It’s a whole new universe for the Green Lantern Corps, and they’ve yet to find their place in it. Being accepted into the United Planets comes with a drastic change in operating procedures, and new mission statements for the Lanterns who’ve been displaced. That’s just the start, though, and the events of this issue might not be a change the DC Universe can come back from. Green Lantern #2 is written by Geoffrey Thorne, art by Dexter Soy and Marco Santucci, colors by Alex Sinclair and lettering by Rob Leigh.
Major spoiler warnings ahead!
Last issue saw a lot of story packed into it, and I’m happy to say that the second issue manages to do so as well, in a way that still doesn’t feel cramped. There’s a lot to get to, so let’s dive in!
The Green Lantern Corps is still recovering from the events of the last issue – one of those problems is the accomplice of the person who shot a Guardian. It’s no easy feat considering they’re a large blue dragon with an apparent immunity to the energy of Lantern rings, be they green, yellow or red (plus an implied resistance to fire, lighting, piercing, slashing and bludgeoning damage from nonmagical attacks – this dragon’s clearly a CR20, at least). It’s a fun action sequence that shows the Green Lanterns are able to think with more than just their rings.
With the dragon in hand, it’s time for the funeral of a Guardian. I feel that this is a funeral that would have had more weight to it if the Guardians hadn’t all died and come back a number of times since Hal Jordan first went off the deep end. It’s safe to say they’ve had a confusing history, and aside from Ganthet and Sayd, none of them have ever really appeared as sympathetic characters. More often than not, they’re figures to distrust. This series attempts to be changing that, giving the Guardians a sincerity and humility we’ve rarely seen in them before. This issue’s funeral scene in particular does a lot to garner some Guardian goodwill, as Nemosyni eulogizes her brother in a beautifully heartfelt speech.
Any goodwill Nemosyni built up is immediately squandered, at least for the assembled Green Lanterns. They are abruptly told that as part of Oa’s acceptance into the United Planets, roughly a third of the universe’s sectors are no longer under Oan jurisdiction, meaning a few thousand Green Lanterns are either out of an assignment or reassigned to jobs they did not agree to. It’s up to John Stewart to talk some sense into the Guardians, but it turns out there’s method to their madness cold-hearted reordering of their Lanterns’ lives.
The Guardians reveal that every universe has seven crux planets, including Earth being the Crux of Heroes. The DC Universe is not in the best of shape, however, as it’s also revealed that Krypton and Xanshi were two such crux worlds – personal failures for both the Guardians and John himself. For the sake of restoring universal balance, the Guardians task John and a thousand other Green Lanterns with exploring the Dark Sectors, a mission John accepts. A few final farewells, and they’re off!
And then the Central Battery explodes, taking the Green Lantern Corps – and most life on Oa – out with it.
The Future State: Green Lantern issues were filled with stories teasing a major event, one that caused all Green Lantern rings to simply stop functioning – all setup for this series here. A montage of interested parties from across all of time and space viewing this destruction of Oa really cements just what a big deal this is. On a meta level, DC space stuff is far enough removed from the rest of DC’s titles for Green Lantern to have free rein in a pretty large sandbox – given that so few major characters died, this is a major status quo shift that’s probably going to stick. Sometimes you need that meta-level reassurance for an event to really feel as big as it ought to – though art does a lot to sell the impact of the devastation as well.
I have a minor quibble with the art. Last issue, Dexter Soy and Marco Santucci split art duties based on the kinds of scenes being covered, but here, they’re split down the middle, in a way that’s a little jarring. They both bring great things to the table – Soy’s rougher artwork brings in a dramatic, action-movie style of gravitas to the page, while Santucci’s brings a softness and grace to the page that may have a certain inconsistency when it comes to faces, but does wonders with expressiveness in body language and selling that sense of wonder and awe. It’s just that switching from one to the other, in the same comic, with no clear reason for the art style to switch throws off the issue’s flow. Props to Alex Sinclair, whose colors adapt wonderfully to each style, bringing out the best in each of them – but that adaptation does nothing for book’s consistency.
The issue saves the best for last, though. Not all Green Lanterns get their power from the Central Battery. Teen Lantern is able to throw up a protective bubble with her gauntlet at the very last second, leaving her the only conscious Lantern available to greet Far Sector’s very own Sojourner “Jo” Mullein, making her mainstream debut at last!
I am impressed with how much this series is bringing to the table. Space politics, explosive action, major continuity ramifications and all without forgetting the human element. It’s bursting at the seams with ideas, so much so that a number of major plot seeds are in throwaway lines or in the background of the art. There are clearly some big plans in place for this series, making me excited not just for the next issue, but for the next dozen or so – I’m hoping this run lasts for a while.
Slight Details Shan’t Escape My Sight
- I normally don’t do these for solo reviews but there is so! Much! To Cover!
- Note the Red and Yellow Lanterns helping out with the dragon. They’ve clearly moved on from being just rabid villains to becoming more official entities, who will have big roles to play going forward.
- Nemosyni sure goes out of her way to mention the Guardians don’t have conventional deaths just before the Guardians are all wiped out, doesn’t she?
- I love the idea that Earth is fated to be the Fifth World after everyone on New Genesis and Apokolips die out, the New New Gods.
- Teen Lantern’s repeated cries of “I tried” broke my heart. If John’s the guts of this book, and Jo’s the mind, then Keli is definitely the heart.
