A really solid week this week with DC’s releases. Green Lantern Corps means I’ll be reiterating my usual “Peter Tomasi rules”-type review.

We pick up with part 2 of the Sins of the Sapphires arc. However, the story actually opens with Kryb, the Sinestro Corps member being hunted by Kyle and co, and we find her claiming the child of her latest victims, one of whom is a Green Lantern. Kryb is a brilliantly creepy creation. Its a really terrifying idea that she’s going around snatching all these kids and killing their parents. I’m not sure what happens to the kids she snatches, but I suspect its not going to be pleasant. Seeing the GLs led by Kyle catch up to her is powerful, and you know they’re not going to be easy on her. Especially given that she’s just killed a fellow Corps member.

The main meat of this month’s story though lies with Guy, Sodam and Arisia leading the Guardians to Zamaron on a “diplomatic mission”. Of course, ulterior motives are abound, and the Guardians are quick to admit to Guy that this is also a spy mission to see exactly what the Zamarons are up to. Things get worse when later on Scar admits to Sodam that he’s there to level the place if things go wrong.

Of course, the Guardians are their usual selves, and are only there to get their own way: the Zamarons immediately ceasing tapping the love portion of the emotional spectrum. The Zamarons, unsurprisingly telling them to get stuffed. This, combined with recent events in the title involving Kryb and others, result in the Guardians passing their latest of the new laws, forbidding Green Lanterns to get involved in physical relationships. Yup, that’s going to go down well. The fallout from this one is going to make the lethal force law look like a walk in the park.

We also see that the Zamarons have been capturing the missing Sinestro Corps rings, along with a few of the female members of the Sinestro Corps (notably Karu-Sil, and Fatality) and are attempting to purge them of their fear and instill them with love. Its another plan that’s probably not going to end well. The fact that the Zamarons are basically brainwashing them is quickly picked up, and serves to underline how the “positive” side of the spectrum has its own dangers. We know from the previous Star Sapphire storyline that tapping a power from the extreme end of the spectrum will cause that power to consume you (something Atrocious and his Red Lanterns are actually relishing), so you wonder exactly how its going to backfire on the Zamarons.

Another great issue. This title goes from strength to strength, and is easily a match for the main GL book. I’m really looking forward to seeing this latest law from the Guardians blow up in their faces.

The other big DC comic of the week for me, was Action Comics and the latest part of the New Krypton saga. The action picks up where the last issue of Superman left off, with Doomsday (and the implication being that Sam Lane has purposely sent Doomsday into the fray) crashing the meeting Clark setup between the Kryptonians and the UN.

Of course, while Doomsday has fought Clark to a standstill in the past, this time he’s up against a large group of Kryptonians and gets summarily pulverised, and its announced Doomsday’s finally dead. However, given that Doomsday’s whole origin revolves around him dying, and evolving so it doesn’t happen again, I imagine the next time he turns up he’s going to be very nasty to go up against. Perhaps this is Geoff Johns laying the seeds for revamping the character, who’s been increasingly overused since his first appearance, and has as a result lost some of his impact.

There was a big shock in this issue, in the form of the new Nightwing and Flamebird. Specifically Nightwing. Back in the Fortress of Solitude, we find a few of Zod’s troops trying to find the Phantom Zone Projector, so they can release Zod from his imprisonment (you know the whole situation with Zod is just going to get steadily nastier from here on), however before they can get to it, they’re stopped by Nightwing and Flamebird. However, the most interesting thing, is how they’re stopped. Specifically, when Nightwing uses his tactile telekinesis to dismantle one of Zod’s men’s gun.

Tactile Telekinesis is, of course, not a traditional Kryptonian power. The only character who’s shown it before is Kon-El, Superboy. And he only had it because he was an imperfect clone of Clark (infact, his DNA was a splice of Clark’s and Lex Luthor’s, however his Kryptonian DNA seemed to be becoming more dominant, with him displaying more and more of Clark’s powers, especially during the Teen Titans run).

Is this signalling that Kon-El has somehow returned from the dead, after being killed by Superboy Prime during Infinite Crisis? I for one would be very happy if he is back, but his death seemed pretty final. However, if its not him, then I imagine a lot of Superboy fans are going to be very unhappy about this tease.

Can’t wait to see what happens next.

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).

With the Rage of the Red Lanterns Special coming out this week, the hype is building.  There’s a great new interview with Shane Davis on Newsarama where he discusses some of the ideas behind a few of the new Red Lanterns we’re going to see.

It really does look like this arc is going to be brutal. I imagine the GLs are going to be longing for the good, old days of the Sinestro Corps by the sounds of things.

I think Davis hits the nail firmly on the head regarding his comments about Sinestro as well. He’s got that great smug look because he does know more than the others as to what’s going on. He’s been preparing for the war of light for some time.

The solicits for January are up as well, with the GL issue concluding the Red Lanterns arc (I wonder what happens to Atrocious, interesting to note that like the Sinestro Corps War, both are ending with the leader of that Corps incapacitated in some way) and teasing the Orange Lanterns. We also get to find out the next of the 10 new laws the Guardians created during the Sinestro Corps War. With these continual fights against other Corps, you can only presume the GL’s ranks are getting a bit depleted. GLC noted the amount of recruitment they were going to have to do following the Sinestro Corps War, and we’ve still got Mongul et al on the loose, killing GL’s families and trying to re-solidify the Sinestro Corps. Its a safe bet the Red Lanterns are going to cause a fair amount of carnage, and then they’ll have the Orange Lanterns to deal with as well.

By the time they get to the Blackest Night, the four musketeers may be the only GLs left :-S Here’s hoping the Guardians’ diplomatic visit to the Zamarons over in GLC goes well, they could use the help. But then, the Guardians never were that diplomatic.

Ah well, Ganthet to the rescue

Newsarama have a preview for the upcoming Rage of the Red Lanterns one shot up here.

I’m loving the Red Lanterns so far. Laira’s recruitment was pretty brutal, and we know from the Star Saphires that the rings on the far end of the spectrum will exert a lot more influence over their bearers, so the look at Atrocious creating their central battery is suitably horrific. I’m really looking forward to this arc.

As a side note though, I’m curious about the timeline. Hal mentions Orion’s death and the Alpha Lanterns sealing off Earth. Given that Hal was hauled away shortly afterwards, framed for the murder, I’m wondering how this will fit into the framework of Final Crisis.

Although there could easily have been a few days while the Alphas were investigating for the events of this book. It’ll probably be clear once we’ve got the full issue

Just an interesting little thing I noticed recently.

I decided to re-read the Alpha Lanterns arc (largely for Laira’s transformation into a Red Lantern, a great scene) and one thing I noticed was that when the Lost Lanterns track down Amon Sur, he’s just finished killing off Keehan’s family.

Flashforward to recent issues of GLC and we’ve now got a plot thread regarding Sinestro Corps members wiping out the families of GL Corps members. Is this a case of Geoff Johns hinting at a future plot thread, or did Peter Tomasi just get inspired by those events?

Or is it just a big coincidence?

It was a Green Lantern week this week, with both monthlies falling on the same week (not quite sure how they got synchronised).

Both delivered solid reads, although I’m slightly more inclined to say that GLC was my favourite issue of the two. We get the Star Saphires revisited as their role in Blackest Night starts to be revealed, some quaity character time with Guy and Tora, and Kyle and Soranik joining a group of GLs trying to track down the Sinestro Corps member they think is masterminding the recent attacks on the family members of GLs. Peter Tomasi as usual proves he has an excellent grasp of managing the large cast on this book, and its impressive how he’s managing to provide such a dense read. There’s so much going on.

As part of the Star Saphire build up we find a couple of newly weds, who’re enjoying a trip when their ship runs afoul of Mongul (I love how his severed arm hovers beside him courtesy of his rings). Mongul kills the husband, and leaves the wife alone. Trying to kill herself, unable to face life without her husband, the depth of her love attracts one of the newly formed Star Saphire rings. And we also learn the Zamarons seem to be trying to get the Guardians attention, causing them enlist Guy, Arisia and Sodam to escort them to the Zamaron homeworld.

There’s a lot going on here, and its a testiment to Peter Tomasi’s writing that it doesn’t all end up a jumble. Can’t wait for the next issue of this arc.

Meanwhile, over in GL, Geoff Johns brings the Secret Origin arc to a close.

I’ve been a bit unsure about this arc. While the Blackest Night background has been very nice, and I’ve loved the new take on Hal and Sinestro, its still managed to feel like a bit of a diversion from the Blackest Night buildup. However, there’s still a lot of good stuff here. The scene with Hal standing up to the Guardians, and accusing them of being afraid of the Lanterns is a great one, and I loved how the seeds of Sinestro’s fall were laid by Atrocious. I’m really looking forward to the Rage of the Red Lanterns arc picking up on these aspects of this story as they’ve been the bits I’ve enjoyed the most. Its interesting to see the Inversions manipulate Sinestro into his own downfall, in the same way they did Abin Sur.

The interesting thing that keeps getting underlined, is the notion that Sinestro is the Greatest Green Lantern of all. In previous runs, this is a role that had been assumed by Hal (after Sinestro’s fall) with the implication that Hal had exceeded Sinestro’s accomplishments. However I’m getting the vibe that that’s not necessarily the case anymore. Its certainly interesting when you consider that Sinestro’s primary motivations at the moment seem to be to change the GLC to prepare it for the oncoming Blackest Night. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Playing catchup here a bit. Wizard Universe has a great glimpse at some of Shane Davis’ Red Lantern designs for the upcoming special.

I love these small sneak peaks, and enjoyed the Final Crisis sketchbook in the same way. It looks like Davis has had as much fun designing Red Lanterns as Ethan Van Skiver did the Sinestro Corps, and similarly, it looks like there’s some pretty nasty characters here.

As I’ve said before here, I was a big fan of Mystery in Space, and Shane’s artwork on that series, so I’m really looking forward to seeing his work on Green Lantern. One thing you’ve got to say about GL is that since its relaunch, its been attracting some of the best artists DC have. At least, its certainly been attracting most of my favourites.

Geoff Johns has also been dropping some teases about the Black Lanterns, and confirmed that Ronnie Raymond (the previous Firestorm) is going to be a Black Lantern.   It’ll be interesting to see how the various DC heroes end up encorporated into the various Corps.   Something I suspect will play heavily into the discussions that had been mentioned before (by Dan Didio I think) as to whether Blackest Night is going to remain a GL-specific crossover, or be branched out into a DCU-wide crossover.   While the prospect of seeing various familiar characters recruited to the various Corps could be fun, I’d hope that even if it gets pitched as a universe-wide crossover, the structure is kept similar to Sinestro Corps, with the focus remaining on the GLs and only a strictly limited number of books containing the meat of the story.

Singing the praises of Peter Tomasi’s work is a regular feature in this blog, and the latest issue of Green Lantern Corps is no exception.

If I was to make one complaint, then it would be that this arc felt a bit short. After the mammoth ring quest arc, the quick capture of the quintet was slightly jarring, but since we’ve got the Star Saphire arc kicking off next month, I won’t complain.

In truth, I’m looking forward to this next arc a lot. I liked the changes Geoff Johns introduced in the Green Lantern arc and I’m pleased to see them being picked up again. Not to mention, it’ll be nice to have an issue where the Sinestro Corps take a back seat. If you consider how much of this book was spent putting in place things for the Sinestro Corps arc (like Ranx) and now dealing with the fallout, I’ll be glad to see other factions in the Blackest Night getting some focus. Especially since I’ve been really enjoying the Red Lantern buildup over in Green Lantern.

This title was still good fun. I like the character of Saarek, and can’t believe I didn’t twig to how he could play into the Blackest Night until he was approached by the scarred guardian. There’s something going on there and I imagine it’s not going to be good for Saarek.

Nice to see Tora turn up on Oa as well. Nice and unexpected since our focus had been on Guy counting the days till their date

So this week brings us the penultimate part of Secret Origin.

I’ve been very hot and cold on this arc. The initial issues didn’t really work for me, and it wasn’t until Sinestro turned up that I started getting into this story. This issue is another great part of the Sinestro/Hal story. We continue to see them bond as good friends, as Sinestro forces Hal to take a good look at himself. Leading to a poignant scene between Hal and Carol as Hal’s forced to admit he’s never been there for his family, and making piece with the memory of his Dad.

There’s some good comedic interplay between the two GLs as well. The power battery scene from the preview is a great laugh, and helps to build the respect these two have for each other.

The only real problem I had with this issue is when Hal manages to save Sinestro by overcoming the yellow impurity. I’m really unsure where Geoff Johns is going with this. I preferred the Parallax retcon when the idea was that it was just accepted there was a yellow weakness, and no one could overcome it. Given that Hal overcame it here, you’re left wondering why he never overcame it again and got closer to figuring out what it actually was. I’m inclined to think this was something best left as it was. I have to wonder if its meant as an analogue to Emerald Dawn’s scene where Hal absorb’s the power of the central battery. An indication of just how good a GL Hal will become.

The issue ends with Hal and Sinestro recalled to Oa, as Sinestro’s lingered in sector 2814 too long and must face disciplinary action. There’s been no hint as to what’s actually going on on Korugar, and I must admit, I hope that it doesn’t come up in the next part. Whereas Emerald Dawn II had Sinestro being discovered shortly after he meets Hal, given the new relationship between them, I think it’d be more fun to leave that part of the story for a follow-up. Let’s have Hal and Sinestro as comrades in arms for a few months. Potentially, it could play that Sinestro’s dictatorship of Korugar comes about as a result of his run in with Atrocious and the Blackest Night prophecy.

Overall, I suspect I’ve probably been a bit harsh on the early issues of this arc. I think that re-reading it, I’m going to enjoy it a lot more and that part of my bad reaction was that I felt that it was going to be too much of a diversion from the Blackest Night build up and I’d have preferred looking forward rather than back. Of course, as it turns out, this series is a key part of that build up, and I’m left a fairly silly-looking fanboy

Aint It Cool News has a great preview for next week’s GL #34 up here. I just love the interplay between Hal and Sinestro in this story arc. The dialog regarding power battery storage got a good laugh out of me

While this arc was a pretty slow start for me, its really picked up now. Can’t wait to pick up the issue next week.