Friend versus friend in a battle… to the DEATH! Your Major Spoilers review of The Green Lantern #6 awaits!

THE GREEN LANTERN #6

Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Liam Sharp
Colorist: Steve Oliff
Letterer: Steve Wands
Editor: Brian Cunningham
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 3, 2019

Previously in The Green Lantern: Hal Jordan’s final initiation test to join the Blackstars? Kill Adam Strange! In this issue, Controller Mu and his Blackstar goon squad have invaded and occupied the planet Rann, and its protector is at their mercy! When planet after planet has fallen to the Blackstars – and these monsters are at Rann’s gate – does the galaxy have any hope to survive?

TO BECOME A DARKSTAR…

The leader of the Darkstars, Controller Mu has captured Aleea Strange, the daughter of Adam Strange, using her as a wedge to force Adam to fight Hal Jordan in ritual combat. No matter how much Adam pleads, though, Hal refuses to yield, facing him directly and shooting his old friend down in cold blood. While Alanna Strange mourns her husband, Jordan is confronted by the Controller and informed that he is now a Darkstar… if he can help them to unlock the secrets of the Power Ring. Green Lantern tries to lie, but isn’t really good at it, and the Darkstars leave him with a giant universal neutron bomb thingy to dismantle. Having awakened on Rann after being rendered comatose by Hal’s fake killing stroke, Adam Strange arrives just in time to witness Hal channelling not only his own ring’s power, but the power of the Guardians of Oa themselves, causing other Lanterns’ powers to flicker across the universe as he dampens what could be a universal cataclysm at (seemingly) the cost of his own life. Hal Jordan is given a heroes funeral on Rann, but as the issue ends we find Hal wandering in a strange world called Emerald Sands, meeting a creature call Myrwhidden!

…YOU MUST MURDER YOUR FRIEND!

That’s a name that should ring a bell for pre-Crisis Green Lantern fans, but it is a slightly confusing moment for me, especially given how quickly the whole Darkstar plot seems to have been disposed with in this issue. Even with the Controller’s ominous warning that Hal now belongs to the Darkstars, it just feels like things are rushed to an ending this time around. I do like the use of Adam Strange though, even if it does raise questions given the last time we saw him in Justice League United. (Of course, we may be in a pre-Flashpoint reality now? Or maybe continuity no longer matters, which is fine, I suppose.) The art is suitably bizarre and alien once again this month, doing perhaps a little more of the dramatic heavy lifting than I would have preferred, but the final page reveal is amazing, gross and fascinating all at once. Best of all, both Green Lantern and Adam Strange are drawn in a very Silver Age fashion, befitting Morrison’s retro (in all the right ways) scripting.

BOTTOM LINE: A SOLID ISSUE

In short, The Green Lantern #6 might feel like there’s a lot crammed into the story, but the delivery of drama, action and a emotion works pretty well thanks to strong art and the final page reveal makes up for some of the ambiguities of the story, earning a better-than-average 3 out of 5 stars overall. This issue winds up the first six-issue arc with aplomb and makes me want to read the next chapter of Hal’s journey, so it’s a successful comic and an interesting (if momentarily confusing) read.

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