Reilly2040's Blog

Right, I really, really need to catch up with some of my blogging.

When we last left events on Oa, Guy was on the rampage as a Red Lantern, Kyle had just been resurrected, and Mogo had decided it was time to socialise.

The highlight for this issue is easily the stuff with Mogo, that neatly wraps up the issue of the Black Lanterns devastating Oa.  It really showcases how powerful Mogo can be as he pulls everyone off of Oa, dragging the Black Lanterns down through his surface towards his power battery core, where they’ll be continually destroyed, no matter how many times they reform.

I loved the justification for Mogo’s appearance being so simple (The Guardians had ordered all Lanterns to report for duty), although interesting was the interaction between Mogo and Salaak.  For some reason Salaak really doesn’t seem to care for Mogo (constantly referring to him as “it”), something made worse when Mogo reveals he has special orders from the Guardians Salaak didn’t know about.  With Salaak being the main administrator for Oa, there’s an element of the control freak to his character, and obviously Mogo being so powerful and key within the Corps unsettles him.

While all this is going on, Guy is still running amok with the red ring.  Kyle’s keen to get it off him, but its pointed out that Guy’s now nicely doing the job Kyle intended when he freed Vice.  Of course, once Mogo takes care of the Black Lanterns, there’s now the issue that they’re not between Guy and his fellow GLs any more, which nicely sets up everyone trying to get the ring off of Guy next issue.

Which should be interesting, as up until now the only “cure” for a red ring we’ve seen has been a blue ring.  Currently though there is an Indigo Lantern and Star Sapphire on Oa as well, so even if the green ring can’t restore Guy’s system from the red ring, then presumably a combination of the different powers will (unless Ganthet’s sent a blue lantern to Oa to help out, who conveniently turns up).

I’m glad the “Oa under Siege” aspect of the story’s been wrapped up so neatly without dragging things out at all, and the stage is now nicely set for the GLs sorting Guy out before heading to Earth to respond to the distress call with the other Corps, so the story arc has been nicely laid out.    Although saying that, recent previews show that the Black Lantern Anti-Monitor will be turning up, so that’ll be very interesting indeed.

I have to presume its once the GLC is on Earth, and they somehow manage to destroy the Black battery, unfortunately not realising he’s trapped in there.  After their brief skirmish in the Sinestro Corps War, a full-on Anti-Monitor versus GLC fight should make for some pretty epic reading.

Following on from John’s misadventures on Xanshi, its straight back to Earth where Nekron’s true threat had been revealed, and black rings had claimed a variety of resurrected heroes and were targetting in on Barry and Hal.

I must admit, I really loved the way Johns dealt with the cliffhanger here. I’ve gone on about Johns writing of the Flash a lot here, and this is no exception with the neat little timejump trick in order to sever the rings connections.

The rest of the issue rattles along quite quickly.  Atom and Mera escape via Wonder Women’s ring (with the hint that her ring is glitching in some way), and then the Corps reform their plan, realising that one member from each Corps is not enough to truely recreate the white light, and they need everyone to head to Earth.  In the meantime others can be temporarily deputised, which leads to the fan-service everyone’s been waiting for, and various DCU characters being inducted into the various Corps.  Some work well and are logical (Barry as Hope I can see, Scarecrow as a Sinestro Corps member is a no-brainer and Lex Luthor being an Orange Lantern is a great moment).  Some however I felt were a little forced, specifically Mera and Wonder Woman.  Mera’s rage hadn’t really been teased much throughout the series until this issue (although Lord knows she got a lot to be angry about), and Wonder Woman I just thought would be a better fit for compassion than love.  The rest of the recruitments were well done I thought, but these two just seemed a little forced to me.

In fairness however, I’m not picking up the Blackest Night: Wonder Woman series and I know it expands on their conflict quite a bit, and I believe Aphrodite is involved with Wonder Woman’s recruitment.  Of course, at the time of recruitment, Diana is still a Black Lantern, so the Sapphire ring overcomes the Black Ring.  I thought this played well off of what happened with Kyle over in Green Lantern Corps, where again, we saw the Star Sapphire power being used to overcome death.  Given the tight links between the series, I can only assume this was a bit of deliberate foreshadowing to introduce that aspect of the violet light.

Largely this issue is a setup issue in terms of the new Corps members, so I thought it came across feeling a little light compared to some of the other issues in this series, but it now puts the Blackest Night event in an interesting place.  With January being a skip month, making way for all the one-shot resurrected books, we’re going to see Indigo Lantern Atom turning up in the Atom/Hawkman book for example.  I imagine the BN: Wonder Woman and Flash series’ third issues will also address their temporary status quo and show them dealing with their new powers.  In Barry’s case this should be interesting indeed, given we’ve seen the level of Hope required to properly wield the ring before, and Barry doesn’t strike me as quite the same type as Saint Walker.  I wonder if it’ll be shown as significant how the Blue Lanterns have tended to recruit manually rather than rely on the automated system.

And now I think about it, we know the violet rings come with a corrupting influence that up until now Carol’s been the only one resistant to.  I wonder if they’ll address this point with Wonder Woman as well.

Another good issue in the series, and I’m very intrigued to see what happens with the promise of all the Corps descending on Earth.  That promises to make for a very dramatic finale.  I also have to wonder if needing all the Corps also points to the rumoured “White Lantern” solution not being involved afterall.

After spending half of Blackest Night teasing John Stewart and Xanshi, we finally get the issue where it pays off.  Well, sort of anyway.

Its hard not to be a little disappointed with the lack of a payoff to John arriving on Xanshi.  After taking more than half of Blackest Night to get there, he quickly realises going there was a dumb idea and legs it.  We then get a short history of Nekron via Atom, Mera and BL Jean Loring as they traverse the dark matter universe linking the black rings.

As someone who’s a fan of John Stewart (well, of all GLs really), while the Xanshi stuff did offer up some nice moments, its a storyline that perhaps suffered from a bit too much buildup for no real payoff.  Couple that with John’s lack of face-time in either Green Lantern book since Rebirth, and the prospect of a John Stewart issue was very appealing.  Instead some of the page count gets diverted to the side story, and we don’t get any real movement on the story of John and Xanshi.  We’ve been promised that Xanshi was in some way linked to the War of Light, but there were no further teases of that here.  And while John does say he’s moved past his mistakes, I didn’t really get the impression that enough had actually happened to drive that character development.

There was the nice surprise of Driq turning up though.  We get the interesting idea that his being kept alive by his ring was a strange glitch no one could ever explain, and its something that seems to have persisted even into his Black Lantern incarnation, as he kept his GL ring and his own mind despite being resurrected by a black ring.  His appearance was a nice moment in the story and a good little nod to some of the older Green Lantern cast from volume 2 of the book.

Taken as part of the larger Blackest Night storyline this book will probably hold together a bit better, but as a John Stewart spotlight issue I’d been looking forward to, and a plot thread that had been teased for a while, this just felt a little light.  The Xanshi storyline is obviously just beginning  (and indeed, turns up briefly in Blackest Night #6), so hopefully John will get a lot more to do as the story develops in other titles, but here it felt a little like the GL book was just marking time until issue #50.  A pity as when Geoff does write John, its always been well done and I’d really like to see him do more with the character (something Geoff has promised, via Twitter, is coming post-Blackest Night).

Speaking of John, with the recent announcement of GLC getting a second feature and being bumped to $3.99, he strikes me as the obvious fit for the second story.  I hope so anyway, assuming Kyle and Guy would continue to share the main part of the book.

So, when we last (ie the preview) left things, Guy and Soranik were struggling with Kyle’s death and to bring him back, only for Guy to fall victim to Vice’s red ring.

Its interesting that Red Lantern Guy then completely full fills Kyle’s plan from last issue.  Guy appears to maintain more control than any Red Lantern we’ve seen other than Atrocitous himself, while still giving into his rage, he’s still able to talk, and uses both his rings to devastating effect with the combination of green and red light immediately disconnecting any Black Lanterns that run into him.

And while Guy’s running amok, Soranik finds herself getting help from all sides, as Munk and the various other Green Lanterns come to her aid to help destroy the black rings that are trying to claim Kyle.  However, its the intervention of Star Sapphire Miri whose powers tether onto Soranik’s love for Kyle that finally leads to Kyle’s resurrection.

If there’s one thing I’ve always said Peter Tomasi does well, its juggling various characters and plotlines, and in many ways this issue brings several of those together.  We see Kryb and Miri’s hunt for the Orphans lead them to Oa, placing Miri where she needs to be to save Kyle.  Kyle and Soranik’s relationship has of course been a feature of the series for a while now, and it’ll be interesting to see how this effects them going forward.

Guy’s anger has also been hinted at for a while, leading up to the Black Lanterns seeing rage in him where they saw will in other Green Lanterns and that pays off here with the red ring claiming him, and finally Tomasi brings together all the main characters from his run as Kyle vows to lead them to save Guy.

Peter Tomasi has really been making the most of this crossover.  In some ways Green Lantern Corps is coming across the slightly better of the two main tie-ins, but much like the build up, I think this is probably due to being slightly less coupled to the main narrative.  While Geoff Johns is having to focus on introducing plot elements and getting things to a specific point (such as assembling the different Corps members together), Peter Tomasi’s been much freer in terms of what he’s doing, especially under the very basic premise of “Black Lanterns attack Oa”.  From that point of view, this week’s issue of Green Lantern should be very interesting, since it looks to be focusing on the similarly separate plotline of John Stewart on Xanshi and I’ll be intrigued to see what Geoff Johns does with the book uncoupled from the main mini-series.

Its been a while since I was motivated to throw up a quick post just talking about an issue preview.  Largely its due to making writing the post once the full issue is out a bit trickier.  However I loved IGN’s preview for GLC #43 so much I just had to say something.

Guy turning to a Red Lantern’s been known for a while now, and Kyle’s death last issue was obviously the event that was going to push him over the edge.  What surprised me was how quickly it happens, within the first few pages presented in this preview.  But what a preview.

I really love how Soranik and Guy’s grief is played against their individual struggles to save Kyle, between Soranik trying to resuscitate Kyle himself while Guy is struggling to prevent Kyle’s ring leaving for Mogo.  And then when Guy’s grief gives way to rage as the Black Lanterns reform around them, he gets nabbed by Vice’s red ring, giving us a superb splash page of Red Lantern Guy.

I really love the design and artwork of Guy as a Red Lantern.  The armoured look is suitably menacing given what’s happening, and the colouring reminds me very much of Gleason’s take on the Alpha Lanterns.  Guy bathed in red light is a striking image with the light coming off of him really adding to the feeling of his rage that comes off the page.

Of course, he’s still got his Green Lantern ring on his right hand as well, and its similarly lit up.  Given Hal maintained an element of control while possessed by the red ring (and was able to form red constructs), I wonder if Guy’ll be the same.  Its a marked difference to the other Green Lantern-turned-red we’ve seen, Laira, who had been stripped of her green ring prior to the red one coming along.

And with Guy’s rage focused on the Black Lanterns, its a safe bet that the combination of his green and red rings will allow him to thin out their numbers while Soranik tries to save Kyle.

Really looking forward to getting this issue on Thursday.

Superboy Prime is a character that’s polarised DC fandom since his re-introduction in Infinite Crisis.  When Legion of 3 Worlds finished, it seemed like a line had been drawn under the character for the time being, but then to everyone’s surprise, he immediately turned up again in the solicits for Adventure Comics #4 and #5 as these Blackest Night tie-in issues shifted their focus from Conner Kent.

To quickly lay my cards on the table, I definitely enjoyed these issues.  However, given that the Superboy storyline is being ended with issue 6 (which most people are putting down to some rapid reshuffling which will see Paul Levitz take over the book as a Legion-only title), I think a lot of people have been put out by losing two more issues of what has been an (and I don’t use this word lightly) outstanding Superboy storyline.  To be honest, I’m quite sad that we’re not seeing a spin-off Superboy or Legion book from this title, allowing Geoff to continue the Superboy run as its just been fantastic.  From that point of view, the Superboy second-feature in issue 5 continuing the storyline was very welcome.

However, that aside, what about Superboy Prime’s storyline?

So, we’re back on Earth-Prime where Superboy Prime is living in his parents basement, reading his comics and posting on the internet.  However, when he sees the Blackest Night tie-ins coming out from DC and realises he’s in them, he’s not happy.  And then the Black Lanterns, led by Black Lantern Alex Luthor turn up to claim Prime.

Geoff Johns has made no bones about the fact he really enjoys writing Superboy Prime.  And here he’s clearly having a lot of fun playing with the “real world” setting, as Prime heads to comic shops trying to find the next issue to see if he survives, before finally crashing the DC offices, blaming them for making him the bad guy and never giving him a happy ending. Of course, if Prime’s right, and its ultimately the fault of the DC writers that have made him turn evil, then does this mean that the villain behind Infinite Crisis was actually Geoff Johns?   Or is Superboy Prime simply holding onto excuses, and in some ways he’s actually the only character in DC with true free will?

Over-thinking things aside, there’s a lot of fun to be had here as Johns has always enjoyed using Superboy Prime as a commentary on online fandom (, although I can’t help but think that if we’re now going to be moving the character of Superboy Prime to the side for a while, then Legion of 3 Worlds probably had a stronger “ending” for the character than this one.  And from the point of view of Adventure Comics as a title, I think I’d rather have had two more issues of Conner Kent’s storyline.  Blackest Night and Superboy Prime are probably big enough draws that having a 2-issue Blackest Night: Superboy Prime tie-in mini-series would’ve sold well enough, without having to interrupt the superb ongoing story in Adventure Comics.  I know I’d have happily picked it up.

With Rebirth struck down by delays, there’s been a lot of attention shifted to Blackest Night: Flash over the last few months, and now that its here, its interesting to see how ambitious Johns is being here by interlinking Blackest Night, Rebirth and presumably the Flash ongoing series.

Its especially brave, and you have to wonder if the Rebirth delays have had a knock-on effect at any point.  Certainly both this and BN: Wonder Woman #1 strike me as issues that should’ve come out last month alongside Blackest Night #4, whereas alongside this month’s Blackest Night #5 they seem to set the story back a step.

However, while maybe seeming like a step backwards for Blackest Night, what I really enjoyed about this issue was the sense of Johns continuing to build the new direction for the Flash franchise.  Everything gets a bit timey-wimey with regards to the Reverse Flash (who appears in Rebirth from a point in time after this story takes place, which sees him resurrected as a Black Lantern).  While its a bit headache-inducing I do like how Geoff Johns is playing with the time travel aspects to the franchise.   In many ways his current work on the Flash builds upon what he setup in the current Booster Gold series (which sees Booster and Rip keeping their identites secret to prevent just the kind of thing Thawne is currently doing to Barry).

Here, the story is helped by feeling like a partial sequel to Rogues Revenge.  The Scott Kolins artwork is doubtlessly part of this, but where Johns Flash work has always shined is in the way he redefined the Rogues.   Barry’s dialogue here hints towards his very different attitude towards the Rogues compared to Wally, which I don’t doubt is building towards the new ongoing, and the promise of the Rogues versus the Black Lantern Rogues next issue is great, with the Rogues using Mirror Master’s mirrors to move around as usual while its teased that they’ve forgotten about the Black Lantern original Mirror Master who’s also following them around.

Another moment from Rebirth which is picked up again here is Gorilla City.  Johns plays with Barry’s long absence from the world well, having him run off to meet Solovar, not realising that Solovar actually died years ago (and thus Barry is running into a trap before Wally can warn him).  However a key moment is Barry discovering the cave paintings of the Flash family, which we last saw depicting Barry as the Black Flash in the early issues of Rebirth, and is now updated to reflect the revamped Flash family seen in Rebirth #5.  While I’m unsure where this connection between the Flashes and Gorilla City is actually going, its tantalising to have Johns leaving these little hints and teases around.

This issue leads us up nicely to the events of Blackest Night #5, so it’ll be interesting to see how the next issues are impacted by the main series.  The previous tie-in miniseries all took place in a fairly isolated window, benefiting from taking place while the story was still ramping up.  Here we assume the outcome of Barry running from the Black Ring, and Bart being turned into a Black Lantern will have a more obvious impact in this tie-in.

Overall, I’d imagine this tie-in issue probably doesn’t quite work as well as some of the previous ones in terms of the Blackest Night storyline.  The shock of seeing old characters return as Black Lanterns has been a mainstay of the last 5 months or so, so has lost its edge somewhat.  However where I think this mini-series really works, is as a bridge between the events of Rebirth and Blackest Night, and the upcoming Flash ongoing series.  I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens in issues 2 and 3 and specifically how the issue of Bart will be addressed.

Since the two are closely linked, I’ll start by covering Green Lantern #48 which finishes filling in the story of how the Corps leaders get together, as Atrocitus and Larfleeze are saved from the Black Lanterns on Okaraa by the timely arrival of Hal, Sinestro, Carol, Indigo-1 and Saint Walker (with Ganthet and Sayd along for the ride). There’s some interesting ground covered in this issue, which focuses entirely on the group getting together.  Particularly interesting is the idea that the Guardians are actually responsible for the War of Light.  Of course, we know that Scar pushed them into challenging Larfleeze directly, although it was the Guardians themselves who were willing to sell out Ganthet and his Blue Lanterns.  When Hal hears this he’s none-too-impressed, vowing that once the Blackest Night is over, he’ll never work for the Guardians again.  How Johns plans on tackling this post-Blackest Night will be interesting indeed.

I also enjoyed the way Larfleeze was convinced to join up with the group.  Seeing Ganthet and Sayd, he automatically gets jealous about how the other Corps have Guardians and his doesn’t.  This leads to Sayd making a deal whereby she’ll be the Orange Guardian if he helps them out.  Again it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out in the long term and whether Sayd will have to uphold her side of the deal (I can see her potentially getting out of it, as Larfleeze tends to be easily distracted by anything else new that turns up).

And with the leaders of the various Corps all together, they’re in place for the start of Blackest Night #5…

With last issue being focused on the Flash and co trying to keep their heads above water while Hal assembled the various Corps together, this issue brings all the Lanterns together in a big way.  Starting out straight away with a role call of all the main Lanterns reciting their oathes, the Lanterns are quickly teleported to Coast City having discovered the Black Battery is no longer on Ryut.

And its just in time to help the various assembled heroes.  I have to say, there’s some great dialogue in this issue.  The interactions between Hal and the various Corps (with Hal’s dialogue revelling in the inherent silliness of the multi-coloured Lanterns) and with the Flashes was great.  Line of the issue for me was undoubtedly Barry and Kid Flash’s exchange regarding Bart calling Barry “Grandpa”.  Although the Captain Planet wink to the readers from Carol comes very close.

It was nice to see Wally turn up in this issue having previously only been referred to in the series.  And in his new costume no less.  With the delays to Flash: Rebirth I have to wonder what would’ve happened to Blackest Night had Rebirth #5 had slipped any further.  Would Blackest Night also have slipped, or would DC just have accepted Wally’s new costume premiering in Blackest Night?  Also, I notice than Ivan Reis has also picked up Ethan’s version of Bart’s Kid Flash costume and is drawing the boots as the simplified Flash-style boots as opposed to Bart’s more stylised pair.  I wonder if this is another running change that will stick.  On one hand I hope not as they were part of what made Bart’s outfit distinctive, although realistically they’d probably be a pain to run in.

With all the players in place, Geoff then successfully turns everything on its head, as the Corps combine their rings to create the white light of life, only to find it actually makes Nekron more powerful, not destroying him as they’d thought.  And its here that the plot revelations start hitting, with Black Lantern Batman making a brief appearance, and Nekron’s use of “Bruce Wayne” in quotes adding fire to the theory that the skeleton isn’t actually Bruce’s (although the fact the heroes believe it to be is obviously enough for it to act as the emotional tether for the Black Lanterns).

Nekron then explains exactly why there’s been a revolving door to death in the DCU, as its actually been him preventing the heroes from moving on fully, and setting them up to be resurrected, and further along his preparation for the Blackest Night.

There’s a lot been made of how this series would address death and resurrection in the DCU and lay out the rules going forward, and this is obviously the start of that.  I must admit, I really like the idea that there’s been a wider explanation behind all the DCU resurrections.  Okay, so its being retrofitted in, but it does make all the resurrections easier to swallow.   The only thing I’m not entirely sure about is how this actually works.  For example, Ollie was clearly seen in heaven, having passed into the afterlife in the Quiver storyline.  Although so was Barry and we know he was also in the Speedforce (clearly there must be some overlap between the Speedforce and Heaven in the DCU, both are versions of the afterlife, so I think it kinda works if you squint at it for long enough).  How Ollie being happy in Heaven works alongside Nekron’s revelation that he was preventing the deceased characters being judged I’m not quite sure.  Although I guess there’s always the fact that Quiver was pre-New Earth as well.

That’s fanboy nitpicking though, and ignoring it, this explanation feels right.  With Nekron’s comments about souls being judged and moving on beyond his grasp as well, we’re perhaps seeing the wider hints for how death/resurrection will work post-Blackest Night.

And then the kicker.  As Nekron was the one who prevented them passing over, he still holds power over all the resurrected heroes, as he proves by sending the Black Rings to convert them fully into Black Lanterns.  Clearly Donna’s infection over in the Titans special was a tease that the resurrected heroes were still bound to Nekron, and the payoff here, with Diana, Donna, Clark etc all instantly turned into Black Lanterns is chilling.  The only two left trying to escape the Black Rings are Barry and Hal.

And that to me is something really nice about this mini series.  Its not about the “Trinity” of Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman.  This is a Hal and Barry story that everyone else has just happened to get caught up in, and this cliff hanger positions the series to continue building on that partnership the way the first three issues did.  It does make sense, since this is the first big event since both Hal and Barry have been re-established in the DCU to put the focus on them working together again.  Of course it helps that they’re written so well by Geoff Johns, who’s clearly having the time of his life working with them both.

The next issue looks to be a real corker.  With the majority of the DCU’s heavy hitters now Black Lanterns, and Barry and Hal desperately trying to escape the same fate there’s a real “how will they get out of this one” been built up.  Interesting should be the development with Atom and Mera, who’ve been dragged into Black Lantern Damage’s ring by Black Lantern Jean Loring.  With Atom and Mera being the other significant pairing of this series, I can’t help but think that being shrunk down inside one of the rings is going to put them in a key position to help out in the next issue or two.

Fresh from having to introduce Captain Comet and Adam Strange into the REBELS title last month, this month writer Tony Bedard has to contend with the Blackest Night now catching up with his little corner of the DCU.

I have to actually take my hat off to Bedard here.  He successfully brings in a summary of the ongoing storyline,  introducing key characters, and then brings in the Blackest Night and make it all seem like a natural beat in the story.  The issue is pitched very much as an entry point to new readers while still moving the the plot forward.  And Tony takes full advantage of the Blackest Night by bringing the various Corps into the plot as well.

And in doing so, he also gives us a different look at events.  We’re very used to seeing the War of Light through the eyes of the Green Lanterns, be it Hal over in Green Lantern, or Guy and Kyle in the Corps book.  Here Adam Strange is relating to Dox and the rest of the REBELS what’s going on, and we get a feel for the impact the war of light has through the eyes of those not directly involved.  There’s a great line where Adam points out that single Green Lantern ring can lay waste to a planet, and so he’s terrified by the thought of all these other Corps running around without the morality of the GLs.

As I mentioned above, what this issue does hugely successfully is incorporating the Blackest Night backdrop into its own-going story.  All too often with these large company-wide crossovers, a series will find its ongoing plot-lines disrupted by the event, however here, the Blackest Night events happen around the main plot, as just another thing the REBELS must contend with as Starro manages to lower the shield containing his forces.  And the final page just worked incredibly well as a brilliant moment while further tying the book into the larger company-wide events in a way most of the other tie-ins have avoided thus far.

This is definitely a comic to check out.  The way Tony Bedard manges to weave together the shopping list of plot elements and characters is impressive in its own right, and next issue promises to be really interesting, as the power Adam Strange was so afraid of has landed right in the hands of Dox.

I really thought this issue was going to be tough to review.   Fortunately, having been spoiled to the big event yesterday, I had a day to process it in advance, which let me digest the issue without giving into fanboy rage.

So to get right to the main talking point of the issue.  Kyle dies.

As a Kyle fan, this isn’t something I was pleased to hear about.  With Kyle spending most of the Sinestro Corps War possessed by Parallax, and now getting killed off in Blackest Night, it was hard not to feel a little hard done by, as Hal races around the universe getting ready to save the day through his sheer silver aged awesomeness.

However, having time to digest it, and then read the issue with a clearer head, I’ve got to say, its a brilliant issue, and if this is indeed Kyle’s curtain call, then its not a bad one.

Kyle really gets to look the hero throughout the issue.  He takes charge of the Black Lantern assault on the central battery by coming up with the idea to release Vice and use the Red Lantern as a blunt instrument against the zombie hordes.    Then when Alpha Lantern Chaselon mucks everything up and is about to go nuclear, Kyle gets to play the hero, grabbing the Alpha battery and using it and sacrificing himself in order to take out all the Black Lanterns in the resulting explosion.

(Of course, presumably said Black Lanterns are just going to rise again, but it made for a good scene nonetheless).

Once again the Alpha Lanterns prove to be more trouble than they’re worth with Chaselon mucking up Kyle’s plan to use Vice (which was working and saving the central battery), and then refusing Salaak’s orders to withdraw, resulting in his own death and endangering others (finally killing Kyle) with his ruptured Alpha Battery.  I’m at the point where I just really, really want to see the Alpha Lanterns get their comeuppance.

Things are now nicely in place for Guy to fall as a Red Lantern next issue, with Kyle’s death presumably pushing him over the edge, and Vice’s ring on hand (pun unintended) to grab him, and from a larger plot point of view, we know that after Salaak, Guy and Kyle were the only things standing between the Alpha Lanterns and control of the GLC.  With Guy and Kyle gone, Salaak’s going to have to watch his back.

Special mention must go to the art in this issue.  Patrick Gleason really brought some of the best art he’s done to this issue.  The splash page of the Black Lanterns attacking the Central Battery was a great image, and Kyle’s final stand is beautifully drawn.  He also continues to excel at some of the freaky visuals, such as the Black Lantern construct that attempts to tear down the battery, and mention must go to both Gleason and Tomasi for the creepy image of the Green Lantern orphans, finally reunited with their parents as Black Lanterns.

With regards to Kyle’s death though, while its a good scene, I’m not counting him out yet.  This whole story is about the dead coming back, and I’ve speculated before that we’ll see some sort of mass resurrection at the end to bring back big names like the Hawks, Aquaman and J’onn.  No reason we can’t add Kyle to the list.

There’s also the cover to GLC #44, which shows Red Lantern Guy and features Kyle.  Now this could be symbolic for Kyle’s death having pushed Guy over the edge, or maybe a running change will swap Green Lantern Kyle for Black Lantern Kyle, but it still leaves things open.

I guess after 52 I’ve tried to learn to not let deaths of characters I love knock me as much.   Back during 52, fandom went into outrage overload over Booster Gold’s death (later revealed to be an elaborate hoax he’d setup to allow him to operate freely as Supernova) and then later Animal Man’s death (resurrected by aliens the very next issue).  So with that in mind, I’m not ready to drop Green Lantern yet or anything.  We’re in the middle of a story here, and where exactly Geoff and Peter have planned for it to go remains to be seen.   I’m fairly optimistic that Kyle’s going to be back in short order, with this death serving to move various subplots on, and provide a nice big halfway-mark shock to the readers.  If he’s not brought back, then I might be a bit unhappy, but for now, I’ll see what comes next month.