DCU Comic Book Reviews

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #35

Emerald Eclipse, Part Three

June 2009

Written by Peter J. Tomasi

Pencils by Patrick Gleason

Inks by Rebecca Buchman

Covers by Patrick Gleason and Rodolfo Migliari

Synopsis

On Oa, a Red Lantern escapes from the ScienCells.  After killing the guard, the Red Lantern then starts to kill the Yellow Lanterns being held prisoner.  Deep beneath Oa, the Guardian Scar unleashes the yellow rings from the containment.  The rings zoom to the cells and return to their owners.  Meanwhile, Kyle Rayner, Guy Gardner, Kilowog and others respond to the news of the prison break.  They find a back way to the prison and fight both Red and Yellow Lanterns.  In Sector 1768, Sodam Yat and Arisa arrive on Daxam, which is guarded by a snake-like creature of the Sinestro Corps.  Sodam finds a way to get past the creature and to the planet surface.  On the planet, Senator Yat (Sodam’s father) inspires his people to show their spirits are beyond the grasp of the yellow rings.  Daxamites start to commit suicide.  Sodam arrives to stop the madness.  He is upset with his father, telling him that Daxamites should’ve fought back.  On Korugar, the people are upset that Sinestro is free.  Soranik Natu calms them down.  Later, Natu encounters Sinestro, who wants to have a talk with his daughter. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This is a very good issue that touches upon the build up to “Blackest Night” while at the same time continuing to tell Sodam’s story.  I think the issue benefits from its structure.  I think Tomasi made the right choice by breaking the issue into clear, distinct lines, with the Oa section followed by the Daxam section followed by the Korugar section.  I think if the issue were cut and diced so that we went back and forth multiple times between the characters, it would not have read as good as it did.  The reason for this is that the scenes with Sodam were probably the weakest while the escape on Oa were the strongest.  And if the Oa scenes were interspersed with the Daxam scenes, it would not have been as good.  The scene kept building, with the action and tension escalating until it reached its fervor pitch.  If it had been broken up, I think some of the inertia would have been lost and the scene would have lost its drama.  Having said that, however, I was disappointed that the Oa scenes ended so abruptly.  Tomasi was just getting the action going and the events had just reached the boiling point when the proverbial rug was pulled out from under and the story went elsewhere.  But since Tomasi did not go back to it, it didn’t bother me.  We’ll get to it in the next issue. 

Maybe it was due to my interest in the upcoming slobberknocker, but the Daxam section held very little interest for me.  Arkillo’s pouting followed by the idiots killing them himself isn’t all that interesting and frankly does very little to advance the plot.  I liked the moment when Sadam chastises his people for not putting up a fight; that worked.  The mass suicide doesn’t.  I don’t know, it doesn’t quite fit.  Just because you’re a racist or a xenophobe doesn’t mean you are a coward or suicidal (and I would argue that a racist would be angry at want happened and would fight back, but that’s just me).  I'm not sure if that was the reason or not, but those scenes were very listless and just didn't have the same zing as the opening scenes. 

I am not surprised that Soranik was revealed to be Sinestro’s daughter.  I would be curious to know if this was always planned or if it was decided only recently.  Either way, since Soranik was the only Korugar in the Green Lantern cast, the choices were limited, unless DC went with a brand new character.  I am going to withhold judgment on whether this was a good choice or not until we see how it is played out. 

The opening sequence was not really clear, probably because of the blood spewing and the green echoes cluttering up the panels.  Not that it was completely unrecognizable, but I had to really look at it to realize the Green Lantern was fighting back but lost when the blood broke through his force field (if you will) and that it was the spewed blood that released the first prisoner. 

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