Green Lantern #7
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Doug Mahnke, Christian Alamy, Keith Champagne, Mark Irwin, and Alex Sinclair
The short of it:
Sinestro goes to round up Hal, having recently learned of the Guardians intentions of replacing the Green Lantern Corps. Hal is in bed with Carol at the time, and not exactly pleased, so Sinestro has to lay down the threats and heat up Hal’s blood to get him in line…but before they can talk about the matter at hand, the Indigo Tribe shows up. Looking for Sinestro, who Indigo-1 claims belongs to them now. They capture Sinestro, and Hal winds up tagged along for the ride while Carol finds herself too late to help. The Guardians continue their plans to bring about their new soldiers, and are just generally asshats about it. As it all comes to an end, Hal is a prisoner on a far off world with no power…or pants, and the nightmare has only just begun.
What I liked:
- During Blackest Night I was starting to get annoyed with all the Indigo talk “nok” this and “lekka” that. It got to be a pain since it was just so…it was pushing the story. In this issue, however, all the Indigo talk just makes everything that much creepier. We have no idea just what the hell they actually want to do because we can’t understand a thing they are saying.
- Man, Sinestro is great at getting a reaction out of Hal. The entire opening sequence, from his home invasion, through the threat, and up until the Indigo’s show up is just awesome character stuff. Hal actually has some depth now, and Johns focuses on that instead of “Yay! I’m a Green Lantern!”
- Hal actually enjoying being Hal is a nice touch, and something that had been forgotten about for years after a decent enough start to giving us the man and the hero. Now, after a complete overkill of Hal the hero, it’s nice to see Hal the man not be some basic generic jackass.
- Few artists can claim to excel at superhero and complete spookiness at the same time, but Doug Mahnke can and he does. The scene with Hal and his jailer is just really freaking creepy.
What I didn’t like:
- You’d think that Carol Ferris, Queen of the Star Sapphires, would be able to summon her ring with a thought and not have to go dig for it.
- I understand that the book is rated Teen, and thus you can’t have Carol lose the bed sheet without bumping the rating up to Mature, but seven pages of it miraculously staying in place in just the right places is…well, it’s more unbelievable than Indigo-1’s loin cloth always being in place.
- Kinda sick of evil Guardians as a plot point.
Final Thoughts:
I like the depth Hal is getting, but my gut won’t let me forget that I shouldn’t get used to it. As soon as Geoff finishes his Sinestro story I can’t help but think we’ll get a return of Hal as GL 24/7. Hal without the freedom of having his real ring is leading to him getting some much needed characterization, and I’d hate to see it get shelved.
The Indigo language went from obnoxious to creepy really quick…probably around the time Hal was having it spoken to him in a jail cell.
Looking at how every member of the Indigo Trible has a collar with their logo hanging from it…are they all prisoners? Is the Indigo ring their rehabilitation? Is that why Indigo was so bitter when she was without it during the War of the Green Lanterns? A Lantern Corps made up of prisoners that feel compassion due to their rings, and their personalities are completely overwritten by the rings. That’s my guess. Oh, and Abin Sur put them there.
Doug Mahnke may very well be my definitive Green Lantern artist.
Overall: 8/10
