Construct of the Week #10

 

Ahh, yellow... I'll get it eventually!

 

 

Construct:

Pincers (Hal's first construct)

 

 

Generated by:

Hal Jordan

 

 

Appeared in:

Showcase #22, 1959

 

 



ALL ROADS – GL#12, GLC#12 & GL:NG#12

  It doesn’t take a genius to know that something big is about to explode across the Green Lantern universe.  The comic press has been full of titbits exposing earth’s new Green Lantern and the Rise of the Third Army for weeks.   But even if you have had your head buried in the sand or you’ve turned your back on the mighty god that is internet, the creators behind the Green Lantern titles have been waving a pretty hefty signpost in the comic books themselves.

I decided not to do individual reviews for Green Lantern #12, Green Lantern Corps #12 or Green Lantern: New Guardians #12.  Not because they weren’t of sufficient quality to warrant personal attention – they absolutely were.  But more importantly, what we have seen in all three titles (and to a lesser extent in the runt of the litter, Red Lanterns #12) is a carefully orchestrated coming together of themes and ideas in readiness for the Green Lantern crossover event touted for October.  All roads lead to the Third Army.

 

As ever, it is the Guardians of the Universe who are to be found at the core of all things GL.  As the founders and legislators of the Corps they have been central to a huge number of lantern stories since the early 1960s.  Immortal beings who had set themselves up as the protectors of life everywhere.  Their actions have often appeared questionable but, baring the work of a few renegades, they have always been more or less just. Enigmatic and manipulative, for sure, but with the noblest of intentions.  The Guardians appear only fairly briefly in all three GL titles this month and yet in a few panels they steal the show over and over again.

In Green Lantern: New Guardians #12 Kyle wraps up a storyline that has been 12 months in the telling.  He defeats an extremely power enemy in Invictus and does not even get 30 seconds to revel in victory before his entire world is undone with the revelation that the Guardian Sayd had murdered their fellow Corps members in order to bring the New Guardians together.  A response to her brethren lobotomizing the Guardian Ganthet in the first step of whatever dastardly future is about to be unleashed on us.

And in Green Lantern Corps #12 another arc is wrapped as the Alpha Lanterns are literally obliterated out of existence.  John and Guy’s victory is at best bittersweet.   As with Ganthet, the Alpha’s fate was sealed at the machinations of the Guardians.  They appear to have taken another powerful player off the board to avoid any possible contest of their plans.  The final splash page of the book shows a suitably melodramatic and somewhat chilling Ganthet confirm our suspicions that no character’s future is safe in the months ahead.

Green Lantern #12 is not quite the final issue of the current Black Hand narrative.  That comes later this week in Green Lantern Annual #1.  The book has a very final feel to it nevertheless.  Hal Jordan takes down Black Hand briefly by frying his synapses and, together with Sinestro, he defeats a zombie hoard several hundred strong.  Sinestro sacrifices his final tie to his old life when he uses his yellow lantern as a light bomb against the undead mob.  It is here in the main Green Lantern title that the Guardians are most explicit.  At the whim of Geoff Johns‘ scripting we learn from them that Sinestro was not chosen to be a Green Lantern by the power of his ring.  The Guardians secretly forced the ring on him to neutralise his position as leader of the Sinestro Corps.  Their mission is to replace the lanterns of every Corps with the Third Army and then, ominously, to “replace everyone”.

Meanwhile, never short of a prophecy to throw a spanner in the works, the Book of Black delivers Black Hand the news he definitely didn’t want to receive…  Hal Jordan will be greatest Black Lantern of them all !!

 

The stage is set.  Battle lines have been drawn (even if it’s only the Guardians who know where exactly those lines are).  Wednesday’s annual and DC Comics’ forthcoming zero month promise to make tremendous opening salvos for what lies ahead.  And I do meaning opening.  For make no mistake about it, by the time #13 issues roll around the stories told in the Lantern books up to this point will be done and dusted.  Finito.  The Green Lantern universe is about to turn a corner.  A brand new tale from the Corps is just beginning and I am suggesting you grab your power rings and hold tight because we are in for one hell of a ride.  

 

 

Green Lantern Gets Arty

Aww...  Ain't they cute little lanterns? 

I recently discovered the fantastic pop art world of Heads Up Studios where artist Jay Brant puts his unique spin on our favourite heroes and villains from comic books, cartoons and sci-fi. 

Check out Jay's work and request comissions of your favourite characters via his website, www.headsupstudios.com or at www.headsupstudios.deviantart.com.

Construct of the Week #9

Construct: Giant Larfleeze 

Generated by: Larfleeze

Green Lantern posable action figure..? MINE!

 

Appeared in: Green Lantern #58, 2010

Boodikka - A lover, not a fighter!

 Anybody who started reading Green Lantern titles in the last few years will be familiar with Alpha Lantern Boodikka.  As an Alpha she is the embodiment of discipline.  We've seen in recent issues of Green Lantern Corps that she will enforce the letter of the Guardian's law at the expense of all else, even the life of a fellow lantern.

Readers who have been following the titles a bit longer than that will know Boodikka as a fiery hothead.  Possibly more than any other the GL she is an eternal warrior, resorting to arms at the slightest provocation.


Green Lantern #45, 1993

 There was a time, however, that Boodikka turned her back on battle, and discipline was the fartherest thing from her mind.  It was in Trinity (a crossover which brought together the Green Lantern Corps, the Darkstars and L.E.G.I.O.N.) that Boodika's head was turned by a strapping young man with an interest in pastimes much like her own.





Green Lantern #45, 1993

What started as a war of words ended as friends with benefits when the a chance skirmish brought the Lantern face to face with the Ultimate Bastich, Lobo.
Despite their shared love of combat, passions took Boodikka and her beau to another place and they managed to miss the fight completely.

 It's sweet really.  A case of girl meets genocidal alien.  Love's light twinkling like a diamond in the gruff.  Which does not excuse the horrendous sight confronting the poor L.E.G.I.O.N. trooper who is sent locate his superior officer some time later...

L.E.G.I.O.N. '93 #58, 1993

ANGER RISING: RED LANTERNS #12

I would say, more than any other book in the Lantern series, Red Lanterns has benefited from the forthcoming Third Army event. It seems that Peter Milligan has been forced to get a move on if he intends to have his story of rage completed before the crossover drops into his universe and changes everything. And whereas it could be argued in books such as Green Lantern: New Guardians that narrative conclusions are being overly rushed, in Red Lanterns #12 I think Milligan finally hits the pace that many readers have suggested has been missing throughout this run.

This book is about the Red Lanterns finally becoming empowered and finding their true voice. And yes, that voice might be a little heavy on the Shakespearean prose but it is a voice that has been lacking previously. The principal characters in the book, Atrocitus, Bleez and Rankorr, had sought to understand their purpose in the world. Up until now we have been the psychiatrist to their turbulent self-analysis on all manner of indecisions surrounding the legitimacy of their mission and their waning humanity. But it is not the place of a Red Lantern to doubt or to introspect. They personify rage in its purist form. Their purpose is to burn with fury and dispense a mighty and bloody vengeance throughout the universe. That is the Red Lanterns book that the readers want to see; nay, deserve to see.

And, at last, that is what the reader gets. Facing defeat at the hands of his flawed creation Atrocitus uses the last of his ring's energy to send up a bright red flare. But not as a cry for help. It is a last defiant display of righteous anger. And when Rankorr comes to his aid he has given up the last vestiges of his former human life as Jack Moore. Raging at the slaughter of his brethren he conjures up a huge construct of their tortured demise. In a suitably gory showdown Atrocitus rips the hidden seed he had implanted in Abysmus years ago and reignites the failing Red Power Battery. Even Dex-Starr is given his dues. While still filling out the role of Milligan's comedic relief, it is a much darker comedy that sees Atrocitus toss the remains of Abysmus to the demonic feline to feast on.

Across space the Red Lanterns receive a charge and rise up to violently crush and destroy would-be assassins. Bleez and her rebel band shake of the influences of the Star Sapphire's and swear allegiance to their vengeful mission. The Lanterns return en masse to Ysmault to pay tribute to their cause in blood - literally the blood of their defeated enemies. A united Red Lantern Corps stand behind their leader once again, brandishing freshly plundered skulls and spinals columns, in Miguel Sepuldeva's in emphatic double page splash. Little do they realise this blood nourishes the newly resurrected bodies of Atrocitus' fellow Inversions who he had mutilated and murdered in a blood sacrifice at the inception of his Corps. 

My mind races at the return of the Inversions.  They were last seen as undead Black Lanterns in Blackest Night. If they have been returned to life here who is to say that we won't see other characters obliterated in that event brought back into current DC continuity?

In Red Lanterns #12 Milligan and his creative team have produced a solid book that will make a perfect jumping on point for new readers bedding in for the Green Lantern crossover beginning in October.  But more importantly it will come as a huge relief to many long-term readers who have stuck with the book for a full year now in the hope that Atrocitus and his Corps would finally snap out of their gloomy fug and begin to serve up magnificent portions of terrible rage to the DC universe.

Construct of the Week #8

Construct:

     Doggie Dryer

Generated by:

         G'nort

Appeared in:

Green Lantern
    Corps Quarterly
          #3, 1992

Silver Age Green Lantern - The Genesis of the Emotional Spectrum

For many people, their first introduction to the Emotional Spectrum is through the works of Geoff Johns but, as this cover from the 1960s shows, the concept of the Lantern Corps' goes back a long way.  In an adventure that pitted Hal Jordan against the Rainbow Raider a very unusal energy had an unexpected influence over the Green Lantern.


Or maybe not...  This excellent parody cover was actually created only last year by a brilliant and hilarious comic book artist called Kerry Callen.  The piece was commissioned by Chris Sims of the Comics Alliance for a project that re-imagines modern DC Comics events in a silver age style.

I cannot recommend highly enough that you check out Kerry's other comedic cartoon capers on his blog, kerrycallen.blogspot.com, and his excellent Halo and Sprocket comic at www.haloandsprocket.com

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!