To do it only a little bit
of discredit, but I think to a high degree of accuracy, I
believe I can sum up GL #28 in a single word.
Intrigue.
If you ask me, it's the name of the
game from cover to cover. Seemingly less about the story thus far in
this three part arc -- the rise of the Alpha-Lanterns amidst
the trial of Laira -- and more about what is brewing and
developing out there with the Red Lanterns, Orange Lanterns,
and even a scene between Hal and Sinestro with dialogue that
gives us more than a fair share of tidbits on what to expect
not only in the next story arc ("Secret Origin") but in the
Blackest Night arc next year.
All of this was fine.
Also, at no point do Hal or John cut loose and kick ass to
any degree or even have any real character moments (in fact,
Hal only has 3 short lines in the whole issue: 1) "And you
know what it is?" "You knew this was going to happen" and,
"What prophecy are you talking about?" ... though to be
fair, we do get into Hal's head a tiny bit at a couple key
moments in thought blurbs). But you know what? That's fine,
too. Pulling the title away from any kind of preconceived
expectations for the moment, just reading the issue cover to cover as a bit
of Green Lantern-related entertainment, I pretty much look
at #28 like this:
Nonstop geeky Green
Lantern continuity thrills! Every issue can't and shouldn't
be like this, but hey, every once and again I don't mind it. This is one for folks who
appreciate the tapestry of Green Lantern, a huge
bone tossed to Lantern geeks like myself who leapt at every
red herring Johns & co. threw at us lately in trying to mentally
reverse engineer and figure out the Blackest Night -- who
starts this Corps, who starts that Corps, Controllers are
Red, no they're Orange, yadda yadda. Again, we aren't doled
up the whole thing just yet, but a few big questions are
answered here.
To that end, Geoff
smacked me across the face with a whiffle bat with the
Controllers-Orange Light revelation. Personally, I thought
I'd uncovered plenty of evidence pointing them toward the
Reds (would have practically sworn by it), but I tip my hat
to him in keeping me on my toes. The way it's explained, I
can swallow them as the Orange Lantern progenitors (though
with all credit given, it kind of seems like the Controllers
are going, "Hmf, we need part of the spectrum and any color
will do... oh look, Orange")... and am
left wondering what's the connection with them, "Agent
Orange," Mongul, and where Mr. Tomasi was going with
RingQuest over in GLC. More to chew on, as I'm sure we're
all supposed to be doing. Good show.
The Ysmault bit in the
beginning. Was quite a trip to see there again, a place
we've only ever paid a visit to in Alan Moore's Tales of the
Green Lantern Corps Annual #2 and Green Lantern Corps
Quarterly #7. Huge revelations here, and seeing the
Qull again was equally a trip. Sorry to see him go... was
hoping for him to play a larger role in things to come, but
perhaps he is, in a way (his blood'n guts igniting the first
Red Battery and apparently kickstarting that Corps en masse,
somehow).
Laira as a Red
Lantern. Another whiffle bat to the face... though many on
the boards out there have been swearing up and down she'll
become a Red Lantern ("it's right there on the fucking page!
GL #25, the broad with the red swords in the upper-right
corner? can you not see her??") I personally really haven't
seen it. At all. Granted, I knew she blew up at Amon Sur,
got a little bit pissed at her compatriots at damning her by
all agreeing it was "murder" last issue, then got a little
more pissed and atomized Sur's body... but I figured
unless the Guardians dish her out some kind of severe
punishment, at the end of the day it would still be a huge
stretch for her to go from this to being a Red Lantern,
party to the killing of Green Lanterns. But here it
is, she's a Red Lantern. No strong feelings here either way,
it'll all be in where they go with her as a Red Lantern from
here. Now if the Green Lantern killing by the Reds starts up and
she just dives right in I'll be the first to call
"Bullshit," but there's quite a few ways Johns could be
going at this... many of which could pay off dividends in
the end.
So the Second Law is
Lethal Force Approved Against All Enemies of the Green
Lantern Corps? I guess I was a little confused earlier
-- in GL #26 on like page 3 they made it seem as if the Second Law was
the Alpha-Lanterns themselves (the line about, "And it's time to unveil
our second law... here are the Alpha-Lanterns!"), but that's
probably my fault in misunderstanding. As others have expressed,
though, this latest law
seems a little puzzlingly redundant. If the Guardians came
up with 10 laws at the same time and planned to reveal them one at a time at
different intervals... why would they make the second one
nullify the first? Why not just... I dunno... amend the
first law? It's like, a genie gives you three wishes and you
wish for a piece of cake with the first, then wish for
never-ending pieces of cake... kind of a "What the hell?"
kind of a thing. As I'm reasonably sure Law #3 won't be
"No, Really, You Lanterns Can Fucking Kill Anything Now,"
though,
it's probably not worth kvitzing about.
Good fun this issue,
big revelations, and more great art from Mike McKone. Also
with his final coloring job on a Green Lantern comic is
Moose Baumann... here we have his last work, GL #28's cover.
Over eight years (it flies by, doesn't it?), damned sorry to
see it end now.
