Green Lantern #18

Well  Good Gosharootie! 

This was a REALLY good issue!  Oh Hal...I've missed you.  I'm sorry, but I find Simon Baz to be incredibly dull.  The little glimpses that we have been getting of Hal and Sinestro trapped by Black Hand have been one the things that have kept me going.  This whole ISSUE is about Hal and Sinestro, and it is fabulous.

First, kudos to  Alex Sinclair, who does astonishing things with the coloring.  The art ain't too shabby either, although I DO miss Doug Mahnke, and I will continue to miss him after he leaves.

*sob*

But anyway, onto the story.

Hal and Sinestro have been trapped for quite some time now, and they aren't particularly happy, although it is probably nice to see Tomar Re again.  They are a bit startled when Simon drops unceremoniously by, in fact Sinestro is simply fit to be tied.  Simon is supposed to be rescuing them...and yet he ends up trapped along with them.  Sinestro and Hal do a bit of bickering back and forth, as they are wont to do.  Poor Simon doesn't really know what to make of all of this, and also can't quite get his brain around the idea that he might be dead. 

Well, actually...he's not.  He's IS still wearing the ring, which Hal points out rather smugly to Sinestro.  Naturally, this leads to more fighting, as Sinestro is bound and determined to get his ring back, and to hell with the rest of them.   Simon tries to use the ring against Sinestro, but it doesn't work, so naturally Sinestro starts taunting.  Sinestro is GOOD at taunting.

This is probably the wrong thing to do, since Simon then shoots Sinestro.  Oh how he does love that stupid gun. 

Meanwhile, the freed Maltusians have surrounded Black Hand, and they are NOT happy.  Fortunately B'dg is still kicking, and he is doing his best to free Simon. 

Back in limbo, Hal and Sinestro are STILL bickering.  Sinestro isn't dead, but he was certainly...startled.  Tomar tells them both to knock it off, because he knows all about Volthoom, and how he is trying to rewrite history, and all of the dead that he is sending to join them.  So Hal and Sinestro are at least being brought up to date on what the heck is going on.  And we also learn that it was to fight Volthoom that the Guardians created the Manhunters in the first place.  Man, those little blue munchkins have been screwing up for a LONG time, haven't they? 

B'dg has figured out how to contact Simon, and is pulling him back.  Simon is trying to grab a hold of Hal, and the ring that he has...the combined ring of Hal and Sinestro duplicates itself into a ring for Hal...but as Simon is pulled out, Sinestro grabs a hold, and...

...Whoa!  Sinestro and Simon are back in the First Lantern's prison with Black Hand, B'dg and all of the other Not Guardians! 

This...is going to get interesting.

Hal is still stuck however.  He can't get out, and he can't use the black ring, because he still has a foot in the land of the living...and so he wonders...what if he didn't?

Oh, this is going to be INCREDIBLY interesting! 

Buy this and read it!  It's fabulous.