Review: Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #6 By Peter Tomasi

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Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #6

Written by Peter Tomasi

Art by Fernando Pasarin

Well…this book sure got changed up in a hurry. Last issue wrapped up with Guy’s pact with Ganthet and Atrocitus standing revealed to Kilowog and Arisia, and this issue opens with them demanding explanations and storming off angrily. While I’m all about the info dump that Guy is able to give, as I know it helps keep this book up to date as War of the GL’s approaches, I’m scratching my head over the fact that the revelation of Krona taking all of the Entities is a blow off fact to him, as he reveals that he’s known since day one. I guess we can assume Ganthet filled him in, but this really seems like a piece of intel that Hal could have used on Earth.

Anyway, this issue quickly establishes Guy and Bleez as the leads, though whether it’s just for an issue or two, or if it’s status quo going forward is not anything we’re given an indicator of…just that shit is going to hit the fan next issue, and the arc is on the fast track to wrapping up. The two play well off of each other, and while I do already miss the presence of the ‘Wog, I can live without Arisia and would have preferred her presence in Green Lantern Corps, as her relationship with Sodam Yat has felt incredibly forced to me since the moment it was alluded to. So her quest and desire and need to find and save Sodam is….not something I terribly care about.

Speaking of Sodam, his character arc in this title so far has done nothing positive for him in my eyes, and this issue is no different. His initial appearance in this issue immediately makes me start questioning several things in this title, not the very least of which is the timeline, and most of them will be addressed in an upcoming spoiler thread. Anyway, Sodam gets drawn into the same web as the others and forgets how to be grammatically correct at the same time, and….well, I do still like him more than Magog.

Bleez has become a ridiculously awesome source of amusement for me, and it’s not so much in what she says, but in the things you catch her doing on panel. Like as the issue opens and ‘Wog and Arisia are having it out with Guy over what happened, you can see Bleez wrapped around a big red ball as she devours it over the next few panels. Later in the issue she gets a clear demonstration of her abilities, and couple this with her dialogue actually becoming coherent and while she’s still not a profoundly deep character, her character is feeling less and less tacked on. I hope they revisit her origin a little bit, as while I do remember what I read in Tales of the Corps, I would very much like to see her character built up and find that to be an easy way to do so.

Fernando Pasarin does a good job here, and he’s becoming a better artist by the issue. He draws a great Guy Gardner, and despite only getting a few chances in this issue, draws an imposing Kilowog. I really enjoy the work on Bleez visually, especially with the bone wings and how they come across as living extensions of her, despite the obvious death attributed to them. There are a lot of cool visuals to be found throughout this issue.

This issue isn’t as good as last months effort, but it’s still better than the first few. I’m not sure if this is the penultimate chapter of this arc, but it really does feel like it. A lot of plots are coming together in a short amount of time, and I’m curious where Tomasi is going to take this, especially only a few months removed from War of the Green Lanterns.

Overall?

7/10

A lifelong reader and self proclaimed continuity guru, Grey is the Editor in Chief of Comics Nexus. Known for his love of Booster Gold, Spider-Girl (the real one), Stephanie Brown, and The Boys. Don't miss The Gold Standard.