DCU Comic Book Reviews

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #38

Emerald Eclipse, Conclusion

September 2009

Written by Peter J. Tomasi

Pencils by Patrick Gleason

Inks by Rebecca Buchman and Tom Nguyen

Covers by Patrick Gleason and Glen Fabry

Synopsis

On Oa, the Green Lantern Corps are stunned to watch the protective shield around the planet has been destroyed.  On Korugar, Soranik Natu attempts to remove the mark her father, SInestro, placed below her eyes.  However, the mark remains.  On Daxam, the Daxamites rally behind Arisia to battle against the Yellow Lanterns who taken over their planet.  Mongul decides to flee Daxam.  Meanwhile, the Guardians have returned to Oa to find the Lanterns are busy cleaning up.  Salaak alerts Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner of ring discharges from the Alpha Lanterns.  When they investigate, they discover the Alpha Lanterns executing the prisoners.  Kyle protests.  The Alpha Lanterns were ordered to perform the executions by orders of the Guardians.  Kyle tells them he made promises to the prisoners if they helped to round up the other prisoners.  The Guardians agree to let Kyle keep his promise, but the others will be executed.  Kyle and Guy, meanwhile, are sent back to Earth.  Elsewhere, a black power ring seeks out flesh.  

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Overall, this was a very good issue.  It contains a few hits as well as a few misses, although the hits generally outweigh the misses.  The best part of the issue, and certainly a home run “hit” is the execution scene, which is handled deftly by Tomasi, showing the brutal horror of what was going on and the cold calculating demeanor in which the Guardians had made their decision.  On the surface, this seems like one of those standard comic book cliché arguments about capital punishment, but Tomasi does so much more with it.  You sense the frustration in Kyle’s words as he tries to explain why the executions were so wrong.  And you have to like the way the Guardians accept Kyle’s challenge to do it out in the open, showing just how much they believed they were right, not caring if everyone saw what they were doing.  Their decision and their strength to carry it out is the perfect example of willpower, showing how far they will go once they set their minds to it.  But it also shows how much emotion they are losing, which is shown in the way Kyle and Guy make their arguments.  I love the contrast between the two and it is a great scene that helps to set the stage for for the upcoming Blackest Night mini-series.

The misses were the two small scenes the proceeded the execution scene, specifically what occurred on Korugar and Daxam.  Neither scene added much to the issue, or indeed to those particular stories.  They just kinda pop out to remind us of these characters before returning to the main story.  It is not that these sections are bad, but they felt out of place, like a placeholder, marking time until these stories can take center stage once more. 

I was somewhat startled to realize that Alexander Nero was killed off in such an offhand manner.  I was not expecting that.  Maybe it is just me, but Nero was a big part of the Green Lantern title when Kyle Rayner was the lead.  Nero was the catalyst that led to Ion and one of the few villains who presented a unique and different challenge for Kyle.  But they way he was killed here in such an offhand manner makes me think others don’t think of him in such high esteem.  I mean, come on, they saved Kanjar Ro and Bolphunga.  What about a little love for Nero?