Green Lantern #27

Well!

The premise here, is that the Green Lanterns are in disrepute throughout the Universe, and various other groups are looking to exploit that for their own benefit.  This is actually a pretty reasonable premise, and an interesting one.  My only cavil, is the way that  Robert Venditti is going about it all.

Pretty much by default, Hal Jordan is leading the Green Lantern Corps.  He didn't really WANT the job, since it isn't really his bag, but the new new Guardians talked him into it.  The new new Guardians, you will notice, are flitting around the Universe with Kyle, instead of fixing the Corps and doing their jobs.  You know...as GUARDIANS.  But that's another story.

Hal has been doing a pretty feeble job of things.  He had to call out the ENTIRE CORPS to rescue he and Kilowog from one Star Sapphire and a bunch of thugs.  Incidentally, a whole lot of those thugs have infiltrated Mogo and thus the Corps and are doing nefarious deeds. 

Hal in the meantime, is fixated on the whereabouts of Sinestro.  Naturally.

Meanwhile, the Durlans, who have been causing quite a lot of mayhem, but nobody knows about it yet, cause a bit more by whacking Hal, and taking his place and then announcing to the entire Universe that the Resevoir of power is limited, and that only the Green Lanterns will have access to it, and KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!

Er...ahem.  That last part didn't actually happen.  But that's the gist of it.  And since Hal has been acting like such a moron lately, everyone buys it. 

Oh...Hal. 

As I said, it is an interesting premise, and I like the art by Dale Eaglesham very much.  I keep thinking that I should be liking this more than I actually do.  But it actually...kinda...dragged for me.  Maybe it's because there really isn't anyone for Hal to play off of.  Carol isn't around, Guy isn't around, Kyle isn't around.  John is there, and John is far more competent than Hal, but their relationship is a bit more...tepid than that between Hal and some of the others.  And the rest of the Corps are a bit leery of Hal too, so I don't know what is going on. 

Maybe this is a setup for the new new Guardians to finally get their tiny blue butts in line and come home and finally start acting like real Guardians, and for the whole "limited" amount of power in the emotional resevoir to be jettisoned, and then...maybe... we can get back to actually telling stories about the Green Lanterns.  I'm getting just a wee bit tired of lurching from crisis to crisis.