DCU Comic Book Reviews

GREEN LANTERN #13

Revenge Of The Green Lanterns, Part 4

August 2006

Written by Geoff Johns

Pencils by Ivan Reis

Inks by Oclair Albert

Cover by Simone Bianchi

Synopsis

In Space Sector 3601, Hal Jordan is in the middle of a massive battle against the Manhunters led by Hank Henshaw (aka Cyborg Superman).  Also in the fight are a number of Green Lanterns that were supposed to be dead, many due to Parallax.  Some of these Lanterns are suspicious of Jordan and would prefer to fight him rather than the Manhunters.  Jordan attempts to free former lover Arisia, but Henshaw is able to trap both of them into one of the Highmasters.  Using their combined forces, they are able to break free and destroy the Manhunter planet in the process.  Later, on Oa, Guy Gardner takes responsibility for Jordan’s mission; as a result he is ordered to stand guard around Superboy Prime for one month.  Meanwhile, Jordan heads back to Earth.  On Oa, the Guardians debate if the Manhunters learned the secret of Sector 3601:  52!

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

“Along with the power we siphon from Oa comes information.  Secrets the guardians possess.  Including one that will change everything.  And yet they hide it from you and the rest of the corps.”

Most of this issue was fairly routine material, as Jordan and the rest of the Green Lanterns escape from Manhunters and destroy the planet.  Good stuff with beautiful art from Reis, I must admit.  But, the plot and conclusion was pretty much expected, especially for the final part of this story arc.  Despite the routine of the plot, it is the final couple of pages that really shook things up, or at least shook me a little.  First, I was surprised that Superboy Prime was referred to once more or that he was even pictured (albeit looking a little bit older than I would have imagined).  After the ending to Infinite Crisis, I fully expected that Prime would be forgotten for the next 20 years until the next big Crisis mini-series.  It seems Johns and DC are not quite done with him.  But that shock did not compare to the shock when I read the Guardians directly referring to “52.”  It is not a great leap to assume that the big secret Henshaw is referring to in the quote above is whatever 52 is supposed to be about.  It is curious that the Guardians are afraid the Manhunters know the secret and it appears that they do. 

I am not sure I buy the reasons why Henshaw picked Coast City for destruction.  As a reason, destroying the city because of his dead wife is okay, but I wonder:  did there have to be a reason?  Sometimes just doing evil acts in a random fashion is better than trying to come up with a reason.  In this case, are we supposed to feel sorry for Henshaw?  Is this supposed to change the way we look at him or react to him?  Given the fact that the Guardians may be hunting him down, he may very well become a sympathetic creature, so this may be the first step in that direction. We'll see.

I wonder if the ending to this issue is the reason for the significant delay.  Despite the August cover date (meaning it should have been released in June); this issue was not released until mid September, the same week as issue #19 of the 52 series.  In that issue, we learned the identity of the person involved behind the 52 mystery in space.  What really confuses matters is that Green Lantern takes place a year (or at least 33 weeks) after the conclusion to 52.  Given that, is there really a connection?  Does the 52 mystery end with the conclusion of 52 or will the story continue, perhaps, to the next big mini-series?

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