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GREEN LANTERN ANNUAL #1

• The conclusion of “THE REVENGE OF BLACK HAND”!

• Everything changes here! EVERYTHING!

Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Ethan Van Sciver

Price: $4.99
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 18.7%

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BanjoDuck08/30/12YesRead Review
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Comments

  1. bigben2012 says:
    August 27, 2012 at 6:15 pm

    Somebody is gonna die!!!!

  2. Avatar photo burnsy7 says:
    August 27, 2012 at 6:39 pm

    – “Everything changes here! EVERYTHING!”

    Me: “Everything?” (in the crying voice of Chunk’s off of The Goonies)

  3. Avatar photo TheRealVenom says:
    August 27, 2012 at 6:47 pm

    These black “death” covers are getting kinda old….

    • Avatar photo WheelHands says:
      August 28, 2012 at 11:11 am

      Can you cite an example of one that’s been done with this design since Death of Superman? Because I can’t.

    • Avatar photo TheRealVenom says:
      August 28, 2012 at 12:20 pm

      fantastic 4 death of johnny storm, ultimate spider man death of peter parker. uncanny x-force death of archangel etc etc

      i’m just saying be more original then sticking something in a black bag or putting a black cover on it when someone is supposed to “Die”

    • Avatar photo WheelHands says:
      August 28, 2012 at 12:23 pm

      Gotcha. I didn’t see, buy, or read any of those examples. Did they all have the bleeding symbols? Because that’s a straight up rip off.

    • Avatar photo Skypants says:
      August 28, 2012 at 10:00 pm

      Man, Marvel is really filling those coffins.

  4. Avatar photo CaseyJustice says:
    August 27, 2012 at 6:50 pm

    You had me at Van Sciver, DC.

  5. Avatar photo JokersNuts says:
    August 27, 2012 at 9:57 pm

    EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!! best. solicitation. ever.

  6. Avatar photo sitara119 says:
    August 27, 2012 at 10:23 pm

    nice cover and Superman homage.
    super stoked to see Van Sciver workin’ with Johns again. this should be epic.

  7. Avatar photo 89nano says:
    August 28, 2012 at 8:52 am

    Sweet!! love this blackhand arc!

  8. Avatar photo WheelHands says:
    August 28, 2012 at 11:21 am

    This is the only title that I still buy out of habit. I’ve kicked that tendency with everything else, but at least 40% of my motivation for buying this every month is the fact I own Johns’ entire run starting with Rebirth. Don’t get me wrong, the majority of the run has been stellar, and Mahnke’s work is reason enough to keep buying it. I’m just finally kinda “over it”. I was going to keep reading blind until Johns left the book, but if they really intend to “kill” Hal (or at least remove him for a bit) this may be as good a time as any to take a break from GL.

  9. Avatar photo Poopmonster says:
    August 29, 2012 at 1:09 am

    I’ll definitely be getting this next month.

  10. Avatar photo APoetSomeday says:
    August 29, 2012 at 12:12 pm

    I enjoyed this issue, although I must confess to being a little underwhelmed.

    Anyway, it was great to see Ethan Van Sciver drawing GL again and the story was engaging, but I found it pretty ambiguous as to what actually happened to Hal and Sinestro. I thought for sure Hal would die in this comic, but I was left unsure if he actually did.

    This issue reminded me of the prologue to the ‘Sinestro Corps War’ which was one of my favorite comics of recent years, but it wasn’t as clear cut and didn’t lay out the coming storyline quite as well. Also, I must say that I was a bit disappointed by the design of the ‘Third Army’ themselves. I expected a bit more just than lumbering blue zombies.

    However, between this and ‘GL: New Guardians’ I’m very psyched for the upcoming story.

  11. Avatar photo TheRealVenom says:
    August 30, 2012 at 4:06 am

    This was freaking awesome!
    Rebirth, Sinestro Corps War, Blackest Night, Brightest Day, War of the Green Lanterns and now this…
    Geoff Johns has got to be considered one of the greatest comic book writers of all time now. easily top 5. hell top 3.

    • Avatar photo sitara119 says:
      August 30, 2012 at 12:05 pm

      no doubt top 3 and without question(i know, “everything’s debateable” “not everyone has the same tastes as you” yada yada) the best current writer in comics. there are certainly writers who can hold a candle to him, but as far as being better, there is none. close, but no cigar.
      3 books in the top 4 here in our community. the man is on fire and shows no signs of coolin’ off.
      Johns 2012

    • Avatar photo WheelHands says:
      August 30, 2012 at 12:39 pm

      I’m gonna go ahead and donate my two cents. Just for the sake of friendly debate. And I’m also gonna preface this by saying that I haven’t picked up my books yet, so I haven’t read this issue.

      For years, I was about as big a Johns fanboy as you could possibly be. He caught my eye with his Flash run, and he’s had my money ever since. Nobody does DC characters like Johns. Nobody. He’s always had the unique ability to tap into the defining attributes of any given character, and write them superbly. No argument there.

      However, lately I’ve been a little concerned that he’s spreading himself too thin. None of his books have been “bad” in the traditional sense of the word, but there’s a glaring inconsistency between the titles. Ranging from top to bottom in terms of innovative, new ideas, I’d say they rank as follows;

      1) Aquaman (some great, exciting stuff being done there without question)
      2) Green Lantern (this is a title he could write in his sleep, and recently it feels like he’s doing exactly that) and
      3) Justice League (at best, it’s exciting superhero action, and at its worst, it’s sugary fluff)

      I know you’re a diehard, Sitara, and that’s great, but I’m not sure you’re looking at it objectively. He’s still got it, for sure, but I wouldn’t agree that he’s on fire. He was on fire four years ago, now he’s stoking the embers. I’m sure he’s got a hundred mind-blowing stories left to tell, and I seriously doubt he’ll ever lose the ability to surprise us. He’s a natural talent, and a wonderfully nice guy. But I would argue that he hasn’t done anything earth-shatteringly innovative in quite some time. Off the top of my head, I’d say that Aaron, Hickman, Remender, Vaughan, and Morrison are all producing more inspiring, game-changing comic work than Johns at present.

      Granted, he’s a very busy man, and frankly I’m impressed he’s been able to maintain the quality of work that he has. He certainly hasn’t slipped below any kind of general standards, just the standards that long-time fans like myself have come to expect. I understand that he’s a showrunner, but I’d like to see him hand over a title or two, and pour his writing energies into one book and produce the boner-inspiring, creative storytelling that he used to.

      OK, so that was more like two dollars than two cents, but I was trying to be clear.

    • Avatar photo WheelHands says:
      August 30, 2012 at 1:53 pm

      Just read it. Good stuff, no doubt. But it doesn’t change the opinions I expressed in my comment.

    • Avatar photo sitara119 says:
      August 30, 2012 at 2:15 pm

      wow. that was a mouth full lol.
      i personally don’t believe there’s such a thing as looking at art objectively. Art is subjective by nature. maybe if you’re talkin’ sales numbers, but honestly i don’t look at those and i’m pretty sure Johns name moves a lot of merchandise.
      as far as being innovative, he made Aquaman cool and bad-ass again. he introduced us to the Others. the coolest batch of NEW characters since…whomever was the last. and Manta is more than a bubble headed bad guy again(like Mysterio). so i would say that’s more than just “some great, exciting stuff…”. i call that innovative.
      Green Lantern: He’s made the Guardians evil with the resolve to destroy their own corps as well as the other spectrums with the rise of the 3rd Army and the assistance of Blackhand(that shit screams epic!). he’s lightened up Sinestro’s extreme nature and highlighted him with shades of gray. so i might argue that it’s not Johns who has wrote this “in his sleep”, but perhaps it is you who have fallen asleep before reading. cuz let me tell you, this book is bold and ambitious.
      JL: i could argue all day for this book, but it’s just cool for people to bash on it due to all the hype. like AvX. but, i will say this: he put Catwoman on a new JL title.
      in closing, Johns(to my knowledge) doesn’t really do indie books like the “earth-shatteringly innovative” fellows on your list. which is very “cool” right now and probably costs Johns points across the board with the hippsters and in-crowd. i would argue that Vaughan, Morrison and (maybe)Remender are the only guys on the list that match the set criteria. but, so does Johns.

    • Avatar photo sitara119 says:
      August 30, 2012 at 2:20 pm

      p.s.
      i forgot to mention that you are very polite, well-spoken(typed) and it’s always a pleasure debating with someone who is mature and doesn’t resort to name calling.

    • Avatar photo WheelHands says:
      August 30, 2012 at 6:27 pm

      First, I appreciate the kind words. Right back at ya. I try not to get in too deep with anyone who does resort to namecalling, which is why I only offer opposing viewpoints to those folks I know I can trust to act like adults, such as yourself. But enough mushy stuff, asshole. 😉

      The one thing I might take offense to is the hipster comment. That ain’t me. I just really dig what those creators are doing at the moment. It probably has more to do with my current sensibilities than it does with the work being done. All I’m saying is that Johns current stuff is not , in my humble opinion, his best work to date. Which is fine. It’s the price you pay for being a phenomenal talent. Your fans hold you up to the light. I’m fine with it. I’ll always love the guy. I just wish he would narrow his field a bit.

      Gotta agree with you on Aquaman though. Great, GREAT stuff. If I had to pick a book for him to stay on, it’d be that one.

    • Avatar photo sitara119 says:
      September 1, 2012 at 4:56 pm

      apologies, mate. didn’t mean to clump you in with an undesirable lot. wasn’t implying that you specifically are a hipster, it was a generality to stress that indie books are hot right now with everyone across the board. the majority. and that hype(deserved and undeserved) surrounds these authors. and since Johns doesn’t do that, i’m in essence fighting an up hill battle with SOME of my arguments.
      but, while we’re on the subject of things we’re not, i’m not sure if i’m a Johns fanboy. wouldn’t that imply that i like anything he puts out regardless of the quality of the contents? that my opinion is doubly bias? cuz i hated Brightest Day and GL during that period with the exception of the Lobo issue where he got the red ring. Also, his Flash on-going got stale for me after a while(Flashpoint was fuckin’ awsome, though!).
      and as far as Johns’ current work not being “his best work to date”, one word: AQUAMAN. Aquaman is one of the best things he’s ever done. i do, however, confess that this is all my not-so-humble-opinion. lol.
      Salud

  12. Avatar photo WheelHands says:
    August 30, 2012 at 2:11 pm

    This might’ve been my favorite issue since the relaunch. I love Mahnke to peices, but it sure was nice to see Van Sciver draw Sinestro again. The scene in the cemetery was the highpoint. Truly exciting stuff.

    Ultimately though, it kinda fell flat for me. Perhaps I’m finally just burnt out on GL like I mentioned earlier in the week. We spent so many months forshadowing all this Third Army nonsense that I’m not sure anything could’ve really delivered for me. I was feeling really excited and optimistic during the first 3/4 of this issue, and then by the time it was over it felt like more of the same. Again. The epic scale of everything since the Sinestro War has finally reached it’s limit for me. You can only move at 100mph for so long before ya run outta gas.

    I’m gonna stick around for one or two more issues before I make a decision. I’m not too proud to admit that I’m curious about the identity of the First Lantern. I’m also curious about whether or not this will truly be a break from routine, or another epic event featuring all the same characters and ideas we’ve been swallowing for 5+ years. I want to be surprised, but with Hal “dead” it may finally be time for me to take a break. We’ll see.

  13. Avatar photo BanjoDuck says:
    August 30, 2012 at 3:26 pm

    The “bleeding” GL logo looked okay on the computer screen, and I can see how they are referencing Superman 75’s bleeding S. But with that issue, and that symbol, it’s red, blood is red. This just looks like Slimer slimed it.
    And, as I said in the review, the “death” of Hal & Sinestro is on something like a 9 panel page, and the “death” happens in a really small panel. And even then, I wasn’t quite sure how it occurred.
    Hal as a Black Lantern (as suggested by last month’s GL 12) sounds interesting, but is he just going to be a mindless tool of Black Hand?
    And the Third Army is creating mindless replicants of themselves? Mindless characters = aimless story.
    Sorry to seem so negative, I think I’m just disappointed. Oh, wouldn’t it be cool to have GL actually patrolling sector 2814, righting wrongs, fighting aliens, exploring new worlds. It could be an amazing sci-fi book to add to all of the other awesome sci-fi that comics are lucky to have right now.

  14. Avatar photo monsterduc1000 says:
    August 30, 2012 at 4:08 pm

    Great Story, Great Art! GL is right up there with Bats as my fave DC titles!

  15. Avatar photo BanjoDuck says:
    August 30, 2012 at 7:51 pm

    @sitara119: Very good point. You’re right to call that out, maybe I was being a bit snarky. I was venting my frustration too broadly; obviously there will be main characters besides the Third Army replicants and a Black Lantern Hal. And Johns definitely has a story & a game plan, but some aspects of it are beginning to feel strained or recycled.
    You mentioned in a previous reply to wheelhands that you thought GL was bold and ambitious, what do you feel is bold and ambitious about it?
    I’m not asking in an antagonistic way, but I’d like to hear. I’ve been wondering why I (and others) have lost the love for John’s GL, and I can’t figure out if the writing has changed, if he really is recycling things, did the movie leave such a bad taste in people’s mouths, or if it’s just like falling out of lust with someone. I was SO crazy about Rebirth and everything up till the aftermath of Blackest Night, and then I think Brightest Day just really burned me out, and infuriated me in quite a few story related ways (it felt like a cash grab after awhile when many things became obviously just shoe-horned in.)
    So let me know! So that I might have half the battle undertaken.

    • Avatar photo sitara119 says:
      September 1, 2012 at 4:13 pm

      bold and ambitious are just other ways of saying adventurous, epic or audacious. that’s kinda Johns’ thing. big battles for the universe.
      i dedicated a paragraph to GL and SOME of the goings-on that led up to my bold and ambitious statement.

      has the movie affected the way people view the book? maybe, but i don’t think so.

      is Johns’ recycling material? in serial fiction there are more often than not recurring themes. how many times have we heard “with great power…” yada yada and then a new story to reinforce that theme with different settings, characters,dialogue and we still we eat it up. besides, it’s not like Rise or the Third Army is going to be Blackest Night II. it just so happens that Black Hand is envolved under totally different circumstances and if we can’t re-use villains then WTF. let’s just leave the Anti-Monitor outa this. lol

      maybe you just need a break from his corner of comics. i took one during Brightest Day like 4 issues in. did not like that story at all.

  16. Avatar photo hanson724 says:
    August 31, 2012 at 1:52 am

    Loved this book. I CANNOT wait for the zero issues to be finished so we can get on with the rise of the third army.

  17. Avatar photo rogerwhitson says:
    September 1, 2012 at 10:18 pm

    I’m glad people are still liking GL. I left after the end of Blackest Night, came back for the annual, and didn’t see anything that seemed all that different from what Johns was doing previously. So, I probably won’t come back.

  18. Avatar photo smo5000 says:
    September 2, 2012 at 7:54 am

    This annual was actually worth the $5 put in to read it, the detective comics annual was a complete rip off/waste. Anyway, interesting things happening in the GL-verse. I dont like the look of the third army much though, they remind me of the aliens from Mars Attacks but mixed with something else I cant quite put my finger on.

    Either way, this is a good annual.

  19. Avatar photo mgriffith says:
    September 2, 2012 at 11:10 am

    Good annual, but I’m not all that hyped-up for a 16-part event spreading into books i don’t follow. Back in the day when i had a part-time job, lived with my folks rent-free and comics cost less than a dollar each, I’d be all over it. But now … Time and money are much tighter.

    The annual is a good set-up for what is to come, but again, no sure I will be following the Third Army run much.

    4/4

  20. Avatar photo Jediaxle says:
    September 2, 2012 at 8:26 pm

    The only thing I didn’t like about the book was the ad for 12 part “rise of the third army” especially when I only read GL. Hopefully I won’t be too lost.

  21. Avatar photo psynetrix says:
    September 4, 2012 at 9:32 pm

    This annual felt like a coming to full circle for Johns and Van Sciver; I enjoyed every page of it, and it’s clearly the story that tells the fall of the Guardians… those vicious midgets have got to go!

    Please check my mini-review of Green Lantern Annual #1 here:

    http://bit.ly/ON0Ae9

    Comments and feedback are always welcome!

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