Green Lantern #67
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Doug Mahnke, Christian Alamy, Keith Champagne, Tom Nguyen, Mark Irwin, Gabe Eltaeb, and Randy Mayor
After what feels like the worlds longest wait it’s finally here! The epic (and I mean epic) conclusion to the War of the Green Lanterns! The Corps against the Entity-infused Guardians, led by Krona! Johns dials the action up to eleven and leaves it there from start to finish as he weaves together the best end to an event that I’ve read in years. The book keeps you on the edge of your seat and never ceases to keep you guessing. On top of that we get some nice subtle setup for Green Lantern: The New Guardians and some not so subtle setup for the relaunching Green Lantern in September. Oh, by the way, did you know that this is the last issue of the run? I didn’t even realize that until I got to the last page, and all I can say is hot damn.
The Green Lantern Corps vs the Entity empowered Guardians is about as unbalanced of a fight as it sounds, especially when Krona has his pet Parallax . Kyle Rayner gets the early call as he is almost immediately tasked with redrawing the Book of the Black in an effort to release the New Guardians who have been captive since the first part of this event. It’s a great use of Kyle, not a very long one, but it opened up an idea that wouldn’t work with anybody else. Maybe it’s just that Kyle is my Lantern, but I always love seeing him do something to save the day that nobody else could do. The return of their rings raises a few eyebrows; as we’re treated to the real name of Indigo-1, as well as the knowledge that the Orange Ring sees Larfleeze simply as “Owner”. Atrocitus immediately grabbing his chest and screaming in pain at having a body and no ring is the kind of thing I would expect from Johns, as Atrocitus having his heart ripped out in Blackest Night was a pretty prominent moment…not to mention that the Red Ring replaces the heart which is why Guy needed a blue ring to take it off.
Of course, this is the War of the Green Lanterns, and Johns keeps it that way! Despite the New Guardians being freed, they don’t really get to join in on the fight. Krona takes the rings for himself, and uses them to entwine Hal in a multi colored group of snakes. Krona and Hal have a dialogue here that goes a long way towards reminding the reader just why Hal does this job. Through all the crap he goes though, the lies the Guardians tell, the hoops they make him jump through, the fact that he could have pitched his ring and stayed on Earth…he still goes through with it. The Corps may be broken, the Guardians may be flawed, but he believes in the potential. He fights for the potential. He wants to save the universe by helping those with their flaws, not controlling them or killing them. And his words actually move someone on the sidelines enough to turn the tide of the battle after some moments of extreme awesome.
Seriously, I’m not going into the two big spoilers here, but Johns does a fantastic job capturing them. Hal’s words inspiring fearlessness in someone who would attack the Mad Guardian, who is as confused by the results of which as the other characters are. Hal is like the Patton of the Corps making moving speeches. Despite the spotlight shown on other characters, he truly is the lead in this issue from start to finish. I mean, he is quite literally the only person fighting Krona at first, and come the end of the fight he actually uses his will to break part of the programming in the ring to do what must be done. Hal proves, once again, why he is the greatest Lantern. I’ve actually stopped taking offense to that as well, I might be a Kyle guy, and Guy might be my number two, but I don’t get as bothered by Hal always having to be the king of awesome in the GLC. Honestly? He’s really the only Lantern that I can see getting away with doing half the crap he does. The past year or so, since Blackest Night ended, any other Lantern in his shoes would have felt out of character.
Doug Mahnke is the man. For as chaotic as the action feels like it should be he keeps a firm grasp on it and everything stays clear. He doesn’t needlessly clutter up panels for the sake of selling the epicness, and it makes the book look that much better. The mass numbers of the Corps are left in the background so that the primary characters remain the focus, which to me always looks better than the characters fighting their way through a crowd to get the attention of the readers eye. Krona in action makes for a lot of really cool visuals, and I actually need to give props to the colorists for this issue, Gabe Eltaeb and Randy Mayor, as the coloring for the Krona fight go over great. This is a very visual book, and it was handled by a top notch group of artists.
Without giving away too much, I really just want to go ahead and say that this is the best wrap up issue to a crossover event (and not a miniseries event) since The Sinestro Corps War. Johns hits all the right buttons and keeps the story moving non-stop until leaving us on a series of giant cliffhangers leading into the relaunch. All the right moves are made and when you finish reading the issue the first thought (at least that came to my mind) is that September is too far away! On top of that, this is the last issue of this volume, and while the issue definitely comes across like the finale to a crossover (as opposed to wrap up), it also ends feeling like a final issue.
Edge of your seat excitement? Moments that bring out the inner fanboy in everyone? Awesome visuals? An awesome ending? This book really does have it all.
Overall?
9/10
