Green Lantern #26

So much for my fears of a letdown after the tumultuous ending of the Sinestro Corps War! No letdown here, although Geoff Johns does pause to take a deep breath, before plunging right back into the fray. Ivan Reis is taking a little time off to get his sanity back, and the art chores are very beautifully handled by Mike McKone.

We begin with the Guardians hanging around and checking out their latest creations, the Alpha Lanterns. Green Man and Boodikka both seem to be having power batteries inserted directly into their chests which is probably as uncomfortable as it looks. Then the scene changes to "yesturday" and the rest of the tale is told in flash-back.

There is an absolutely gorgeous panel of Sinestro squatting in his cell and looking quite sinister, while he only says two words. "I won." Turns out that he's talking to none other than Hal, who is being rather skeptical. When Hal points out that due to Sinestro's actions hundreds of Lanterns were killed, some of them friends, Sinestro looks tragic, and admits to only two friends...Abin Sur, and...Hal.

I am finding this take on Sinestro and Hal's relationship to be quite interesting. Mr. Johns is delving into all kinds of new territory here, making their attitudes towards one another quite fascinating. Sinestro isn't just a standard "bad guy" any more. It also becomes rather poignant when Hal admits to his "old friend" that he's not just in prison...he's on Death Row.

Meanwhile, John is off sitting on a floating piece of Xanshi and musing to himself. They all have different ways of coping with the fallout of the war. It is perfectly in character for Hal to find a woman, Guy and Kilowog to drink each other under the table, and for Kyle to lock himself in his studio and paint. John on the other hand, goes and reflects on his greatest failure as a Lantern. He doesn't let it hurt him anymore however, he uses it as fuel to make himself a better Lantern. There is a marvelous moment when John is trying to reconstruct Xanshi, and the ring says that his willpower is exceeding the power ring capabilities., which is utterly astonishing! I love the way that John's character is being fleshed out, he's been ignored for far too long.

The Lost Lanterns in the meantime, have been granted permission to take Ke'haan's body back to his family. Laira's having a tough time of it, much to Boodikka's consternation. As Hannu explains, she and Ke'haan were secretly in love, but never did anything about it, since Ke'haan was married and had children.

Just as John was speculating, Hal has indeed gone off and found himself a girl. He's back at the Airforce base, and ready to go up and fly with Jillian, aka Cowgirl. She's a little bit standoffish at first, which I think confuses Hal, but once their two jets are up in the air, they manage to get together in a nice little green bubble and get funky. Hal always manages to do things with SUCH panache.

John is back in Coast City, helping in its construction and such. There was a lot less damage here than in Manhattan, but being an architect, Johns still determined to help out, especially with all the influx of new inhabitants. He's talking to Graf Toren and Tomar Tu via his ring about the rumor of the lost prophecy, when they are interrupted by Salaak, who tells them that they have permission to take Ke'haan's body back to his family. Salaak is having something of a tough time himself, as he's just about the ONLY Lantern that the Guardians have confided in, and I imagine the pressure must be intense.

Finally, we end with the Lost Lanterns going and finding out that Ke'haan's entire family has been slaughtered by none other than that rotten little coward Amon Sur. The little weasel then tries to surrender. His motive apparently is that all the other bad guys will hear about what he has done,and no Lantern's family will be safe. This nasty little plan backfires on him however, as Laira has lost what ever restraint she had, and blows him up. Nastily. Bloodily. The other Lanterns stand around shocked, as Amon Sur's ring then flies off to earth.

How's THAT for a cliffhanger? What is going to happen to Laira? Was she completely justified in what she did? What do the other Lanterns, and most of all, what do the Guardians think? Afterall, they are the ones who opened up this particular can of worms. Sinestro is probably going to laughing in his cell. Who is going to get the ring?

Gosh, I love this book.