FIGHT SONG! GREEN LANTERN: NEW GUARDIANS #11

It's been a hell of a week and DC Comics have thrown me for a loop by bringing out two Green Lantern titles on the one day.  With the ground-breaking events taking place over in Green Lantern #11 I absolutely had to do an in-depth review of that book.  But Green Lantern: New Guardians #11 is no small poatoes either, so rather than overlook the issue completely I have decided to do a quick fire round up to offer you six reasons why you need this book in your life:

 Tyler Kirkham is back (but get your fix while you still can!).  I hate to admit it but I couldn't bring myself to review last month's GL:NG because I was so put off by the art.  Kirkham's work has really grown on me over the course of his run here and it is disappointing to learn that he will be leaving to take over pencils on Teen Titans after the next issue.

 The New Guardians are back (but, again, get your fix while you still can!).  The old gang is finally all back together after going their seperate ways at various times in recent months, mostly to tie in with stories running through other lantern titles.  I have come to love each and every one of the rainbow brigade on their own but it is when they are banded together that the magic really starts happen.  And it seems that the New Guardians personalities are starting to rub off on each another.  Check out a particularly moody Saint Walker on page one!  New Guardians #0 solicits suggest that Kyle's dream team is going to go through a reshuffle after this arc plays out so it is great to see Tony Bedard create a rip-roaring adventure to see them off.

 Sayd's secrets are revealed. My suspicions were raised when early in this issue Sayd appears on Oakaara surrounded by a green aura. Larfleeze does not seem to notice and it could be passed off as a coloring error if it weren't for the fact that everything else on the page is awash with orange. Added to this the guardian seems more defiant towards her master here than we have seen at any time since Blackest Night. By the end of the issue it is revealed that she is the ring thief and has been manipulating matters to support her own agenda from the outset. The exact purpose of these machinations has yet to be divulged. She also kicks Larfleeze's ass into the long grass Guardian of the Universe style!

 The big show down. Nei Ruffino's coloring is exceptional in a double page spread showing the New Guardians take on an army of Larfleeze's orange constructs.  Lap it up.  And note Glomulus taking up a defensive position in the dramatic battle... hmm, more on that in a moment.  I took particular satisfaction in Munk cycling through the emotional spectrum trying to find a power that has any kind of effect on the enemy constructs before Kyle suggests playing them at their own game and tuning into the orange power of avarice.  Larfleeze's face is a picture as his own energy source is used to blast his puppet army out of existence.  "No! That's mine! MINE!"

 The tragedy of Glomulus.  It is not often that a grown man wants to shed a tear over a comic book but I defy anyone to not be moved by Glommy's predictament.  Readers of the recent GL/ Blue Beetle cross over will be aware that our favorite little potato head was recently absorbed by Kyle's would be assasin in Blue Beetle #9.  Larfleeze summons his army from within his ring and notices a gap in the ranks which Sayd points out had previously been filled by the construct.  Having created him in the first instance, it is an easy matter for Larfleeze to conjure him up again now.  But Glommy's  time with the New Guardians has had a profound effect on him and it is clear that he is not just another one of the greed wielder's slavish dupes.  When Larfleeze mounts an attack on Kyle Rayner Glomulus leaps to the Green Lantern's defense, much to the disgust of his master.  In punishment for this betrayal Larfleeze destroys him with a fearsome blast of orange energy while Kyle can only look on horrified at the loss of his unlikely companion.  I don't know how they could ever bring Glommy back while Lafleeze holds the power of Agent Orange but I sure hope we haven't seen the last of him.

 Finally, everything comes together.  I got the feeling in recent issues that the narrative in Green Lantern: New Guardians had started to unravel a little.  But rest assured Bedard brings every thing back on point in #11.  Invictus' story (seemingly fogotten until now) is sharply progressed, the pivotal tale of the ring thief is brought to a head, and our mixed bag of lanterns find common purpose together again.  As a result the book gains a much needed focus and shows promise of delivering a very exciting conclusion to the year long arc that began all the way back in the very first issue.

GRAVE EXPECTATIONS... GREEN LANTERN #11

 Right then, then let's get one thing straight before I even try to tackle this book... Black Hand is in it and he is newly undead (again!).  Ergo, this is a horror book.  You can't make your main protagonist an evil undead serial killer and expect to get away with calling your book an action story or a sci-fi adventure.  As long as we can all agree on that the next bit should be easy.

The other thing about Green Lantern #11 is that it is gloriously cinematic.  Somebody forgot to tell Doug Manke that he is supposed to be pencilling a comic book and so instead he has produced a story board for as good a big screen Green Lantern movie as you are ever likely to see.

The issue opens with Sinestro engulfed in a mind altering Indigo Tribe construct.  His mouth is covered by a mask of sorts and vaporous tendrils twist across his body, creeping up his nose and embedding in his skin.  His sub-conscious dreams of his earliest days as Hal Jordan's mentor.  In a shocking close up of an eyeball we see the green energy of will power assert itself with a tiny Green Lantern symbol appearing in the centre of his pupil.

Sinestro wakes to find himself released into Hal's custody by the Indigos against their better judgement.  Hal and the Indigo guardian, Natromo, have corrected the Earth Lantern's ring so that it is no longer ineffective against Sinestro.  Hal tests the success of their work by knocking his companion off his feet with a quick blast of energy.  For anyone who is reading Geoff Johns' Justice League each month and can't reconcile the character of Hal between that book and this, look no further than the beaming smile he wears having finally freed himself from Sinestro's control and knocked the Korugan on his ass.  That's our cocky young League member right there.

Despite this, only Sinestro noticed that Black Hand is no longer among them.  In the previous issue the death obsessed villain had escaped the control of his Indigo ring and was beating a hasty retreat with the unwanted accessory in close pursuit.  He had thrown himself to his death from a cliff top only to spawn another ring which transformed him into an undead Black Lantern.

The artwork continues to be vital to the telling of Black Hand's story.  What seems to be a oddly harmless image of Hand clutching a Chinese meal in a bag is followed up with a single panel of the restaurant he had left behind.  Mutilated bodies dripping with Black Lantern ooze.  Again the focus is brought back to the meal, this time propped on a tombstone.  And in scenes deliberately reminiscent of Blackest Night, Hand touches the ground and utter one word, "Rise".  And rise they do!  A sequence the equal of any Zombie movie shows the Black Lantern's own decayed family crawl from their graves to be greeted with the very eery "I've brought dinner".

Geoff Johns' writing is at its very best in this issue.  He flits with ease between humour and drama, finding the perfect balance to pull the reader into the story on his terms.  A page showing the Guardians of the Universe tracking Sinestro's journey from Oa seems to be almost throw away. It contains very little in the way of meaningful information.  What it is actually does is tie the wider Green Lantern universe together without intruding on the story.  If you are not picking up the other three DC Lantern titles you really do need to have a word with yourself...

Black Hand sitting down to eat with his family in their old home is simply chilling.  Apparently a conversation is taking place but we are only privy to one side of it.  And while Hand tucks into his food the other meals go cold beside untouched chopsticks.  In any normal psycho thriller you would swear that Black Hand was delusional, talking to rotten corpses that don't talk back.  But let's not forget that these particular corpses dug their way out of the ground by themselves, walked into the house by themselves and sat down at the table all... by... themselves.

Meanwhile, the Green Lanterns have made their way to Sinestro's secret base on Korugar where he has hidden the Book of Black.  They open the book to access the prophecies it contains and are immediately transported into a vision which predicts dire consequences for the Green Lanterns of 2814.  The splash panel for this vision is probably the single most exciting image that any GL fan has laid eyes on since the introduction of DC's New 52.  And let me assure you that is not a statement I make lightly!

 
The Vision:  Up front and centre is the masked lantern who first appeared in the DC Free Comic Book Day release battling the Justice League.  Solicits suggest that this character will be taking the lead role in this very book in a few months time.  The mind boggles.  Below him is a Green Lantern emblem dripping a liquid that could well be taken as symbolic green blood.  This distorted symbol is the only image that appears on the cover of next month's Green Lantern Annual.  The last time DC released a cover like that Superman died!  This is looking serious folks.  To the left of that we have a close up of a clenched fist adorned with a white lantern ring.  We have not seen one of those since the conclusion of Brightest Day.  A depowered and forlorn Guy Gardner is depicted as captured in a prison cell.  Kyle Rayner spews napalm as a Red Lantern.  John Stewart writhes and screams under a direct attack from the Guardians.  The manhunters are alive and well, and from my interpretation are being led in a battle charge by Atrocitous.

Above all of this the Guardians gaze across the vision with a look that that is as impassive and devoid of emotion as we have seen from them in many a month.  Added to all of this there is one more mysterious image that deserves some attention.  Two hooded figures skulk in the shadows unseen.  I discussed in my recent blog on the 4 issue connecting cover for the Rise of The Third Army that Hal Jordan and Sinestro are not depicted.  Could these shadowy figures be Hal and Sin, pushed to the sidelines in the forthcoming battle and waiting for their moment to strike back at the Guardians?  In this very issue Hal agrees a plan with Indigo 1 to force brainwashing Indigo rings onto the fingers of the Guardians in a desperate attempt to halt their destruction of the Green Lantern Corps.  Could this be the consequences of that plan having gone awry?

As if all of this wasn't enough to take in, with their vision complete the book ejects the Lanterns in a place they least expected - at the feet of Black Hand and his reanimated family.  How's that for a cliffhanger? 

Construct of the Week #7

Construct: Space Pinball

Generated by: Guy Gardner

Appeared in: Guy Gardner #3, 1992

 

MONSTER MASH: GREEN LANTERN CORPS #11

With this issue GL Corps is back to doing what it does best. Balls to the wall action from the very first panel. We ended the last book with Guy Gardner and his squad of rebel lanterns breaking John Stewart out of death row at the Alpha Lantern tower and the Alphas using their enhanced abilities to drain the liberators' ring charge. This month opens with fan favourite Kilowog being smashed to the deck by Alpha Lantern Boodikka. Let's face it, even if you hadn't read the previous issue, when a warrior of Kilowog's standing is taking a major beating you know that the proverbial has already hit the fan!

Meanwhile Guy Gardner is apparently ferrying an unconscious John Stewart off-planet to prevent his recapture.  The Alphas try to put Oa in lock-down but a belligerent Salakk refuses to bend the Lantern regulations to satisfy their agenda.  Salakk is my new hero, defiantly wielding the letter of the law with more skill than a dozen GL recruits could sling a ring.  The Guardians follow the action from their Citadel, evidently manipulating both sides to further their own as yet unknown (but blatantly untoward) endgame.  The Alphas catch up to their prey only to discover they have been chasing ring construct decoys of John and Guy and resolve to torture their fellow Corpsmen to ascertain their true location.
 

Elsewhere the real John Stewart awakes from his fist induced slumber to give Guy a little payback in the form of a right cross.  Despite appearances, their rough and tumble is more a show of brotherly love between two tough guys than any genuine animosity.  Guy has transported them into the bowels of Oa where the Guardians forge the Corps power rings.  He hopes to find a useful weapon to turn against the Alpha Lanterns.  Suspicions are raised when they discover hundreds of power rings are being held in the forge instead of flying off to induct new Green Lantern recruits.  Further investigation reveals lab after lab of Guardian experiments such as half built Manhunters and souless Alpha Lanterns hanging around like so many Frankenstein's monsters.  We also see semi evolved Psions floating in suspended animation. For a GL geek this is particularly odd as the Psions were created on Maltus years before the Guardians actually adopted Oa as their planetary base.

Back at the sciencells Kilowog and his compatriots are being brutalised by their Alpha Lantern captors.  There is a great panel here of a resilient Kilowog, battered and bleeding, refusing to give up any information on John and Guy.  In a book which is chock full of green hues Kilowog's red blood dripping on the sciencells floor is particularly emotive.  Did I mention that 'Wog is my new hero?  Just like the marines, no Lantern is left behind and in two glorious full page splashes Gardner and Stewart come crashing down on the heads of the Alphas to defend their fellow Corpsmen.  Fighting beside them is a perverse army cobbled together from the Guardian's leftovers, Psion bodies with Alpha Lantern heads, Manhunter torso with Psion tails.  Detailed examination of these creations is not for the feint hearted.  And all seemingly powered by Manhunter brains baying for the lives of the Alpha Lanterns.

With the Guardians watching but refusing to act the battle wages on unchecked.  Although initially taken by surprise, the Alphas begin to gain the upper hand.  Pieces of the rag-tag army are scattered across the prison chamber.  Alpha Lantern Varix catches up to John and Guy and throttles them around the neck.  Menwhile in a number of small punchy panels the fallen debris from the experimental army klicks and scurries across the floor much like the T1000 in the second Terminator movie.  In the final splash page a multiheaded behemouth continues to form itself from the destroyed parts and screams for satisfaction against the Alpha Lanterns.

The pace of this book frantic and the abomination that John Stewart and Guy Gardner have created to fight on their behalf is more suited to a horror book the the Green Lantern Corps.  All of this comes together brilliantly to make this a rollercoaster of an issue.  Don't forget to breathe.  As well as this we really get to see how devious the Guardians have become.  If this point hasn't been made clear  across the various Lantern titles previously we are left in no doubt now that the little blue immortals are not nearly as cute as they appear, and are definitely not to be trusted. 

It remains to be seen if the Manhunter monster will dispense with the Alpha Lanterns and then turn on the Corps themselves.  I will definitely be back for next issue to find out how this one goes down!

Flodo's Oath

Green Lantern #217 (vol. 2), 1987

From the very earliest days of the Corps billions upon billions of Green Lanterns have charged their rings and recited an oath, pledging to shine a light over evil wherever it may be.  It is a tradition so strong that it has been adopted by Lantern Corps of every color in the emotional spectrum.  If you want to be a Lantern you've got to learn the oath (unless of course you're Kyle Rayner, the lone torchbearer, who knew nothing of the Corps and basically had to make things up as he went along).

Most Lanterns recite the tried and true oath beginning, "In brightest day, in blackest night..." but it may surprise you to learn that this is not the only oath to be quoted by the Corps as they load up on will power to fight the good fight.  Rot Lop Fan, for example, was recruited by Katma Tui in a land of eternal darkness and has no concept of light.  His oath begins, "In loudest din or hush profund..."

And so it is with our gaseous hero, Flodo Span.  He and his fellow members of the Green Lantern Corps of Klyminade each recite an oath that is personal to them.  Flodo has an unusal way of speaking, jamming words together in an awkward fashion that is surely forgivable in an abstract lifeform with no body, much less a mouth to talk through!   Even so, his dedication to his oath is as heartfelt and passionate as any lantern across all the sectors of space:

"Oncethere wasbut darkness, fulland forever...

Butthen came thelight, andthen thelife,

Andthen thelight ofthe GreenLantern...

Andthen myself... to doit justice!"

And he did indeed do it justice, in spades.  Flodo Span single handly (or, you know, handlessly... he is a bubble after all) defeated the biggest enemy the Corps have ever faced, the mad sentient Space Sector 3600.  Not bad Green Lantern Flodo, not bad at all.

Construct of the Week #6

Construct: Garbage Sifting Monkey Troop

Generated by: Hal Jordan

Appeared in: Action Comics Weekly #611, 1988

GREENEST DAY: EARTH 2 #3

It's taken me a few days to get around to writing this post.  I've spent the last week with a ludicrous grin plastered across my face muttering, "Earth 2... Green Lantern... Sweeeeet!!!"

While it explains perfectly how I feel about the book I don't think it would have made for a very long review.   And there are three images that I HAD to put up so I guess the least I could do is try and find a few words to hang around them.

The book opens with a burnt and broken Alan Scott crawling through train wreckage.   A brilliant green flame springs up in front of him and introduces itself as "All the power of Earth". Now, this isn't a small claim and Alan's interest is rightly piqued when the flame tries to recruit him to be Superman's successor.

With that startling revelation the narrative shifts to Poland where Jay Garrick is confronted by an irrepressibly cool Hawkgirl.   The scene is very well written with the distinct characters of both heroes coming across clearly.  There is a good-natured humour in Jay playing newbie to Hawkgirl's experience.   Not one inch of panel is wasted as Nicola Scott's pencils take in the action from every angle.

The art in Earth 2 #3 deserves special credit.  Alan Scott's scenes are epic, from the full page splash of his first transformation into Green Lantern to the oversize panel where he hoists an entire train carriage above his head.  For the people he rescued he truly is the new Superman.  Then there's the Grey, or the Rot.  This malevolent force sweeps across the Earth killing all plant and animal life in it's path.  Washington DC is overcome with decay in seconds.  Words can't explain how excited I was to see, in the distance at first, the animated corpse of Grundy rising from the ruins of the White House.

The Green and the Grey are similar to concepts we have seen already on Earth Prime in the DC's New 52 but it wasn't in a Lantern book.  Swamp Thing is an agent of the Green and Animal Man's life has been devastated by the Rot's attempts to corrupt his daughter, herself an avatar of the Red.

Alan's abilities being derived from the Earth separates his mythos from that of the Green Lantern Corps and the Guardians of the Universe.  It reminded me of Stan Lee's Just Imagine: Green Lantern.  Stan's hero was granted powers by the tree of life.  Both this and James Robinson's Earth 2 are making a clear reference to the Golden Age origins of Alan Scott that predate the Corps's science fiction stories of the 1960s by some twenty years.

Robinson continues to impress with his ability to weave a narrative which takes in a whole range of emotions.  In one poignant moment Alan mourns beside a body bag containing his deceased lover, Sam.  That single panel tells a story of its own. I picture Alan pulling Sam's body from the wreckage and having to hide his connection to the dead man from the surrounding witnesses.  His power ring is sculpted from the wedding ring that he was about to propose with as disaster struck.  These sombre memories will not be far from his mind throughout his mission as Green Lantern.

I've already mentioned how funny the Hawkgirl/ Flash exchange is.  It lulls us into a sense of security and intimacy that is shattered terribly with the horror of the  Rot infesting the countryside surrounding them.  The writer does not shy away from the obvious analogy of light and dark.  Green Lantern is Earth 2's shining hope and Grundy is the first inkling of a great darkness that is about to befall this world.

I couldn't be happier with how the issue turned out.  As my twitter time line can attest to, this was the book that I was waiting for all year: Green Lantern's Earth 2 origin.  It was not what I predicted (and believe me, I predicted everything... I had my bases covered).  But it was exactly what I expected in terms of quality.  On Earth 2 the heroes are truly heroic, the villains are villainous in the extreme, and the end of an issue leaves you furiously counting down the days until the next one is released.

As I muttered in the beginning... "Earth 2... Green Lantern... Sweeeeet!!!"

Hal kills the mood



The Flash #232, 1975



Picture the scene... two heroes sharing a little downtime,

masks off, rings away, the feint promise of something in the air.

And then Hal Jordan has to go and open his big mouth again

and completely ruin the mood... typical.

LOVE & HATE COLLIDE: RED LANTERNS #11

Okay, first things first... I have a confession I need to get off my chest.  I actually dropped Red Lanterns after the first few issues.  And I only picked it up again because #10 was the second part of a crossover which began in the pages of Stormwatch.  I vaguely followed the intermediate books by flicking through the artwork in my local comic shop and then picking up the nuances of the plot via my favourite Green Lantern podcasts.


That being said, Red Lanterns is now back on my pull list in readiness for the Green Lantern universe crossover event 'Rise of The Third Army' beginning later this year.  Red Lanterns #11 has its fair share of problems but it is not the worst comic book I've read in the last 12 months either.  If you don't mind I'd like to get my negative comments out of the way first because I know they are no different to those already identified by comic fans throughout the book's run.


At times the art is inconsistent.  In one panel Skallox is wearing gloves and in the next he is bare fisted. Bleez and Fatality share a page of dialgoue surrounded by a crystal that isn't created until the following scene. And faces aren't always recognisable as the same character from one panel to the next.  Which isn't to say the art is bad because it most definitely is not.  Miguel Sepulveda and Rain Beredo are apparently experts in the field of death and destruction; the double page spread of Ysmault ravaged by volcanoes and earthquakes is a true spectacle. And in the fight scenes we experience every slash, stab and punch in eye-watering detail.


My other gripe is that the various narratives at play felt very disjointed.  It seems we are following four unrelated plotlines: Guy Gardner on Ysmault, Bleez on Zamaron, Atrocitus on his trail of planetary destruction, and Rankorr lost in deep space.  We can only hope that Peter Milligan has a plan to tie these threads together later on.  I get the impression Red Lanterns is written with one eye on collected trade sales in the future.


The issue opens with the Green Lantern Corps arriving on Ysmault to bear witness to its peril and immediately doing a 180 and heading into the sunset and out of the book.


We switch to Zamaron for the meat and bones of the issue, a confrontation between Bleez's rebel Red Lanterns and the Star Sapphire Fatality.  It seems that in the time between issues 10 and 11 the rage fuelled lanterns were ambushed in a preemptive strike by the love-wielding Sapphires in the mother of all throw downs.  It might have been nice to read this action packed battle as it happened rather than as a two-panel flashback but whatever.  The upshot is that the Red Lanterns have been captured and chained below the violet central power battery.  After a little bickering Bleez manages to rip her chains from the floor and starts flailing them around like Hawkman with his mace.

Bleez and Fatality trade blows in a fantastic skirmish which ends with the Red Lantern slashing both of their wrists and forcing their blood to mingle as blood sisters.  Not to be misinterpreted as a show of solidarity, Bleez hopes that her blood will ignite the rage buried within Fatality and induct her into the Red Lantern Corps.


We are briefly introduced to a lost and lonely Rankorr coming to terms with his status as a Red Lantern before we are flung headlong into Atrocitus' violent pursuit of Abysmus.  Sepulveda employs a great art device here with Atrocitus' flight path sweeping across panels depicting the destroyed landscapes left in his wake.  He executes a local tyrant as he passes through and it's good to see he is not so distracted as to forget his Lantern duties.


Back on Zamaron the brawl rages on while Bleez and Fatality debate who had the most difficult upbringing (my vote is for Fatality but Milligan 's writing manages to draw sympathy for both combatants).


Cocooned in the Star Sapphire's crystal away from prying ears the warrior women share their inner demons.  Despite being an avatar of love, Fatality's dreams are filled with a desire for retribution and Bleez admits that vengeful rage does not purge the pain she has endured.  This is a great scene.  It makes sense that these two, who recently fought side by side as New Guardians, should be able to move beyond the traditional antagonism of their respective Corps.  Bleez unmasks revealing the stunning features she was renowned for in her previous life.  This came as a shock to me.  Although I couldn't say why, I had presumed that the Red Lantern was somehow scarred or deformed under her mask which could not be further from the truth.


In deep space Rankorr stumbles across the massacre of his fellow Corpsmen by Abysmus and resolves to avenge them.  This may put him on a collision course with Atrocitus who discovers how quickly predator can become prey when Abysmus launches an attack on him in the book's closing sequence.


All in all this issue was a fairly difficult read with a few wonderful gems hidden in the middle of it.  Milligan tries to give his characters some depth and this is successful for the most part.  I feel I have learnt more about Bleez and Rankorr in particular.  The problem is that the through line of the narrative is disconnected.  Perhaps the writer is trying to squeeze the story into a shorter time frame than originally intended as the unstoppable Green Lantern juggernaut rolls on towards the Third Army.

Construct of the Week #5

Construct: The Many Faces Of Alan Scott

Generated by: Alan Scott

Appeared in: Justice League of America #47 (vol.2), 2010 - variant cover

LANTERN-TASTIC: RISE OF THE THIRD ARMY

Hang on to your power rings 2814ians... here comes the big one!! DC Comics announced on their blog, The Source, yesterday that the much anticipated Third Army saga begins in October, and it's going to be wild.


Ivan Reiss has pencilled an epic spread which will feature across all four of the Lantern universe titles in that month.  If there is one thing Reiss does well it is Green Lantern.  Check out the seething Guardians - something tells me they are not acting without emotion anymore.


As ever, these titbits from DC raise more questions than answers.  The solicits for Green Lantern #0 to be released in September ask "Where are Hal Jordan and Sinestro?"  Well, I'll tell you where they are not.  Neither star of the main Green Lantern title appear in Reis' cover piece.  Instead we are presented with the mysterious new GL first introduced on Free Comic Book Day.  This guy is apparently an Earthling with an Arabic tattoo that translates as 'Fearless', appropriately enough for Hal Jordan's replacement. He also seems to have added handguns to the standard Corps weaponry, and I know of one or two fanboys aren't a bit happy about that.  Me, I'm prepared to wait.  Guy Gardner and John Stewart recently went up against the will-powered Keepers with a standard lead-spitting armoury.

Speaking of will-powered... have another look at the hundreds of white figures in the background of the interconnecting covers.  For my money this has to be the Third Army created by the Guardians to replace the Green Lantern Corps.  What do they remind you of?  I'm seeing White Martians crossed with Zombies crossed with the afore mentioned Keepers.  I mean, really, what sort of evolutionary path puts your big green brain on the outside?!


Then there's the cover for the Green Lantern: New Guardians on the far left of 4 page spread.  It reminds us just how bad things are getting for Lanterns of all colours.  One by one the various Corps have been decimated over recent months.  Arkillo, the last Sinestro Corpsman standing.   Saint Walker, whose world and central power battery were overrun by the Reach.  Then there's poisoned Red Lantern battery.  Lets face it, the future doesn't look too bright out there for the warriors of the emotional spectrum.


(And to make matters worse red-blooded geeks the world over are sure to be disappointed by Carol Ferris' new neck-to-toe Star Sapphire costume... let the outcry begin).

Since he first came onto the Green Lantern title way back in 2004, Geoff Johns has been setting the bar high with the grand scale of his storytelling. And with this crossover event  the legend of the GL Corps will just keep getting bigger and bigger.  The Green Lantern universe promises never to be the same again.  In Johns' own words: "What is the Third Army? And, most importantly, who is the First Lantern?"  With all these questions there is one thing you CAN be sure of... we are all going to be right there along with our favourite ring-slingers as they face the 'Rise of the Third Army'.