DCU Comic Book Reviews

GREEN LANTERN #17

Wanted:  Green Lantern, Chapter Four

April 2007

Written by Geoff Johns

Pencils by Ivan Reis

Inks by Oclair Albert

Cover by Ethan Van Sciver

Synopsis

In Gotham City, Batman receives a power ring from the Sinestro Corps for his ability to instill great fear.  Batman rejects the ring and it searches for a replacement.  In the Sierra Madres, the bounty hunter Hunger Dog has brought Hal Jordan to Amon Sur, who forces Hal to take him to his father’s grave site.  Amon then plans to kill Jordan, but Hunger Dog intervenes, revealing himself to be John Stewart, working undercover.  Stewart takes away Amon’s gun.  Jordan then attacks Amon and the two fight each other.  The battle is interrupted when a power ring from the Sinestro Corp is given to Amon Sur.  He then attempts to use it on Jordan, but doesn’t have the time as he is instantly jettisoned back for training.  Later, Jordan returns Abin Sur’s body back to his home planet for a proper burial.  At Edwards Air Force Base, Captain Jillian “Cowgirl” Pearlman reveals she knows Hal is Green Lantern.  Nearby, Star Sapphire is close by.   

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This issue was extremely predictable, with an ending that really falls flat, although there were a few cool scenes interspersed amongst the rest of the material.  The opening scene of Batman receiving the Sinestro ring was perfect.  Batman donned the suit because criminal were superstitious and cowardly and he wanted to instill fear into them.  Well, it worked enough for Sinestro to contact him.  But when he rejected the ring and it went in search of the replacement, it was fairly obvious that its next goal would be Amon Sur.  Actually, when it happened in the comic I was not entirely displease.  Yeah, it was predictable, but not altogether a bad choice.  Until the ring decided to remove Amon from the battle, which is a lousy way to end that particular storyline.  Johns has been building up to it for some time and he doesn’t even give it a proper ending (although I liked Hal’s change to Abin Sur’s headstone).  I laughed a little when Amon disappeared just when he had the power to kill Jordan, but I doubt that was the reaction that Johns was going for when he wrote it. 

The big surprise of John Stewart being Hunger Dog was not much a surprise, as well.  Granted, I knew Stewart was going to show up at some time because of hints Johns had given during a few internet interviews that I read.  Even then it seemed a little strange that the bounty hunter Hunger Dog was the one to finally capture Jordan.  Then, when Stewart was revealed, he didn’t much except hang around and protect Hal, “don’t worry about the rocks falling, I’ll stop it to give you enough time to kick his ass.”  As a result, Stewart becomes less of Hal’s partner and more like his, well, lap dog.  Stewart is better than just hanging around helping Hal. 

Finally, I would be more inclined to get excited about the developments with Cowgirl if I didn’t have the cynical dread that the romance between her and Hal was just shoehorned into this story to prepare for the upcoming Star Sapphire story.  It’s all about love and with Hal and Jillian expressing feelings, it works well with Star Sapphire and her usual modus operandi. 

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