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31 01 2008

Alpha Lanterns

Posted by Alan in Comics, Green Lantern

Green Lantern Corps #22This week saw the release of Green Lantern #27 and the second part of the Alpha Lanterns trilogy.

So, now we finally see what the Alpha Lanterns are. Part Manhunter, part Green Lantern, they enforce the new rules being written into the book of Oa.

The surgery scene was really horrific. No doubt intentionally, I suspect we’re supposed to be seriously questioning the Guardians at this point. John was right to knock back the offer without more information, and with Boodikka’s story spilling into the next two issues of GLC, I suspect we’re going to see some of the real consequences to their decision to accept the position.

GL27 PanelIts perfectly played out in the scene where Laira is asking Hal what he would’ve done as she’s being escorted to a Sciencell, and Hal looks up to see Sinestro smirking. There’s no doubt now that he won the Sinestro Corps war. Whereas a GL might still inspire people in the DCU, I have no doubt that an Alpha Lantern turning up is going to terrify people. The Guardians are playing right into Sinestro’s hands, inspiring fear in those around them.

The Blackest night is also touched on, with the scarred guardian getting Ash to hunt out the remains of the Anti-Monitor, and we see Black Hand’s symbol reflected in her eyes. Has she been infected by the Anti-Monitor?

The only real complaint I’ve got is with Raker. A fan favourite, previously introduced as a GL operating in secret on Apokolips, with his own power battery, so he was still in action after Parallax/Hal decimated the Corps. It was a cool story, and he became a fan-favourite, but this version of him is nothing like the version I remember from that story. Its a minor niggle, but it seems pointless to bring back the character only to change him so radically.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at 20:34 and is filed under Comics, Green Lantern. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

11 Responses to “Alpha Lanterns”
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  1. David says:
    February 3, 2008 at 15:18

    Yup, I absolutely loved the issue, it was chilling.
    Though I don’t understand how they can put Sinestro on death row, even though he’s not a threat at the moment (which will definitely change!), and then chastise Laira for killing Amon Sur, who was not a current threat. It doesn’t really make sense to me. They both committed horrendous crimes against the GL corps and the universe.

    Also, another relevation for the Blackest Night.

    Whos another influential character that has died in the Sinestro Corps War?
    The Guardian of the Universe that sacrificed himself to ‘kill’ Superboy Prime! (even though he was just forced out of the universe…) If that Guardian coming back doesn’t shake up the Guardians then I don’t know what will.

    And I don’t care that were was no corpse to return, since he kinda was disintegrated leaving behind only his robe. Hal’s dad was in a head on plane crash. The only leftovers of his body would be a charred skeleton, but they’ll still show him alive so they can make him talk and have facial expressions. Same goes for Amon Sur.

    This is got to be why they’re allowing such amazing characters to die.
    I wonder how the Cyborg Superman will react to finding Death not being the eternal rest he thought it was. Maybe he’ll work WITH the black lanterns.

    As for Laira, I think she’ll either become a red lantern because of her rage, or she’ll get executed and become a black lantern. Personally, I think she’ll definitely be a red lantern, because that arc is coming a lot earlier than the Blackest Night and there hasn’t been all that much build up to it.

    I bet Fatality will be one too. I mean she’s got a vengeance against the GL Corps as much as Laira’s got one against the Sinestro Corps. (and even the GLs after such betrayal, every single one of the lost lanterns said it was murder after all).

    It’s a good time to be a GL fan.

  2. Alan says:
    February 4, 2008 at 15:50

    My money’s definitely on Laira becoming a red lantern at this point. We know that the arc after the retelling of Hal’s origin will introduce the red lanterns, so it makes sense to me, that with the way she’s been losing the plot, that she’ll be recruited.

    The really interesting thing about the Alpha Lanterns for me is that they’re not Geoff’s creation. Grant Morrison has created them for Final Crisis and has asked Geoff to weave them into the storyline. So it’ll be very interesting to see how they’re used in the build up to that.

    Good point on allowing such good characters to die. It did seem odd to me to go to all the hassle of bringing back the Lost Lanterns only to just start wiping them out, but bringing back the likes of Jack T Chance as a Black Lantern could be really interesting (similarly Amon Sur - otherwise its just a waste of a good villain - lets be honest, after all the buildup, he did naff all in the war).

    Interesting theory regarding the Guardian. Definitely we’re seeing some unexpected fallout from the war with the scarred Guardian, so I’d think its quite possible they’ll revisit the one that sacrificed itself against Prime. I’m also interested in the number of Guardians. We’re now told there’s only 9, but there should be way more than that. There were loads when Kyle resurrected them.

  3. David says:
    February 4, 2008 at 18:39

    Can’t wait for Jack to come back.

    I wonder if Krona might make a comeback soon.

    Speaking of how Kyle resurrected them, I still can’t believe The Power of Ion volume that has that part in it is out of print. It’s ridiculous. DC Comics has the ones before and after it, but not that one! One that has events that play such a big part in the books to come! It’s stupid. =\

    People just getting into the series are going to be shocked when they pick up the next book in their collection and find Kyle’s costume looking different, his hair spiky, random references to Godhood and kiddie Guardians running around.

    Come on eBay, help me get this boook.
    (I’ve thankfully read the issues.)

  4. Alan says:
    February 4, 2008 at 20:18

    Fortunately I got a copy a while back (via ebay or just getting lucky in a shop I can’t remember).

    I do find it odd though, that with the current revival and interest in GL that DC don’t capitalise in it by re-releasing some of the classic stories from v2 and v3 in trade form. The Emerald Dawns and Twighlight got re-released just after Rebirth, but with all the stuff regarding Ion lately, the Power of Ion seems an obvious one to re-release. Certainly when compared to stuff like the Tangent Comics (which I bought the trades off, and found a bit of a mixed bag).

    A re-release of the issues from v2 where the Central Power battery is destroyed would also be great. As those were the issues that established that the yellow weakness was alive (and Sinestro made contact with it). Something hugely significant given the current direction of the books.

  5. David says:
    February 6, 2008 at 3:43

    I am happy. I’m eBaying for Power of Ion, and I’ve got forty minutes left of the auction. Wish me luck.

    I’ve noticed on the DC Homepage that all of the Kyle Rayner books are out of print. I don’t remember this being so the last time I checked and I still see books of the others on the shelves of comic stores (forbidden planet etc). I wonder if this is a sign that they plan to re-release them sometime soon…

  6. Alan says:
    February 6, 2008 at 9:54

    Good luck. I hope you got it. I also had the individual issues, but trade is just a far nicer format to read.

    There was quite a good post from Ron Marz on the ComicBloc recently about how he pushes to get extras included in the trades to make it worth buying for people who’ve already got the issues, and how he thinks its one regard that Marvel and DC fall down on. I’ve definitely got to agree with him.

    I bought the Ion trades to support the series (even though it was already dead - but I figured the support was still worth showing) but it would’ve been nice if it wasn’t just new copies of something I already owned. For that reason I’ve also avoided most of the trades of the current GL and GLC runs, although I would really like to get them, I just can’t justify re-buying something I already own.

  7. David says:
    February 6, 2008 at 10:31

    I failed, I’m afraid. The price got a little high for me in the last ten minutes.
    I could buy a 32gig iPod touch and N810 for the price that got to… -_-;;;

    One day…
    Oh, one day…
    I shall win the lottery…
    …and things will be good…

    I’ll keep looking, I suppose.

  8. Alan says:
    February 6, 2008 at 10:56

    Wow. I’m half tempted to chuck my copy up on ebay if they’re going for crazy money.

    Its always the problem with ebay sadly. You can spend 5 days clearly winning, and then the snipers hit 30 seconds before the end of the auction :-(

  9. David says:
    February 6, 2008 at 15:51

    …………………………………………………………………………………………………
    Uh.
    I… was talking about a car I saw on eBay. Yes. Also called Ion.
    No need to bother with eBay.
    Simply give to me. =]

    What I’d do, mate, is wait until they announce the reprinting of the Kyle Rayner series, THEN put yours on eBay and make a few hundred and pick up the new reprint for a tenner. =]

  10. Alan says:
    February 8, 2008 at 14:37

    To be honest, I’m not one of those guys who’ll ebay off something just to make money on it. I’m a hoarder and I like keeping these things around so I can re-read them.

    A good example being the latest Captain America issue (Bucky’s debut as Cap). Loads of people bought it, read it, then chucked it on ebay. Me, I’m the kind of guy who’ll hang onto it incase I want to re-read it in 5 years time :-D

  11. David says:
    February 8, 2008 at 16:49

    I’m exactly the same. It’s why I really want to get the Power of Ion from eBay.
    I want to try and get a complete collection of the series’s I like.
    So I can re-read the books from the beginning to the end.

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