DCU Comic Book Reviews

GREEN LANTERN #48

Gimme A Break!

January 2010

Written by Geoff Johns

Pencils by Doug Mahnke

Inks by Christian Alamy, Doug Mahnke, and Tom Nguyen

Covers by Doug Mahnke and Rags Morales

Synopsis

On Okaara, Red Lantern Atrocitus is fighting Orange Lantern Larfleeze and his constructs.  As they fight, Black Lanterns of those killed by Larfleeze join the battle.  Using the orange battery Larfleeze knocks out Atrocitus.  The Black Lanterns absorb the Orange constructs, leaving Larfleeze alone.  He asks for help.  Saint Walker appears, along with Hal Jordan, Indigo-1, Sinestro, and Carlo Ferris (aka the Light Brigade) and Guardians Sayd and Ganthet.  Together, they dispatch the Black Lanterns.  Larfleeze claims the Guardians betrayed him.  Ganthet tells the other it wasn’t him, but admits the Guardians, led by Scar, attempted to extinguish the blue and orange lights to stop the War of Light.  It backfired and actually started the War of Light.  Atrocitus wakes up and charges Sinestro, claiming it was Sinestro who started the war of light.  Saint Walker stops Atrocitus with the blue light, calming Atrocitus with the hope of his future.  Sinestro asks Atrocitus for help to destroy the Black Lanterns. Atrocitus refuses.  Suddenly, they witness the death of Damage on Earth.  The black power rings have reached 100% power levels.  Indigo-1 tells them the Black Lanterns have entered the next phase.  They need to find the source of the black rings.  They travel to Sector 666, the home of Atrocitus, which is nothing.  Atrocitus blames the Guardians.  He blames the Guardians for the War of Light, as well.  He agrees to help kill the Black Lantern, but afterwards, he vows to kill the Guardians.  Larfleeze also aggress on the condition he gets his own Guardian.  Sayd agrees to become his Guardian.  With the Light Brigade assembled, the group heads out to find Nekron…    

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Hopefully you were not like me and read Blackest Night #5 before you read this issue.  While reading the mini-series first doesn’t really spoil this issue, since we all knew the Light Brigade was coming to save the day, it does lessen the reading experience a little bit; we now know the Light Brigade ends up in Sector 666 before we open the comic, so in a way we are just waiting to see how it happens.  Regardless, this was still an excellent issue as the various characters and plots that have been in this title for so long finally come together and we see the Light Brigade join forces.  The key characters are Atrocitus and Larfleeze.  The former is given some depth to the pain behind his anger, which helps to create a well-rounded character rather than just a random character with anger issues.  I especially liked the way Johns tried to set up Walker and Atrocitus with similar pasts, but then hammers home the biggest difference between the two.  It also underscores Atrocitus’ anger and sets the stage for potential stories after the end of Blackest Night.  The latter is used mostly for comedic effect, but Johns stays true to the avarice of Larfleeze and manages to find a logical explanation on why such a selfless, greedy person would join the proverbial band.  It will be interesting to see if the condition is kept or if Johns finds a way around it. 

Why Damage?  What was the purpose of showing that scene and not, say, Nekron in Coast City or Black Hand with Bruce’s skull.  I mean, Damage is Manhattan, away from where most of the action is currently taking place.  Was there some sort of editorial decision made to show something innocuous to avoid spoilers or does it mean much more than I think it does.  The mind boggles.  

Hey, what happened to John Stewart?  With the Light Brigade now part of the Blackest Night mini-series, does this mean we will actually get some sort of forward movement with the Xanshi material Johns has been teasing for so long?  It would be nice. 

The first page declares that this issue “takes place before Blackest Night #6” while the last page states:  “The New Guardians charge up in Blackest Night #5”  Since this issue bleeds into Blackest Night #5 (released on the same day), I would think the first page was a typo.  I mean, it takes place before #6 but that’s only because it also takes place before #5 so naturally it has to occur before 36.

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