My relationship with Geoff Johns as a reader is quickly fading. With a disappointing ending for Blackest Night and a tiresome beginning of Brightest Day, I feel he has lost his touch somewhat. His ideas are sound but they don’t seem to translate well (at least with me) on the page. So the ultimate test for me is can he make Green Lantern interesting and still tell an epic story in the process? I curse him for this……He did.

There are a ton of good ideas in this issue that will flesh out in the future. Mainly, the Larfleeze/Lext Luthor relationship. If this is where Johns is taking both characters or even what Paul Cornell will do in Action; I am all for this team up. He makes both of these characters play off so well together. Then you have nice character moments with Hal and Carol; Johns can still play off these two well. Not making them the obvious boyfriend/girlfriend archetype but just slightly flirty to each other. Although I wonder where Cowgirl is since no one has used her in a good span of time. Then we got the best part of the issue for me, the obvious beginning of John’s next epic story. I have no idea who this character is on Ryut, why he has connection with the old Guardians, or where Hector Hammond comes into play. But damn Geoff Johns for making me want to stay on to see where this goes.

I’m so happy that Doug Mahnke is continuing with this series for the time being. For some reason I felt he was only going to be used for Blackest Night. He’s the right man for the job because when it comes to alien/supernatural elements, this is your guy. His take on Hector Hammond is solid and the scenes in Ryut are just chilling. So much atmosphere, great little touches with the colored lighting, an enormus amount of detail. It’s a good chunk of Mahnke’s art that makes me wanna continue to see where this story goes. Mahnke is also, very surprisingly, very good at calmer moments. I’ve been so used to huge action peices, grotesque images and the like; that I never knew Mahnke was so good at regular moments in everyday life. There’s some wonky moments with Hal’s eyeballs but in general that bar scene is very well done. Hal looks like what he should in any comic he appears in.

Here’s the deal breaker for all of this hype though. Yes the story is very good and the art is totally worth the price tag. But you know why this isn’t my POTW? For the very poorly done, ham-fisted, and any other words to describe the advertisement I got at the end of this. Not that they couldn’t advertise other books at the end of the issue, no of course not. Instead the issue ends with the title explaining why we need to follow certain other books to see other storylines to unfold. First off, while I am most likely reading these titles in general, don’t force this down my throat or only involve these characters just for the sake of advertisement. Second, it hampers and tarnishes an otherwise great issue.