Green Lantern #21

And so, the Geoff Johnsless era begins!   And it was...ok, I guess.  It was a little confusing, since we begin with a battle that is going on in the near future, but then we end up in the present,  and I'm not really sure exactly why.

But the near future is scary, because all of the Lanterns are losing power in their rings against whatever anoymous threat they are fighting, and they can't recharge because the Central Battery is dead.  That IS quite a pickle to be in!  Maybe Guy was smart going over to the Red Lanterns after all! 

But in the present, Hal and Carol are back on earth, and Hal is trying to charm Carol, and Carol is being all cranky and complaining about him going off to space...which is exactly what these two have been doing for the past 20 years or so.  I had rather thought that they would come to realize that they DO love each other, and not fall back into those tired old tropes...but I suppose the new writer,  Robert Venditti has to find a way to dump Carol, at least for a while, so that Hal can go off and lead the few remaining Green Lanterns.

And naturally, that is what he does.  At least, he shows up on Oa, and meets with the NEW new new Guardians, who are hanging out with Kyle, and exploring all the toy boxes in the basement on Oa...or at least that's how it appears.  But since they are new at this, and a bit unsure, they decide that Hal is the one to lead the Corps, while they fly around the Universe, trying to find themselves.  Presumably, they will be doing this with Kyle. 

When Hal demurs that he's probably not the best choice, Kyle snickers, and tosses in a few bon mots about Parallax, at which point Hal snarls that he should stop "helping" him.  Which made ME snicker for a minute.  But their little blue minds are made up, and Hal flies off to find Kilowog.  Kilowog incidentally is going to be performing Salaak's duties, presumably because Salaak is feeling just a little creeped out by Guardians at the moment, and who can blame him?  Naturally, Hal just jumps in and starts Doing things, such as sending out all of the imprisoned rings, out to find new owners.

Kilowog isn't happy, but Hal just fluffs it off.  However, at precisely that moment, who should show up, but Larfleeze!  And his constructs.  For some reason, he thought it was a good idea to invade and take Oa...which seems just a little ridiculous even for Larfleeze.  So naturally, they all have to fight him.  But odd things are happening to the various Lanterns, for a minute they are full, and then they are empty and then they are full again, which I assume is some foreshadowing of the problems that show up at the beginning.  Obviously, the old Guardians forgot to pay the electric bill. 

So...they are fighting Larfleeze, and the final page, is some of the new recruits showing up, in the five minutes since Hal let the rings loose.  And coincidentally, these are some of the newbies that showed up at the beginning. 

It's a little disjointed.  It's an ok story, per se, but the flow is a bit off, and the art isn't nearly as sublime as that of Doug Mahnke or Ivan Reis. 

Still...it is Green Lanterns, and so I'll be sticking around to see what happens.  It is a perfectly adequate story, and I would like to know why the power Battery isn't working, but I miss having Guy around.  John is in it, and a few of my favorites show up, but don't have any dialogue. 

Could be worse, I guess.