This is the first – and so far only –
“New 52” DC collected edition that I have purchased. It's a
series that I had enjoyed back in the pre-Flashpoint days, but
had gotten a bit burned out on of late, what with several major “events”
centered around it in quick succession (The Sinestro Corps War,
Blackest Night, to a slightly lesser degree Brightest Day,
and War of the Lanterns – the last of which I found frankly
incomprehensible) as well as a multiplicity of titles (in addition to
the main title, there was also Green Lantern Corps and Green
Lantern: Emerald Warriors), and therefore with the announcement
of the “Reboot/Relaunch” – which would expand the franchise to
four titles – I decided to bow out entirely and maybe pick
up the trades. I will admit I kind of missed the ring-slinger, and
so a few months ago when I decided to drop Wonder Woman I
replaced it with GL with issue #11 or so. From the
solicitation information it looks like that will be right after the
end of a story arc. But at least for now I'm only getting the main
GL title and will try not to get lured back into buying all
the franchise titles.
As an example of the varying degree to
which DC titles were a simple “Relaunch” as opposed to a “Reboot”
last year, unlike, say, Superman, there was really very little
perceptible change in the status quo for Green Lantern. The
story takes up pretty much from before – when Hal Jordan was
stripped of his power ring and it chose his long-time opponent
Sinestro. Almost immediately the newest Green Lantern finds himself
in opposition to his old yellow-ring Sinestro Corps. Whatever his
personal feelings toward Hal, he recognizes Hal's skill and that he
needs him as an ally. Hal, meanwhile, is on the rocks with his
personal and civilian professional life – managing to piss off
sometime girl-friend/boss Carol Ferris again even as she gives him
another chance for the umpteenth time. Whereupon Sinestro appears
and bestows upon Hal a new ring – of his own creation –
recruiting him on a mission to destroy the Sinestro Corps, which, he
claims, has “every single one … given in to [their] sadistic
urges instead of adhering to the code of conduct
[he – Sinestro] created,” turned against him, and enslaved
Sinestro's home world of Korugar. A “code of conduct,” I might
elaborate, based on the power of fear!
Hal jumps at the chance to wear a ring
again and signs on immediately – No, not really – There's an
issue of rather acrimonious give and take between the old enemies,
but ultimately he does agree. Why? As Sinestro puts it, “Because
even if you're incapable of it, you always try to do the right
thing. And the right thing is to free my world and avoid
the bloodbath that would happen if the rest of the
Green Lantern Corps attempted to get involved. … Not to
mention... … the ring is all you have.” Hal and Sinestro
head to Korugar to face the Yellow Corps. Meanwhile, in a short
aside, we see that the other Guardians of the Universe have basically
emotionally lobotomized Ganthet – who proposes a new plan for “a
Third Army.” The original Manhunters were the Guardians' first
effort at enforcing law and order on the Universe; after the
Manhunters went rogue, the Green Lanterns were the second. They
consider the Lanterns to be just as dismal a failure. Hence, the
“Third Army.” Not coincidentally, I'm sure, there is an upcoming
Green Lantern “event” entitled so.
On Korugar, Hal completely in-character
ignores Sinestro's orders and barges in to what looks like a bad end,
disintegrated in the giant Yellow Power Battery that powers the
Sinestro Corps. Except that's not what happens. It's actually a
dimensional transporter that spits Hal back out rather than
transporting him anywhere. He's captured and imprisoned in a cell
that drains his ring energy. With a chance to manifest one last ring
construct, he gets one last look at Carol before his image of her
fades away and his ring goes dark. Sinestro is also overwhelmed and
captured, tortured, and ultimately imprisoned – in a cell with a
former ally from his days as the Green Lantern of Korugar. They
carry on a spirited debate because she – as do the Korugarians –
remember the dictatorial means by which he meant to impose law and
order on the world. Hal overhears them, realizes Sinestro can hear
him, and convinces Sinestro to create a hundred rings like his own
for the Korugarians in the cell with him. This doesn't seem like
such a hot plan when the Korugarians at once turn on Sinestro – but
he and Hal manage to convince them to work together with themselves
and they succeed in destroying the Sinestro Corps.
Then Sinestro sends Hal back to Earth,
with his new ring as promised … but he didn't promise to give him
any way to recharge it. Read the fine print, boy. This time, Hal
seems reconciled to a new life without the ring. He and Carol even
enjoy a renewed relationship – as Sinestro, in the midst of seeking
and destroying the remnants of his old Yellow Corps, witnesses a
vision of things to come and realizes that he still needs Hal's help.
So it's back to Earth, interrupting Hal and Carol in bed with the
ring zipping back onto his finger – “I can't get it off!”
– “Because it is my will,”
thunders Sinestro through the window. – “Find
someone else to be your sidekick,”
Hal spits back at him – “I'm
done being Green Lantern.”
– “No,
Jordan. … Unfortunately, you are far
from done.”
It's
a good, fast-paced story, much like the early years of Geoff Johns'
run resurrecting Hal Jordan as the Green Lantern of Earth. In fact,
my main problem with it has absolutely nothing to do with this comic.
It has everything to do with the fact that, a common writer
notwithstanding, I see no possible way this story and especially the
characterization of Hal Jordan here can be reconciled with the
presentation of Hal in Geoff Johns' Justice
League. It wouldn't
be a problem if I were talking about differences between this Hal and
the one in JL
#1-6 – that initial arc of JL,
after all, took
place five years in the past. That would have been plenty of time
for the over-the-top immature jerk we see there to have developed
into the hero we see here. Sure, he's still hot-headed and impulsive
here, but nothing like what comes across almost as a caricature
there. But then with issue #7, Justice
League jumps to the
present – and Hal still seems like a bad, over-the-top caricature.
And then there's the chronology. Hal as Green Lantern seems pretty
much tied to Sinestro now – it's Sinestro's will that manifest's
his ring and indeed powers it – but Sinestro's nowhere to be found
in the pages of Justice
League. And both
stories come from the pen of Geoff Johns. – Huh? – Wha?!
But I
don't want to end on such a sour note. As a Green
Lantern story in and
of itself, I found this volume very satisfying. I like Hal, I even
like Sinestro – the mortal enemies as buddy-cops motif is quite
entertaining at times – and I'm even interested to see where we're
going from here. I'm certainly hoping, however, that there is
minimal need to pick up the other Lantern
titles in order to follow the upcoming “Third Army”
story arc. I really have no desire to pick up the Red
Lanterns title, and
not much more desire to pick up whatever is the title of the
“Multicolored Corps” series. I don't even have the motivation to
look it's proper title up! But this was a good book.
Filling
out this volume is also a gallery of alternate covers, sketches, and
thumbnails of pencils for selected pages throughout the first six
issues. Only the alternate covers are of any interest to me.
Cheers,
and Thanks for Reading!
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