to mention last night that the Controllers appear in the current issue of GL, albeit in the 21st Century. Still, I thought the AR Legion fans might be interested.

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">Oh, and the Controllers are planning to become the Orange Lanterns.</span></span>

Geoff talks future plans for GL:

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=149332

Not being a big GL fan until the Sinestro Corps War, I had never noticed the Guardians using Interlac before. Is their usage of Interlac to write the laws in the book of Oa a first?

Also good to see(via Stealth's link) that Rond Vidar is still around, and a Green Lantern! I hope the other lantern is Celeste McCauley. I always liked her. But there's only two left?

So, let's see. After Peter Tomasi got off to a promising start on GLC, we've gotten what I assumed was a 2-part fill-in by a different writer, but the ending in the new issue of GLC dovetails with the ending of last week's GL issue. Then I remembered that Geoff has been talking lately about having the Superman books make one story together. It looks like the same is now happening to GL & GLC. I'm not pleased with this, because I liked the way each book had its own identity. I wonder if this is why Dave Gibbons left and I wonder whether Peter Tomasi will be back.

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=150409

This is what I've long wanted the JLA to be. I'm there. And Congorilla rocks!

Awesome news! Hopefully this will actually pay off what I've been hoping for since Hal was announced for Meltzer's JLA cuz that was a total disappointment. The fact that it's Robinson is what's giving me real hope this time.

I love seeing Hal and Ollie together - they're just as important a friendship as Batman /Superman but more realistic imo. I wonder where Dinah will be? To me Hal, Ollie and Dinah are a more exciting Trinity.

"Secret Origins" part 1 has hit and I thought it was wonderful. A lot of these scenes we've seen already, but it was great to see an interesting, strong story with a young Hal that really engaged me. Great start, and the change in pace is very welcome.

Loved the notion of a Hal/John fight when they were both young men in the service. I like the friendship Geoff (and now McDuffie) has shown them grow into.

So, I can breathe easier now because Peter Tomasi is still writing GLC, and he's proving himself to be as good as Dave Gibbons at keep the interplay animated and staying true to all their voices.

I guess enough time has passed (two years plus) to bring back the Black Mercy plants, but, really, how much more can be done with them at this point?

I haven't read the GLC with the Black Mercies yet, but how much more do they need to do? They just seem like a plot device to give us some insight into a character's mind. It's just a matter of throwing different characters at them to see what lurks within any given character.

Peter Tomasi's deft handling of GLC's large ensemble cast and his surprisingly fresh angle on the Black Mercy has erased any doubts I had about him being a worthy successor to previous GLC writer Dave Gibbons. In fact, I'm now convinced that Tomasi would be a good fit on JLA or even LSH!

A question for GL fans: I've just ordered both Volumes of the Sinestro Corps Wars hardcovers from In-Stock Trades based on all the buzz the storyline got. The problem is there's a third volume collecting all the specials/one-shots. How important are they to the overall storyline? Would you say they're essential? If not, are they particularly good stories, "must reads", so much that I should definitely pick that one up too?

HELP!!!!

Lardy, IIRC, a lot of the one-shots are not essential. I remember being slightly bored with the Ion and Cyborg Superman one-shots.

The Superboy Prime one-shot was pretty good and worth a read, though it was really an all-action issue more than anything. If you can find that one without getting the whole trade, I'd do that. I can't remember if there were any others...

I'm really liking the retelling of GL's origin thus far. I especially like the added depth to Hal's personal life and his ties to Ferris. I can anticipate a problem down the line though the same way that "Emerald Dawn" had Hal's origin tied to a specific threat, this retelling is tying Hal's origin to the "Blackest Night" so that any retelling or revisitation to his origin would have to go to great lengths to either explain the specifics of Abin Sur's crash or go to great lengths to avoid it.

Superman, Batman and Hal's original origin were stand-alone, which made them much easier to recap.

I was really excited about the Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns special (which has bupkiss to do with Final Crisis, so I'm talking about it in this thread), especially after the great conclusion to the Secret Origin arc in the GL monthly. I was so excited, I put it ahead of everything else today. Well...

It's just okay for the most part, despite an inking style that recalls 90s Image (the pencils themselves aren't bad.)

But then there's that last page...

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">Saint Walker?? Between this and the lame never-ending story in JSoA, Johns is showing signs of burnout. And someone actually got paid for designing that lame mask? This doesn't bode well for Blackest Night.</span></span>

I don't think it was a mask. He showed up already in the conclusion of the Sinstro Corps.

Other then that, cats are mean man.

Even if it's not a mask, it still looks lame.

And if he already showed up and I didn't remember him, it just shows how uninteresting he is.

Is Saint Walker a character I should recognize other than the appearance in Sinestro Corps, is that an entirely new character?

Yes. He's the Blue Lantern who's getting the spotlight.

Catching up on a few comics I think have been fantastic tonight...

...the "Secret Origins" arc in Gl has been simply fantastic. Johns has done so much here: shown a wide range of motivations and internal motivations for Hal; made Carol genuinely attractive and likeable personality-wise (as the artist made her attractive the other way), made Hector Hammond really creepy and therefore frightening, showcased the awesomeness of Sinestro, the Corps, Kilowog and now Atrocitus, further built upon the strong foundation of the GL mythos with Abin Sur, Sinestro, Tomar-Re, and others, and ultimately just given us a damn fine story full of characterization, a real internal point, and an external point relating to current events.

It was the perfect follow-up to Sinestro Corps. Bring on Rage of the Red Lanters!

One of my favorite parts is the friendship showed between Hal and John. I don't need them to be best friends; but I love them as 'buddies'. Its done just right and not over the top.

I'm more intrigued by the whole "Power Levels at 200%" thing that was going on with Hal's ring....

Let's hope Hal gets to do something with all that extra power instead of just feeding Manhunters.

"made Carol genuinely attractive and likeable personality-wise"

After decades of it going the other way, how is that even possible???

That's the reason I mentioned it! Outside of 'New Frontier', I don't think I've felt anything but utter loathing for Carol!

(small voice) <span style="font-size: 10px;">Carol's one of my favourite super-hero girlfriends.</span>

He was shown in the War of Light. That big two page spread future peak.

And I still think cats are mean.

I do seem to recall Geoff Johns wrote Carol pretty decently. This is the same guy, of course, who wrote Kyle decently. And John. And GUY GARDNER, for cryin' out loud!

His track record with Hal has been about average, though... (him joining the armed forces, and going into combat without his ring, etc... it's gotta make you shake your head, especially after the previous 15 years).


Even so, I still have those Len Wein-Dave Gibbons issues clearly in my mind, and the Steve Englehart-Joe Staon issues that followed...

^^^ That's not Carol you were disliking in those issues prof. It was the Predator.

Wow, i've always liked carol. Hell, I even married a woman NAMED Carol, lol.

Yeah, there were some bad times for her character, but honestly, it was the writing at the time because entire stories were bad at those times, not just the characters.

First time i ever remember seeing her was the thanksgiving dinner with Hal, Ollie and Dinah. She rocked that dress and was a major hottie. Liked her ever since, dispite the bad storylines, marriage, kids and whatever.

Cowgirls cute, but Carol's the bee's knee's.

Don't be shy Blackula, let your voice be heard. We are the fans of Carol, and we shall unleash Uncle Space upon the non-believers!!!

It's amazing how that whole mess sticks out in my mind the way it does. Wein & Gibbons came up with this terrific character (hero? villain? what?) the Predator. But Len also had Carol give Hal the "ultimatum", and he was stupid enough to pick HER over the Corps. Then, because Dave wanted to do space stories, not dull boring Earthbound stories, he left... and Len decided, on a whim, "Hey, I think I'll leave, too!" Right on the MIDDLE of a story. (JUST as he had done when he broke up the F.F. That's some track-record...)

Steve Englehart decided it was time to "explain" (reconcile) DECADES of bad writing. With Fred Hembeck's help on research (it's true!) he succeeded admirably. EXCEPT... the one thing he did that had me shaking my head in dismay, was revealing that not only was Carol Star Saphire, she was also The Predator. WTF???

Frankly, I was happy to see her go. Arisia has long been my #1 favorite GL anyway.



It really says something for his die-hard determination that Gerard Jones, once he committed to straigthening out Hal's life (which had been REPEATEDLY F***** over by multiple writers & editors, ESPECIALLY Denny "drag 'em thru the mud" O'Neil), not only cured Carol of Star Saphire, he then, about a year-and-a-half later, "fixed" the ONE thing Steve Englehart did that I really DID NOT like. Wow! And THIS was the writer who got kicked off the book less than a year later because the new editor, Kevin Dooley, went POWER-MAD (it probably had something to do with Sinestro and some alien life-force corrupting the power battery-- heh).


Anyway, it blows my mind that GL of late has been one of the BEST-WRITTEN books from DC-- after decades of it being way the other way.

Prof, I don't know the circumstances of Len Wein's departure from GL, but I do know he exited Marvel altogether very abruptly and acrimoniously, hence his leaving FF and all his other books in mid-story. Breaks my heart that he didn't get to finish using all the Hulk's classic villains.

I just caught up with GL post-Sinestro Corps from the Alpha Lanterns thru Secret Origins and the Rage one-shot.

Wow! Alpha Lanterns was decent, but Geoff really knocked it out of the park with Origins! Though I will admit to slight dismay over Hal's history being revised again (fairly recently after Emerald Dawns I and II), it was a terrific story, and I liked the incorporating of Hector Hammond and Black Hand. It also made me wonder, though, how the origins of those two and Sinestro had played out originally.

Was Hammond altered by Abin's ship? How did Black Hand originally get his powers? When exactly was Sinestro revealed to have been an ex-GL? Was it before Emerald Dawn? And how was Hal originally indoctrinated into the Corps? (I'm fairly sure that only Abin appeared in the classic origin story.)

But the story was really excellent. I especially enjoyed the looks at Hal's childhood in the first part and the exploration of his father and his ties with Carl Ferris. For the record, I loved Carol here, too, and have always been a fan of hers except when the writers force Star Sapphire on her.

And, gawd, Ivan Reis's art was even more gorgeous here than it was during the Sinestro Corps War arc! Absolutely stunning! He and Geoff have just GOTTA stay together on GL forever!

Side note: haters of Emerald Dawn had to have been pleased with the omission of the drunk-driving stuff.

Still, Origin felt incomplete. I would've liked to see Sinestro's story continue, so we could see his downfall. Maybe that part of Emerald Dawn is still intact? For that matter, is there anyone with a good memory (or handy copies) who can delineate how much of Origin is consistent with ED and how much is contradicted?

As for Rage, this was a nice opening salvo in this latest chapter of the Lantern spectrum saga. I loved Shane Davis's art here a lot! In fact his Hal was really evocative of Neal Adams' Hal in a good way, I thought! Very attractive Cowgirl by Shane, as well! (Geoff really needs to develop her more if she's to compete with Carol in our hearts, though)

I'd like to see more of how the Reds differ from the Sinestro Corps, though. Yeah, they're more (supposedly righteously) angry while the Sinestros are more sadistic, but I'd like to see more delineation. Otherwise, it almost seems like they should be teaming up. I'm sure the rest of the arc will show this more, though. (Is GL 36 late?!?!)

It's a great time to be a GL fan! It's nothing less than the DCU's best title right now!

Lardy, Sinestro's history as a former GL was revealed in his very first appearance in GL #7 during the early Silver Age. I believe this is only the second time the Guardians of the Universe appeared. Sinestro also has allies in the Weaponers of Qward, who were a big recurring group of enemies for GL in his early days. From the beginning Sinestro was played up as a totalitarian despot type. Its actually a pretty cool story, I reccomend it if you can ever find it in its various forms of print.

Stealth wrote:
"Prof, I don't know the circumstances of Len Wein's departure from GL, but I do know he exited Marvel altogether very abruptly and acrimoniously, hence his leaving FF and all his other books in mid-story. Breaks my heart that he didn't get to finish using all the Hulk's classic villains."

Is THAT what it was? I know a LOT of people left Marvel "very abruptly and acrimnoniously". You'd think Jim Shooter was a "recruiter" for DC!

I just recall how he started a year-long story where the FF broke up, then left in the middle, and his buddy Marv had to finish it. Later, he did a story where Hal quit the GLC-- then left in the middle, and Steve Englehart had to finish it.

Oh well, at least he finished his 3-YEAR-long story in SPIDER-MAN!

I dunno, he seems to have had a better track record as an editor than writer...




EMERALD DAWN went thru at least 2 writers (and possibly 2 editors). Jim Owsley quit after only writing the 1st episode, because Andy Helfer replaced Denny O'Neil as editor. Gerard Jones came on as new writer, but, Keith Giffen did the layouts on those issues, so it's possible Jones had nothing to do with plotting them. You know, come to think of it, if I had to guess, I'D say the "drunk driving" thing was probably O'NEIL's idea!

I didn't like the whole insane idea of Hal being IN JAIL while being trained to be a GL-- seems like something's just "wrong" there, doesn't it? On the other hand, I did like the idea of Sinestro having the job of training him, and Hal finding out how the guy-- who was so revered among the Corps-- had been ABUSING his power, and it led to his downfall. It gave a real reason for his hatred of Hal, blaming HIM for the Guardians finding out about what he was up to.

In the long run, any fans who actually have complete runs of these characters are bound to me MORE confused than those who only read stories from certain periods!

What a spectacular book Green Lantern Corps is right now... I already rea Sinestro Corps War and was close to subscribing, but the storylines followig like Green Lantern Origin did not really sound intersting to me, so I decided to get on board when Blackest Night is starting.

Now this weekend, I read GLC #29 and 30 and... wow! I'm surprised how good those are! Just sent my subscription to my comic book shop, I'm in for the ride for both GL books. I love the stories, the teamwork, and I especially love the coloring. Now that all those colorful Lanterns are going to show up, the coloring is an extremely important variable to tell the story. And in GLC, they really know how to do it.

This is such a pleasant surprise after all the rubbish and pseudointellectual gibberish they have been putting out lately. Hopefully, Didio won't screw it up....

Give him time, my friend.


I occurs to me that as much as i love DC, i would never be able to write for it. After calling didio out on so many things, i think if they ever knew who i was they would likely shoot me

I started picking up GL with "Secret Origin" and now I'm hooked. I've always thought of Hal as the true Green Lantern of Sector 2814. So, now I'm going back and picking up tha back issues I missed (managed to find 8 issues in a 50 cents overstock bin).
Having read Chem's post above, and skimming most of the pages in this thread, I have some questions:
1) Are there any main, recurring characters in GLC?
2) Compared to GL, is it the same, or better?
3) Is it worth getting the back issues on it?

Opinions appreciated.

1) Kyle Rayner, Kilowog, Guy Gardner, and several new Lanterns, of which Soranik Natu (of Korugar) gets the most face time.

2) It's a lot more space opera than GL; the writing is more consistently good than GL, but the artwork is not as good as in GL.

3) Yes.

GLC is great, and its definitely worth getting the back issues. Both books are of excellent quality and different enough that they compliment each other quite well.

Having just started picking up GLC with the current storyline, I was wondering if it'll be worth it to pick up ALL the GLC trades going back to Recharge. A lot of the anecdotes I've heard seem to imply GLC is better under Tomasi than with Gibbons (while not specifically saying the Gibbons stuff was bad). Should I concentrate on the Tomasi stuff since there are so many trades across the board that I want to pick up? Thoughts?

Also, am I remembering right that there are now 2 GLs per sector (making it so each one has a "partner")?

Tomasi has been impressive thus far, but IMO Gibbons was equally impressive. I think its been top notch all the way through to be honest, so you can't go wrong with what you pick up.

And yeah, you got it right Lardy, now there are (2) GL's per sector, so each one has a partner. I especially like Soranik Natu's partner, and I loved Mogo's partner. Hal & John are the GL's of Earth's sector.

Guy & Kyle are a special type of Lantern above the rest. Guy is a 'trouble-shooter' Lantern with no partner or sector.

Also, Ion (Sodom Yat) and Arisia are paired up usually but I don't think they're officially partners. Arisia is keeping a watch on Sodom Yat while he adjuts to the Ion power.

One of my surprise favorite Green Lantern from GLC? Stel. This is the perfect series to find obscure favorites for, and they usually appear semi-regularly.

Dave Gibbons, going way back, has always been a better artist and storyteller than a writer. On GLC, the issues withy Patrick Gleason art were visually spectacular, but often, you could not tell what the heck you were looking at or what was going on. By comparison, any time Gibbons "filled in" on the art, the book was 10 TIMES better. The story where Guy Gardner went on vacation remains my favorite of the entire run.

Lardy, I suggest getting all the GLC trades including Recharge. There's not a bad story in the bunch.

And get the (Gibbons-written) Rann-Thanagar War trade, too, if you haven't read that.

Gibbons is a very underrated writer IMO.

Where was it explained what exactly an "ION" character is?

Correct me if I'm wrong guys, but, AFOB...the "Ion", I believe, is the keeper/host of the (for lack of a better word) avatar of the green energy. Similarly, Parallax is the host of the avatar of the yellow energy.

Is that essentially correct? Stealth, Cobester, etc.?

Yeah, that's pretty much correct.

Kyle Raynor became Ion because the Guardians see him as "The Keeper of the Flame" and (1) trusted him and (2) wanted to 'reward' him with this more serious duty. We finally learned all this in the Sinestro Corps special.

The Ion 'avatar'/entity now resides within Sodom Yat (the Daxamite Green Lantern) making him more powerful.

Of course the name comes from the Judd Winnick story several years ago (late 90's?). But essentially its now the green equivalent to the yellow Parallax.

Thanks guys!

I just now (finally!) got around to reading HARVEY KURTZMAN'S STRANGE ADVENTURES, an all-new collection of stories from him from 1990 which feature a variety of different artists (including himself), a sort of modern-day (for 1990) version of MAD magazine-- in hardcover on slick paper-- and one of the stories was "THE SUPER SURFER", with art by Dave Gibbons. In one scene, there's a whole slew of recognizable super-heroes all taking part in various contests, and among them, the entire cast of THE WATCHMEN! (How often is it that the artist of a book gets to also draw a parody of the same characters?)

Just got the latest GL, #36, and Ivan Reis continues to impress. This is some of his best work yet.

Possible spoilers, so be warned.

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Blue lantern? Somehow, i just can't see that for Hal. Green is always gonna be the bellweather for Lanterns. And Hal is the shitez.

Guy is that fun blockhead that you knew when you were a teenager and into trouble, mostly minor stuff that was made to seem the absolute horrible end by adults.

John...is the way to stuffy and overly serious.

Kyle...sorry, he's always gonna be a lightweight navel gazer to me.

And Alan...well, Alan is the first, the man outta time.

But Hal, Hal has that certain swagger, that right stuff quality that todays angst driven self-centered media just loves to belittle and wallow in.

Can't see him becoming the Blue. Gotta be Green!

Gotta agree about Hal. If there's one thing about him, he's got that "They said no. I am therefore going anyway" attitude. He then proceeds to wreak havoc and justice upon the bad guys.
I always heard blue as a color was used as a calming color, exuding tranquility and peace.

That ain't Hal Jordan.

While Ollie was always the provacatuer to me (I found him in the early JLA and O'Neil era stuff) Hal is the guy that will light a crap bomb and drop in the pile when he sees the need, a blunt instrument that forces results. And for all that, if folks go back and look, he is also pretty smart. Air Force pilots aren't stupid, not to pass the tests and get into the flight program.

I am interested to see who would play Hal/ GL if the Green Lantern movie ever sees the light of day. Speculation? As for me, I am not sure who should but I know who should NOT-Matthew McConaughey.

Whoever is chosen, I hope they stick to the latest trend of choosing someone based first and foremost on acting talent. There were rumors of Ryan Gossling a little while ago, and while he certainly doesn't look the part, that's the way to go - someone known to have talent, but not someone so famous that it would be distracting.

Dennis Quaid would've been perfect years ago, but I can't think of who would be really good right now.

Just read the latest GLC that guested a Star Sapphire. Good stuff. Minor spoiler...

Lotsa green rings coming in on that last page. Could this be leading into the fracturing of the Corps that Abin was worried about and that Sinestro has been angling for?

Okay, just read the latest GL-Faces of Evil with Laira, and I am starting to have the same problem with GL as i used to have with Geoff's Flash...it's too damn good! I'm running out of superlatives to give it for writing and art, and even coloring and inking.

Look, I know we all same some problems with his Legion, everyone that writes Legion has problems at some point, there is simply TOO MUCH history to not have some problems, but Geoff's GL and Flash have been spot on for years now.

I may have not been all that interested in his GL origins, but i see where he was going. And where he is going is gonna be one helluva ride if its anything like this.


I am not going to spoil anything other than to say Hal Jordan may be the most Wanted Man in the Universe.


Great Issue.

It was a good read. But the... force-feeding of Kyle's next relationship doesn't sit well with me. Rather than have it grow out of character stories, it's been jump started with a bit of prophesy.

Rick, think any of the regular cast will put on a different uniform?

SPOILER!
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For anyone who is interested, The Superman Homepage has a picture of two of the Black Lanterns (action figures), <span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text"> Earth 2 Superman Kal-L and Martian Manhunter</span></span> , as well as several others. Thanks to Steve Younis, et al at THe Superman Homepage. Here \'tis.

Hey, CJ. Oddly enough, i can think of two that might change rings, given the right circumstances. John Stewart and the Doctor, i can't remember her name off the top of my head.

But, i think both of those could go blue. I think it would work for John in making him stand out from the others since he tends to get lost in the shuffle and i remember his turn on mosaic.
As for the doctor, i think it would be a nice twist on her character.

#37. Another smokin' issue with another 2 page layout good enough to be a poster! Ivan Reis ROCKS!

Yes.

Yes, Ivan does rock.

He does, indeed.

Just started picking up GLC and I have to throw in with the fans. Good stuff. As I've stated before I'm not that big of a fan of Johns. He has his occasional moments but I generally think he's overrated (I know some of you love him, I'm not trying to start any fights).

Tomasi on the other hand has me absolutely hooked and that Patrick Gleason's art is pretty... dare I say it?... stellar. So much so that I went back and bought several back-issues.

I wonder there are two more colors that are missing from the "spectrum": white and Pink!

I expect that all the lanterns will eventually have to come together to battle the Riotous Return of the Rainbow Raider, Roy G. Biv!

It's looking sort of like *Hal* will be the new Rainbow Raider. He's already been a Green, Red and Blue Lantern.

I've never been a huge GL fan, but I am mostly enjoying the various new corps and the characters populating them.

The Star Sapphire corps disturbs me most-- love as the motivating factor for what's traditionally been a villainess? Odd... but compelling. Does this corps rise above the old Sapphire's persona into something aligned with hope and willpower? Or does it fall closer to the negative Red?

I loved the artwork on Scar during the Origins & Omens part. Truly disturbing.

I haven't been reading it, but you can find out more about the Star Sapphire Corps in recent issues of "Green Lantern Corps". I hope there are some male members of the SSC - guys believe in love too ....

There is a Green Lantern animated movie due out on July 28, 2009. CBR has the info and promo images. Interesting that it does not mention Carol Ferris, though.

I didn't get the Batman (six vignettes with manga style stuff, no thanks) and haven't gotten the Wonder Woman yet, but I will since the wife and son like her.

Now, with GL getting his own movie, It should only be a matter of time for the Flash movie. And yeah, I do think that Doogie Howser himself should do the voice for Flash. He did a fantastic job in New Frontiers.

Still waiting on the real Teen Titans Judas Contract movie.

I got the Batman one, but I kinda wish I hadn't. It wasn't as Manga as a lot of stuff I hate-Dragonball Z, Pokemon and such, but I watched it once and haven't watched it since. Wish I had rented it.

As for Wonder Woman-I am not sure. Even (or especially?) at my age I feel funny buying a female super hero movie. I know, I'm being silly.

I've heard great things about the Wonder Woman movie, but haven't picked it up yet.

Batman, well, I think I liked one or two of the stories. It wasn't bad, but I feel like in a lot of anime they animators or so impressed by how pretty everything looks that there is too much "dead time". I really felt some of those would have done better with a quicker pace or less silence.

That's because almost the entire thing takes place in space.
For more, here's the official site:
Green Lantern Animated

Thanks, Drake! This looks like it could be amazing. I kinda wish they had gotten Dennis Haysbert ("Are you in good hands with Allstate?") or Michael Clarke Duncan ("The Green Mile") to do Kilowog. Maybe they'll alter Michael Madsen's voice.

So, you guys know those wacky ol' Black Lanterns?

#39-- and the full-fledged debut of the Orange Lantern, who turns out to be much more shades of gray than out-and-out villainous, as I thought this shade would be.

Making the introductory Orange Lantern a dragon-like being was a nice touch. A dragon with a reason to be angry with the Guardians of Oa. A reason that I think readers are meant to be symapthetic towards.

I hope some of these characters survive with Lantern-colors intact. I don't know about entire corps for each-- but can the genii be put back in the bottle?

Anyway, I like the elephantine Blue Lantern quite a bit-- and the Star Sapphires are the most intriguing of the corps, for me. Though we've yet to see the Indigo or Black spectral corps yet.

GLC #35-- Anyone else getting a tad impatient for the Light War/Black Lantern stuff to really begin?

Crowds of alien lanterns of whatever hue are always fun for a bit. There's some of that here. Sinestro's daughter gets a nice couple of pages-- so does Sodam Yat and his insane senatorial father. After reading Daxamites here, I can sort of see how Darkseid exploited them in the Great Darkness, if the current DCU has any relationship to that unCrisised timeline.

It shows that the creators of this and the GL title are fully invested in the story they're telling. I wish it'd hurry up just a *tad*, but otherwise, I'm enjoying it-- as are bunches of DC readers, apparently.

Lyssa Drak cameo in GLC # 35! YAY!

GREEN LANTERN #40: So all the members of the Orange Lantern are energy constructs that are available once the original individuals have been killed by Orange Lantern? Cold- but kind of cool.

I wonder how much of the Orange Lanterns are still themselves - since they're dead, are they susceptable to the Black Lantern's influence?

It's weird, but what Larfleeze does is similar to both Highlander and Freddy Krueger.

A: He kills people, then steals their souls and their identities, turning them into constructs that live inside the lantern, thereby "owning" them. (Krueger murders people, then absorbs their souls to make himself stronger. Although they usually appear as faces on his chest)

B: There can be only one Orange Lantern.

So is Larfleeze an Orange Lantern, or is he the Parallax/Ion of the Orange Light?

He's the only Orange Lantern. Orange is "avarice" and he's too greedy to share his power. Instead, everyone he kills becomes a construct of his greed, acting on his behalf. Or, at least, that's how I understand it to be meant.

I thought of that too. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case and we'll eventually learn that.

I'm loving the latest issues of GL by the way. Its top notch like no one's business. So much going on, and almost all of it just awesome.

I'm pretty sure there's only one Orange Lantern and there will only ever be one 'cause the "emotion" (if it can really be called that) is avarice/greed. If I understand the idea of him (and that is questionable in and of itself) everyone he kills becomes a construct/conduit for his power, so perhaps in that way he's the Ion/Parallax of his color. Still, I think he's the only one who will ever be a Lantern until such time that he is killed/incapacitated.

Wow, that's kind of confusing. >< I hope it's expanded upon in the crossover.

I love the Red Lantern that looks like a seriously pissed-off cat.

I don't mind having different colored lanterns associated with their own traits, but I wish they would stop saying that the lanterns' powers are keyed to "emotions." A number of the "emotions" for DC's R-O-Y-G-B-I-V spectrum aren't emotions at all. While some might be debatable, "willpower" generally isn't considered an emotion, and "death" certainly isn't one.

GL #41-- Fatality makes her debut (I think) in her new role. Orange Lantern's origin is revealed. The issue ends with these frightening words "Larfleeze of Ogatoo. Welcome to the Blue Lantern Corps."

Now *that* was unexpected.

So my old buddy Mike and I just started hanging out- he got in touch with me on FB because our 20th HS reunion is next month. We got talking comics on one of his visits, specifically his GL addiction, and I mentioned the 75% discount I had on Blackest Night #1 thru DCBS along with my regular 40%.

Long story short, I'm ordering all the GL titles for him, at least through BN. I'm ordering copies of BN and GL for myself, but I'll read all his stuff before he gets it...

Since they have the Black Lantern Corps and is not a part of the "Spectrum" (ROYGBIV) then dare I expect that we may see another color to show up which is opposite of Black - White?!?!? White Lantern? Whiteout??? what? hmmm.

It takes every color of the spectrum to make white... so it'll probably take the combined efforts of all the Corps to defeat the Black Lanterns.

Black Lantern Mogo?

Personally, about the whole white thing, people don't notice that the colors counteract one another.

Red/Violet - Rage/Love
Orange/Indigo - Greed/Compassion
Yellow/Blue - Fear/Hope
Green/Black - Willpower/Death

The guardians said they chose the color green because it's the color of life. The center against the outside of the spectrum.

The most terrifying Black Lantern of them all!

By Tom Zahler at http://thomz.com/wordpress/?p=1442

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Ah, so that's what's holding up Ambush Bug #6....

I know, right?

Re: Green Lantern #43 - Fantastic issue! Loved it!

Doug Mahnke's art has come a LOOOOOOONNNNGGG way since I first saw it on JLA (or wherever it was). His work here was exceptional. I'm so happy he's the new regular artist on this title so I can see it every month.

The story was great too. I'm a huge fan of B-C-D-etc-List villains so I'm really glad to see Black Hand getting his moment in the sun at last. Could've done without some of the blood however. A bit much what.

My favourite parts though were the cameos by Evil Star and the Predator. Evil Star was the villain in the first GL story I ever read so I've got a bit of a soft spot for him and it's so exciting to see him obviously being set up as a Big Bad somewhere down the line. And the Predator twist was such a revelation and a true testament to what Geoff Johns does best - prove that with a little TLC any character or concept in comics can work, no matter how "uncool". I can't believe how natural the Predator reveal felt and yet I totally didn't see it coming.

This book continues to prove itself to be quite possibly the best GL comic ever and almost definitely the best book in the DCU right now.

I am totally psyched for Blackest Night now.

I strongly agree Blacula! This was a great issue and shows that amongst the cosmic hoo-ha that's been the focus of GL of late, Johns can still give us an exceptional character piece. I didn't mind the blood since it seemed appropriate to this particular story and Black Hand's fascination with death and corpses.

I was also excited about Evil Star's brief appearance and how it actually tied into the Gremlins. (it doesn't seem like this was the original plan, but I'm all for it) I always thought Evil Star had a lot of potential, especially for GL because he was an extraterrestrial threat of substantial power who had the benefit of not being GLC related. I've long thought Hal's rogues were too earth-centric and not really powerful enough to challenge a GL.

Regarding the Predator, I had the exact same reaction - well said!

And oh yeah - Mahnke's awesome! I thought Tan was overrated; too sloppy and overworked for my tastes.

I also agree on all points. I just wish Geoff could either try to write the Legion this well...or leave them alone.

Here's the text from a BBC article:

Reynolds to play Green Lantern

Reynolds is currently starring in The Proposal
Ryan Reynolds has been cast as the Green Lantern in a new comic book adaptation, according to Hollywood industry magazine, Variety.
Reynolds, 32, recently played the character Deadpool opposite Hugh Jackman in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
If the new deal goes ahead, it would make Reynolds the only male actor to have played heroes for comic rivals Marvel and DC.
Reynolds married actress Scarlett Johansson in 2008.
He is currently starring opposite Sandra Bullock in The Proposal, which topped the US box office.
Bradley Cooper, who stars in The Hangover, and music star Justin Timberlake also did a screen test for the role of the superhero who is armed with a magical ring.
The film is being directed by Martin Campbell, who was at the helm of 2006's Casino Royale.
A spinoff movie for Reynold's Deadpool character is also in development.

Nice!

Juan

Because I am in an increasingly curmudgeonly mood about Green Lantern, I cross post my negative comments from the "Blackest Night" thread:

I wish Johns and DC all success, and I might still pick it up, but I'm in a very cross-over negative frame of mind -- anything that tries to get me to buy more comics makes me mad, at this point. I don't blame DC for wanting me to buy more comics -- it is their business. But I don't WANT to buy MORE comics. I want to read a few really good comics about my favorite characters. And I do feel that the last many months of GL and GLC, while having some good moments, have been aimless and uninteresting, as Hal's only characterization is $h!t happening TO him. Most troubling seems to be the loss of Hal's interior "voice" in the last few months. He seems like a cypher. Anyway, please feel free to convince me I'm being needlessly negative.

That girly voice of his doesn't make me think: star faring superhero.

He was fine in Two Guys but didn't like him in Blade, though at least that was comic relief. Deadpool was laughable. Reynolds is becoming the new Cage/Jackson, guys that seem to think if it's comic related, they got to be in it but can't pull it off.

We'll probably get an awesome interlude that reinvents Dr Regulus, making him a fascinating character before rejoining the Legion as set-pieces to Johns's latest franchise rejuvenation.

I'm not about to disagree. I've long thought that the "Green Lantern" title has been more about Johns's reinvention of the franchise more than anything else. Second to that, the star has been Sinestro. Third would be Hal because he gets the most page-time and the "Secret Origin" interlude. I really liked Johns's take on Hal and his early life - I just wish he saw these stories as being "Hal Jordan stories" more than "DCU stories that reinvent the GLC where Hal Jordan is kinda there."

I think the storyline has been good, but I agree on the crossovers. I REFUSE to buy anything away from my main titles that is a "Prelude to Blackest Night," "Now with 10% More Blackest Night," or some nonsense like that. On an on it goes. I love GL, but I'm getting annoyed.

On a positive note (for me at least), the GL Animated DVD comes out July 28.

Anyone pick up the Darkest Night Corps book? I found it a mixed bag. I liked (in a pained sort of way) the Saint Walker story, and wasn't so fond of the Mongul story and was perplexed, but intrigued by the Indigo Tribe story.

I'm not sure I like the inference that compassion is primitive.

I picked it up ML and thought it was only 'OK'.

While all three of the artists did a very good job I found the writing in all three stories to be somewhat disappointing.

None of them were 'bad' as such but none of them felt particularly original (except maybe the Indigo one) or interesting either, and for the price of this issue they were all way too light-weight as well! I actually felt kinda ripped off when I got to the end.

I'm in for the next two issues though so I hope things improve.

Well, I caught up on GL and GLC and its a little hard to really put into words how awesome and incredibly I think they've been. Both titles are firing on all cylinders.

I'm loving the entire War of Light storyline, and I love the usage of all four Earth Lanterns plus all the others; Carol Ferris; Sinestro and so many others.

Agent Orange is really just an awesome addition to the mythos.

Drake is correct in the real star of John's run is the GL mythos itself. And I find that very appealing! He's done simply an amazing job.

The series is too close to perfect for additional comments.

I just read Tales of the Corps #1-3 in one sitting and wasn't sure if I should post here or in the Blackest Night thread, but decided here as really only one story is more BN than GL.

My overall impression? This was a pretty damn excellent collection of short stories, and I highly recommend it to anyone. Non-GL fans will love it too I think but GL fans are in for a serious treat.

The artwork was spectacular all the way through, and each short story really takes advantage of being in a short story format. To the point, a sense of poignancy at the close, and enough there to really drive home the characterization of the lead.

The highlights:

(1) The Kilowog story by Tomasi was the best of the bunch. An absolutely terrific story and potentially my favorite Kilowog story of all time. Tomasi also shows Kilowog and Tomar Re joining the Corps together and Sinestro's famous status established by that time--I love this sort of thing.

(2) Arisia, one of my favorite females in comics, also has an excellent story that just really gets across her personality well. It reaffirmed that my crush on her is still there . The enthusiasm she has for one day being a GL is perfect, and they continue to make her personality as attractive as her distinct look.

(3) The Blackest Night commentary with Geoff and the edtitors is actually pretty cool too. They give some really good insight!

By the way the three I just listed are all in #3.

Other good things:

(4) Carol Ferris has a story that doesn't really show much new things happening but reaffirms that she has big things happening.

(5) The Indigo tribe seems to be intriguing.

(6) The Bleez Red Lantern story was tragic; I hope maybe more could be done with her character now and maybe she can one day find a life post-Red Lantern. They gave her more persoanlity in 8 pages than some character have gotten in 30 years.

(7) The Orange Lantern story with art by Tom Mandrake was suberb, and another big highlight. It was actually really excellent--I think so much so that its a worthy successor to the Atomic Age 1950's DC sci-fi series.

(8) Ethan Van Scrier gives a cool commentary on the designs for the various color emblems.

The only two stories I didn't really dig were the Mongul story because I'm sick of him and the Saint Walker story which felt a little boring. Go figure, those are the first two, which is probably why it took me this long to reading them. So don't let those two stories scare you. If anything buy #2 and #3, which contain some excellent stuff.

with the revelation in Blackest Night : Titans #1 - hmmm maybe Dove will be a White Lantern??

Heh. There have been the "white lantern" threads all over the GL boards at DC.

Right now, its a great storyline, but it isn't so much a Hal storyline. So while I am enjoying it, I am also looking forward to returning to some Hal focused stuff.

And of all the mini's to spin out of it, I have the GLC mini and of course BN. I wasn't going to buy any others, and told my LCS not to get them for me.

However...

Titans BN: I was looking through it and....DOVE! Dawn Granger. I've loved this character since she debuted and have actually been calling for her return. And there she was in all her platinum haired, blue-butted glory. She's like the ultimate girl next door little sisters cute friend that grows up into a stunner and knocks your socks off after having not seen her in 5 years. Smart, funny, quick witted and capable while being attractive. Love the entire package. So yeah, I'm getting this one too.

Well, most people are probably posting their thoughts on GL's latest issues in the Blackest Night thread, but that's a little unfair because while the main Blackest Night's quality may be debatable, I think no one can argue that the latest issues of Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps of bee nothing short of excellent. The huge cast of both titles have had chances to shine across the board; the action has been non-stop and every issue has several character bits throughout.

In the main GL title, John Stewart recently had his own solo issue dealing with the undead citizens of Xanshi and Katma Tui. On one hand I’m so tired of reading about Xanshi and John, but on the other hand, it was a pretty solid story. The basic theme was “moving on” and I hope that’s the case. Geoff Johns really seems to have a good hold on John Stewart’s character and I think he writes him as a great compliment to Hal, who is effectively his partner. Neither takes away from the other’s sense of courage or strength yet each is quite different.

Over in GLC, each issue continues to be a treat. Kyle Rayner, who was obviously not going to stay dead, is quickly brought back after letting Kyle fans online have a good month to go crazy. The way it happened was a little “eh, whatever” but it did continue to build on the romance between Soranik and Kyle, which I like. Soranik Natu has just become such a great character in the GL mythos. Meanwhile, Guy Garnder naturally falls prey to a red power ring and becomes a Red Lantern—another not so surprising turn of events yet dynamic and fun to watch nonetheless. I like how Guy and Kyle’s friendship is so strong here and they’ve formed a bond as equal to or stronger than Hal and John. Of course, Kilowog and the rest are awesome to watch and that’s what makes GLC so damn good these days: so many diverse characters being showcased every issue.

I can’t recommend either title enough. The GL franchise is probably the best ‘franchise’ in comics these last few years and only getting stronger. They are definitely DC-Central's best #1 and #2 comic books.

I wish Guy's run as a Red Lantern ran longer than Kyle's death. Knowing Guy, this isn't that far fetched a development. And he's spent so much time ranting against the Guardians in the past, you'd think Atrocitus was stealing his lines. I'd like to see the rainbow of rings-slingers stick around and see how the GLC handles them.

You know, if DC started a new title post-BN starring Guy called "Red Lantern", I'd be on board. I'm surprised they haven't thought about that (or maybe they did?). I'd dislike the disruption of the current GLC series, which really benefits from Guy's interaction with the rest of the GL's, but the premise of an ongoing Red Lantern Guy could be cool (particularly if Tomasi did that one and GLC at the same time).

I also hope to see the rainbow of ring-slingers stick around post-BN. Particularly Larfleeze and Atrocitus, who are great new villains in GL lore.

I enjoyed Green Lantern 43 a lot. As I've said elsewhere here, BN works best when it's fun! Even with all the heavy goings-on here, it was a fun issue to read. Guy as a Red Lantern wasjust off the chain! Most guy fans like myself would itch to see Guy really cut loose, and this was one of those rare opportunities. It was quite comical in a way but really cool.

It was also fun seeing Soranik and the others rally around Kyle and do their best to a) keep Kyle from being claimed by a Black Lantern ring (which I thought would happen) and b) revive him. It was pretty unexpected for a Star Sapphire to intervene and save the day, so unexpected that it was all the more fun!

Epic adventures like Blackest Night should always have an element of fun at their core. The tie-ins that get it right, like this one, always keep that element in mind.

I should also mention that I really enjoy Pat Gleason's art. His art is reminiscent of Mike Mignola and Kevin Nowlan, but still retains its own distinct flair. Pat's perfect for this title, and I hope he doesn't end his tenure any time soon!

Yeah, I also am really enjoying Pat Gleason's art here, and shame on me for not saying so in my above posts.

He definitely has a distinct flair that keeps GLC very exciting. I hope he stays for the long haul.

Oh, uh, did you guys see what Guy made with his ring?

http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2010/01/14/dcu-in-2010-tomasi-extends-exclusive-with-dc/

That's sweet.

Yeah, but I'm pretty sure it's AFTER Blackest Night. That ring ain't coming off anytime soon.

It looks like it's from the next issue of "GLC" so I'm inclined to think Guy's going to ditch the Red Ring by story's end. (although it'd be kinda cool for him to keep it)

Re "Green Lantern #50" -- I liked this a lot! We see how the "New Guardians" cope with the new rings, (there's a lot more Scarecrow action that I would've expected) Hal goes toe to jaw with the Spectre and of course ... Parallax! Since we know Hal isn't going to be Parallax for long, I'm interested to see what happens next issue rather than running screaming into the night. After months of just kinda tagging aloing and simply watching things unfold around himm, Hal takes the lead and dives in like the hero we know!

And I disagree with the Spectre's assessment that Hal simply doesn't consider consequences. I think it's that he understands the consequences of *inaction.*

CAtching up on this book. Picked up #43 - #51. Wow. This helps with Blackest Night a lot. Great art and supporting story.

The Black Hand centered issue was great.

The last Pete Tomasi issue came out and served as both a Blackest Night epilogue and a great reminder at all Pete has accomplished on this series, and how when he took over from Gibbons he actually took it to the next level, where it truly competes with GL in quality every month.

We get great scenes for Guy, Kyle, Kilowog, Salaak, Arisia, Vath & Isamot, Soranik and Princess Iolande. All of them have become favorites. I even got to see one of my personal favorites, Stel, have a great scene. (Does this mean no more Alpha-Lanterns? He looked different).

The friendship between Kyle & Guy has really grown over the course of this series and I'm a big fan of it. I hope that stays that way for a long time. I also love Soranik as Kyle's love interest. I hope no one gets the silly, stupid idea of having Kyle go back to Jade; lets leave the past in the past there, as Soranik really adds a lot to Kyle, IMO and shows how the character has matured.

Vath & Isamot are two faves of mine and I liked that they had a solid scene. Loved the scolding Iolande gave them.

Arisia punching a Guardian--love it.

On the one hand, I'm sad to see Pete leaving but he's not going far, having a third GL title and taking Guy and Kilowog with him. I hope he keeps any GL's from here that aren't used by Bedard front and center. I'm hopeful Tony Bedard can add his own touch here and keep the quality level high. Most of all, I hope Bedard builds on what Pete Tomasi has done (who built on Gibbons stories) and keep things moving forward for these characters.

Cannot wait for Guys book. Him, Kill (my fave GL), and Arisia.

Be sure to tell me about it.

I didn't realize Arisia was going to be in it too. She's in my top 10 greatest comic book crushes, and I still have a big soft spot for her. I think Pete has totally gotten her exactly right on his run so I'm glad he'll keep writing her.

GREEN LANTERN: EMERALD WARRIORS #1
Written by PETER J. TOMASI
Art by FERNANDO PASARIN
Cover by RODOLFO MIGLIARI
1:25 variant cover by LEE BERMEJO
BRIGHTEST DAY! A whole new chapter in the epic GREEN LANTERN saga gets under way as Guy Gardner begins his secret mission for Atrocitus, bringing him into conflict with Hal Jordan with massive repercussions for the Green Lantern Corps!
Guy takes fellow Emerald Warriors Kilowog and Arisia along as he explores the Unknown Sectors — but what happens when they discover his mission and what’s waiting for them in the unpatrolled darkness?
Retailers please note: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the Previews Order Form for more information.
On sale AUGUST 11 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US

Tony Bedard steps into GLC and the transition feels totally seemless just like when Tomasi took over from Gibbons. Everything keeps moving right along and the quality is as strong as ever.

Ganthet becoming a more active member of the cast is very welcome and I'm looking forward to his interactions with Kyle, John and the rest. John Stewart having a more high profile role is also something I'm glad to see. Same goes for Stel, a personal favorite of mine.

It also appears the Alpha-Lanterns as a story concept may be on the verge of being wrapped up and I wouldn't mind if that happened. I thought it was interesting for a bit but seeing that plotline end could be equally as interesting.

Meanwhile in the main GL comic, things continue along nicely. My one complaint I want to get out of the way is I wouldn't mind seeing Hal be Hal for awhile now. I feel like he's been in costume for an entire year now (real world time). Same goes for Carol--it wouldn't seem right if she was Star Sapphire permanently. One exception to this complaint is that I love the Sinestro/Hal interaction and that makes up for any other feelings I'm having.

The problem with no non-costume time is it feels like there aren't many subplots and that everything is all happening during the course of one day. I'm not a fan of that approach.

Doug Mahnke is now the permanent GL artist and his pencils are just explosive! They are very grandiose and have an energy that is not that common these days but without the overly proportioned bodies of the 90's. The same goes for Ardian Syaf on GLC. The GL comics have become a bigtime flagship property for DC and they are now kind of creating a 'house style' for epic sci-fi superhero comics. I'm enjoying that a bit and it enhances my GL reading experience.

Preview for Guy's new book. Looking forward to this one.

http://www.newsarama.com/php/multimedia/album.php?aid=37032

In this month's issue of GL... tell me you guys saw the leg lamp from A Christmas Story.

The Lobo vs. Atrocitus issue of GL was the action-packed slugfest I expected it to be, and a nice change of pace for an issue. Even though it was firmly within the ‘non-stop cosmic craziness’ mode the title has been in for some time, a slugfest in Manhattan felt in a weird way like it was slowing things down, which I thought was needed. Geoff also reminded me that Lobo can be a fun addition to stories when he’s used very sparingly. Here, he was kind of like Heath Ledger’s Joker in the Dark Knight in that he ripped through the issue and then was gone without much resolution.

And I feel at this point, I must point out in the most intellectual way possible that Carol as Star Sapphire may be the single hottest female in all of comic books. But I suspect the depictions of Hal and others men here are equally appealing for others.

The 4 page Dex-Star back-up was possibly the single best back-up story I’ve seen in ages. I found it equally moving and enraging and now see what all the buzz was about. Dex-Star may be the most awesome character since Groot. As someone who grew up with cats and now has a dog, I found it horrifyingly sad to see his origin and then cheered when I saw the skulls of his prey. Like the most juvenile reader, I delight in seeing bastards get their comeuppance at times.

Yeah, forget the Iron Man/Green Lantern thing Fraction and Johns want to happen--Marvel and DC need to get a Groot/Dex-Star crossover made, STAT!

Johns talked about the Larfleeze holiday special he wants to write.

Then mentioned a Dex-Starr/Krypto Valentine's Day special.

I've been growing a bit tired of the GL mythos ever since the dropped ball that was Blackest Night and was even thinking of dropping the main book like I had dropped GLC (no one kills off a cool, decades-old, non-humanoid [unlike the 99% of other boring GLs who get focus in that book] GL like Chaselon and gets away with it Tomasi!) but I just read the latest two issues back to back and was pleasantly surprised.

I'm warming to Larfleeze (who I initially found to be very one-note and annoying) and really liked his whole Santa Claus fixation, and am also really interested in what the story is with his entity, and how Hector Hammond is going to figure into it.

Plus, as a long-time Carol Ferris-fan it's great seeing her playing such a big, proactive role in the GL stories now. Can't wait to see what the story is with the Predator next-issue. I loved him and his very cool then but quite dated now costume back in the day and consider the big twist...


<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">that HE was really SHE all along</span></span>


... as one of the first big twists in comics to really shock me.

I'm also curious as to who this figure is collecting all the entities (Appa Ali Apsa? Or is that too obvious?) and hope he turns out to be a more threatening villain than the dudsville Nekron was.

I have no interest in buying that Guy Gardner book (especially at that price!) or GLC without Chaselon (or any other non-humanoid Lanterns in featured roles) though and am concerned that DC is beginning to spread the franchise too thin with all these off-shoot books. Isn't that how it's killed off all its other franchises in the past? You'd think it would have learned its lesson by now.

I'm sure DC is aware they stretched the franshise too far before, but I have a feeling they're in the "strike while the iron's hot" mentality where they will bleed GL for all it's worth now then let it rest for while because they have other properties that they can build up after this one cools off.

I'm also looking forward to seeing the Predator again. When he was first introduced I thought it was ludicrous that Green Lantern could be challenged by a hand-to-hand combatant with a bunch of weapons, but integrating him into this new mythos with the various entities opens him up a lot more.

Larfleeze writing Santa was great. The fact that he has been pillaging the town he's in is hilarious to me. Still enjoying the main GL book.

GL Corps, not as much. Gonna drop this soon, and replace with Guy's book. I like Guy and Kill., so that is obviously a no brainer choice for me at this point. Plus, I have been getting into to many books lately and need to cut back.

I'm also going to pick up "Emerald Warriors" in lieu of "GLC" when it comes out. GLC has been hit or miss with me anyway - I picked it up during "Blackest Night" but that's over and the latest issue left me very unimpressed so that's getting dropped.

What's amazing is that he hasn't killed anyone. Yet.

I don't like that it seems as though Kyle, John, Guy, Sodam and that Rannian guy all seem to have the same haricut.

LOL, good point Drake. What's up with that?

So I spent this morning catching up on the various Green Lantern series, including Brightest Day, which is basically a GL spin-off. Now that there is a serious number of GL comics each month, and I like to let them build up over a number of weeks, the GL comics kind of get pushed back in my pile and lumped together, much like I do with Bat-books and X-books (except that the GL comics are generally all of high quality unlike the other two franchises).

I think all three GL comics, including the new Emerald Warriors, are top quality, great comic books right now. They are varying forms of space-opera, sci-fi, action and adventure, all with great lead characters. Each one stands completely on its own but is very linked to the overall mythos & spirit of the franchise.

In a way, I'm reminded a bit of the X-books at the height of their popularity and sales when they were all pretty excellent. The "type" of stories being told are similar, in which the mythos is incredibly central to every storyline, while the focus is through characters both new & old. Also, the artwork reminds me quite a bit of the Image guys when they were on the X-Books, as well as the group of artists who followed, like the Kuberts, Greg Capullo, and others. In my opinion, this comparison is meant to be very complimentary--I'm referring to an era of X-comics when I think the comics were very entertaining and well-done.

The main Green Lantern title continues to be excellent, and Johns had slowed the pace down just a very slight notch, which was very needed, and I think it's helped produce some solid stories lately. The Larfleeze / Hector Hammond storyline has been great in keeping the sometimes goofy Hector Hammond a very serious threat, while also focusing on Larfleeze, who just space-rawks on a level most characters never see. In the meantime, the larger plot is advancing and the other characters, like Carol and Sinestro, are doing things. My previous major complaint, the lack of down time & non-super subplots, remains, but the stories have been good enough where I can let that go for now. Artist Dough Mahnke has a an art style that takes a bit getting used to, but here on GL, I think it just works incredibly well. He draws the ring-induced formations better than possibly anyone ever!

In GL Corps, Tony Bedard and Adrian Syaf are also telling one hell of a story. Good enough, in fact, to justify the existence of the otherwise under-utilized Alpha Lanterns. Bringing in the Cyborg Superman further rounds out the story by creating a firm threat, and the background of Grenda, Stel's homeworld, adds a deeper flavor to the story. Stel is one of my favorites, and I'm enjoying his small role; I also liked the appearance of Honnu and his badass role, and I hope Boodika is soon restored to her former self. Bedard is doing a great job writing Kyle, Soranik and John, and I'm enjoying John being out and interacting with the rest of the Corps here.

For me though, the real star of GL Corps is the Adrian Syaf artwork, as it is simply outstanding!. He reminds me a bit of Andy Kubert, though he definitely has a style all his own. His action sequences are great, the Lantern formations are cool, and the way he does aliens / sci-fi / space opera is incredible. It's a very energetic, larger than life style, and he's quickly made the short list of artists whose comics I would pick up squarely for the artwork.

Emerald Warriors also launched, by Tomasi and Fernado Pasarin, and I was very impressed / intrigued by #1. Tomasi really had a good handle on Guy and he's able to make the reader *want* to read a solo Guy story. Ganthet is a great character already and I'm glad to see him so high profile here. I'm also looking forward to more Atrocitus, and Belize, whose story in the Tales of the Green Lantern Corps mini was pretty fantastic.

All in all, some pretty good stuff here. The Green Lantern titles have done that rare thing: the sales of the comic are incredible and the quality is also incredible. I think 3 titles is just the right amount too--I hope there aren't plans to add even more titles for quite awhile.

"concerned that DC is beginning to spread the franchise too thin with all these off-shoot books. Isn't that how it's killed off all its other franchises in the past? You'd think it would have learned its lesson by now."

To me, that's EXACTLY how they killed the GL franchise back when Gerard Jones was writing it! (But then-editor Kevin Dooley blamed his "writers" and their "inability to make Hal Jordan interesting". I am so glad Dooley's long gone.)

So Bleez was on the cover of Emerald Warriors #2. And she's actually IN the book for one page.

GL:EW #2 was a pretty good read, but it feels like this book is definately being written for trade bait. Everything that has happened in the first two issues would have taken a few pages several years ago. I'm sticking with it, but I hope it picks up the pace soon.

^I think that's a valid criticism, Dev. I'm enjoying the title too, and loving the focus on Guy, Kilowog and Arisia, but I could use a little more progress each issue. I'm enjoying that Tomasi is establishing several subplots immediately to run along the main story; it seems we have a nice solid first year of story ahead of us. Hopefully #3 kicks things up a notch with some real action; in past eras, no action in the first two issues would have been laughed at.

Green Lantern #58 continues the 'entities' storyline and count me in as a big fan of this book right now.

I've seen posters on other boards complain that there's "nothing happening in Green Lantern right now" and comments like that make me want to lock those posters in a rocketship and shoot them off into space (like the JLA did to the Shaggy Man in a great story once many years ago) so that their strain of ignorant misinformed reading style never influences a comic book writer EVER!

The GL book is ten thousand times more interesting now when we're getting page to page characterisation and plot development than we got in all 200 or whatever pages there were in that never-ending dull slugfest that was the last 5 or so issues of Blackest Night (plus all their boring spin-offs - except the Titans one which went against type by actually being good for a change).

Anyway, that's all IMO of course.

But I loved the conversation between Hal and Carol in this issue (especially the way it ended) and Larfleeze continues to get more interesting/fun to read about - they really need to find a way to make it so all his Orange Lantern 'victims' are just stuck in his ring or something though. The loveable 'pet' role they're trying to give him now is totally at odds with the mass-murderer he was originally introduced as. I can grudgingly accept Hal aligning himself with Larfleeze, Sinestro, Atrocitus, etc temporarily for the purposes of protecting the entities/White Lantern/whatever but I refuse to accept Hal teaming up with a murderer after that's all done. If Larfleeze is going to continue being humanised the way he is then they need to absolve him of those crimes soon IMO.

And the art and especially the colouring are top-notch on this book at the moment too. I took a while to warm to Mahnke at DC but now I love his stuff. And Randy Mayor is the best colourist working at DC today IMO. If only we could get him on the Legion instead of that hair-colour butchering Hi-Fi (who- or what-ever the Hell that is!).

I thought Bedard's first GLC storyline concluded very strongly and it was a terrifc first arc by he and Adrian Syaf. I'm excited where they plan on taking us, and am enjoying the Lantern's they've spotlighted so far.

Syaf's artwork is really spectacular. I think he might be the best GL artist of them all right now.

I liked that Bedard's arc had a nice evolution of the Alpha-Lantern's storyline. I approve of the direction it's going in.

I'm also still loving Green Lantern and thought the latest issue of Emerald Warriors moved things along in a nice way. All three titles are solid buys right now.

I have to agree with Cobie (of course)! Completely digging Green Lantern Corps far more than I thought I would after Blackest Night. Great story with a great use and expansion of all the main characters. I daresay I like the title and think it has more potential now from what I've read so far than from before the vent.

Grooving to the main GL title. Emerald Warriors as well, though not to the level of the others yet. I'm most excited there to learn more about Guy's pact he has going on and the Red Lantern Bleez's role. Arisia has been horribly endearing the whole way through too.

"horribly"?

The good kind of horribly! At least for me.

Looks like Carol will be showing up in Brightest Day, per Brightest Day #13.

"The good kind of horribly! At least for me."

I think the word is "wonderfully".

: )

I got around to reading Emerald Warriors #4 this afternoon, as the initial story-arc continues to move forward, albeit with a few side stories. I don't mind things going off to the side for an issue here and there, since it keeps things interesting, but I am starting to feel like this story is taking forever to get to the point.

All in all, it was a solid issue, though it felt more like a prelude to something better that is coming. I'm really enjoying the combination of Guy, Arisia, Kilowog and Bleeze--so the way those characters all work as a team is very appealing, and Tomasi really seems to really know them all well. Sodom Yat also is a supporting character who is off to the side but his story really is boring me.

The artwork Fernando Pasarin, who is really terrific. Pasarin has a clean, elegant style that also switches to dynamic poses and widescreen shots invoking moments of granduer. I think he's an excellent atist and his artwork takes the comic to another level (without him, the opposite would happen).

The Green Lantern comics right now are very similar to the X-Men comics of the early 1990's. They are all pretty good with some faults, and each one has moments of brillance (while also moments where they feel a bit lost). They are also a little inter-changable at times, but overall have superior writing and exciting artwork. They also are event-driven, building things to the next big event. I happen to think they are succeeding right now, much like the X-titles did for awhile (before they blew up in a bad way--so GL titles, beware). More than anything there is a sense of excitement and a sense of things going in a new direction, something many modern comic books can't capture.

I recommend this GL title, like I do all of them.

Hmmm...

I dropped the Lantern franchise because of Blackest Night, but I love the Lanterns and I'm curious about stepping back into the post-BN waters.

Cobie, your comparison of the Lantern franchise to the X-franchise of the early 90s is an interesting one. If a future Lantern event is as good as, say, X-Cutioner's Song, I certainly wouldn't want to miss it.

Guess I'll have to check out the most recent Lantern trades.

I thought, after what happened with Hal Jordan, they were already pushing their luck having TWO regular GL titles since his return. So, imagine my shock when both turned out to be two of the BEST books DC was putting out. After decades of horrible neglect and misguidedness.


I had to drop out of the loop some time ago, but hearing that they are now doing THREE regular GL titles, well, of course, I can still remember when editor Kevin Dooley had FOUR going at once... until sales on ALL FOUR plumettted. And we all know where that led.


Still after 13 years of bad feelings, I'd hope they don't repeat past mistakes AGAIN. But I do wish DC would stop doing spin-offs of anything that seems even remotely "successful". (Let's not forget what happened in the early 90's with JUSTICE LEAGUE...)

I'm hoping the upcoming crossover will be akin to Ex-Song because I'm told it will be for the GL-titles only (*fingers crossed*). I also thought Blackest Night was a pile of feces but I did like the GL tie-in issues, or least most of them.

I think all three are really solid right now. None are perfect but all 3 are still very good and solid efforts from everyone.

Prof, next year there will be a 4th title by Peter Milligan, Red Lanterns. It has the potential to be the equivalent of PADs X-Factor (to stick with the X-title comparison), but also has the potential to be a franchise jumping the shark moment.

One thing really helping all 3 current titles is the artwork is as good if not better than the writing.

I've got my fingers crossed, too.

IIRC, Blackest Night was originally supposed to be Lanterns-only. Wonder what genius thought of making it a DCU event? But there's been an administrative shift at DC since then, so I'll try to be optimistic.

Well, you may have 4 books for it to be featured in...depending on when they launch Red Lanterns.

http://comics.ign.com/articles/114/1142421p1.html

So... no one had anything to say about the Larfleeze Christmas Special?

I loved it. My brother and I actually made the cookies with the recipe, I made a big deal about it, but...

I haven't really eaten them. Truth is, I'm not sure we made them right. They have kind of a bitter aftertaste, and the white chocolate I bought for them didn't exactly taste amazing. Always doing that, making a big deal about some weird food stuff, tasting it, hating it, then letting it rot.

^Haven't read it yet and probably won't get to it for at least a coupla weeks. Will review when I get to it.

Green Lantern Corps continues to get better and better as the Weaponer storyline moves forward. The Weaponer is yet another new, and awesome, addition to the GL mythos, who provides an excellent threat and new storyline, while enhancing the larger mythos (both how Sinestro got his yellow ring and the history of the anti-matter universe).

This story has done several things really well, which showcases how good GLC still is:

- heavy focus on Kyle and Soranik that shows them work together well and while both are vulnerable in spots, they come through when it counts.

- the other GLs are all showcased even though they aren't the main stars.

- the larger subplots are touched on, including the white light (from Brightest Day) and the pact between Guy, Ganthet and Atrocitus which will be leading to the next big GL crossover. The latter one is one I care much more about and I thought the recent hints in GLC were very intriguing.

- The overall backdrop of Qward, their history and their problems is equally as fascinating as everything else. It's refreshing to see Qward so fleshed out rather than just briefly touched on.

Bedard is really reminding me why I loved him on Negation and this is his best DC effort so far. The art by Tyler Kirkham is something I'm also enjoying tremendously; his style certainly fits the 90's X-Men comparison I mentioned a few posts back, but in all the good ways IMO; it's exciting and action-driven, and keeps the spirit GLC comic consistent with how it's been since #1-- a space adventure series with as much if not more action as mystery. The splash page of the Weaponer in his work place with Soranik waking up was fantastic!

The Weaponer is a terrific new nemesis for the GLs. His motivations are complex, his character is different from everything else we're seeing in other Green Lantern titles and his origins are deeply steeped in GL mythology--all great things.

I missed it; my CBS must have sold out of them by the time I got there and I totally forgot. Too bad, that looked interesting.

Just read/reread through Emerald Warriors 1 - 4. I like this book.

Guy is a jerk, but he's our jerk. Killowog is great no matter what, and I am soo happy that they did decide to bring him back a few years ago. Ari has come a long way since her introduction hasn't she. Nice to see her sharing the spotlight here.

Sodam is, like he is with Cobie, boring me at this point. Both here and in the future. I really hope they turn the character around at some point in at least on f these books (Legion being the other). So far I so do not like having him forced down my throat twice a month.

The only complaint I have with this book, is the same one that I have with most other books on the market right now...they are really being written for trades. Other than that aspect...really enjoying this series so far.

And cobie almost has me wanting to pick up Corps again.

Just read the last 8 issues, ending with 60, of Green Lantern, Again the trade writing continues...but that does not diminish the quality of these stories.

Great stuff with all the characters involved in the main plot. Hal, Carol, Attr, Dex (we need more of him), and Lar all are given a chance to shine.

Kinda meh about the big bad in this arc though for some reason...not sure why though.

It is a great story, no doubt.

but I'm missing a lot of what makes Hal Hal. There is nothing lately on his personal life, how he gets to take off seemingly weeks at a time from the air force, who he's seeing right now, Cowgirl or Carol.

He needs to reconnect with earth a little.

^I agree Rick; that's the one major flaw in GL right now and each issue that goes by it's becoming more and more pronounced.

Needs to be addressed ASAP.

Hey, lets bomb the board *with posts, not..you know, actual bombs* and really get the idea out there that it needs to be addressed. It's been hit on a time or two but... maybe the return of the letters page?

Green Lantern # 60 continues the seemingly never-ending "New Guardians" arc and finally reveals the identity of the little bandaged person who's been stealing all of the entities that personify all the different ring colors.

The bulk of the issue is a prolonged fight scene between Hal and Parallax again (*yawn*). I'll admit that the cliffhanger last issue with Parallax possessing Barry Allen had me intrigued, but the payoff here was pretty underwhelming. It makes me think that Parallax's time as an interesting and threatening villain has probably passed. Parallax uses Barry's memories to try to rattle Hal and gain access to Hal thru fear, but it's clear to everyone that Hal's been there and done that and acknowledges his fear so it can't be exploited anymore. I thought Geoff made that pretty clear when Hall allowed himself to be possessed to battle the Spectre during Blackest Night, but I guess Geoff thought it needed hammered home some more. If so, this issue didn't come across as compelling as Geoff hoped, IMO.

So at the end the little bandaged entity thief comes into play, and we finally learn who he is. I'll admit I hadn't guessed that particular individual. I suppose it was inevitable Geoff would bring him back. Heck, I thought I'd see him in the Blackest Night melee at some point. (I also could've sworn he was taller?!?!) I wlways thought this character had some untapped potential and is a logical character to be involved in the ongoing War of Light. Let's hope Geoff makes him more compelling than what he did with Nekron.

Another saving grace this issue is the art of Doug Mahnke. Mahnke is absolutely on the top of his game in this book and may even turn out to be an even better fit than Ivan Reis was. If he's doing the art, he can elevate even Geoff's more mediocre scripts (like this one).

Anyhow, I'll be glad to see this bloated arc be concluded. Hopefully, "War of the Green Lanterns" will be more interesting and better done. I'd say this books cousins, Emerald Warriors and GLC, have been the better reads the past few months.

Lardy's rating of Green Lantern #60: 2.5 Donuts (out of five)!

GLC 56: That concluding image of John Stewart leading a contingent of Weaponers (Weaponeers?) of Quard makes me really curious about the next issue. Otherwise, I'm not really enjoying Sinestro and a bunch of sickos with no history. I like Kyle and Soranik and even Sinestro, occasionally, but as the lead of a title? Not so much. Once the upcoming 'war' (Lanterns are at war-- there's an Aquawarr... what the heck's the deal with that second 'r'... coming... I guess Peace of the Arrow wouldn't be such a hot title, huh?) is over, I wonder what this title will be like?

Review of Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #5

As I mentioned in my above review of GL #60, I feel the two spin-offs have been hitting the mark better and more consistently than the core book of late. Emerald Warriors #5 is a good example.

For one thing, I feel Warriors and GLC have done a better job of telling interesting stories between events than GL has, even as both also help build to the next event. Here, the quest of Guy, Kilowog, Arisia and Bleez has been a little mysterious but the journey has definitely been worthwhile. Tomasi wites all these characters very well and gives them all memorable moments.

I've noticed of late that random, nameless GL's have been quite expendable from Sinestro War on. Here, a group of these are forced by the arc's bad guy to take their own lives. It could've been gratuitous, but unlike other recent GL bloodshed, there's a big emotional reaction from our heroes and especially from Kilowog. And there's a sense of anger and outrage from this that Tomasi gets across really well as a motivator for our heroes. If this type of thing happens in a story, then this is a good example of how to handle it. If it happens, give it purpose and meaning. Again, I feel Tomasi handled that well.

The issue ends with giving us more insight into what Guy's mission is and has been since this series launched. It's been kept deliberately under wraps, but with the clues we've been given, it's all starting to come together. It's an grotesque choice to reveal in a mosaic of puked-up blood, but it's strangely kind of pretty and shows off artists Fernando Pasarin's and Cam Smith's (as well as that of the colorists) talents in an unusual manner.

Emerald Warriors has been a good book so far and contends with GLC as the best of the three GL books lately. Tomasi is proving that Guy Gardner can be the star in what is essentially his book. Terrific art and effective storytelling make it a book I look forward to reading every month!

Lardy's Rating for Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #5: 3.5 Donuts (out of five)!

Does anyone else feel like this title (the main GL one I'm talking about - I don't read the other two) has gone off the rails a bit?

I just looked back through this thread and the last time I posted my thoughts on an issue was for #58, which I loved. But that was also the last issue of this book that I enjoyed and we're now 5 issues later at #63.

I'm just so over all these new Lantern corps and their entities and the Guardians acting douchey, and constant, effortless teleporting from one planet to another so that we can never relax into a setting, and the never-ending sense that there is some huge cosmic war just on the horizon... and so on.

When was the last time we just got a good old-fashioned adventure tale of Hal Jordan tangling with one of his villains at Ferris Air or something? I want to see Hal Jordan back in more down-to-earth stories. Preferably ones that keep the Guardians and all the other Corps and the whole GLC mythos out of the picture for a while.

Unfortunatley who knows when we might get those sorts of stories again because next we have coming up this whole 'War of the Lanterns' storyline which I'm completely uninterested in and won't be getting 2/3 of the parts for either.

But beyond my tiring of the plots and characters that Johns is focusing on in this title at the moment, I also think his writing skills here have begun to suffer a bit too. There were some completely groan-worthy bits of dialogue and plotting in these latest two issues that I don't feel the Geoff Johns of old would have delivered us. These issues felt like first drafts of comics that normally would have had at least a quarter-dozen rewrites before hitting the shelves earlier. I think he's over-stretched himself and it's starting to show.

I don't want him off this book though. I just want it back to being as good as it used to be.

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask, but with the title I might as well try. And this is mostly for research, don't get me wrong Sinestro is high on my list of favorite villains.

What do you think makes Sinestro a compelling villain?

^^Alls I know is Sinestro is a lot of fun if you imagine him speaking with a cheesy fake Italian accent!

I have to catch up readin gthe GL And GL:EK books, but am thinking of dropping them after the big arc that's coming up. Just not that excited about them. Plus I want some room on my pull list for some new stuff...or trades.

Johns is definitely not writing GL as well as he used to. The two companion books, GLC and EK, have been superior to the core book pretty much ever since Blackest Night, I'd say. Simply put, Hal is a guest star in his own book now, and that is unacceptable. I'd compare the GLverse's current evolution and bloating to what has become of the X-Verse in the last coupla decades. Guess what? I don't buy a single X-book!

GLC & EK are doing well for me because despite the tie-ins to the bigger picture, they are keeping their core cast in focus and telling fairly tight stories in the process. The core book is doind NEITHER!

I need "War of the GLs" to work as a story for me to continue buying all the books for the foreseeable future, especially considering there's a Red Lanterns book on the horizon. If "War" doesn't deliver and we just keep playing tag from event to event, I can't guarantee that I'll keep picking up Geoff's book out of loyalty. Right now, the other two look fairly secure. But if they start losing their identities, they could be compromised as well.

The only promising thing about the crossover is that it's at least pretty insular within the GL books instead of pulling another Blackest Night bloat-a-thon. The fact that it only involves books I'm already getting is a positive. Whatever the outcome of "War of the GLs", Geoff needs to focus his book on Hal Jordan again. I don't buy the book expecting to read Atrocitus, et al guest-starring Hal Jordan, 'kay?

Agree on GL; my last few reviews mentioned how I felt the title has lost it's way. Hal hasn't been out of costume in like a year--which is a sign of mismanagement IMO.

I got burned out on GL during Blackest Night. The idea of the emotional spectrum is intriguing, but I felt the introduction of the other Corps happened too fast just for the sake of BN. Now instead of being unique, the GLC are just the middle of the road in the spectrum.

And I'm sick of Larfleeze. Talk about overshadowing Hal.

"War of the Green Lanterns" continues to make me see a huge similarity between the modern day GL comics to the 90's X-titles, with all the good and also much of the bad. Overall, I'm enjoying it quite a bit so far, especially the big sense of excitement just exploding off the pages with each issue.

I'm also really enjoying the revelations and further development of the GL mythos, such as Krona revealed as the culprit behind the Manhunters great extermination of Atrocitus' race.

While all of the criticisms other posters and myself have leveled at the GL series still apply, it isn't stopping me from enjoying this GL crossover which is thankfully contained to just the GL comics. I do hope that after the crossover, our concerns will be addressed but I don't mind enjoying this crossover for what it is now.

For some reason, it really reminds me of X-stinction Agenda, with the dramatic battle scenes, in-fighting between teammates and heightened sense of immediate danger. The artwork on all of the titles also furthers that. And IMO, that's actually a good thing!

I second that. The book started to feel like "Sinestro, guest starring Hal Jordan" for awhile and now the rest of the rainbow brigade has taken over. I ultimately like what Johns has been doing with the GL mythos, (aside from his unoriginal take on the Guardians) but it needs to be grounded by making it as much about Hal and him as a person as it is about the cosmic stuff.

So far with the GL War, it's unfortunately more of the same for me, where the "Big Cosmic Stuff" is interesting, but the personal stuff, even though they're focusing onthe Earth GL's has been a letdown. So far we've seen more parallax-induced in-fighting rather than a genuine dispute between the characters. I know it's still meant to show how the characters are different, and along those lines the John/Kyle issue was more effective because it seemed like a fresh take. The Hal/Guy fight didn't bring anything new to their dynamic that hasn't been covered ad nauseum years ago. Hopefully we'll get deeper as the story progresses.

Well, "War" kind of dragged on for a few months and IMO fizzled a bit in the end. Two big deaths, though the Krona one wasn't all that surprising--the Guardians reaction to it (while obviously setting up a new storyline) is kind of a 'WFT?' since the other major death (and the person who pulled the trigger) was a much bigger event IMO.

Hal, Guy and John all shined in this story but Kyle kind of was 'blah'.

I didn't hate the storyline but it certainly was 3 issues too long. However, it really looked great. The artists on all three titles brought their A-game.

Above I compared it to 'X-Tinction Agenda' in the 90's; I take that back, since X-A was a much better crossover. This was more like the Muir Island Saga or Fatal Attractions. It was a big crossover for the sake of being a big crossover. Yet, it was grandiose and full of action with most characters having a chance to shine, and in that, it maintains a bit of a 'teenage charm'.

Last night I read two pre-relaunch GL title issues, the penultimate issue of each: GL Corps #62 and Emerald Warriors # 12.

The good is that both were standalones after an endless string of "bigger picture" or outright crossovers. The bad is that both were kind of *meh* at best.

GLC had kind of a goofy plot device of Star Sapphire Miri trying to fix Kyle and soranik's strained relationship by getting the two lovebirds to fight her. In the end the ploy backfires, and it looks like the two are permanently in Splitsville after Kyle reveals an earlier encounter with the Sapphire power didn't reveal Sora as his true love when it had shown Kyle as hers.

It appears the purpose of this story was to clear the decks for Kyle romantically in the relaunch. This really kind of hurt the story for me as I really like him and Sora as a couple. The goofy way it was done didn't exactly help it.

Liked seeing our pal Tomar-Tu along for the ride, though.

Emerald warriors featured guy and some redshirt GLs up against a creepy monster that feeds off of GL ring energy by eating GLs and keeping them alive just enough that the rings will stay on them and continue to produce energy it can feed off while they're in its belly.

The book acts as kind of a "Jaws" homage with an overt line or two referencing the film directly. It was a decent standalone, but the main thing I didn't like was continuing trend in the GL books' to introduce interesting new GLs and then promptly kill them. Guy takes four Lanterns with him, and only one of the four survives. I hope at the very least that the surviving GL shows up again, but I'm concerned that either he won't or that he will, just to be killed off.

When the GL books relaunch, I'm likely to give them a try-out, but the endless cycle of crossovers/building to the next crossover has to be reversed. These standalones were a step in the right direction but still suffered from mediocre execution. We'll see if the new GL titles bring their A-game because they'll have to do to earn my hard-earns!

Green Lantern #1 kicks off exactly where things ended pre-DCnU as if this was barely a #1 but that didn't bother me too much. I'd much rather see a new messed up status quo than have to be reintroduced to Hal as the GLC all over again. I was a fan of the prior series by Johns and Mahnke with some criticism, and I remain a fan here.

One of the major complaints I had--that Hal was in the GL guise for like 12 issues strait without any 'Hal as Hal' time is addressed directly, as it appears to be a major story point. Hal's half of the issue is mostly just he and Carol but I thought it was well done. Johns has put him in a tough spot but with the excuse that he got there because of his GL duties, so doesnt come off as a huge loser.

The other half with Sinestro as GL is where the awesomeness really is. The issue just revels in the kewl-ness of it and it's fun to read. Over these last few years, Sinestro has emerges as DC's Magneto in terms of being the most interesting major villain and I'm anxious to see where it leads.

The issue was beautifully drawn and over all well done. I'm not sure how great it would be for a new reader and if it had enough 'wow factor' to get on people's must read lists though.

Cobie Comparison: did I like it more than JL #1? Yes.

The long awaited 4th GL series also went on sale this week, Red Lanterns by Peter Milligan and the ever incredible Ed Benes. I'm a fan of both, though sometimes Milligan's stuff leaves me a little disappointed. Benes' sexy, cheesecake, super-action style, meanwhile is almost always appealing.

Reading the issue I thought it was okay but by the end I found myself wondering 'do I really care that much about this comic to keep buying it?' I'll already be getting at least two GL comics, and who knows how many more DC's. I just wasn't feeling a connection to this comic and perhaps that means it makes it a good candidate for the axe.

I've often compared the last few years of GL comics to the X-titles in the 90's. Well, I know who Atrocitus reminds me of now: Venom, another 90's star ar Marvel. He's a new nemesis that broke out on the scene and has been basically everywhere; there's a purposeful element of disgusting to him; and now that he's become popular enough, they are giving him his own series and in the process turning his villainous motivations into a crusade for good, albeit with harsh and ruthless methods. They're so similar it hurts! That being said, I like Atrocitus more.

I think that while there wasn't anything wrong with the title, this one may get the cut. Just felt no connection, though I'll keep an eye out for others reviews as the series goes forward.

Cobie Comparison: did I like it more than JL #1? No.

I liked the idea of the first issue, to show Hal and Thal at similar crossroads, and out of their elements. The climactic scene of Hal and Carol at the restaurant reminded me of the old silver age characterization though - I mean, the misunderstanding about the "proposal," with the champagne in the face struck me as cliche rather than characterization.

I wasn't expecting Hal and Sinestro's path to cross again so soon, but I'm eager to see where this goes and what Sinestro has in mind.

Peter Tomasi and Fernando Pasarin continue their work on the Green Lantern franchise by relaunching Green Lantern Corps which is the book they should be doing; it was a great opening issue, as I expected. Tomasi writes the best Guy Gardner, hands down, and that shows here. He also writes a helluva of a John Stewart and I’m looking forward to him really getting his hands on John for the first time. Also looking forward to seeing so many of the other Lanterns we came to know and love from the GLC previously (under Gibbons, Pete and Bedard), though they don’t get much time in #1.

Tomasi does a nice little trick here in #1 by showcasing how Guy & John, the two Lanterns with no secret identity, are struggling because of that very aspect. Their roles on Earth when they are not GLs have become totally unfulfilling and they are essentially feeling lost. As the issue progresses and they get back into GL mode, their personalities totally change. I’m hoping Tomasi explores this throughout his continued run and we can hopefully see both Lanterns start to overcome this.

Pasarin is a fantastic artist who I’ve enjoyed for some time now and that continues here. Scott Hanna, a recurring inker partner of his, does a great job embellishing his work creating a very superhero / action feel to a science-fiction comic. Colorist Gabe Elteab pulls it all together and he does a really cool thing with John’s costume that makes it ‘pop’ on the page.

One major complaint I have, however, is the totally over the top violence of the issue. Both the opening sequence and the ending page are way over the top violence wise—so much so that it was more humorous to me than horrifying. Its amazing so many people get up in arms about the sex in Catwoman but don’t say anything about the violence in GLC.

Overall, not as strong as GL #1 but still a great, solid effort. Doing my usual comparison (which I’m getting bored of doing to be honest), I did enjoy it better than JL #1, though it was a close call.

Another solid, veteran creative team in Tony Bedard and Tyler Kirkham bring us the last of the GL titles with The New Guardians, a series focusing on both Kyle Rayner and the various multi-colored rings. As a fan of the GL mythos these last few years, I gladly would enjoy a series focusing on the other Lanterns, so this is a premise I like. Bedard embraces that concept wholeheartedly and Kirkham nails it with awesome depictions of Arkillo, Fatality and others. This could end up being a lot of fun!

That being said, one criticism I have to lay at this title is it felt a little light on plot for the issue. Compared to GL and GLC, which had a nice density of plot, this one felt like it wrapped up too quickly. This was enhanced by the sense that Kyle Raynor as a character didn't really come through at all here. *I* know Kyle because I've followed GL for decades; but for a new reader he's basically seen as the 'sensitive GL' which may just be character death--why not just call him a sissy? I'm sure the plan is to prove that image wrong but by not doing it immediately, that might be a mistake.

I would say I enjoyed this more than Red Lanterns but not GL or GLC; I also didn't enjoy it as much as JL #1.

Issue 1 of Green Lantern was pretty good. Better than a lot of what has come before lately. Not sure how long I will get it though...we'll see.

Red Lanterns #2 should have been the first issue. It had more bite and substance to it, with the Iraq war analogy and Atrocius unleashing his anger in a manner no different than those he punished (and really only perpetuating the cycle instead of breaking it). More thought provoking fare than the first issue, and more in line with an exploration of what "rage" is really all about.

I kinda liked THE NEW GUARDIANS # 1, and this seems to be the book to learn about all these new Corps running around that I know nothing about since exiting the Green Lantern franchise (minus the Blackest Night mini).

It helps that I was along for Kyle's ride in the 90s. This one goes in the "maybe" pile for number 2.

Green Lantern #1 was much better than I expected it to be. I like seeing Hal "down and out" and ringless. The bit with Carol was enjoyable, though I'm actually a little surprised that she thought Hal might propose. It made for a funny bit, but I'm not sure what in recent events would cause her to think he'd go there.

The Sinestro bits were decent, as well, but didn't exactly "wow" me. The whole "Sinestro as GL" bit really feels like it's gonna be a short arc, which kinda lessens the value of having him on the cover. Spoilers I hear from next issue seem to further that feeling with Hal getting a ring back already.

So definitely better than recent GL stories, but I've a feeling we are gonna get back to business as usual very soon. Hopefully, Hal's personal life won't be lost in the shuffle. Again.

Green Lantern #2 was another solid job by Johns & Mahnke. The balancing act between Hal & Sinestro continues as the readers get insight into both characters, and its the interaction between the two of them that makes it all work.

Johns takes a moment to remind readers that Sinestro's motivations are vastly different than what the Sinestro Corps has become in the GL world over the last 2 or so years. That difference seems to be the lynchpin for the coming story and I'm looking forward to it.

I wish there was some sort of interlude with looks into Hal's personal life but I realize Johns is trying to establish Hal has this non-stop, high-energy lifestyle that has him constantly on the move. A subplot or two would be nice though!

Really glad to have Hal & Sinestro apart from the other Lanterns for a bit though. Both are such strong characters that it helps them to make them stand apart.

Red Lanterns #3 continues to show how wildly inconsistent this series is. After a much better outing in issue #2, this one falls back a little bit. The entire purpose of the issue is to set up Bleez as a companion/rival to Atrocitus, but I feel like I'm missing some of her story and why she's so important (other than as a good subject for Benes' Cheescake poses). The last page was also completely unnecessary as it would have worked much better with subtly implying she was up to something.

This is just such a strange series to get a handle on.

Red Lanterns #4 - Atrocitus throws three more Lanterns into the sea of blood, restoring their sentience (and their memory). Most of the issue focuses on them reliving their trauma (and giving the reader some incite into what they are all about). Atrocitus meanwhile singles out Earth as a possible source for new Lanterns and we see the story of the two brothers unfold some more.

I liked Rathcet's story, and Skallox will make an interesting character, but the plot really needs to pick up here.

Red Lanterns #5 Atrocitus blames Bleez for Krona's missing body, Bleez suggests he was never dead and is escaping. Atrocitus then tracks something across the plaent's surface, thinking it Krona, but it evades him. He then has Bleez fish out the new lieutenants from the Sea of Blood. Newly sane Ratchet is disturbed that the rings are indiscriminate in terms of morality (he and Skallox are polar opposites), and questions what this means for their overall purpose.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, the brothers' story unfolds as one dies in police custody and the other receives a Red Ring.

I just have to say that I do NOT like the Machavellian way the Guardians are currently being portrayed. Beyond that I am enjoying the Sinestro Green Lantern story.

Red Lanterns #6 - Jack adjusts to having the ring as he struggles between his humanity and his rage. He eventually finds his grandfather's killer, succumbs to the ring only to be stopped by Guy Gardner, setting up next issue's confrontation. Meanwhile on Ysmault, Atrocitus starts to lose control of some Red lanterns to Bleez, threatening all-out civil war.

This series continues to be up and down, but this was definitely an "up" issue. Hopefully Jack's emergence as a Red sparks the narrative a bit.

Rounding up some thoughts on all things Green Lantern:

I continue to enjoy the main Green Lantern series, particularly the Hal Jordan / Sinestro interaction that is driving the series right now. I have to say though, I could not in good conscience recommend this title to anyone who isn't already a super-diehard comic book fan. It seems totally geared to people like me, who live and breath the larger comic book industry every day. Which is all well and fine, as I'm enjoying it on my own and there are plenty of other things I could recommend to people. The only complaint, and its a big one, is the total lack of subplots and a supporting cast. Without these things, it gives the series a bit of a shallow feel at times.

The one series of the three I'm collecting that I'm not really enjoying is Green Lantern Corps. I've liked Tomasi's take on the GLC before but this current story-arc is not clicking at all for me and I can't wait for it to be over with. The uber-violence is ridiculous to the point of rolling my eyes and saying "Ooooh Brother", and the story itself is at least two issues too long. The first issue did a fantastic job giving both Guy and John some solid characterization and then every issue since has failed to follow-up on it. I know we'll eventually get more spotlight on other GL's but I would have liked that from the start.

The last series I'm collecting, New Guardians is one of those series that slips to the bottom of my pile with no urgency to read it, and then when I do read it, I remember this is actually a pretty terrific series! While like Quis, I find the current usage of the Guardians annoying, I do like how the assembled rainbow of Lanterns interact with one another and work together/against each other here. Kyle is a good centerpiece character, but I'm also enjoying Fatality, Beleez and the rest. Best of all, of course, is Larfleeze, who steals every page that he's on. Perhaps the only real useless one of the bunch is Arkillo who I keep expecting to die. But overall, this has been a fun series and Tony Bedard plays to his strengths of creating a high octane adventure ride that pulls you along and never lets you catch your breath.

I am also enjoying the Sinestro/Jordan interaction in "GL" but I think Johns is trying too hard to make Sinestro uber-cool. (especially when it's at Hal's expense) It reminds me of how lop-sided the interaction between Punisher and Daredevil always is when DD is in Pun's book vs. the other way around.

Not reading New Guardians, so can someone explain how Bleez can be there and in Red Lanterns, especially when the RL story really gives her no time to sneak away from Atrocitus? Is she "restored" or still in her ring induced frenzy? Does one take place before the other? Or are they really just completely unrelated?

Green Lantern #5 tied up the opening story very nicely and then #6 did a great job showcasing some of the qualities in which the Sinestro / Hal dynamic is so unique (since they inherently play off each other so well).

I'm thrilled to see the Hal / Carol relationship actually getting some screen time, and at least appearing to be going somewhere. In general, Hal seemed to mature slightly at the close of #5 and then in #6, and it was a needed shift.

But the Sinestro / Hal dynamic is the driving force here and it continues to work. I can't wait to see what's next.

Red Lanterns #7 is all over the road. It's like Milligan's having a schizophrenic breakdown right on the page. We jump from Bleez eradicating the Sinestro Corps remnants (not following the other books, so I don't know how this matches up), to Rankorr fighting for control while also fighting Guy Gardner, to Atrocitus confronting his original attempt at Red Lanterns. Each section has a different tone and it's very jarring. Not to mention the reveal of the "big bad" is a character never seen before this issue, who's suddenly elevated to a major threat without much narrative backing. I like parts of this book, but other parts are a chore. It needs a tighter focus.

If there's a general GL thread on this board already, I don't know where it is. Well, there is one now.

I'm gonna start by re-posting something I just posted over at Captain Comics. This was "MY" era of GL, for good or horribly bad...


The Wein-Gibbons run went from GL #172-186 (Jan'84-Mar'85). I picked up a few issues before it started, no doubt intrigued at what was coming. I feel like I was one of the few people who knew Dave Gibbons' work before he came to DC Comics. I'd seen his work in DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE, where he did what I felt was one of the BEST adaptations I'd ever seen of a TV show to comics form. (He illustrated the entire Tom Baker run, and the early Peter Davison stories.)

Before they arrived, Ernie Colon had edited GL, and what I remember most was his utterly BIZARRE letter pages. Len took over as editor with #172, but Andy Helfer took over with #185. I wonder if this had anything to do with Len's last issue as editor being a Dave Cockrum reprint? Wein & Gibbons had 2 more issues under Helfer, followed by ONE fill-in by Paul Kupperberg & Bill Willingham. ONE. I point this out by comparison to how Marvel around that time got into the horrible habit of having 6-8 issues of chaotic fill-ins whenever any long-running team left a book before a new regular team would take over. You really get sick of seeing 6-8 issues in a row, each one by a completely different set of people, each team fighting for the honor of "worst comic published that month".

And then Steve Englehart & Joe Staton took over with #188, and kept going without a break all the way to #213. That's the kind of consistency I like to see! Englehart actually did all the way up to #223 without missing a single issue, but Joe Staton was distracted by the ABOMINABLY bad MILLENNIUM mini-series (also written by Englehart). The pair might have kept going and going and going... except for the decision to CANCEL the book so that GL could become the "anchor" of ACTION COMICS WEEKLY, which was another project edited by Mike Gold. (There's a thread at another board which has been discussing Mike Gold's disastrous decisions on GREEN ARROW and HAWKWORLD. For a guy who did so much good at First Comics, his output sure seemed to go completely off-the-rails when he got to DC.)

Instead, we got Denny O'Neil, Gil Kane, and a variety of others, who over the space of one year in ACW, drove GREEN LANTERN completely INTO THE GROUND!!!!!!!!!

Funny thing... it was up to the returning Andy Helfer to put GL as a series back together again once ACW ended. I think he was a guy who made me realize that in comics, you have "builders" and "destroyers"-- and he was one of the "builders".

After the horrific mess in ACW, incoming writer Gerard Jones wanted to follow in the footsteps of Roger Stern's STARMAN series and introduce an entirely new version of GREEN LANTERN. It was Helfer who convinced him instead to spend the next 5 years bringing "closure" to Hal Jordan's career, before having him quit and then be replaced by a new, younger GL. It worked fine for the first 2 years of the long storyline... until Helfer moved on to something else, and his assistant ("Green Lantern's Number One Fan"-- SO-CALLED!!!) took over. HE wound up running GL into the ground AGAIN, and then firing Jones just before Jones was about to finally get to the "main event" of the story he'd been slowly working toward for 4 whole years. When I heard what was planned, I quit buying the book right then. I never bought it regularly again, until GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH more than a decade later.

One thing worse than out-of-control writers, is totally out-of-control EDITORS.

Now this has the potential to be totally awesome!

http://www.comicbookresources.com/a...-star-trekgreen-lantern-the-spectrum-war

I was excited at first, but then I saw it was the Abrams version of Star Trek.

Poop!

Hal/ShatnerKirk would've been fun, but Hal/PineKirk has the added element of Pine being rumored for the Hal role in the upcoming JLA movies. And Kirk will be Kirk no matter what. It wouldn't surprise me if the writers still have a little Shatner in mind when writing Kirk. (I just want to see Hal seduce one of those green chicks... or Kirk seduce one of those green chicks only to find out it's a GL construct... all sorts of fun to be had here ;))

At least the Star Trek/Legion crossover got the real Enterprise crew!

I still have to read that! Thanks for the reminder, EDE.

I remember it being enjoyable, though the story was stretched super-thin over however many issues it was.

That does seem to happen a lot in modern comics, unfortunately.

I'll keep my expectations realistic.

That sums up the appeal of the Silver Age Lantern in a beautifully succinct way. Thanks, Drake.

So, in a way, the Green Lantern mythos has come full circle, with Hal (presumably) back to being the only spotlighted Lantern (I didn't follow the Lantern books regularly for several years, so anybody's free to elaborate and/or make corrections.) Moreover, this recently launched Hal-centric series (on it's 3rd issue, I think; I only bought the 1st, I'll get to that shortly) is written by none other than Grant Morrison, the sometimes great (IMHO hit and miss) proselytizer of the Silver Age DCU's special kind of creative magic.

But let's not forget that Morrison is now 58 going on 59 years old, and very few superhero writers manage to sustain their sincere enthusiasm for the genre. The word I'd choose for Morrison's GL is "tired." Morrison once dreamed of being a rock star, so to stretch that metaphor, he's now in his Summer Sheds Oldies Circuit phase, going through the motions on his stale old tropes -- a gross-out joke here, a bit of cosmic fancifulness there.

I will admit I was impressed with GL #1 at first shine. And a lot of that has to do with Liam Sharp. Funny how, back in the heady early-mid 90s days of my first years as an avid superhero reader, Sharp seemed like the epitome of absurd Image Founder Style excess. I never could have predicted that he would mature into the heir apparent of the Al Williamson/Frank Frazetta school of hyper-detailed yet dynamic sci-fi/fantasy stylings. Good for him! Now I just hope GL is a stepping stone to a project *worthy* of Sharp's late-blooming talent!

Soooooo I have been a HUGE Grant Morrison fan. This run is... not amazing or huge. I think he's really sticking to the police procedural view of GL. I agree that his voice does seem "tired."



The art IS fantastic

I took a peek at a couple of these, and they looked more Jaded than you'd get if Alan Scott's kid was starring in it. Echoes of Morrison Past and the art is the strongest point. Shame, as early Morrison could at least be relied on to pinch from new sources rather than retread his own work. It's was just a skim, so it may read a lot better in full.

It doesn’t feel so much “tired” to me as “mismatched.” I think he was right that GL has been huge spectacle for so long that it needed to go the opposite direction. It’s just a shame he didn’t realize he was the wrong person to do that.

I'm biased from the start. I fuckin' hate the police procedural stuff and I hate that he's been in space for over 15 years now to try to drub up Kyle and John and all those other GL's from earth.

That said, it's good for what it is.

I just hate what it is.

Really fuckin' hate it.

While not as passionate as Rick, I'm also a little cold on police procedurals (Top Ten was another book I recognised the quality of, but couldn't get into). I'm also still not sold on Hall Jordan. He's always been boring to me, and when he's not boring, he's a macho asshole. Morrison's kept him out of the asshole category, but he's still boring.
Now, despite those two factors working against it, I still dig the fun concepts and satire (the bit about humanity willing to sell out future generations for immediate gain was gold). I'm willing to let it play out, because I think he's going somewhere interesting, but it certainly isn't in the stratosphere of other Morrison works by any stretch.

Edit: actually, on thinking more on it, I would warm to procedural if it was either Katar Hol or Adam Strange, so maybe my hangup really is Jordan.

A Katar Hol police procedural in space sounds like a brilliant idea!

Latest issue suffers from some serious "Morrison Muddle", which is what I term the times when the narrative breaks down in service of the idea and it becomes unclear what actually happened between panels. So far he and Sharp have been fairly in sync, but the end sequence needed to be tighter and give the reader more.

I skipped through a friend's copy of this today. I didn't find it as muddled as the previous issue I'd looked at. There's a certain acceleration of plot in the last third. it goes from a personal duel to the imminent death of a universe very quickly. there's some merit in shaping the book as the events within it race towards an unforeseen climax. Other books have done it with both story, and particularly art. Here, it's too uneven. Morrison has a lot of dialogue and one cast member looks to escape before she needs to in the plot. The timing of certain characters arrivals is also forced.

So, instead of a breathless escalation to the finale, it comes across as Morrison realising that he hasn't left enough room to fit in the steps needed to reach his pre arranged cliff hanger.

Remembering who the character is on the final pages (only thanks to Who's Who: Don't leave home without it.), I do think what's going on has been set up well enough in the preceding couple of pages.

Bit if you want someone connected to green visiting Rann for an adventure with Adam Strange, get yourself the Alan Moore Swamp Thing issues. this doesn't come close on any level, even the big science reveals.

Has it really ben an entire decade since I stopped buying comics regularly (due to lack of money)? I guess so.

Well, my best friend's been sending me custom DVD compilations of comics-related TV shows & movies, and one of those I saw a couple weeks ago I wanted to comment on.

I recently watched not one but two different "GREEN LANTERN" movies. The live-action one, and the cartoon done some time earlier (if I'm vague, it's only because my best friend sent me these on a DVD and I don't know the dates).

While not claiming to be an expert on the series, I read enough and saw enough incompetence and chaos on the part of so many editors and writers that all the way back in the 90s I did a 40-page feature on it for the KLORDNY apa, lambasting how bad it too often was. I've seen great runs, interspersed by many more really horrible runs.

Well, in my view... BOTH of these movies got the series BETTER than it had EVER been in any of the comics. They're so different from each other, it'd be difficult to say which might be better or not. However, I told my best friend, although the cartoon focused 98% on the GL Corps, which, MAYBE, is the way it always should have been... I was actually MORE impressed with the live-action film. Why? Because, while it gave almost equal attention to both sides of Hal Jordan's schizophrenic life (Earth and space), the EARTH scenes really impressed the living hell out of me.

That movie, which has inexplicably caught uncalled-for hell, managed to take the part of Hal's life that has almost NEVER been done right, even from the very beginning... and FINALLY, "done it right". I mean, they EVEN made Carol Ferris likable, for God's sake!! That's an astounding achievement!

As a result, I consider the live-action GL film to be one of the VERY BEST DC Comics superhero films EVER MADE.

It's one of those instances where, wherever they made changes, they were right to do so.

So I'm pottering around town this morning and as a last stop I pop into the DVD place. Lo and behold, if that's not a Green Lantern movie willing itself off of the shelf. Thinking of the prof's post...

I'm not really fussed about superhero movies, as I'm sure I've mentioned. I don't dislike them but they don't much for me. I only recall two things about the Green Lantern film. That the colour on all the ads was terribly overbright, showing up the CGI. Secondly, that it tanked.

I thought it was fine. I saw an extended version, so I don't know what got lost in the cinema. As the prof said, it balanced the Earth/ Space stuff nicely. It connected the origins of a few characters together, as is the movie way, and that all worked very well too. Hal got a nice personal arc across the movie, although Carol could have got one too. A subplot showing her relationship with her father would have strengthened something that was a theme throughout.

If anything, the editing could have been improved, although the pacing might have been a little off with what was available. One of the earlier scenes reappeared as flashbacks later on, which was unnecessary in that by doing so, the opening could have been changed. The pacing against the Big Bad, and the nature of its threat, could really have been amped up. For a release, that would have meant tightening up the pacing of the Earth scenes a bit more. Even just thinking along these lines, means that it was worth putting the thought into, which is a plus. Another plus was the casting, that allowed a lighter touch to a number of scenes, without being too obvious about it.

But overall, it did what it set out to do. I remember thinking that Suicide Squad had just spend 90 mins fighting their way up a single street and one building. Justice League seemed to be a rather dull extended combat against a minion, sacrificing a movie as a set up to something else. This was much better than both of those.

It's funny, my friend sent me around a dozen DVDs with a pile of stuff on them, and he saved the GL disc for last.

I recall thinking the coming attraction looked good, so I was baffled when the film bombed (I don't enter into the equation, I hardly go to ANY movies these days!).

At the beginning, Carol was as tight-A***** as usual. DC in the late 50s and on were aiming their books at KIDS, and young boys generally do NOT "like" girls, so most DC "girlfriends" back then were the kind of girls that just make boys want to AVOID girls.

So I was pleasantly surprised-- if not outright shocked-- that she turned out to be a decent person as the film progressed. And frankly, ELIMINATING the whole Hal-Carol-GL "triangle" (which was always a really BAD variation on Clark-Lois-Superman) by halfway in may have been the best thing they did. This was not a Hal who ever had to decide, should be be a pilot or a space cop. This was a guy who, instead, was struggling with internal self-doubt problems, and managed to overcome them.

I also LOVED that they ditched the "training module" thing and replaced it with what Hal actually does-- giving a fighter jet a TEST-FLIGHT, and in front of government types.

Shortly after seeing the film, I read a lengthy criticism of it, and I had to admit there were a lot of valid points about editing, pacing, and the order the story was told in. But all of that somehow seemed inconsequential to me, compared to what they managed to do RIGHT.

I mean, as a retelling of Hal's origin, this blew EMERALD DAWN completely out of the water.

My best friend and I both agreed there was only part of the movie we hated-- THE EPILOGUE. Clearly meant to set up a sequel they never made (in my view, ALWAYS a bad idea), after everything that preceded it, it seemed to come out of NOWHERE.

The earlier animated film, GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT, which ditched Earth after the first 5 minutes and spent nearly its entire running time in space, showed a Sinestro who was devious, self-serving and plotting against the Guardians right from the beginning. (I waited a whole week between watching these films, so the cartoon wouldn't completely undercut the impact of the live-action fim on me. Seriously, HOW MANY completely-conflicting versions of some characters do we have to have?)

I am reviving this thread due to recent conversations in the Legion: Millennium thread. I am developing a Glossary/Index of DCU species, so I have been deep in Green Lantern history as so many species have been created in and for those titles.

There have been a lot of Earth Green Lanterns. The main reason, until recent history, is because of sales. As popular as Hal Jordan is, the main reason DC introduced new Green Lanterns pre-John's retcon is because of low sales.

In universe, they have justified it with substance abuse issues and being mind-controlled by alien parasites. Therefore, even though Hal Jordan is extremely popular with a segment of fans, he is not the fittest Green Lantern in my opinion. That is why the Guardians have replaced him multiple times. Now, this does not easily explain why post Johns recton why there are five or more active Earth based Green Lanterns. In real life, I think it is because Green Lantern is the easiest title to add diversity to because of it's nature (around 3600 species, many of them not humanoid).

I seem to remember that at one point in some era of DC Continuity (maybe in COIE?), it's mentioned that Earth is of particular cosmic significance, so that might explain why it would need extra protection.

Though I believe it was also stated at one point that Earth was never supposed to have any GLs, since the Guardians knew it would we well protected by native super-beings.

My first reaction was to say that most of the Earth GLs were appointed during one of Jordan's absences and once a GL always a GL, but then I thought of the most recent two and that kind of thumped that on the head.

Alien view:"Pitiful little isolated planet that a ridiculous number of extraordinary things seem to happen to. It is almost like the Universe is being written just for the planet's inhabitants! Ha! What a crazy concept!"

According to the Guardian and Zamoranan that created the 'New Guardians' back in 1988, mankind was fated to evolve into the Oan Guardians replacement.
Thus the creation of the 'New Guardians' who were intended to be the ultimate ancestors of this future super-race.
Also explanation for many Green Lanters on Earth.

But I think we all just want to forget that series, right?

I have heard that there are things going on in the Green Lantern book which contradict the Superman line of books? I know 'Everything is Canon' so it is doesn't matter, but it could cause problems if the writers ever switch books.

Conversely, I have also heard that

Well, following any GDS parallels, and there was a hint that things would fall apart at some point; a happiness based person weilding an artefact of power, that could be siphoned, isn't going to last long.

The fate character is also new and also has an artefact of power. That might end badly too.

I'm just picturing a situation where Hal becomes incapacitated... and some alien of Kilowog's species turns up as the "new" Green Lantern of this sector.

And I'm imagining how Earth people would react to that.

"Your planet is acting in VIOLATION of our interplanetary laws. Stop at once-- or suffer the consequences."


Oh wait a minute... Robert Wise already made that movie!

You cannot be trusted, humans. I will now introduce you to the trinity of Lanterns who will protect sector 2814: Klaatu, Barada and Nikto.

There is a "Golden Lantern" in the latest "The Green Lantern" who was a Don Quixote type of character who saw his role as Guardian of the Cosmic Grail and was holding various Green Lanterns in stasis, until they were needed to fight in the impending Multiversal Crisis. Whether that will have *anything at all* to do with this new Gold Lantern is anyone's guess.

The latest annual was enjoyable. No beautiful Sharp art, which has been spectacular, but a fun story without the disjointed Morrison storytelling that some of the issues of this run have been suffering from.

Love the twist ending.

BIG Alan Scott news from the GL 80th Anniversary Issue

I don't think I really like this development.

I don't like it either. If they were going to retcon a gay character into the JSA, why pick the one member who has been most presented as straight, canonically. His romantic relationships with Rose & Thorn and Harlequin and his paternal relationships with Jade and Obsidian are big (and I would argue the most interesting) parts of his personality/history. (Those relationships don't preclude him from being bisexual of course, but then why make him "queer" if they're just going to downplay that aspect of him.)

I feel they should have picked someone that we've seen very little romantic history of (as far as I know) like Doctor Mid-Nite or the Atom, which would have made for a more seamless retcon.

If they needed to make this retcon at all which I, as a gay man, don't feel like they did. It strikes me as DC just trying to ride on the coattails of 'Watchmen' again.

I agree. And I'm saying this as a gay man too. Alternate version of Alan becoming gay: sure. Taking an established character and making him queer without good explanation? Meh.

It worked with Obsidian, because he indeed had troubled relationships with women before - so there was a plausible explanation for it. The one for Iceman, I didn't actually read it, but by all accounts it seemed to have been done well.

The thing is that, assuming they haven't completely screwed up JSA history, Alan is supposed to be over 100 years old in continuity by this point. So it's either a kind of pointless thing where he apparently had something with a guy when in his twenties which has never been brought up or affected his life since, or they have to radically rewrite his entire history, or at least cast it in a new light, which is a terrible idea. Plus it feels like it diminishes Obsidian in some way, but I can't exactly put my finger on why. At least this is my gut reaction to the idea.

I always thought Terry Sloane would be the most obvious candidate if you wanted to reveal a 40s JSAers as having been gay, just based on what we know of them in the GA stories.

now Terry Sloane would have been an inspired choice. The "perfect" man, revealed as gay. And yes, someone who's a bit of a blank slate, in comparison, with regards to his past and personal life!

Even his relationship with gal pal/confidante Wanda Wilson, who is often listed as his "girlfriend", is presented as generally platonic, at least in the Mr. Terrific stories that I've read (which, admittedly, isn't a huge number).

So, what did ya'll think of the last two Hal books by Morrison?

To me, Morrison is hit or miss. Doom Patrol, crushed it. Flash, meh. GL...no. We are left with Hal...what? We've had no real time with him on earth. And it's apparent that DC doesn't really want him back. Why, I can only guess. But, with him now kicked out of his own book for a different character, and a writer of that book that has stated he hates Hal, guessing it might be some time before we get anymore of his story. So, this was, a bit of a let down.

Look, I get it was full of big ideas, and it should have read as a great way to end his run, but to me, it didn't. It seemed...impersonal. It was written as Hal being great, and doing cosmic things, but it's the small, personal relationships that make the character.

And, as I've pretty much hated the "super space cop" run that has been his story for years now, this just seemed a sad exile of an ending rather than a great sendoff.

Wasn't a fan of the art as well. Yup, I'm oldschool, I like clean art. I'm not saying it was bad art, just that it wasn't to my taste.

So, I guess this is it for the foreseeable future. Only other GL i've ever really cared for is Alan, and without a JSA book, don't even get that.

I don't give [REDACTED FOR BEING TOO FOUL] about Hal Jordan, but I looked at these books for the Multiverse stuff and because of the proto-Legion in the form of the United Planets Superwatch.

Liam Sharp's artwork was amazing, though.

I've read the two Morrison "seasons" because Mike gets them, but it almost joined his Transformers books in the pile I don't read. As Sarky said, Sharp's work is great, but Morrison's story pretty much lost me. I think Mike's actually glad it's ending, too, but not about them ditching Hal.

*Next up... I read his Spidey books, where he gets a new outfit...

At the Classic Comics Forum, there's a new thread on "Great writers' missteps". Here's my response...





To me, a jaw-dropping "WTF?" moment from Steve Englehart in the mid-80s that tends to be overlooked, was when he was doing GREEN LANTERN. He got cartoonist & comics historian Fred Hembeck to research the entire history of Carol Ferris, a character who'd been horribly and inconsistently written for decades, in order to "figure out" what made her tick. And in one issue, he did an overview of her history, and, without my actually having read most of those older stories, I assume he did a fairly good job of it.

UNTIL the ending. When, suddenly, out of left field, he decided to reveal that not only was Carol Ferris also Star Saphire (something we'd known for a long time), but, that she was ALSO... The Predator, a character that the previous team, Len Wein & Dave Gibbons had just recently created.

Steve wanted to bring some kind of closure to Hal & Carol's relationship (such as it had been), so he could basically RID Hal of her permanently from then on. But this just made no sense. It was like a case of too much LSD kicking in suddenly, derailing what was otherwise (mostly) a well-intentioned and well-done story, while also insulting Wein & Gibbons in the process.

Several years later... and not long before power-mad editor Kevin Dooley KICKED him right off the series, writer Gerard Jones took aim at that glitch... and FIXED it.

I began to notice more and more instances in long-running comics where one writer would SCREW something over... and then another writer would have to come in and put it right... until, of course, another writer (or in some cases, the same one) would then SCREW things over even worse, until then another writer would come in a fix THAT.

Why don't they just TELL GOOD STORIES, and stop messing with the heroes and their lives and careers? (Because "soap-opera" is easier for lazy writers to do, of course...?? )




The most MIRACULOUS thing the live-action GREEN LANTERN movie did was make Carol Ferris LIKABLE, and completely eliminate, right out of the gate, that stupid Hal-Carol-GL "triangle" that had always been a 5TH-RATE imitation of the Clark-Lois-Superman triangle. I know back in the 50s, DC editors & writers held their target audience in contempt and felt that "kids don't want romance", so every DC girlfriend was a horrid shrew. But kids don't read comics these days, and the over-aged adolescents who do (heh) deserve better.