GREEN LANTERN CORPS #38

Review by: TheNextChampion

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Avg Rating: 4.1
 
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Size: pages
Price: 2.99

Let’s get right down to it:

This felt rushed on a writing standpoint. For once it felt like Patrick Gleason was the star of this book, and Tomasi was the rookie in the creative team. I know we are very close to Blackest Night, but it just feels like Tomasi put way to many things on the table at the very end.

Don’t get me wrong, this still read like a good comic. Tomasi once again is able to juggle a lot of stories and is able to conclude a lot of them. However, some of the finales for these stories just don’t feel like finales. The battle for Daxam felt like an after thought, and I guess Ion is really dead. But there’s no sense of accomplishment as it’s really just a giant splash page to show one single battle; and then have Mongul decide to retreat. The family issues with Soranik and Sinestro seems to be left for Blackest Night; as it’ll most likely be a huge factor for the story. Finally, the whole business with the Guardians and Alpha Lanterns….that came out of no where. Yes the Alpha Lanterns came in to save the day last issue; but the whole aspect of them killing all of the prisoners and the Guardians being more ruthless then ever; that’s where this story felt forced and contrived. Maybe it’s all for them to look like the bad guys for the event, but it just felt like this had no place for a finale of an otherwise great arc.

What saves this issue for me is the art by Gleason. When you turn to the second page and see this enormous design of Oa just falling apart….that left me breathless. What a fantastic way to get you sucked into the rest of the issue. The characters were all on model for this issue, might be a record of three straight issues in a row for Gleason. Plus more fantastic new creatures for him to pencil. Seriously some of the ugliest but more intriguing aliens you’ll see in a cosmic book.

For me this didn’t feel like an ending to ‘Emerald Eclipse’ but a prologue to Blackest Night. Now that might not sound bad; but think about this for a second. Many storylines ended abruptly and new plotlines were added out of no where. Then we got the very bah ending of once again the Black Lantern showing up and being creepy. This issue just felt like Tomasi had everything going for an epic story arc; but then realized he had to wrap it up on the 11th hour and rushed this story to meet the deadline. Some of these storyarcs might fully be concluded during Blackest Night; if that is the case….that is a poor decision in my eyes for Tomasi and others.

Story: 2 - Average
Art: 5 - Excellent

Comments

  1. I admit the battle for Daxam was rushed. However, we know Sodam Yat is not dead for two very good reasons. 1) He’s alive in the Legion of 3 Worlds future. 2) He’s supposed to be the Super Lantern that saves the day during Blackest Night (See, Alan Moore’s Green Lantern Annual. 😉 ) Quite honestly, though, Mongul got his ass handed to him several times by one Kryptonian. It was somewhat believable he’d run from a planet full of ’em. Still, I was shocked it disappeared. The Soranik stuff is exactly what I expected. It’s not going to be finished here. If you ever thought that, I’m sorry, but that was clear. As for the Guardians execution. That didn’t seem as out there as you make it seem. One, the riot is quelled. Two, the issue talks about the criminals being rounded up. Three, the guardians have been dicks who change their minds at the drop of a hat and inflict odd, psuedo-punishments on people since inception with the exception of Ganthet. The bit where they send Guy and Hal back to Earth is exactly like what they did to Hal in the 60s and 70s, seemingly every other issue. As well, you have to take into account that while this was billed as an independent arc, every issue save one (maybe two?) has had the Prelude to Blackest Night banner on it. They’ve made no secret about it.

    I don’t know. Perhaps I’m liking the issue better because of where it fell in my reading placement, not sure. But I loved this issue. The idea is that the event is interruptive, it screws up the natural flow of events. Look at something like the first appearance of Galactus. There is a Fantastic Four/Inhumans story going on in FF #48 and the Watcher comes in and says "Yo, Reed, you’ve got bigger fish to fry." That’s the feeling I got from this issue: The Corps is being pulled in 18 different directions and it’s coming apart, just like the protective shell around Oa.  

  2. I said in my review that I knew the Soranik/Sinestro stuff wont be handled until Blackest Night. That’s one storyline that I can handle not being finished. But the stuff with Daxam and Mongul….they set that up to be a huge battle between his forces and the powered Daxamites….and the resolution is only a two page spread?

    Granted it’s a good looking two pages, but for something that had huge build up and attention in the last 3-4 issues, that is a huge disappointment for me. Finally the Guardian stuff just came out of no where. It seems like Tomasi had to extend this part of the story so it can mix in with Blackest Night. If anything, this part of the story should’ve had the least amount of attention while the Daxam portion was the whole issue.

  3. @TNC Oh I agree that there could have been another issues between here, but in all honesty… it doesn’t bother me. 

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