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And so, despite the delays, the finale of War of the Green Lanterns finally arrives with some big shocks in store as Geoff Johns plants the seeds for the next storylines as Krona is being defeated.

But did anyone else think it all felt a bit rushed?

Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed the issue, however certain aspects of it seemed to come out of nowhere and could’ve been better laid out, and perhaps its just because of the delays I’m seeing things that aren’t really there, but in places Doug Mahnke’s art (which really shone in the splash pages) did leave me wondering how much time he’d been left to do the book in.  That said, the man is a master of producing great stuff at short notice, as proven by the way he bailed out Final Crisis a few years ago, and I’ll take his rushed art over some of the other work out there any day, but that being said, when he’s had time to properly work on a book, it shows.

As I say, I enjoyed this issue.  It picks up right where things left off, with the freshly-restored GLC about to face down Krona and the entity-possessed Guardians.  But Geoff Johns does some interesting things in this finale which while I don’t dislike them, I perhaps disliked their execution, and again it all adds to that rushed feeling.

Firstly, there’s Krona’s eventual defeat.  Early in the issue, Hal makes an off-the-cuff remark that their rings can’t kill Guardians.  Guess someone should’ve mentioned that to Scar back in Blackest Night.  Sadly, this line is pivotal for what happens next, and its a plot point that is totally brought out of nowhere when it could’ve easily been introduced sooner and made more significant.  As Hal faces off against Krona, he ultimately ends up shooting and killing him with a blast from his ring.  Its incredibly sudden and results in the then-freed Guardians immediately discharging Hal from the Corps for killing a Guardian and hanging around with the other Corps.

The Guardians being idiots is nothing new for this run.  In fact, its a hallmark of Green Lantern at the moment that no matter how many giant, epic events seem tailored to show the Guardians the error of their ways, they still display no character development and carry on being complete idiots, no matter how many times the Corps is nearly destroyed through their idiocy, only to be saved by Hal Jordan.  I’d say its getting frustrating, but to be honest, its past that now.  The Guardians are just an obstacle to be ignored or overcome in Green Lantern now.  Again though, its the rushed nature of things that doesn’t quite sit well.  Hal’s shooting Krona comes out of nowhere, with little indication that this is going to be something big.  It needed more foreshadowing, like I said with this new inability of the rings to kill Guardians.  You can’t just introduce a plot element like that in the final issue and expect the audience to care about it.  Likewise, Hal’s dismissal from the Corps is done far too quickly.   With two aftermath issues still to come before the reboot I can’t help but think those would’ve been the better place for Hal’s punishment to have happened in.  Then it could’ve been made into a bigger deal, and again built up to.  Either that, or this final issue needed to be a longer book.  Not necessarily a big double sized finale, but a few more pages to allow these pretty big developments some room to breathe.

The other thing that didn’t really work for me, was Sinestro’s reintroduction into the Green Lantern Corps.  Granted, there’s an important line where Kyle wonders if this is a direct result of the ring AI no longer having Mogo’s influence, however overall the sequence doesn’t really work for me, with Sinestro, freshly freed from the Book of the Black, listening to Hal confronting Krona, and apparently having an epiphany from listening to Hal’s impassioned speech about how he stands up for the values of the Corps, and couldn’t really give a stuff about the Guardians.

It just didn’t feel in character for Sinestro at all.  Sinestro’s always been about control, and making the Green Lantern Corps the bearers of that control.  The entire Sinestro Corps War was something he instigated just to get the Guardians to enable lethal force and make the GLC more formidable.  Sinestro has consistently shown a loyalty to the Green Lantern Corps through his motivations in this run, even if it is a twisted one.  The idea that he’d need some kind of epiphany from Hal in order to do the right thing and defeat Krona is beyond me.  Especially since I’d assume Krona’s intention to replace the Guardians would actually probably mesh up with Sinestro’s own aims.

While I like the idea of Sinestro ending up a GL again, and the storylines that’ll surround it, I wasn’t at all convinced by how it happened.  Sinestro getting a ring because of Mogo’s death absolutely makes sense, but how his character was portrayed just didn’t sit right for me.  Rather than confusion over being a GL again, I’d expect him to be triumphant.  Again, I have to wonder what difference an extra page or two would’ve made to this sequence.   That said, I did like the way Hal ignored the issue of Sinestro being a GL, and just got him to help.  That’s been very consistent for Hal in this run, with the way he remains focused on the main problem, and will deal with others later once the main threat is passed.

Overall, I did enjoy this storyline.  I’ve made no secret for my dislike of a lot of what was happening in the Green Lantern books before this storyline, and while it perhaps didn’t hit the highs of the Sinestro Corps War, it was a return to the more action packed stories we got at that time, and rattled through its 10 issues at a fair old pace.  This final issue might’ve felt a bit like Geoff Johns was just working off of a checklist of things that had to happen, but by the end of it, I was still happy that this storyline had had a decent conclusion, with some interesting storybeats set up for the next ark that will hopefully mean Geoff is going to spend some time investing in Hal’s character again, something that’s been badly neglected since the start of the War of Light.

This is it.  The Green Lantern titles have been building up to this for months, and War of the Green Lanterns is finally upon us.

Following directly on from last issue’s events, the book of the black is quickly revealed as a trap when Lyssa Drak (now calling herself the story vampire) appears, having sided with Krona and intent on trapping the New Guardians all within the book. This was a nice use of the character and also allowed Geoff Johns to quickly clear the other Lanterns off of the table to allow the Green Lanterns to take centre stage.

Meanwhile on Oa, Krona’s plan is revealed when he uses the entities to possess and control the remaining Guardians. Again this nicely showcases his control over the entities and Doug Mankhe gets to draw some nice scenes where the Guardians are possessed.

The scene also shows a couple of nice Geoff Johns touches, with Krona remembering the Guardians’ names (which they themselves have long since forgotten) and we also get some further foreshadowing with a throwaway reference to “The First Lantern”, who I’m guessing will prove significant and is also the figure we saw in chains in the flashback a few issues ago.

However, the true War of the Green Lanterns comes into play when Krona directs Parallax back into the Central Power Battery.   Once there, this not only reinstates the yellow impurity in the rings, but also causes Parallax to exert control over the entire Green Lantern Corps.  Here Krona’s plan becomes clear in that he intends to repeat the disaster with the Manhunters, using the Green Lanterns.

In a twisted way you do get the impression that Krona still cares for the other Guardians.  He’s the only one that still remembers their original names, and he’s still desperate to get them to see their error in denying emotion, but that desperation has driven him utterly insane, which I guess helps prove their point.  But then, there’s no denying that being emotion-free hasn’t caused problems for the Guardians as well.  These guys really need to find that comfortable middle ground, somewhere between uncaring idiots, and raving lunatic (like Ganthet has).

Its a really nice use of Parallax, a character who was I becoming tired of.  Granted, Parallax never displayed this level of control previously, but he was dormant for much of his time in the Central Power Battery, and even after awakened by Sinestro its believable he wasn’t at full strength, and there’s Krona’s influence to factor in.  It also neatly explains exactly why the Green Lanterns are at war.  Granted, I’ve read reviews online that would’ve preferred less mind-control and more of an idealogical split, but as I’ve said previously there’s not really been enough build up to something like that happening.

This all happens at a disastrous time for Hal, who is still reeling from his encounter with the Book of the Black and the entrapment of the other New Guardians, and he suddenly finds himself a group of Green Lanterns, led by Salaak, who have been sent by the Guardians to bring him back to Oa for questioning.  Of course, those Lanterns suddenly find themselves under Parallax’s control, and Hal is forced to flee for his life, with his previous possessions by Parallax presumably having left him resistant to Parallax’s control (something Krona hinted towards a couple of issues ago).

This leaves the Corps in pieces.  With the Guardians possessed, and everyone under Parallax and Krona’s control, we’re left with Hal flying out in space on his own, needing to find help.  Of course, the interesting thing is that he’s carrying with him the various rings of the New Guardians, and so I’m joining many people online in assuming Hal and the others (Guy, John, Kyle and presumably at least Kilowog) will switch to using those other rings to avoid Parallax’s influence.    Something I’m very interested to see.  There has been a solicited cover for an upcoming issue that features the Sinestro Corps and a blacked-out figure with them.  I’m now assuming this figure will be Hal himself, having had to start using Sinestro’s ring.   Its an idea that plays neatly off of the relationship Johns has established between the two, but it’ll be interesting to see how Hal handles another ring, given his previously disastrous experience with at least the Yellow and Blue rings.

On top of everything is Doug Mahnke’s art, which he really brings up a level this month.  He’s been a remarkably consistant artist, and just what GL needed after spending much of the early years of volume 4 suffering delays, however there’s a real feeling in this issue that Doug’s upped his game to hammer home the impact of the events of this first chapter.  Its great stuff, and he really shines in the possession scenes where Krona attacks the Guardians.

As you can tell, with the arrival of this event, I’m suddenly finding myself a lot more excited in the main GL monthly.  The quick removal of the New Guardians and the final reveal of Krona’s plan have been great pay off after the endless months of entity-collecting.  I hope this event can maintain this level of excitement in the same way the Sinestro Corps War did several years ago.

Green Lantern #45 is a heckuva busy issue.  With last month’s Green Lantern #44 Geoff Johns was busy kick-starting Blackest Night by focusing on the Hal/Barry fight with the Black Lantern J’onn.   With Blackest Night now in full swing, he turns his attention back to the war of light, revisiting the various plot threads sparked during the earlier Rage of the Red Lanterns and Agent Orange arcs.

The John Stewart/Xanshi stuff was covered in the preview in its entirity.  Sadly we don’t get any other teases as to what the story is here.  We do know that this plot is due for some focus in the upcoming issues, however another page at least would’ve been nice here.  Its always a slight disappointment when a preview shows you an entire subplot.  Again though, this is largely due to the number of plot threads Geoff’s revisiting in this issue so its understandable.

The rest of the issue is filled full of the various Lanterns.  We get a bit more of the conflict on Zamaron, with Carol and Sinestro providing for quite an interesting battle of wills (if that’s the right word), as Sinestro plays on her character and mocks her for taking up the Star Sapphire purely to try and help Hal.  In reponse we get Carol briefly trapping Sinestro in one of the Sapphire’s conversion booths where we get an intriguing look at Sinestro and Abin Sur’s relationship, specifically in terms of Sinestro seeming interested in Abin’s sister.   Since we know the Abin is one of the Black Lanterns to rise, I’m guessing this is a plot we’ll be seeing sooner rather than later.  And even more interestingly, they’re interrupted by the arrival of the Black Lantern Sinestro Corps led by Black Lantern Amon Sur.  Its interesting that both Abin and his son have been risen as Black Lanterns, and surely that’s something Geoff is going to play with.

On Ysmault the Alpha and Lost Lanterns have retrieved Laira’s body but find themselves under attack from the Red Lanterns, but are also having problems with the Alpha Lanterns.  Boodikka is refusing to leave as her programming to terminate all enemies of the Corps is conflicting with the need to evacuate the planet.  Once again, we’re seeing the Guardian’s mistakes start to come back on them.   The Lost Lanterns say they’re going to have to force her to leave, but you can’t help but think she’ll react badly to that.  And then the Black Rings show up.  Laira is of course one of the first to rise as a Black Lantern, but given Ysmault’s population was nearly entirely wiped out by the Manhunters, you can’t help but think the Red, Alpha and Lost Lanterns are about to find themselves badly outnumbered.

The scenes with the Blue and Orange Lanterns though probably provided the biggest payoff.  Given the nature of the Orange Lanterns (they’re killed and Orange Lantern copies created), it always seemed like Larfleeze was going to be in a lot of trouble come Blackest Night, and here we see that come to pass as the Black Rings arrive on Okaara.

We’ve also got the continuing assault on Odym.  A nice touch, playing on how full of life the planet is, is the fact that the Black Rings sent there are just hovering in orbit.  There’s nothing on the planet for them currently, so they’re just waiting for something to die.  It gave us the really nice visual of the rings circling Odym like vultures.

I also liked the visual of the Orange Lanterns, with Larfleeze’s greed knowing no limits, having moved on from the idea of just grabbing a blue ring, to grabbing the whole central battery.  It was interesting that Ganthet wasn’t too concerned about the Battery though.  Granted, the Blackest Night has arrived, but you think his Corps being left powerless would concern him just a little, unless he’s betting on the Black Rings disrupting the Orange Lanterns as we saw in the final pages as he’s aware the Black Lanterns are the larger threat.

All in all, it was very nice, to see the War of Light return center stage, and going by solicits, it looks like this is the aspect of the story that the main GL title will be focusing on from the duration of Blackest night.    You’ve got to admire the sheer number of subplots Geoff is managing in this issue, its just perhaps a shame that we don’t get a bit more of them due to the restriction in number of pages.  But then, they do say you should always leave people wanting more

Very much looking forward to the next issue, hopefully with a lot more of the John Stewart/Xanshi stuff, and it’ll be nice to see Ganthet’s Blue Lanterns get more involved.  Although Ganthet will need to try and get a Green Lantern in range of Odym unless the Black Lanterns on Okaraa can cause Larfleeze to retrieve his “Corps” and leave behind the Blue battery.

Green Lantern #44 continues the story of Blackest Night, following on from J’onn’s appearance in that title.

As seen in the preview, the action picks up with Hal and Barry investigating Bruce’s grave.  Geoff Johns again takes the opportunity to build on the Hal and Barry friendship, this time playing on the fact that they’re both at heart cops.

Hal’s quick off the mark to take a shot at J’onn while Barry is more thrown by J’onn’s appearance and wondering what’s going on.  Again, its a nice touch by Johns, playing their personalities off of one another with Barry being more cerebral whereas Hal is very much a man of action.  This triggers the Black Lantern Martian Manhunter to attack them in earnest.

If anything, this issue actually works really well as a showcase for J’onn.  Ok, so he’s an emotion-eating zombie in it, but Geoff Johns does a great job of showing off just how powerful and diverse J’onn’s powers are as he gives Hal and Barry a real run for their money through a combination of his intangibility, shape-shifting and raw power.  There’s also a great fake out where we see Barry attacking and pummelling J’onn,  only for it to be revealed that its actually Hal he’s attacking, having fallen victim to J’onn’s mental powers.

Then we get the real shock moment of the issue with John once again visiting the remains of Xanshi, only to find the area flooded by black rings saying “Xanshi RISE”.  The visual of the entire area of space flooded by the rings flying about was superbly rendered by Doug Mahnke and the idea that its on necessarily the population of Xanshi but the planet itself is very exciting.  The idea of a Black Lantern equivalent to Mogo could be fun indeed.  And even if it is just the population, John suddenly finding himself swarmed by Black Lanterns with no backup should be fun.  We know from the solicits that upcoming issues will feature John heavily (I’m assuming Hal will be more focused on the Blackest Night mini itself) so I’m really looking forward to him getting some much deserved focus.

Blackest Night is almost here.  However, just before it kicks off, Geoff Johns gives us this prelude issue, focusing on key villain, Black Hand.

One thing Geoff has always done well, is focus issues defining villains.  His Flash run is a testament to this, with the way he revitalised the Rogues, through spotlight issues on each character (available in the Rogue War trade).   Here, he brings this touch to Green Lantern, delving into Black Hand’s origin, and boy, is he one sick guy.

No punches are pulled in showing just how messed up Black Hand is.  From the beginning of the issue where he’s shown in the grave with the bodies, its obvious just how unhealthy Black Hand’s fascination with the dead is.   We visit vital points in his life, from when he was a small child, right up to the current day, seeing what formed his life, and why he became the costumed villain he is.

The final reveals of the issue are shocking, with Black Hand taking his own life, only to be immediately resurrected by Scar and their master as not only the first Black Lantern, but also their entity, the same as Ion and Parallax.

This to me is very interesting.  Does this mean Black Hand is the physical entity such as Ion the space-whale, or merely the host for the Black entity, as Sodam Yat is for Ion?  Atrocious did say that William Hand was the doorway for the darkness, so that would suggest he is indeed the physical entity.  Since the other entities we’ve seen have all been assumed to be ancient, “from the dawn of time” types, the idea of an entity that is only 20-30 years old seems to open up a lot of questions.

We also get the reveal of Predator as the entity of Love.  I’m going to have to hunt through some back issues to truely appreciate that reveal though.  If you didn’t recognise the character, it perhaps seemed a little odd to casually reveal the violet entity in that way.

Doug Mahnke turns in an impressive debut to his Green Lantern work.  While Ivan will likely remain the definitive GL artist for me, there’s no denying Doug turns in some impressive and detailed visuals.  His final page of the resurrected Black Hand is terrifying.  I think we’re going to get some very good stuff from Doug Mahnke as Blackest Night unfolds

This was an engrossing issue.  A fascinating (and disturbing) look into one of the major players in Blackest Night.

These previews seem to be coming out earlier and earlier

I’m guessing its part of DC’s hype and build up to Blackest Night that they’re releasing them early or something.  As usual these days, IGN have the scoop with the Green Lantern #43 preview.

Anyway, there’s been comparisons made between this preview and Geoff’s Rogue profiles during his tenure on the Flash, and I definitely think that’s what I’m expecting from this issue.  I’m not really expecting Hal to turn up much at all.

The look into Black Hand’s history promises to be pretty disturbing and twisted.  Geoff Johns seems to be having a lot of fun with just how sick and twisted this character actually is, right from the initial shot of him in the grave with the bodies (ewwwwww).

I’ve also got to mention Doug Mahnke’s art.  I’m really loving it in this preview, especially that little glimpse of Scar.  Its a really nicely detailed image that jumped out at me.

I’m very enthusiastic for this issue.  Its just a pity its another week to wait.

Meanwhile IGN also have a preview for this week’s GLC #38.  Its the last part of Emerald Eclipse, picking off right where we left off, with the Lanterns reeling from Oa’s armour being destroyed.  I’m really looking forward to this conclusion of a fantastic story arc.  It’ll be interesting to see if Sodam Yat’s fate is revealled here.  Obviously, we know he survives, but is his presumed death going to be left hanging as a plot thread to be addressed during Blackest Night?

Its also nice to see a short scene with Soranik trying (and failing) to remove the tatoo Sinestro gave her.  She fails and acknowledges she’s stuck with it, but I have to wonder if they’ll at least address the tracking device Sinestro had implanted within it.

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.