Or – “Hal Jordan: The Triple H Of The Green Lantern Corps…”
There are 7200 Green Lanterns in the universe…  An equal number of Sinestro Corpsmen. There are thousands of Star Sapphires, at least four Blue Lanterns, Agent Orange, a horde of Red Lanterns, and a dozen or so of the Indigo Tribe. So why does EVERYTHING in the endless reaches of the universe seem to revolve around one womanizing ex-truck driver from Coast City? Is it the hair?
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Previously, on Green Lantern: The various factions of the emotional spectrum have been skirmishing mightily of late, Red fighting Yellow and Green, Green and Blue fighting Orange, Purple fighting Green and Yellow, and Indigo kinda hanging on the fringes of it all. But none of the Corps are ready for the sudden onslaught(er) of the Black Lantern Corps. With renegade Guardian of the Universe Scar having taking her fellows out of the picture, and Black Hand sending wave after wave of rings into the universe to serve his mysterious (coughNekroncough) master, even the battle between lifelong enemies like Sinestro and Hal Jordan pale in comparison. Dead friends, family and enemies are rising across the universe, sidetracking the heroes by forcing them to fight their lost loved ones (a trick that Mordru tried on the Legion like, 20 years ago.) Of course, the timing could NOT be worse for John Stewart, visiting the ruins of the planet Xanshi (which he holds himself responsible for destroying years ago during the ‘Cosmic Odyssey’ miniseries…)
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As the swarming rings start crashing into the remnants of Xanshi, John Stewart calls for backup, only to find no support to be had. “Worlds have died,” murmurs the corpse of Pariah as the shards of the planet reform, and John sees the Black Lantern symbol lighting the planet’s crust. (So, the GLC has Mogo, and the Sinestros have Ranx, the sentient city, and now the Black Lanterns have Xanshi… I can’t wait to see the Orange Lanterns animate Los Angeles.) On the far off planet Zamaron, the home of the female members of the Oan race, Carl Ferris leads a Star Sapphire attack force into space to fend off the Sinestro Corps, come to retrieve their own lost members. Carol thinks about how she and Hal (“It’s all about the Game!”) break up and get back together, which distracts her long enough for the Yellow Lanterns to bust out their women. “You’re a LONG way from home,” intones a voice, and Carol rises to see Sinestro’s own gourd-headed sneering visage before her.
Sinestro tries to psychologically analyze her, mocking her for repeatedly being possessed by the Sapphire, while he reaches out and seizes power for himself. “This is not your war, Carol. Don’t FIGHT it… Be a good girl.” Carol PUNCHES HIM IN THE FACE, and snarls, “I’ve never been a good girl!” Nicely handled, Veruca! At the same time, the Red Lanterns of Ysmault are under attack by the Alpha Lanterns of the Green Lantern Corps when the Black Lantern rings rain down from the skies. The demonic creatures known as the Five Inversions are risen, as well as Laira of the Lost Lanterns (who was Green, then Red, then dead.) Sinestro and Carol do the fighty-fighty, but it’s really all a slap fight over who loves Hal Jordan more. Carol uses her powers against Sinestro, and we find the truth of his lost love: Abin Sur’s sister, Arin. Their battle is stopped by the arrival of an army of dead Sintro Corpsman wearing Black Lantern rings… On Okaara, Agent Orange finds the bodies of his victims arisen as Black Lanterns (including a dead Guardian of the Universe.) “Yuh-oh,” says Larfleeze, and his distress is kinda hysterical to see…  Evil Guardian Scar watches from Oa as the Blackest Night engulfs the universe, and remarks that as soon as the Indigo light shines, it too shall be extinguished.
This is going to sound weird coming from me, but… this issue has TOO MANY references to past stories in it. We have a bunch of callbacks of Carol’s runs as Star Sapphire, John Stewart’s backstory, the Sinestro Corps war, Hal and Sinestro’s shared history, the Alan Moore ‘Tales of the Green Lantern Corps’ stories from back in the day, the bits of the Omega Men’s history that relate to Vega and Okaara and why the Guardians don’t go there, the ‘Emerald Twilight’ era Hal Jordan stories where Jade and the other Lanterns were lost and… *Gasp.* I love the hell out of a universal crossover that actually IS universal and doesn’t shy away from the old stories, but MAN there’s a lot going on here. Hal doesn’t even appear in this issue (even though Sinestro and Carol’s conflict is ALL ABOUT him) and it’s still crammed full of Lanterns on every single page. This issue continues the trend of each Lantern Corps having a living planet and an Avatar (Black Hand for the Black Lanterns, Ion for the Green, Predator for the Sapphires, Parallax for the Yellow) and adds some interesting texture to the fabric of the Blackest Night war. It’s still a good issue, with Doug Mahnke pulling no punches in his renditions of dead folk, and giving Carol dignity in her tiny little pole-dancer’s outfit. For all my worries about accessibility, this issue is a good’n, with Green Lantern #45 earning 4 out of 5 stars overall.  The Blackest Night continues to be wonderfully creepy, nicely psychological, and it hasn’t worn out it’s welcome yet.
12 Comments
Doesn’t seem right to not have any comments to DC’s biggest event at the moment, not to mention respecting the time it takes to review an issue.
My comment/question is posted on the forum, here:
http://www.majorspoilers.com/smf/index.php/topic,1045.msg3518.html#msg3518
(shameless forum plug)
btw, does htm code work in these comments? Could I have made that link clickable with a url command?
Apparently, I have answered my own question. duhr
HTML code is the secret to why my posts look AWESOME.
[i]So why does EVERYTHING in the endless reaches of the universe seem to revolve around one womanizing ex-truck driver from Coast City? Is it the hair?[/i]
You know, we need to test that hypothesis. Ever notice that many of the DCU’s aliens are bald? They could be coming to Earth for the hair. They see Hal Jordan out in space and think “Now that’s stylin’!” There needs to be an event comic culminating in Hal Jordan facing every man’s third-greatest fear. We could call it “Follicle Crisis: Crisis on MPB.” What mysterious force is causing the heroes of the DCU to lose their hair? Watch as Hal Jordan channels the full power of the collected Guardians of Oa to become… Baldy Lantern! Then spend a year following the effects of Hal Jordan’s comb-over on the rest of the DCU with “One Year After Rogaine.” No?
No? .. No. LOL
But I’m thinking I’ve read worse plots to a major event. :-)
Awwwww, c’mon, it’d be great, you know it! Everyone immediately suspects Lex Luthor but for once, he’s innocent! And also buying stock in hair-growth formulae and follicle transplant technologies. Then they turn to Mr. Bones, who has to explain that he does have hair, thankyouverymuch, it’s just very shy. They get their first clue when the Black Lantern zombies go by craving “Hearts!” but zombie Captain Boomerang craves “Hair!” Then they realise that the victims have been scalped by a razor boomerang! Come on, it’s brilliant! You’d buy the heck out of it, you know you would! ^____^ …oh right matthew forbade me to use anime smilies.. XDDD
In Identity Crisis, Batman claims that the culprit is always the one with the most to gain. So all evidence would point to Luthor.
But Lex is comfortable with himself. He knows that bald men who own half the world and can be President will still get the babes.
The real twist comes when we realize it’s a crossover event. The master villain is Medusa of the Inhumans.
Never satisfied with what she has, she is claiming the hair of DC heroes to make a weave, hoping her theft from an alternate universe will go unnoticed by her loud-mouthed, outspoken hubby, Black Bolt.
And thus dawns the ultimate crisis, Baldest Knight!
I guess Laira figures she’s better dead than red?
(yikes. Where’s my cup o’ coffee?)
I was so happy to read this issue, the planet Xanshi was revived and not it’s people! Now we can see Xanshi Vs. Mogo, too bad Mogo is not gonna make it thou…
Was it Abin Sur’s son leading the BL charge against Sinestro and Carol? I can’t wait to see Abin Sur himself joinning the fight.
P.S.- I don’t believe it’s to much back history, most of it was retold or recalled at some point since the relaunch of Green Lantern in 2005.
Oooh, I like the idea that Sinestro might be in love with Hal….
I wonder if Hal will continue his tour of the color spectrum. I am looking forward to see him in sexy violet light uniform :-p