Reilly2040's Blog

IGN have put up a preview of this week’s issue #40, and it looks great

Philip Tan’s artwork continues to shine in this storyline, and I love the scenes of the GLC arriving to clean up the Vega System, now that its no longer off limits.   The implications this will have with the Spider Guild should be interesting to see, although its now being made clear (Geoffconed) that the Spider Guild were just a cover for the real reason the GLC was staying out of the Vega System.

This is the really interesting aspect of this story arc.  We now know that the reason the GLC have stayed out of the Vega System is because its home to Larfleeze and the Orange Light.  Infact, in these preview pages one of the Guardians makes it clear that the reason this happened, is because the GLC were delivered a sound beating the last time they encountered the Orange Lanterns, before coming to the truce.

This is a very interesting statement to me.  That the Orange Lanterns are potentially that much more powerful than the Green Lanterns.   We know that the Guardians themselves also go to Okaraa, presumably to add extra firepower rather than just let the GLs get slaughtered again.   I’m guessing this is going to be where Hal’s blue ring will be vital as well.  Presumably once they meet up with Larfleeze, the fight is going to be pretty one-sided until Hal eventually finds his hope, activates the ring, and all the GLs in the area suddenly find their power boosted.   

Whether this will be enough to sway the Guardians towards the value of the blue light will be debatable, however it should mean that all the GLs present will realise that there’s a lot of benefit to be had in teaming up with the Blue Lanterns, even if the Guardians are against it.

I’m looking forward to the rest of the issue a lot.  Nice to see the preview is only 6 pages as well.  I’ve noticed the length of these previews (generally speaking, not just GL) has been steadily increasing for a while now, and I’d noticed that it was starting to impact my enjoyment of the books themselves.

IGN have put up the solicits for the first month (July) of Blackest Night, and its looking very, very good.

A very interesting aspect to these solicits its the two issues of GL in July. Hopefully this is a sign of Doug Mahnke having had a headstart on the art duties, and we know from final Crisis that he can produce good work in a hurry (something that’ll probably be key to GL during all this). I’m liking the look of his two covers a lot. He’ll probably not replace Ivan Reis as my favourite GL artist, but his artwork’s great, and he’s a fast worker, which will count for a lot given GL’s tendency to hit delays.

I’m guessing these issues pick up straight after what we’ve seen in Blackest Night #0, as that started with Barry and Hal at Bruce’s grave, and here we see them battling the Black Lantern J’onn by that same grave (and Black Hand there as well, although I’m guessing he escapes after issue #43 thanks to the arrival of the Zombie Martian Manhunter). I’m also interested to see that Peter Tomasi’s story arc with Mongul taking over the Sinestro Corps will be coming to a head in the main GL title, with the solicits teasing Sinestro vs Mongul.

 GLC meanwhile is the usual one issue that month (helps keep GL ahead in the numbering ) and its dealing with the aftermath of the Sciencell riots, with a new law being enacted (something that’s not as exciting as it used to be. I’m just sitting wondering what dumb decision the Guardians will make this time), and hints that its going to have serious implications for the Honour Guard Lanterns Kyle and Guy. The cover seems intriguing with Kilowog holding (offering?) a load of Green Lantern rings. Perhaps a sign of the heavy losses the GLC has taken recently, between the Sinestro Corps, Red Lanterns, and people quitting due to dumb laws?   Although given the blood on his hand, I’m guessing these Lanterns didn’t quit.  Despite the Guardian’s feelings towards Ganthet, with the hits their numbers have taken over the last year, they’re going to end up very glad of the Blue Lanterns help by the end of this.

Finally, and possibly what I’m looking forward to the most out of these solicits, is the Tales of the Corps specials. The solicits give us an idea of what stories to expect, and I’m really looking forward to seeing Saint Walker’s pilgrimage, and our first introduction to the Indigo Lanterns.

Continuing on from where Rage of the Red Lanterns left off, the new arc in Green Lantern, called Agent Orange picks up with the Controllers in the Vega System looking for the Orange Lantern, while Hal is on Odym trying to get Ganthet to remove the Blue ring he’s stuck with.

However Ganthet is powerless to remove the ring, and while Sayd creates a new ring for Saint Walker, Ganthet explains that Hal must find his hope to power the ring, drain its charge, and only then will he be able to remove it.   We also discover that Ganthet had never intended Hal to be a Blue Lantern, instead wanting him to remain a Green Lantern and use his willpower to power the Blue Lanterns.

Its not long before Hal’s pulled back to Oa by the Guardians who are none-to-pleased about Hal’s new blue ring.   Interestingly however, even they are powerless to remove it.  John turns up to help out Hal, but they’re all scattered when Larfleeze, holder of the Orange Lantern attacks Oa, as he blaims the Guardians for the Controllers trying to steal his power.   Scar arrives and declares the Vega System no longer off limits, and proposes the Green Lanterns and the Guardians go after Larfleeze.

This is a great issue.  The opening scene with the Controllers attempting to find the Orange Light and ending up slaughtered by Larfleeze and his Corps was very creepy.   Thanks in large part to Phillip Tan’s great artwork.  Its a pity we’re only getting him for this one story, although maybe we’ll get lucky and he could do some fill-in arcs after Blackest Night.

Interestingly the Orange Lanterns themselves appear to be only constructs, spawned from the Orange battery.  Makes sense for a power that’s based on avarice that there’d be no sharing.   I’m looking forward to the nature of the orange lanterns being examined in the upcoming issues.

We also really feel for Hal in this issue.  He’s desperate to get rid of the blue ring, and you get a tangible sense of how the two rings are battling over him.   Its interesting that the ring is so powerful that not even the combined power of the Guardians could remove it.  Of course, we also get the usual scenes of the Guardians being, frankly, dicks here.   They refuse to listen to Hal’s explanation of the red rings taking people against their will, and we also revisit the Guardian’s unwillingness to play well with the other Corps.   This is in stark contrast to Ganthet who announces that he and his Corps will be looking to align with the Indigo Lanterns, to help build a powerbase in preparation to support the Green Lanterns during the Blackest Night.

At this point we’re really expecting a big reality check for the Guardians come Blackest Night, where they find out how Scar has played them, and how, if not for Ganthet, they’d be in a lot of trouble.

I’m really looking forward to seeing the rest of this arc.   The Orange Lanterns seem to be markedly different to every other Corps we’ve seen so far, and I’m looking forward to the reveal of their nature.   In fact, its one thing I’m really enjoying about this War of Light, is how Geoff is giving each Corps its own distinct feel.

This month brings the conclusion of the “Rage of the Red Lanterns” arc. Well, I say conclusion, but really this feels more like the end of part 1 of “The War of Light”.

I do now get the feeling that rather than being a specific event in the GL titles, the War of Light will more be an umbrella title for everything that’s currently going on with the different groups of Lanterns, both in this title, and GLC, which will probably come to ahead during the Blackest Night event.

Events pick up from the last issue, with Hal’s will struggling against the red ring. He attacks the blue lanterns with a red-flame fighter jet, which allows them to realise his willpower is attempting to fight the ring (as other red lanterns are incapable of forming constructs). Its nice to see that technically the red energy can form constructs like the other Lanterns, its just that it overpowers the Red Lanterns so much they don’t have the willpower to do it.

Saint Walker finds himself facing off against Atrocious, who reveals that the Blue Lanterns are now powerless, as hope is useless without willpower, and so the Blue Lanterns need to be within range of a Green Lantern for their rings to work. With Hal being overpowered by the red ring, his GL ring has shutdown leaving the Blue Lanterns defenseless.

Or so Atrocious thinks, as Saint Walker vaults past him and gives his blue ring to Hal. The blue ring destroys the red ring, and restores Hal’s heart and blood, allowing Hal’s GL ring (and the blue lantern rings) to reactivate. Hal is able to beat back the red lanterns, however he is now caught somewhere between a blue lantern and a green lantern.

Meanwhile, with their power being drained by the red flame, Sinestro and his Corpsmen take advantage of the distraction to retreat back to Qward. Here, we get a nice nod to the events in GLC, as Sinestro comments on Mongul’s attempted coup. However with Atrocious’ comments about his daughter, Sinestro’s priority is now returning to Korugar, while he orders his loyal Corpsmen to gather any others that have stood against Mongul and wait for him on the darkside of Daxam’s moon.

This is another great issue, however as I say, doesn’t really read as a conclusion, but more just another instalment in the war of light, to be continued next month (indeed, we get a couple of pages teasing the next Agent Orange arc, and it seems that Agent Orange has a history with the Guardians).

I am slightly confused as to the continuity though. We know that Rage of the Red Lanterns takes place between Final Crisis #1 and #2. Presumably now, Agent Orange will as well. I’m hoping that at somepoint there’s going to be a noticable break in the storyline wherein the events of Final Crisis can play out, as Hal appeared in the later issues of Final Crisis, and as near as we could tell was still a regular GL (maybe he was hiding a blue ring?).  I’m guessing this will be addressed during the Agent Orange storyline.

There’s plenty of action with the various Corps (we see the Star Saphires recruiting Carol) and the reveal of the weakness in the Blue Lanterns puts an interesting spin on things. When we heard Ganthet wanted to recruit Hal as leader of the blue lanterns, we’d assumed it was as a blue lantern. With what we now know, its perhaps reasonable to assume that Ganthet had intended Hal to remain a Green Lantern, so that the Blue Lanterns would always have one with them, to ensure their rings would work. Or alternatively, Ganthet had intended for Hal to wear both rings as he now does? Its certainly going to be interesting to see what happens to Hal next issue.  Upcoming solicits suggest he’ll be hanging onto the blue ring for at least this next arc however.

Its nice to see John turn up during the Origins and Omens backup. Again we’re seeing some focus on his background as a sniper, and this story seems to take place after the Agent Orange storyline (hopefully indicating there will be a bit of a break between it and Blackest Night in terms of continuity). Here he’s got Fatality in his sights, who’s now been converted to a Star Saphire. Very interested to see where this goes as I always enjoyed John and Fatality during Winnick’s run on volume 3. John’s not had a huge amount to do in the GL titles lately (although he at least appears in JLA), so it’ll be good to catch up with him during all this craziness with the various Lanterns.

Its a great issue, and I can’t wait for next month.  With everything gearing up for Blackest Night, these books can’t come fast enough.

Or should that be Red Lantern #37?

So the action picks up where we left off, with Hal and the two blue lanterns heading to Ysmalt to rescue/recapture Sinestro from Atrocious and his Red Lanterns.

This issue serves as a really good tease for what’s coming up with the war of light I felt. Of course, Hal charges ahead, as he’s distrustful of the Blue Lanterns, and feels that Sinestro needs to be dealt with once and for all, rather than rescued. However, he walks straight into a trap and is jumped by Atrocious and his Red Lantern army, and its not long before Hal’s ring is failing with its power drained by the red flame.

Its at this point, things really kick off, as the Sinestro Corps turn up on a rescue mission of their own. They free Sinestro and give him his ring back. Walker and the other Blue Lantern turn up and give Hal a much-needed power boost, and try to grab Sinestro and scarper. Hal refuses to leave Laira behind though, and tries to save her. He’s just getting through to her when Sinestro kills her. Overcome by rage, Hal goes to execute Sinestro on the spot: and promptly finds himself recruited to the Red Lanterns.

Its a cracking issue once again.  And no surprise that Green Lantern had sold out by the time I got to the comic shop.   We really get a taster of the war of light here, with Green, Blue, Red and Sinestro Corps all kicking off on Ysmalt.

I’m sorry to see Laira get killed off her though.  I do have to wonder why Geoff went to the bother of bringing back Lost Lanterns, when all they’ve done since being resurrected is get killed off.  It does mean that their coming back seems to have purely been to ensure that Hal was absolved of their murders.  So far Arisia and Boodikka are really the only two getting anything to do.  Although I’m really not sure about the hinted romance building between Arisia and Sodam Yat.

Anyway, so as we leave the issue, Hal has been recruited to the Red Lanterns.  I’m guessing the fact that he still has his GL ring on could prove vital here, especially with the awesome powers exhibited by the Blue Lanterns.  I reckon a combination of Hal’s willpower, and the power-boosting abilities of the Blue Lanterns will allow Hal to shake off the red ring.  Nicely it’ll also force Hal to confront his own rage over Sinestro’s betrayals.

Interestingly then, what does this mean for the “new ring” tease in the April solicits.   Since Rage of the Red Lanterns is set between Final Crisis #1 and #2, we know that Hal is a Green Lantern once again by the end of this arc, and presumably refuses Ganthet’s offer (unless he says he’ll think about it at the end of this story, gets caught up in Final Crisis, and then goes back to Ganthet – but I suspect Hal is going to stick by his stance at the beginning of this issue, that he’s a GL and that’s that).

So why does Hal have a new ring?  I wonder if its a new type of GL ring issued to Hal when he’s given the job of tracking down Agent Orange.   We’ve seen the Blue Lanterns interfere with GL comms, and the Red rings depower GLs and can possess them without too much trouble.   Maybe the Guardians react to this and introduce some new type of GL ring specifically adapted to combat the threats of the various new Corps?

Yay!  A big surprise this week where, alongside Green Lantern #36 the missing issue of Green Lantern Corps turned up in Forbidden Planet.

Green Lantern continues the Red Lanterns storyarc started in the Final Crisis special. We find Sinestro captured and imprisoned on Ysmault where Atrocious lords over him that this is his own doing, as Atrocious and his Red Lanterns were born out of the actions of Sinestro and his Corps.

Meanwhile, Hal is surprised by the appearance of Saint Walker, the Blue Lantern. Walker explains that he’s been sent by Ganthet, and displays his powers when attacked by John and Kilowog, both still under the influence of the red flame caused by the red lanterns. Here we see that the blue lanterns do not control their constructs in the same way as Green Lanterns do, but rather their constructs are manifest by those around them to spark their hope, in John’s case, Katma (after which John notes to Kilowog that he’s going to see Katma again – Black Lantern anyone?).

Hal is taken to the Blue Lantern homeworld where he meets Ganthet how explains that Hal must trust him, and that they need Sinestro alive. Hal’s not big on this idea, but goes along with the rescue mission, joining Walker and his fellow Blue Lantern.

In this issue, its really Ivan Reis who shines. Unsurprisingly really. The guy has been producing fantastic art for GL since he came onboard the title, and for me, he’s probably my favourite GL artist. But here his splash pages of Ysmault, which is then contrasted with Odym, the Blue Lantern homeworld. These are just staggering pages.

The focus is definitely on the Blue Lanterns in this issue, and there’s definitely something brewing with these guys. We see them display staggering feats of power, however Walker does hint that there’s some sort of price to be paid for being a blue lantern. The way their power blocks GL communications as well is sure to be a problem. I’m sure there’s some kind of dark secret brewing with this new Corps of Ganthet’s. As for them trying to recruit Hal? Not going to happen. He’s probably going to realise that there’s something fishy going on, not to mention, being a Blue Lantern is obviously a very different deal in terms of powers to being a Green Lantern.

And, of course, I personally believe the four musketeers aren’t going to be broken up, and will serve as a focus point in the war of light, with their Green Lantern rings serving as a contrast to the various other powers. We know that the green is the centre and the balance of the emotional spectrum, and I suspect that’s going to be vital.

The final talking point is the appearance of Fatality, newly converted as a Star Saphire. We saw the seeds of this being sown in Green Lantern Corps, so its really nice to see this kind of linking plot thread between the two books.

Green Lantern Corps meanwhile is continuing the Sins of the Star Saphires arc, while we also see Kyle and company’s attack on the Sinestro Lantern Kryb go horribly wrong, as Kryb manages to gain control of most of Kyle’s team.

To be honest, after all the buildup of trying to find this issue, I found this to be very much a middle-of-the-arc book.  Aside from the brief segment with the new Star Saphire (odds on her turning up to help defeat Kryb anyone), it felt like this issue was just moving the story along, rather than bringing much new and exciting to the table.  We saw the Guardians agreeing to the new (and most stupid) third law, however this was the big surprise from last issue.

One aspect I did love though, was Gleason drawing Kyle with some crazy robot constructs during the opening fight.  It was great seeing some of those old-school Kyle constructs again, something that’s been missing from a lot of his appearances since Hal came back.   We also get Tomasi edging along Kyle’s character, showing him determined not to lose any more Lanterns.  Obviously his stint as Parallax has left some deep scars that Peter Tomasi isn’t ignoring, which is nice to see since a lot of that stuff from Hal’s tenure has been skipped past, aside from other Lanterns distrusting him (in fairness though, Hal spent time as the Spectre to atone, not to mention there’s the One Year Later jump, so that isn’t a criticism of Geoff Johns’ handling of the character.  In fact, the very fact that a franchise relaunch isn’t sitting on Kyle’s shoulders, is probably what’s allowing Tomasi to explore this side of the character).

I’m very much looking forward to the next issue of this arc, where we should hopefully see the Lantern’s reactions to the third law, and the Star Saphire joining the fray against Kryb.

Oh, and Natu for Sinestro’s daughter?  Seems obvious, but also puts his actions towards her in the Sinestro Corps War in a new light.

The Red Lanterns have officially made their prescence felt this week. After much hyping, with ads all over the place in DC titles for the last couple of weeks, we got the first part of the Rage of the Red Lanterns storyline in this week’s Final Crisis “tie-in” (and again, its a tie-in that seems to lack any actual tying-in).

The story is great, and after the Secret Origin arc, its nice to have the main GL book (sort of) focusing on current events again. The Guardians have announced that Sinestro is to be taken to Korugar for execution, but the Red Lanterns want him for themselves. And in the middle of it all, is the Scarred Guardian, manipulating events for her own ends.

This one shot really seems to serve as a kick-start to the Blackest Night proceedings and will be picked up in the GL monthly. The Red Lanterns (as seen in the preview) are a pretty horrific bunch, and we see Hal’s surprise when he recognises Laira in amongst the group that attacks them. Both the Sinestro Corps and GLs fall pretty easily to the Reds as well, with the power of the red rings neutralising their rings stone dead, causing their force fields to drop, and them to catch fire. The red energy is played much more as a blunt weapon, with the Red Lanterns burning their foes, or engaging them in hand-to-hand.

Shane Davis excels on the art duties, and if they’re needing another artist to swap out with Ivan for an arc in the main GL book, I hope they get Davis. It’d be good to see more of his work on GL.

And, of course, the twist at the end, when Hal’s failing ring is suddenly boosted up to 200% by Saint Walker, the first of Ganthet’s Blue Lanterns, who Ganthet sent to keep an eye on them. It’ll be very interesting to see what his story is, especially since Ganthet was previously talking about how important it was to get someone specific for their first blue lantern. We have to assume that he was talking about Saint Walker.

Only complaint I’d really make is that suddenly the GL hunting the Anti-Monitor’s remains is shown as Ash and not Saarek. Although its likely she’s had both of them following separate leads (since Ash finds the Anti-Monitor’s armour, whereas Saarek seemed to have a lead on the Anti-Monitor himself). That’s really a minor niggle though in the face of an excellent opening chapter to this new arc. Really looking forward to seeing more of Saint Walker and the Red Lanterns in the next few months (and its a safe bet the Guardians aren’t going to be pleased with what Ganthet’s been up to).