War of the Green Lanterns: Aftermath #1

After the slightly mind-boggling ending to Green Lantern, I have to admit that I was looking forward to the epilogue with great anticipation. And, with a few caveats, I must say that I was NOT disappointed.

We begin with a repeat of Hal's abrupt arrival back on earth, right in front of a nice State Trooper. At least Hal will be able to get a ride home! I worry about these sorts of things. When the Trooper asks him who he is, Hal just mumbles "...nobody. I'm nobody now." At least he has a job at Ferris Air, and a family who loves him, so I'm not crying TOO much for Hal.

Then there is a rather nice shot of Oa...with the bits and pieces of Mogo orbiting it. Poor Mogo...I really don't understand why you can't have a couple of Blue Lanterns just put him back together again.

But the REAL fun, is on Oa, where the Guardians are having a hissy fit over the fact that Hal managed to kill Krona. Not a word of pity or gratitude to the Lanterns who risked their lives, or died for them. This bunch of Guardians are the meanest, most selfish douchebags in the Universe. There. I've said it. And what is REALLY interesting, is that a whole lot of Green Lanterns are saying the exact same thing! Unprecedented really.

Kilowog is absolutely furious, not only that they canned Hal, but that they brought Sinestro in! You remember Sinestro...he destroyed Kilowog's ENTIRE PLANET! The Guardians response to Kilowog? Basically..."man up, you big baby!"
That's when the REST of the Lanterns start pointing out a few home truths to their Masters Vath points out that Krona was one of them...so why couldn't they protect their Lanterns from him? And Hannu also points out that it ALWAYS takes a Human Lantern to save the Guardians from their own stupidity. The Guardians are being even MORE snarky...so Lanterns start resigning en masse...lead by Kilowog.

Good job Guardians! You've managed to piss off your entire corps! Who is going to save you from the Bad Guys NOW? Even Soranik steps in and says that Sinestro is a monster. Kyle tries to intervene and she tells him to bug off, which rather startles him. Heck, even Sinestro is bemused by all of this, and doesn't necessarily WANT to have a Green ring. Salaak steps in before things get TOO out of hand, and notices that ALL of the Lanterns are suffering from a certain amount of Post Distress Syndrome...probably not unnusual considering what they have been put through, and wisely cautions everyone to calm down a little bit before they all start walking out. The Guardians thank him...and then thank him some more by going into the citadel and slamming the door in his face.

Wankers.

Meanwhile Ganthet is suffering on his own. He wants to go and try and comfort the Lanterns, but he's worried that they'll just see him as a Guardian. Then St. Walker shows up, which surprises Ganthet a bit, since the Guardians had unceremoniously sent all the various Emotional entities on their way. But heck, Ganthet IS the founder of the Blue Lanterns, so St. Walker manages to heal his missing right hand, with the help of a vision of Sayd. It was rather nice actually to SEE Sayd, she's been missing in action for quite some time. Ganthet is happy to have his hand back, but realizes that he REALLY misses Sayd. See? If a Blue Lantern can grow a Guardians hand back, putting Mogo back together should be child's play.

Next, a trio of disgruntled Green Lanterns show up as John Stewart is talking about getting Oa put back together again. They aren't particularly HAPPY with John... and really who can blame them. They're getting all up in John's face, when Kyle shows up and gets everyone to take a step back a bit. Naturally John gets tempers flaring again, when he insists that killing Mogo was the right thing to do, and to just piss off. Kyle says that he was possessed by the indigo ring, and that it was actually a Black Lantern John that killed Mogo. This gives the others pause, but John isn't the least bit grateful to Kyle and that he doesn't need any help, and Kyle is a pussy, and not his friend...or words to that effect. So...Kyle flies off. Man, John is being almost as big an idiot as the Guardians. Granted, maybe he didn't have any other choice than to kill Mogo, but he could at least show a little bit of regret about it, instead of insisting that the rest of them are weaklings, and that he was totally totally justified, and that he'd do it again in a minute.

Sheesh!

Finally, Soranik is in the infirmary, trying to help some of the wounded, and comforting one of the new Lanterns...the ones that were recruited by Mogo. Most of them have realized that this is NOT the sort of thing that they really want to do, and they just want to go home, and try to get on with their lives...and who can blame them? Then Hannu and some of the others show up and want Soranik to help them. She thinks that they want her to help look for Hal, and tells them that she's busy and has aleady turned down Guy, who already asked. But they are more worried about the Guardians, and have Lantern Meadlux along. He's an empath, and he can read the emotions of the Guardians.

They're afraid. They're DEEPLY afraid. In fact they're terrified...of Hal, and of the rest of the corps. Big babies. The Lanterns are worried that the Corps is on the brink of destruction because of the Guardians fear...so they want to break into the Citadel and execute Sinestro. Because that's always gone SO well in the past.

Well! Food for thought indeed. I loved the story by Tony Bedard. Iwas a little less enamored of the artwork by Miguel Sepulveda and Tyler Kirkham. I'm not sure who was responsible for the first half of the book and who did the second half, but their styles were quite different. Some of it was rather nice, but man, they sure can't do women. Soranik and Arisia were about ready to bust out of their costumes, and it was a bit freaky. I' so used to fabulous art in the Green Lantern books, that I was taken aback a bit.

Still...I am waiting with bated breath for the second half of this...because I finally want to see the Guardians get their MUCH deserved comeuppance. It's going to be hard to run the Green Lantern Corps...with just Sinestro...and I don't think that even Sinestro wants to hang around this sorry bunch of immortal losers.