Green Lantern 2021 #09

[jhpace1 Green Lantern Initiate Find all posts View Profile Close jhpace1]

Hello ringslingers,

Not many people are summarizing what is going on with the only GL title left, so here goes.

Spoilers ahoy!

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#09 "You and what army?" "This one!"

The comic opens with the half of John Stewart's story, with lesser New Gods Lonar the Wanderer and Esak the student of Izaya and Metron. John has a new set of powers from last issue's time-dip, and Lonar now calls John "ascended", and able to absorb and give out cosmic forces. (Not just GL powers. Think of the old Takion from the Source.) John is still trying to stop Esak from sucking the life force out of billions of aliens on a faraway planet. Esak thinks he can bring back New God Lightbringer with the life forces, but it might take another trillion or so people. After a flashback, John realizes that stopping the people from willingly giving their lives may not work, but disrupting Esak's work might be fruitful. Both lesser New Gods hint that the Guardians of Oa chose their Green Lanterns for their willpower to resist other conversions.

Meanwhile, back on Oa, Sojourn the Last Lantern (sorry, Kyle, you lose) tries interrogation of one of the Bright Circle magic users, a water person (water-fire-forest, get it?), and gets mind-trauma for her efforts. Apparently the magic users were willing to use subterfuge to the ultimate level to get what they wanted, and more than one Guardian of Oa betrayed their race, their followers, and their very existence to aid the magic keepers. Why? One page hints at parasitical takeover, while a lot of text spouts "what should be" when the Guardians decided millions of years ago to limit as much magic as they could.

If you liked lengthy expose that makes no sense, this was the issue for you. It was really just a lead-up to what really happened to the Central Power Battery, but traitor Guardians are not new, nor are old grudges of chaos vs. order. We still get the Kid Lantern being kept in the background as backup savior, because Jo's ring just ran out of power (again) on the next-to-the-last page.

Artwork: 4 out of 5. Surprisingly decent.
Caricatures/Personalities: Average. The humans were all right, but the magical people are just insane, and their Guardian traitors follow in the insanity.
Plot: Some hints given to solving the problems, but both John and Jo had to take several minutes, if not hours, to digest the ramifications. John should have known better, he's fought New Gods before.

Overall: 3 out of 5, but that was mostly artwork. It seems not just the GLs have an ax to grind trying to bring back what they had just weeks ago. New Gods are also in the mix. A filler episode on the way to the final revelations.

(If anybody wants to add a picture or two, go ahead. My coding skills are not up to standard on this website.)

[Star-Lantern Weaponer of Qward Find all posts View Profile Close Star-Lantern]

This comic series is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO bad. I'll probably elaborate on this more later. I don't feel like doing it now, because I could write an entire essay on the problems with this series. But just for a few things...

A lot of focus on characters few people like, and then the writer makes them unlikable with bad Spanglish and Jo's sassy attitude (see her interaction with the Green Lantern Corps in a previous issue), and a whole host of things. Bad art. Two stories that don't connect and both of them are bad and boring.

I'll save the rest for later, perhaps.

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

Yeah, I read this one fast and don't even recall much of it. In general, there's been bits I've liked in the story line, but not the overall thing. I do like that the Starheart is still a thing in this continuity.

[Andrew NDB Shot Caller Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew NDB]

Peeked at the latest issue. It seems capably written... it's just going to places with characters -- I think -- most people aren't interested in.

[Star-Lantern Weaponer of Qward Find all posts View Profile Close Star-Lantern]

Peeked at the latest issue. It seems capably written... it's just going to places with characters -- I think -- most people aren't interested in.

I would not say Geoffery Thorne is a good writer. You would have to keep up with the comic series to fully understand how bad it is. The story, which is already uninteresting, drags like no one's business. The pacing of it is completely inept.

Regardless of characters, I feel this is simply a poorly crafted comic book series. Though, the choice of character focus is really bad, and Thorne only makes these characters people don't care about even worse.

[Big Blue Lantern Corps Honor Guard Find all posts View Profile Close Big Blue Lantern]

We covered issues 8 & 9 on the latest episode of Emerald Echo.

+ YouTube Video

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker Moisture Farmer Find all posts View Profile Close Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

I BARELY was able to finish reading issue #9. It was such a chore to get through. I usually skim the Jo half of the story due to lack of interest, but I really tried to stay engaged this time. The villain reveal was obvious since the beginning of the series and felt uninspired. The John half just depressed me. I dont want to see John go through the prerequisite godhood phase that everybody has to do a tour of duty on at least once or twice. I like him too much to see this. I dont feel like Thorne really understands John as a character, or is a good fit for the GL title.

What I REALLY feel is going on here is this series is a dry run to test out making Jo black lesbian THE main character of Green Lantern. I wouldnt be surprised at all if we find out starting with issue #13 she becomes the focus of the title. At which point I am out. I'm here for Hal Jordan, with John Stewart or Guy Gardner being acceptable substitutes. Anything else and I'm wasting my time and money.

I'm really looking forward to this to end. GL hasnt been fun to read since about halfway through Geoff Johns' run years ago.

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

...The John half just depressed me. I dont want to see John go through the prerequisite godhood phase that everybody has to do a tour of duty on at least once or twice. I like him too much to see this. . .

It really is twice in this case since he was a guardian.

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker Moisture Farmer Find all posts View Profile Close Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

It really is twice in this case since he was a guardian.

Yes he was! Thorne seems to want to return to that plotline for some reason. Why isn't being a space cop good enough for these writers?

[Tarmode Green Lantern Initiate Find all posts View Profile Close Tarmode]

I BARELY was able to finish reading issue #9. It was such a chore to get through. I usually skim the Jo half of the story due to lack of interest, but I really tried to stay engaged this time. The villain reveal was obvious since the beginning of the series and felt uninspired. The John half just depressed me. I dont want to see John go through the prerequisite godhood phase that everybody has to do a tour of duty on at least once or twice. I like him too much to see this. I dont feel like Thorne really understands John as a character, or is a good fit for the GL title.

What I REALLY feel is going on here is this series is a dry run to test out making Jo black lesbian THE main character of Green Lantern. I wouldnt be surprised at all if we find out starting with issue #13 she becomes the focus of the title. At which point I am out. I'm here for Hal Jordan, with John Stewart or Guy Gardner being acceptable substitutes. Anything else and I'm wasting my time and money.

I'm really looking forward to this to end. GL hasnt been fun to read since about halfway through Geoff Johns' run years ago.

I like Jo, but I hope she doesn't become the main character, it wouldn't do the series justice. Still have hope that it turns out good.

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker Moisture Farmer Find all posts View Profile Close Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

I like Jo, but I hope she doesn't become the main character, it wouldn't do the series justice. Still have hope that it turns out good.

With the current regime at DC and the switching out of characters for most of the franchises with a gender, race or sexuality flip, I would be absolutely SHOCKED if Jo isnt made the focus star of Green Lantern next year.