Or – “Two Crossover Issues Involving The Color Green In A Row…”
It’s a Verdant Monday at Major Spoilers! When last we saw the Green Lantern Corps, Sinestro’s evil plan is proceeding as written, with the Guardians in disarray, Mogo under assault, John Stewart and Guy Gardner MIA, Kyle Rayner possessed by Parallax, and Ion under lock and key. The myriad Sinestro Corps members have been killing Lanterns left, right, and center leaving the Corps more and more thinly stretched. Hal Jordan has taken the fight directly to Qward, but even the man once called ‘Greatest Lantern of Them All’ may not be enough to pull this fight out of the fire…
Previously, on Green Lantern: Long ago, the actions of Mongul and Cyborg Superman destroyed nearly the entire metropolis of Coast City, Hal Jordan’s home. The millions of deaths cause Hal to pop his cork, and gave the creature known as Parallax an entry point to his mind. Possessed by the ‘Lax, Hal cut a swath through the universe, killing the Guardians, most of the Lanterns and destroying the main power battery. The last survivor (Ganthet) took the ring to Earth and found the closest thing he could to a hero, a man named Kyle Rayner. Ganthet’s faith in Kyle proved well-grounded, as he managed to carry the torch of the GLC during a very dark hour, defending against the possessed Jordan and shepherding the power until the return of the Guardians, the Corps, and even Jordan. Now, with Sinestro’s forces attacking, Hal finds the shoe on the other foot, as he defend the universe against a possessed Kyle. But he’s not faring nearly as well… Meanwhile, on the galactic central planet of Oa, the Guardians of the Universe find themselves under siege.
IMAGE REMOVED BY DC LEGAL DEPARTMENT
“The truth, thought they’ll never admit it, is that they’re AFRAID of emotions.” And where there’s fear, there’s the Sinestro Corps! While Soranik Natu tries to understand why Sinestro let her win their first battle, and Salaak calls the GLC back to Oa, Hal Jordan is left alone to fight Parallax. The creature taunts him with the knowledge of his father’s last words (one of Hal’s great fears, apparently, is that daddy died in terror) and smashes Jordan through the ground with his bare hands.
IMAGE REMOVED BY DC LEGAL DEPARTMENT
I swear to you, I’m certain that Guy and John are trapped within the images of Kyle’s past selves… As Sinestro’s forces gather, Hal has to deal with his own survival instincts: fight or flight? “That’s where my wires get crossed…” thinks Hal. “I always do BOTH.” He attacks, and finds himself face to face with an old enemy, Amon Sur, son of Abin Sur his predecessor as Lantern of Sector 2814…
IMAGE REMOVED BY DC LEGAL DEPARTMENT
“THAT the Green Lantern Corps don’t do!” Ke’Haan and the rest of the Lost Lanterns (all of whom were left for dead by Hal as Parallax) rush in, cracking skulls and taking names. As the fight breaks out, we see what has happened to prodigal Sinestro Corps member Tom Welling Prime, whom you all may remember from the times he punched the wall of reality and changed the universe… Ol’ W.P. is unusually calm and introspective, seemingly waiting for something to happen from his post in space.
IMAGE REMOVED BY DC LEGAL DEPARTMENT
Okay, now I’m somewhat worried… As for the other jewels in the crown of Sinestro’s inner circle, Hank Henshaw (once known as Cyborg-Superman) is meeting with the Anti-Monitor about the deal that brought him into the corps in the first place. “The Guardians do not know what they truly face. Or what ANY of us are truly after…” As the new version of Warworld spins in negative space, Hank confirms what I suspected. Mogo’s attacker IS Ranx, the Sentient City…
IMAGE REMOVED BY DC LEGAL DEPARTMENT
All Hank really wants is to die… Here’s hoping that he gets his wish. Hal Jordan and the Lost Lanterns continue their action on Qward, even gaining the upper hand (through surprise and cunning rather than power) in the battle, but all is not well in GL Town. Ke’Haan may be on board to pull the save, but he still doesn’t trust Hal any further than he can spit. Not only that, they didn’t even realize Hal was here when they arrived…
IMAGE REMOVED BY DC LEGAL DEPARTMENT
The Lost Lanterns have been sent to recover Ion, but only Hal knows that Ion is no longer within Kyle’s form. As the Lanterns regroup, they’re suddenly overcome by the power of Kyle-allax, who blasts them all with his creepy evil shark mouth of power. He begins listing each Lantern’s fear and weakness, trying to psyche them out before reaching one Jack T. Chance. Jack is one of my least favorite Lanterns, coming as he does from the Lobo school of unclean over-the-top tough guys in trenchcoats, but even I worry for him as Parallax reveals his fears. “The troublemaker, wearing his kill coat. Trying to out-Guy Guy Gardner. All to cover up that scared little kid inside. The kid who was beaten on every night. Called useless by his brothers. Tortured. Burned. Humiliated.” Chance hesitates for a second too long, and Parallax strikes…
IMAGE REMOVED BY DC LEGAL DEPARTMENT
Crushing the ring in his fist, Parallax snarls “I don’t think so.” He attacks again, as the Lanterns try to regroup. Hal explains that Jack felt fear, and thus fell prey to Parallax, but Boodikka is enraged. The Lantern from Bellatrix attacks, but attempts to use lethal force and her ring shuts down, nearly getting her killed before Hal saves her. One of the Lanterns makes a tunnel, and they retreat to the Qwardian underground, while Boodikka nearly panics that her power failed her. Hal tries to locate Guy and John, while Laira (the purple-skinned Lantern) tracks down Ion. Tomar Tu and Graf go with Hal, while the others search for Ion, but when Hal follows his energy trail, he finds only more enemies.
IMAGE REMOVED BY DC LEGAL DEPARTMENT
Kudos to artist Ivan Reis for making a half-naked blue woman truly intimidating… We pause here, but I still maintain that this is a bluff on the part of Parallax. With Ion out of play, there’s no one who can balance his power, and the GL Corps are deeply outgunned. Still, it’s always darkest before it’s gets pitch black, so I suspect there may be even more bad stuff in the wings. After all, Tom Welling-Prime and the Cyborg haven’t even acted yet, and there’s still the matter of Sinestro himself, who arrived on Qward moments before Hal met Lyssa…
All in all, though, for a middle chapter of an ongoing saga, it’s a pretty nice piece of storytelling, marred only by the sheer number of characters in play. Ivan Reis doesn’t have as smooth a story-telling style as Ethan Van Sciver, the man who relaunched Green Lantern several years ago, but it’s more than up to the task, and Geoff Johns does a good job of building the tension toward the inevitable all-out war that’s coming. I’m hoping that the finish doesn’t destroy Kyle Rayner, who has finally grown into a character I enjoy after years of seeming like a standard-issue mid-90’s slacker doofus. Either way, this issue was an enjoyable continuation of the Sinestro Corps War, earning an above average 3 stars out of 5 rating.
28 Comments
…half-naked blue woman…
I think Blue Vampire Bondage Queen is considerably more than half-naked.
I think DC got in right interms of big events; you don’t need to collect 20 other books to “get” what’s going on and there are no ridiculous out of charachter moments(so far…)***cough, cough Civil War/Amazons Attack/ Infinite Crisis cough, cough*** Guess that last panel debunks the theory of where John and Guy are…And yes, Ivan’s Lyssa Drak is more intimidating than Dave Gibbons'(even though her loin cloth is a little low-cut…holy sugar-wax, Batman!!!). She looks more like Herman Munster’s wife(in a good way though…lol) Seems that DC is really building on that “TYGERS” short story by Alan Moore; is that paying homage, or plaigairism? And while the Sinestro corp is intimidating, does it seem that DC is retreading down that “Crisis” path too fast? Infinite Crisis ended just last year, and I’m sure this is a lead-in to final Crisis in ’08(blegh…can’t take…another…reboot…KHAN!!!!!) I’d really like a return to the Crab-face mask Kyle(his original costume) after this, having seen his upcoming Countdown look, and leave the domino mask to Hal.
I’m excited about where this is all leading. Especially the Alpha Lanterns. Don’t know what they are. But I know Grant wants them for Final Crisis.
I think it’d be awesome if Alan Scott became the new host of Ion and donned armor similar to what he had in Kingdom Come.
The only issue I’d have with Alan Scott as Ion is that he’d have to be off planet, thus not being available for JSA. Other than that, it’s a cool idea.
…and call him Sentinel again…
…and call him Sentinel again…
NO! Sentinel was the worst name ever, and the fact that the Green Lantern editors had the temerity to strip the ORIGINAL Lantern of HIS OWN name because they felt that Kyle owned it is one of the reasons why the old schoolers disliked Rayner in the first place.
Alan is Green Lantern. Alan has been Green Lantern since 193-freakin-9. Let Alan be Green Lantern…
Seems that DC is really building on that “TYGERS” short story by Alan Moore; is that paying homage, or plagiarism?
Well, they paid Alan to do the work as part of a shared universe, and they own the stories. It’s not precisely homage or plagiarism, more of a reliance on old continuity. And since those were some of the ONLY memorable GL stories of 80’s, there’s a good reason why we’re referencing them…
Allan Scott? I can see a sweet Geoff John’s “Hell yea!” moment. Lanterns up against the wall. Sinestro looks up “What are you doing here?”. Que giant Alan Scott Splash page “Saying hello to some old friends.” as he smashes Sinestros pink mug. Yea bring that on.
I still think it would be kind of poetic for Alan Scott to become the new host of Ion and save the Green Lantern Corp with the essence the Guardians banished from their own planet.
I understand that Alan has been Green Lantern since 1939, I mean no disrespect to that character or his history.
I see Alan as the elder statesman of the DC Superheroes, guarding and shepherding everyone that came after the original JSAers. He stands as a beacon of what’s right, a sentinel of justice so to speak.
I also think that it made sense to differentiate Alan from the Green Lanterns of Oa by changing his name to Sentinel. Again, no disrespect to the character or his history.
I also would like to see Ted’s son get a new name.
I also think that it made sense to differentiate Alan from the Green Lanterns of Oa by changing his name to Sentinel. Again, no disrespect to the character or his history.
Understandable.
But Sentinel is and was an awful name with no style, and the one thing that Alan Scott has always brought to his role is a sense of individuality. The man wore green pants, a red suit, brown boots and a purple cape… If that ain’t unique, I dunno what is. :)
I feel like changing ALAN’S name to differentiate from what came later is a lot like asking Paul McCartney to stop singing like the Beatles because so many bands have ripped off their sound…
I still think it would be kind of poetic for Alan Scott to become the new host of Ion and save the Green Lantern Corp with the essence the Guardians banished from their own planet.
Mm… that might have some potential. Who’s to say that some of the “wild magic” inherent in the Starheart power isn’t the Guardians long-suppressed emotions?
I think this storyline is the best one DC’s got going right now…fortunately, it’s likely to be central to the “Final Crisis,” so at least they’re getting that much correct.
DID YOU KNOW…
Major Spoilers (.com) has the distinction of being the ONLY SITE that can completely reset my internet connection–not just on the home PC, but at work AND my PS3? It’s maddening. I love the site, and I doubt there’s anything you guys can do about it, it’s just…funny. But I swear, all I have to do is go to a jump, and *poof* I’m dead for 60 seconds while my internet resets. Weird.
Mark: that’s really weird. I have not had that problem at all. I doubt there is any code doing it, as I try to keep the site code as clean as possible, and GoDaddy.com does a very good job at serving the thousands of pages with narry a glitch.
Perhaps it is something else? Does this happen every time you visit the site, or is there something you are doing on Major Spoilers that is causing it to happen (adding a comment, for example)?
I would also like to know if anyone else is experiencing this same problem. I know the site seems slow at times, but I chalk that up to a database that is growing by leaps and bounds.
Here is exactly what it does in all 3 places:
Home PC (Firefox and IE): resets my connection completely, out for 45-60 seconds (reboot.) This happens about 1 out of every 3 visits.
Work PC (IE): If I click “back” the internet goes dead for that window…but only that particular window (probably because of the company servers?) Opening a new window will work immediately. This may just be a firewall thing, though.
PS3 (???): 1/3 of the time it won’t even open the site. PS3 has a crappy web interface, so maybe it’s the system’s fault.
I get the feeling it’s not on your end. It’s probably a memory hiccup of some sort from a combination of heavy duty connection speed and less-than stellar equipment (both home and work PC’s are at least 3-4 years old and the PS3 OS simply isn’t made for heavy duty net surfing.) It’s just weird.
To comment on the earlier continuity/ “Sentinel” code name, I wasn’t sure if “tygers” was still considered canon since 2 Crises ago…As for Alan, I like him being the elderly elder statesman who still shines brightly(although, DC at times seems to have so many legacy heroes/sidekicks that it seems like just overkill…put them on another earth/timeline/make some into villains already!!) I don’t mind him having the green lantern name, he just needs a costume that isn’t so “golden age.” As for Ion, seems recruit Yat may be the next candidate….I wonder if Alan will get involved in the war, along with the Guardians?
Mr. Peterson:
I could counter that the majority of the name’s from the 30’s and 40’s had no more style than Sentinel such as Guardian or Red Bee. I feel that Sentinel has a sense of style and is no less dynamic than Superman or Spider-Man.
Green Lantern was an original name with a certain amount of style (and Alan Scott deserves the name, don’t get me wrong), but in all honesty, it’s a name that’s been co-opted by Hal Jordan. Hal Jordan IS Green Lantern. Instead of Hal living in Alan’s shadow, it’s the other way around.
Maybe it’s that I really only got into the character of Alan Scott when he was Sentinel, I liked that name. Well, at least we can agree to disagree.
But at the same time, Alan Scott IS Green Lantern. I see no problem in both Alan and Hal using the name. I don’t think its right for a character to have to have a name change because theres another hero usurping the title. I don’t think it harms Alan at all. Especially with the Starheart linked to the Oans now.
Indeed, Alan being a Green Lantern is appropriate because of the Starheart’s connection to Oa and the Guardians. For him to give up the name would be like Jay Garrick deciding he’s not the Flash anymore, but instead he is the Quickster.
Did anyone else like Alan’s Zero Hour era costume?
I didn’t love or hate it. It just was to me. I’d honestly prefer Alan in the Kingdom Come Lantern armor, he looked good in it in JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice.
Did anyone else like Alan’s Zero Hour era costume?
I hated it with the fury of a thousand white hot suns… It was an abomination with a pointy cape, and whomever designed it should be beaten with a morningstar until they recant their heresy.
Of course, it was better than the Kingdom Come armor, which really bothered me. Tom Grice (who is WRONG, Sir! WRONG!!) gives me flak for this, but it just reminds me far too much of that painting of Hitler as a Teutonic Knight, and Ross’ super-dramatic lighting with every panel he’s in doesn’t help matter.
Again, your mileage may vary, and my opinion is just that…
I remember the kingdom come armor, and actually thought it worked for the purpose of that story. I’d like to see a similar(not the same, they have enough kingdom come references as it is…)redesign based somewhat on that. Anbody got a link to the zero hour look? Josh posted about how Alan is in Hal’s shadow? I think the “space cop” angle, which some argue was taken from “Lensman” allows for a little more creativity and design, apposed to the “guy who wears a masquerade-style costume and power ring” look. Again, I have no beef with Alan, he just needs an updated look.
Again, I have no beef with Alan, he just needs an updated look.
It’s the word “need” that I’m arguing against. I like Alan’s classic look. I think that the armor is, quite frankly, ridiculous and unweildy, and that the Sentinel costume is simply horrifiic…
Just an opinion, mind you: As I said, I like Alan, I just think that the red/purple/yellow kind of stands out too much. Makes my eyes hurt…The armor was unwieldy, but unique enough for the story. I just think a streamlined version would suit him better. Compare Sandman’s old (was that JSA Black Reign? can’t remember the arc name…) black-ops look, to his current Hat/Cape look. I liked the black-ops look, but the new version compliments the original and looks cool too. Ditch the multi-colors and simplify is all I’m saying. He’s the elder statesman? Fine, just represent it better with a less-childhood oversized lolipop look. LOL How do you feel about Sandman’s redesigned look BTW?
How do you feel about Sandman’s redesigned look BTW?
I like it, though the skull elements of the mask are overdone.
That’s not the Zero Hour costume I was thinking of.
Ah, now I remember that costume…when Alan was de-aged for a bit…eh, it was the 90’s, bad costumes were the norm and not the exception. It worked for me, just like Kyle’s crab-faced look.