DCU Comic Book Reviews

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #37

Emerald Eclipse, Part Five

August 2009

Written by Peter J. Tomasi

Pencils by Patrick Gleason

Inks by Rebecca Buchman and Tom Nguyen

Covers by Patrick Gleason and Rodolfo Migliari

Synopsis

On Daxam, Sodam Yat sacrifices himself by diving into the red sun, using the power of Ion to turn it yellow and giving everyone on Daxam super powers.  The Daxamites immediately want to attack Mongul, who has held them prisoner as he solidifies his power as the leader of the Yellow Lantern Corps.  Arisa convinces the Daxamites to wait, to train to use their powers before they attack.  Elsehwere, Saarek encounters Ash.  They learn that each has been tasked by Scar to find the Anti-Monitor.  They decide to work together.  On Oa, the battle between the Green Lanterns and the Red and Yellow Lanterns attempting to escape in the ScienCells rages on.  Lyssa Drax manages to get away.  She finds the Book of Black.  Scar literally pushes Lyssa inside the book.  Meanwhile, the Alpha Lanterns arrive on Oa to stop the battle and settle the peace.  Scar then says it is time and unleashes the power of the Book of Black.  It destroys Oa’s protective armor, allowing prisoners to escape and the entire planet open to attack. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Have you ever experienced something that you absolutely love to the point where you just can’t wait for more, but at the same time you realize that in your eagerness to the get to that more, you are not actually enjoying what is in front of you.  I think this is the case of what Tomasi and Gleason must be feeling.  They must know, in some way, what Geoff Johns has planned for “Blackest Night” and I am sure they are extremely excited and thrilled about that series and what it means for the Corps.  With this book they are setting up what is to come, which you would obviously expect.  But in the rush to get to the goodness of “Blackest Night”, I think a lot of great things are being passed by much too quickly.  This issue is jam packed, with different locations and plot points.  All of these could easily be expanded into more pages, easily covering an entire issue on its own.  And it would all be good.  But there is “Blackest Night” coming up.  I guess what I am saying is that I feel, a little bit, that I am being cheated out of good stories.  Instead, what we are getting are good chunks of a story, bits and pieces that (I must admit) has me excited for the “Blackest Night” but reading the issue again, I realize how much is not being explored.  There just seems to be some missing story and plot elements that Tomasi could add to the issue and I don’t think it would drag it down.  Having said that, it’s not like what is there is choppy or uninteresting or bad.  Far from it, this is damn good stuff and I am hyped to read what comes next.  Thinking about it, maybe Tomasi has the right idea and the content is perfect as it is, providing just enough of the story to satisfy us, knowing we are more interested in what is next.  And as long as the prelude issues are as a good as these, I will be eager to read what’s next.  So, yeah, this issue does what it needed to do just perfectly. 

It is interesting to note that the beginning of “Blackest Night” (singled by Scar saying that it is beginning) actually occurs in this book rather than in Johns’ own Green Lantern.  To me that shows how important this book has become to the Corps mythos.  This is not just a secondary book to tell stories that can’t e told in the main book, but rather an equal book to Green Lantern.  Like Detective Comics to Batman rather than, say, Batman Confidential to Batman.  This, I think, is partly due to the terrific content that Tomasi and Gleason are creating, which makes this one of those books that get place near the top of the list the week it comes out.

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