Green Lantern #66
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Doug Mahnke, Keith Champagne, and Christian Alamy
It feels like it’s been forever since I’ve had the chance to a review anything Green Lantern, which I understand is due to the shopping schedule that they’ve been given. For the first few months of the War of the Green Lanterns we had two books in one week, and the third the week later, but this week they all hit shelves on the same day…so I’m preparing for some more GL withdrawal. Thankfully this issue is a real page turner, and Johns does a damn good job keeping it interesting.
The story is split primarily into two main arcs, and after the team split of the Crayola Cavalry, this title keeps the focus on Hal and Guy, with not a mention of John and Kyle. Of course, when last we saw Hal and Guy they were being ambushed by the entity infused Guardians, so this issue features that fight. Yeah, Yellow Lantern Hal and Red Lantern Guy against the most powerful beings in the universe being super charged by even more powerful beings. Our heroes hold their own as each of these twisted uber beings get a little bit of time for Mahnke to show the creepiness he grants to their designs. The fight is quick and epic, with the little showcase moments of our Lanterns being pretty cool…especially when Guy makes a construct of our favorite Red Lantern kitty. Another nice touch, one that I was somewhat expecting Johns to do, is that Hal is REALLY feeling the yellow ring. He’s angry, he’s obsessive…and he’s not unlike Sinestro. Guy gets a little bit of the red rage, but Hal’s acceptance of the power of fear makes for some really cool stuff.
I said earlier though that there were two core story arc to this issue, and the second features a character who has been absent since the first issue of this arc, and yet has been the recipient of a lot of rumors and theory. I speak of course, of Sinestro who has been trapped in the Book of the Black along with the other New Guardians. Trapped in a dream, or possibly a memory, Sinestro is again the greatest of the Green Lanterns for the briefest of moments before breaking free of the illusion by sheer force of will. We are granted an incredibly brief look into what the others have been stuck in…with Indigo getting the only true focus, two pages as opposed to a panel. Sinestro meets her in a time when she is not called Indigo, and her past with Abin Sur is only hinted at further. It’s a tease, but it does create an obvious question for Sinestro to raise after the event. His will is strong, and it’s clear that Sinestro is going to be factoring back in later.
Doug Mahnke drew a creepy looking book. From the entity infused Guardians to Krona, and even Indigo’s cell…this book is dark and spooky. For a title with so many bright colors and spectrums of light, and even the war of light, this issue is channeling the same horror movie vibe that we saw during Blackest Night. Krona is an extra creepy little bastard, and despite his size he’s still artistically intimidating. We’ve got some great looking splash pages, and there’s a page where Guy busts out a different construct each panel that just plain looks bad ass.
As part seven draws to a close we are shown yet another of Krona’s motives, this one is admittedly a lot harder to have seen coming, but I can somewhat understand it. Hal’s corruption at the hands of the yellow ring was interesting, and I really want to see how far Johns takes it or if it’s even going to still be a factor come next issue. There’s some interesting foreshadowing scattered throughout the issue, and while I’m expecting a lot of big moments to come as the event races to the conclusion, this book doesn’t really drop any game changing reveals on us. Parallax comes acros a bit like an after thought, despite being their primary mission…though the distraction somewhat makes up for it. A damn good issue though, and Johns has once again proven that he’s a more than capable event writer. I can’t wait to hit publish and go read the next part!
Overall?
7.5/10
