DCU Comic Book Reviews

GREEN LANTERN #27

Sinestro Corps Epilogue:  The Alpha Lanterns, Part 2

March 2008

Written by Geoff Johns

Pencils by Mike McKone

Inks by Andy Lanning, Marlo Alquiza, and Cam Smith

Cover by Mike McKone and Andy Lanning

Synopsis

On Earth, Hal Jordan and John Stewart are alerted to the presence of a Sinestro ring searching for a new owner.  When they capture it, they learn that the ring belong to Amon Sur.  On Oa, Green Lanterns discuss the fate of Amon Sur, to determine if Laira’s use of lethal force was justified based on the First Law or if it was murder.  The other Lost Lanterns that witnessed the act claim it was murder.  To provide judgment of Laira, and to act as the unit to police the Corps, the Guardians create the Alpha Lanterns.  John Stewart is offered a spot, but he turns it down until he learns more.  Elsewhere, a scarred Guardian asks Ash to find what is left of the Anti-Monitor, but to not tell anyone.  On Oa, the new Alpha Lanterns undergo surgery and upgrading.  They review Laira;s ring data and determine that she did indeed commit murder. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

“In days of peace, in nights of war. Obey the laws forever more. Misconduct must be answered for, swear us the chosen, the Alpha Corps."

Let’s see if this makes sense.  I enjoyed this issue and I like what Johns is doing with the Corps, but it seems like Johns took too much time to basically come full scale to the first page of the previous issue.  It wasn’t too hard to guess what the Alpha Lanterns were going to be, so taking 22 pages to confirm what we knew seems like a waste.  I kinda knew where the story was going and how Johns was going to reach the ending.  Despite that, I still enjoyed the issue, which is a testament to Johns’ writing and the strength of the characters and the story. 

The Alpha Lanterns are hybrid Lantern/Manhunter with the ability to drain power rings, which makes sense.  How could you arrest someone who has gone rogue and still has the power of his ring to defend or attack? 

As much as I am enjoying this story, I have to wonder if DC is making the right move by putting this story in Green Lantern rather than in the Green Lantern Corps book.  I say this because Jordan and Stewart, ostensibly the lead characters for this title, have essentially taken a back seat to the rest of the Corps.  Johns is doing a good job keeping them in the story (and I liked Stewart being asked to be part of the Alpha Lanterns), but even so they still feel ancillary to the plot and not the focus. 

The decision to have the ring go after Jonathan Crane (aka Scarecrow) is both predictable but also one of the few DC characters the ring could go to.  I can just imagine how Crane would’ve reacted to the ring and I would’ve liked to see that story.  It is interesting to note that the ring has gone after two Gotham characters.  Now that the ring was destroyed, I guess we’ll never know who else might get the ring. 

There are two special thanks at the bottom of the credits.  The first is Kais Justice.  When I did a Google search, the only thing I found was a child care service in California.

The second is to Grant Morrison for the Alpha Lanterns.  From what I think I understand, Morrison came up with the idea of the Alpha Lanterns as he was writing Final Crisis.  I am guessing that he then passed along the idea to Johns, his co-writer on 52, and Johns decided to embellish on Morrison’s idea.  It will be interesting to see how differently the two writers present the idea or how much what Johns is writing will set up what Morrison wants to accomplish in Final Crisis.

On Page 20, the top panel, a speech balloon is shown going to Salaak but really belongs with Laira. 

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