DCU Comic Book Reviews

GREEN LANTERN #47

To Hell And Back

December 2009

Written by Geoff Johns

Pencils by Doug Mahnke

Inks by Christian Alamy, Doug Mahnke, Tom Nguyen

Covers by Doug Mahnke and Francis Manapul

Synopsis

On Ysmault, Red Lanterns and Green Lanterns are in the midst of a fight when they encounter Black Lanterns.  On Korugar, Hal Jordan and Sinestro encounter Black Lanterns Abin Sur and his sister, Arin Sur.  With the help of Indigo-1 and Carol Ferris, they are able to defeat the Black Lanterns.  Realizing the dead are rising, the group knows they must recruit more ring bearers.  Sinestro wants to find Atrocitus; Hal wants to get Saint Walker.  Hal refuses to back down; he will lead this group and Sinestro will help.  Sinestro agrees. On Xanshi, John Stewart finds a green lantern amongst the ruins.  Someone, however, is waiting for him.  On Odym, Blue Lanterns are fighting Orange Lantern constructs when Hal and others arrive.  Suddenly, the orange constructs disappear.  On Okaara, Orange Lantern Larfleeze is running for his life from Black Lanterns of those he has killed over the years.  Suddenly, the Black Lanterns disappear.  Atrocitus appears.  He wants the orange lantern.  Now!     

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Let’s get this out of the way, first and foremost.  There really is no other way to put it, but to say that a good portion of this book in the past few issues has been to tell a large part of the Blackest Night story.  While the main series has been preoccupied with the events on the Earth and various reactions by character to the return of the dead, this book as been running a parallel story of Hal Jordan assembling the team to eventually fight the Black Lanterns.  In some ways it is like the Lord Of The Rings in which we get the story of Frodo and then the story of Gandalf and the rest of the fellowship.  Neither is less important to the other and at some point they will come together.  The key point I think is the very few people who read this book will not be reading the main series.  In contrast, I think there will be many more people who will pick up the main series and not this book.  So, I think Johns made the right choice, to focus the main book on the larger cast of characters while keeping this book thoroughly on Hal Jordan and the various lantern factions.  

However, to talk about this particular issue, it does not suffer from the same problems as the previous issues, which were disjointed, with scenes not related to other scenes, some too short, some not making sense, while others not adding much to the overall story.  This issue was focused, with the Red Lanterns appearing at the beginning and then at the end and with Hal coming to the rescue of the Blue Lanterns, who were fighting the Orange Lantern, who then encounters the Red Lantern.  It not only all comes full circle, but it helps to create a sense of cohesion to the entire story.

Well, except for John Stewart.  I have begun to cringe whenever Xanshi pops up, because I know the single (or double) page is not enough to advance the story and whatever space Johns gives it takes away from the rest of the issue.  Come on, already, let’s get to the meat of this story.

The only part that bothered me a little was the scene with Abin Sur, who pops up to spew a few pieces of dialogue at Hal, then disappears.  Other than the shock value of having Abin return, there is nothing of substance to it.  On the other hand, I really liked the dialogue afterward, with Sinestro and Hal fighting for leadership.  It was full of tension and you can just feel the slow burn from Sinestro before he alerts his corps of his new plans.  These are the type of things that Johns excels and it helps to propel the overall Blackest Night story forward. 

Was it ever revealed before now that his full name is Thaal Sinestro?  I am not sure what to make of the fact that they gave him a first name.  I suppose it makes sense since other characters from Korugar have first and last names.

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