Geoff Johns: writer
Mike Choi: guest artist
The Solicitation
With the tumultuous battle for Korugar past them, Sinestro and Hal are left at a crossroads. They must pick up the pieces of their lives. The question is, will they do it alone…or together?
Preview
The Story
We see Hal Jordan being Hal. He's enjoying his time without the ring and him and Carol are getting it on. He helps someone who is being attacked in the hanger by four other guys and kicks all their asses. Funny thing is that he doesn't tell Carol about this outburst, and you think he would if it involved her flying company.
No need to focus on that though! Off we go to check into Sinestro. He is searching for Lyssa Drak, one of his Sinestro Corps members who feeds off literature. Lyssa is in the possession of the Book of the Black. This is a book that was held by the Black Lantern corps that foretells the end of everything. Since she is a literature vampire, she loves the book. Sinestro recruits Starstorm, a person from Sinestro's past that once went toe to toe with Sinestro when Sinestro led his corps. Sinestro needs Starstorm's help since Starstorm is good at tracking down users of the yellow ring.
I thought that last issue Sinestro disarmed the entire Sinestro Corps, but it looks like it was just the members of the corps who were on Kurogar were affected, which explains why Lyssa still has her yellow ring to use. Interesting. I thought the entire Sinestro Corps were on Kurogar, but I seem to be wrong.
The big fall out of the fight is that Sinestro grabs a page from the book of black that foretells a bit of the future, i.e. Goeff John's next storyline/buildup. In the vision, Sinestro becomes a member of the Indigo tribe, the Guardians release the Third Army to replace the Green Lanterns, a Hal Jordan gets mortally wounded, Black Hand comes back, a Guardian holds a White Ring and Sinestro looks like he is bleeding out.
Fast forward to Sinestro outsmarting Lyssa and leaving Starstorm in the dust crying about him not knowing Hal Jordan and we get to our big finish. Sinestro dresses Hal in a Green Lantern suit and tells him that they have to go because it is Sinestro's will. Sinestro did this while Hal was in the bedroom with Carol about to get it on, and I found it funny that in the last panel Carol pulled the sheets up over her when Sinestro was flying right outside the window. It is funny because she practically travels around in the universe as Star Sapphire wearing nothing but a bathing suit.
Its a basic set up issue for the next arc. A couple of good moments from Johns that deliver. nothing to complain about here too much with. New characters got introduced and used and then thrown away. i am interested to see what happens with Lyssa Drak more. I can't recall any moments for her character that were too strong outside of being used as a plot device. Apparently she was recruited into the Sinestro Corps because she cannot be beaten. I have seen her be beat twice now. Kinda ruins the character a bit.
The Art
Whoa, guest artist! i went back and checked the credits on the solicitation and this was definitely not there. I guess This was determined to be a one off issue type of think and Mahnke could take a break. Choi has a style that flips between what looks like digital painting and what looks like an soft type of anime style - a sorta cross between Manga and Anime. It reminds me a little of Josh Middleton's work for some reason.
Besides the art flipping out for no discernible reason between a painted look for a character to a non painted look, this wasn't too bad. Angles of panels make sense for the story and you can tell a lot from that. This artist has experience and I wouldn't mind seeing him take over for the regular artist or be given a shot on another Green Lantern book. The use of colors was done quite well.
The Cover
While this cover itself isn't necessarily bad, it would have been better on another issue. Its not reflective of the main story here, and I would have rather seen Sinestro fighting Lyssa Drak on the cover. Maybe have Hal faded to the background somehow with an arm over Carol. Then have Sinestro, whose arms would be in Lyssa' chains, have a green construct of a hand floating towards Hal, ready to grab him and bring him back into the fold.
Grades
Words: 8/10 good setup, looking forward to some future payoffs.
Pictures: 9/10 - Nice choice for a guest artist.
Recommend: There is enough set up here and explanation of the new characters that a casual Green Lantern reader would be up to speed. It feels more as a prologue of things to come, and I would rather any new readers wait for the next issue to jump into the title.
Buy Next Issue: Interested to see where this goes. I'm down.
Previous Issues
Green Lantern #5
Green Lantern #4
Three Issue Trial
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