Green Lantern Corps #25

"Don't Mess with the Corps!" is the title to the latest issue, and it seems to be pretty self-evident, that this is the LAST bunch of sentients you want to be "messin'" with.

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Oh Pat Gleason. Is there anything you can't draw? And Tomasi is right on top of his game as well.

When last we left our doughty heroes, they had rescued Yat and Arisia from being devoured, but were in the throes of being pummelled by Mother Mercy! See, some of the Lanterns blew up her babies while Kyle and Guy were rescuing Yat and Arisia, and she's not taking it particularly well...and who can blame her? Most of the Lanterns, that's who. Not only does she throw them around, she can manipulate the pull of gravity on her little ol' planet, and pins them all to the ground. Then she makes it RAIN DEAD PEOPLE! You have to admit, that's not something that people like Batman have to deal with every day.

Let me just say that the artwork is fantastic. The level of detail, and the fact that everything is just so fluid and action-packed...it just jumps off of the page. I'd show you, but my scanner is busted. Bummer.

So anyway, they are all getting their respective Green Asses kicked, when Yat manages to whisper to Soranik, that they should throw him at Mother Mercy. Soranik thinks he's lost it, but Guy and Kyle say go for it. Oh, and Mongul notices that something odd is going on, but doesn't give it too much thought. Stel, bless his little mechanical heart isn't quite as affected as the others, and manages to grab Yat, with his Black Mercy flowers still attached... and tosses him at Mother Mercy, to swallows him.

This actually turns out to have been a bad move on her part. Yat uses his "Ion" powers and with a hearty "BWHAKOOOOOM", Mother Mercy suddenly has really bad gas. Yat's attack gives the others a chance to get up and, boy are THEY pissed. All that is, except Kyle, Soranik, and believe it or not, Guy. Kyle wants to talk to it, Soranik realizes that it is grieving, and Guy notices that she's stopped attacking them, and that maybe, just maybe, they SHOULD talk to her. It is interesting that Iolande, Vath, and Isamot are the ones that want to keep attacking. Stel is being his usual rational self, and Bzzd isn't saying too much at this point.

So...they offer Arisia and Yat to Mother Mercy, and lo and behold, the Black Mercy plants that had been attached to their torsos remove themselves, and they both are relatively good as new. Relative being the term of course, Yat is fairly calm about things, but Arisia is fighting mad, and who can really blame her. Yat of all people, manages to calm her down, and gives us all a bit of insight to what life is like on Daxam by the way.

So...everybody has taken a deep breath, and they are actually TALKING to Mother Mercy instead of trying to just blow her up, and they learn a lot of very interesting things. Mother Mercy is sentient, as are her children. They exist to help ease pain and suffering, and were never intended to be weapons, they were used by Mongul for that purpose. She allowed his harvesting, in the hopes of keeping the secret that they were sentient a secret, in order to help ease suffering, she felt it was imperative that nobody know. She's not too fond of Mongul, that's for sure, but she likes the color green a whole lot more than yellow. She's ALSO not terribly happy about what Mongul Jr. has done to her children, making them evoke fear instead of bliss, and you get the feeling that everything is going to be ok, with her working with the Green Lanterns instead of against them...

...and then Mongul shows up. Naturally. And he's brought his new little friends with him! This time they are ALL hit with the altered Black Mercies!

Or ARE they? I didn't see Bzzd in that final group. Or Stel for that matter.

Heh heh.

Man I can hardly wait till next month.

There has been a certain amount of speculation that perhaps Mother Mercy is going to be the driving force behind the Indigo Lanterns. I can certainly see where that would work. Oh, and that creepy Guardian with the scars is up to no good.