Green Lantern #24
Well, it certainly took me long enough, but I have finally gotten around to reviewing Green Lantern, and the ongoing Sinestro Corps war.
Things are not looking too good! While back in GLC, Mogo has been saved, and the Guardians decided that use of lethal force when dealing with the Sinestro Corp was just a peachy idea, it turns out that the Anti-Monitor, and Sinestro and Henshaw, not to mention Superbrat Prime have all shown up on Earth to do a little fandango on the heads of the Justice League, the JSA, and everyone else that shows up.
Superbrat Prime in particular has been looking forward to this for quite some time. Superbrat Prime does not seem to be wrapped too tightly in my humble opinion.
Hal, John and Guy can't just jump in and start beating up Sinestro and his flunkies however. Kylellax is back in Coast City about to remove Hal's Brother's family's heads from their shoulders, so Hal has to go zooming off to save them, with a power ring that is just about out of juice. John and Guy go after him, but John (and Hal) make Guy make a detour to pick up Kyle's painting. This is the painting that was referred by Kyle as being important back in the very first Sinestro Corp #1, and was also referred to in the more recent one-shot with Kyle and Parallax. This does not please Guy, who figures that he should be kicking Parallax tail, but he goes after it...grumbling all the way.
Hal does manage to save what is left of his family and is grappling with Parallax, and trying to reach Kyle, when his ring finally does run completely out of power...and he's swallowed by Parallax. When John finally shows up, he sees a new Parallax,all in yellow this time, which is rather cool.
Guy in the meantime, gets ambushed by a passel of Sinestro Corps members, who basically tell him that he's no real threat, since he can't really do anything to them...Arkillo said so! Guy's about to open up a can of whup-ass, when who should show up, but the whole bloody Green Lantern Corps! To Guy's undisguised delight, they show the yellow meanies exactly what's for!
He does get the painting and rushes to help John, who is managing a fight against Parallax all by his lonesome, and doing remarkably well. Inside of Parallax, Hal finally finds Kyle, and together they manage to bust out in a beautifully drawn, but highly disgusting scene with bits of yellow goo and Parallax body parts all over the place. A rather bemused Guy and John are watching this in what appears to be both hope and disgust, and Guy remarks "That's pleasant."
Poor Kyle is still coughing up Parallax phlegm which must taste terrible, while Guy makes a nice pair of glowing green shorts for him, since he's all naked and such.
*sigh*
Parallax may be down, but he's not completely out, but just then Ganthet and Sayd show up with the four Lanterns that belong to each of our heroes. You can tell whose is whose just by looking at them...Guy's for example has a University of Michigan logo stuck on the side. I have to admit that I absolutely loved this bit. It's small and easy to overlook, and yet just SO perfect.
Ganthet points out that once again the Earth Lanterns are better at dealing with fear than the freakin' Guardians, and he and Sayd split up Parallax and imprison him again inside all four of the power batteries. Sayd introduces herself after being asked who "Smurfette" was, by Guy of course. Then Ganthet reveals that the two of them have been booted out by the rest of the Guardians because they "feel". He also offers Kyle his ring back, although it will be as a regular Lantern, and not Ion. Kyle being Kyle, doesn't care, and joyfully puts his ring back on. And we have a LOVELY shot of the Four Musketeers.
Beautiful.
There has been a certain amount of grousing that there wasn't enough butt-kicking going on. The Sinestro Corps is certainly fighting with the JLA and the JSA and everyone else, but the emphasis was on the Hal, Kyle, Guy and John. This actually makes me quite happy. While I certainly can enjoy a well-placed kick to the head, I also enjoy the smaller, quieter character moments as well. Kyle manages to get free of Parallax, with the help of Hal and his own determination and willpower. Hal managed to get free of Parallax with the help of the Spectre for heaven's sake, so I don't want to hear any nitpicking about Kyle being weaker than Hal.
John is quiet and competent as usual, and manages to hold off a Parallax powered by BOTH Hal and Kyle by himself, which is quite an achievement. Guy has all the best one-liners of course.
The players are all at the table, and the stakes are enormous, which sets up the next issue. The skill and pace of this story has been amazing, and the art has been nothing short of stupendous.
posted by SallyP @ 8:23 AM
7 Comments:
Did you happen to see that Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory has severla GL books on the wall over his bed?
I concur about not grousing about Kyle vs. Hal. Parallax's M.O. is to find your emotional weak spots and use them to pump in the fear. He did it with Hal, he did it with Jack T. Chance, and he did it with Kyle. With that in mind, beating Parallax is like moving a piano: it requires at least a couple guys plus ropes, pulleys, and other hardware to keep the job manageable. Just because Kyle couldn't lift the piano all by himself doesn't mean he's better or worse than anyone else -- the job simply requires lots of hands.
I have a sneaking feeling that anyone who is looking at the end of this issue with an eye towards whether Hal or Kyle is "better", has completely missed the point: the Green Lanterns are brothers-in-arms, and it's not a competition about who's the best. If you can't wrap your head around that, perhaps you'd best stick to Liefeld "X-Force" comics.
And for those who need their love for Kyle soothed, take a look at Hal's battle against the new Tattooed Man, and ask yourself: couldn't Kyle totally mop the floor with the guy? You bet he could -- for every tattoo creation coming at him, Kyle would come up with a perfectly-formed construct to counter it. Kyle's good at that sort of thing; Hal isn't. The GL's aren't exactly interchangeable in their talents, but there are scenarios where each of them especially shine.
You're making it *real* hard for me to wait for the trade with these, Sally!
(And anon? That was brilliant.)
Dwayne, Sheldon obviously has very good taste.
Anon...You are absolutely correct...and I wish that more of those idiots over at the DC Message Boards thought the same way.
I like Green Lanterns because although they all have the SAME power, it is the way that different individuals USE that power, that makes it interesting.
Soup, I don't know how you can wait for the trades, but then I have the patience and self-control of a gnat. I think that I DO have to wait till the end of November however, when ALL the GL books come out on the same day! Orgasmic, to be sure, but a heck of a dry spell in the meantime!
While I really enjoyed the entire book, my favorite thing was seeing Ganthet and Sayd show up with the power batteries and thinking to myslef, "Only Guy would put a sticker on the source of his power."
Just thinking about it makes me smile.
It's just such a "Guy" thing to do. And it did make me smile.
"I like Green Lanterns because although they all have the SAME power, it is the way that different individuals USE that power, that makes it interesting."
Who would want to watch a cop show with only one cop, or a medical drama with only one doctor?
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