Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Green Lantern #39
DC Comics
Johns, Tan & Glapion
Another arc begins as we get one step closer to the Blackest Night storyline. This arc rolls out yet another colored ring. This time the Orange Lanterns take some time in the spotlight. This issue only scrapes the surface of what the Orange Lanterns are about but it has some very good moments. As usual, the first issue of the arc only teases some of what’s to come. It’s a good issue but not a great one.
The issue begins with what seems to be the unearthing of the Orange Lanterns. What’s interesting about this sequence is that the power source seems to be hidden underground with some sort of Gollum-like creature hiding (or imprisoned) somewhere in the caverns. As a lot of these kinds of stories go, the Controllers as they call themselves, unlock the power thinking they can seize it and they don’t realize what they’ve done until it’s too late. Without fully understanding these first few pages it seems to be telling a very unique ring origin. I’m sure the arc will reveal more about this sequence in the issues to come.
Then we get Hal freaking out about the blue ring on his finger. It’s interesting because it seems the Blue Lanterns screwed up their orders and gave Hal the ring and didn’t understand that he was meant to lead the corps as a Green Lantern. Oops. I guess Ganthet needs to be more clear in his memos. Hal is then told he needs to totally empty the ring of its power in order to get rid of it. It’s very interesting that his first thought is to find Sinestro. As a side note, when the heck did Ganthet’s girlfriend, Sayd, grow hair?
The issue ends with Hal getting an exorcism from the Guardians to try to rid him of the blue ring while the Orange Lantern seems to bust out of Stel, the robot Green Lantern’s chest (or possible just out of the branding on his chest). This sets up the big brawl for next issue.
The issue is all over the place with the Blue Lantern’s purpose. If Hal is supposed to lead the corps then why does Ganthet let Hal leave and not have his group follow him? How can they not retrieve their rings? There’s a lot more to this story that needs to come out for this all to be clear.
I realize the Orange Lanterns are only now hatching but the part I couldn’t quite grasp was whether or not they were actually tangible beings. It almost appears they are only constructs, but I’m not 100% sure. It’s clear this batch of color is going to be vastly different from the others though.
The issue has some flaws in the way the characters are depicted. For one thing, Stel, though a minor player, had a lot of page time in the Sinestro Corps war and he looked and acted completely different from this incarnation of the character. It wasn’t that long ago, what changed? Also, the lack of understanding of their surroundings by the Guardians is just baffling. The way someone like John Stewart can just sneak up on them just doesn’t seem right. If they are so powerful and all knowing then shouldn’t they be able to display that once in a while?
The artwork was good but was not the best this series has seen. The coloring helps to make the issue visually cool but the overall layout of the panels was a little difficult to follow in some of the sequences. The orange constructs seem to be the best this comic has in terms of art in this issue and that’s probably the best place to focus.
The start of an arc has a lot going on in it and not everything makes sense as of yet. We’ll see how this all shakes out in the coming issues but this one at least offers up some explanations and summarizations of the Blue Lantern arc. If you are looking to jump on this may be the last issue to do so without being totally lost. A good issue all around.
3 out of 5 geek goggles
