Green Lantern #64

Although I have been enjoying all of the Green Lantern books, it has seemed as though things were n a bit of a holding period, after the end of Blackest Night. But things certainly get going with a bang in this issue!



It's the beginning of the War of the Green Lanterns,and once again, I think that we can safely assume that the Guardians have brought this on themselves.

We begin with a bit of history, Abin Sur and the induction of Hal Jordan into the Corps, and how the Guardians were a bit hesitant, but that he SEEMED to be doing ok, but now he's running around with those hoodlum emotional friends of his, and Someone has to rein him in! It turns out to be Salaak of all people, being sent by the Guardians to arrest Hal and bring him back to Oa. Salaak...does not sound like himself.

The various Emotional Corps in the meantime have stumbled upon the Book of the Black, which has all the juicy stories that they left out of the Book of Oa. Sinestro in paricular seems quite intrigued. They have learned that Krona was the one behind the massacre of Sector 666, which doesn't actually seem to be that much of a surprise to Atrocitus. He and Hal are having a bit of a difference of opinion, before Carol is smart enough to wonder why Krona left the book there for them to find in the first place.

And who should pop up out of the book but Lyssa Drak, now known as the Story Vampire, which is an awfully cool concept. Black chains start to draw everyone into the book, but Hal and Sinestro manage to put their rings together and cause an explosion. Hal ends up being the only one who manages to escape. Oh, and he also ends up with all of their rings.

Back on Oa, the remaining Guardians are sitting around in a snit. There is a very large and very colorful explosion, and who should show up, but Krona himself, with ALL the various Emotional Entities. And he's in a REALLY good mood. The Guardians predictably, start to whine a bit, but Krona isn't taking any of their crap, and before you know it, ALL the Guardians have been possessed by ALL the Entities!

Back at the Book of the Black, Hal as the only one on the loose, has just picked up everyone's rings, when Salaak and company show up and tell him that he's under arrest. Hal is naturally, rather startled by this, but rather unnusually...for Hal at least...he tries to reason with them. This works for a couple of minutes. Then Krona, puts Parallax BACK INTO THE CENTRAL BATTERY! And the proverbial shit hits the proverbial fan.

Suddenly all the Green Lanterns are under Krona's influence, through the power of Parallax...with the exception of Hal. Hal has been possessed by Parallax so many times, that he's pretty much built up an immunity. Too bad nobody else has it. So Hal high-tails it out of there, on his way back to Oa...where Krona and the rest of the Guardian/Entities await.

I thought this was fabulous. Mahnke does his usual masterful job with the artwork. The Guardian/Entities are scary as heck. I NEVER would have thought of having the Entities possess the Guardians, but heck, it makes sense. They forsook all emotion over the eons...well, they're sure getting some emotion now! And with Parallax back in the battery, the yellow impurity is back in the rings! And all the Lanterns are being controlled by Krona.

Or...are they? Salaak and his crew certainly didn't seem to be acting normally when they were sent out by the Guardians, which makes me suspect that they were actually under the influence of Zardor, who is on HIS way to Oa from the uncharted sectors, as covered in Green Lantern:Emerald Warriors.

Dang it, this is a heck of a way to start a new story!