Green Lantern Corps is a title that is fighting to earn a permanent spot on The Revolution’s pull sheet. I gave this title a try during the Sinestro War. Since I dig the Green Lantern universe so much and am looking forward to all the big events that Johns has in store for us over the next couple of years, I’m willing to give Green Lantern Corps a chance to impress me enough to add it to my permanent pull sheet. Let’s go ahead and hit this review for Green Lantern Corps #22.
Creative Team
Writer: Sterling Gates
Pencils: Nelson
Inks: Nelson, Derek Fridolfs & Rob Hunter
Art Rating: 5 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 5 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 5 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: We begin with a flashback scene when Boodika tried to stop Parallax (Hal Jordan flavor) and Parallax ends up slicing off Boodika’s hand and taking her power ring. We zip back to the present with Boodika on Bellatrix attempting to bring her sister, Zale, who is a rogue Green Lantern, back to Oa. However, the ladies of the Bombers don’t want to hand over their greatest weapon.
Zale and Boodika begin brawling with each other. Boodika ends up using her new Alpha-Lantern abilities to drain all the energy from Zale’s power ring. The leader of the Bombers then breaks out a weapon that she fashioned from the head of a Manhunter that they destroyed. It is capable of killing Manhunters and is able to hurt Boodika since she shares common technology with Manhunters. The leader is about to kill Boodika when she comments that if The Guardians strip Zale of her power ring then Zale becomes useless to the Bombers. Zale gets angry over that statement and destroys the leader’s Manhunter weapon.
We cut to Oa with Boodika and Zale before the Guardians. The Guardians chastise Zale for refusing to report to duty on Oa once she was selected to be a Green Lantern by her power ring. Zale says that she is ready to face her punishment. The Guardians state that Zale will not be decommissioned. That she will be placed on probation and remain as her sister’s sector partner.
Boodika is less than pleased that the Guardians are being lenient and not stripping Zale of her power ring. The Guardians dismiss Boodika’s objections and state that Zale is a potentially powerful Lantern and must be allowed to flourish. Also, that Zale’s actions were not of malicious intent. She was simply mislead and manipulated by the Bombers.
The Guardians then give Boodika a second power ring and a badge of a Green Lantern Officer for her excellent work in bring Zale back to Oa. The two sisters then recite their oaths and power up their rings.
We cut over to Sector 112 where Tomar and Graf arrive at the wreckage that was the ship that Hannu and Laira were traveling in. Hannu is badly hurt and mumbles to the two Lanterns that a red ring took Laira. End of issue.
Comments
The Good: Green Lantern Corps #22 was an average read. I will say that this issue was properly paced. Green Lantern Corps was certainly a fast read. This issue was also nicely plotted as it moved forward with a purpose.
This issue also served up plenty of action to keep the reader entertained. We also get plenty of insight into Boodika’s character and what makes her tick. We get a bit more sense of why she would have volunteered to be an Alpha-Lantern.
This is also the first issue where we really get to see an Alpha-Lantern on a mission. It appears that the Alpha-Lanterns are a bit more like Manhunters than Green Lanterns in terms of their personalities and interpretation of right and wrong. Boodika is decidedly rigid in her views and is quite black and white in how she views the penalties for certain offenses. While the Guardians are able to agree to leniency for Zale’s punishment due to her lack of malice in her helping the Bombers, Boodika is unable to do the same.
For the Alpha-Lantern it is black and white that if a Lantern breaks a law then they receive the prescribed punishment. Motivations like malice or lack of malice simply don’t enter the equation. The Alpha-Lanterns appear to show the inability to understand the subtleties and nuances of certain situations. This appears to be the first warning sign that at some point the creation of the Alpha-Lanterns is going to come back to bite the Guardians just like the creation of the Manhunters did.
We got a solid ending as it dovetails nicely into the ending of Green Lantern #28. DC has done a nice job making sure that Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps remain consistently plotted with each other.
The artwork in Green Lantern #22 was decidedly average. Green Lantern Corps still can’t seem to escape the artwork by committee approach that DC seems intent to impose on this title.
The Bad: Green Lantern Corps. #22 was a standard issue comic book. This was a completely ordinary read from start to finish. There was nothing particularly special or interesting in this issue to get the reader excited. For the most part this was a flat read. I can’t shake the feeling that this issue was pure filler that was designed to be nothing more than a time waster.
I understand that Green Lantern Corps is a support title to the main title in Green Lantern. I understand that Green Lantern is going to get the majority of all the big plotlines and developments. And that would be all well and good if DC charged the readers a dollar less to purchase Green Lantern Corps than they charge for Green Lantern.
However, the fact is that DC is charging the reader the same price for both titles. Since that is the case, I expect more from Green Lantern Corps than being the eternal bride’s maid to Green Lantern. To get me to add this title to The Revolution’s permanent pull list, this title is going to have to show me a lot more than I have gotten over the past couple of issues. It can’t just be a compilation of also ran plotlines that weren’t good enough to get into Green Lantern.
Overall: Green Lantern #22 was a pedestrian read. If you are a fan of Boodika then you will certainly love this issue. And readers who are die-hard Green Lantern fans and enjoy the any plotline related to the Green Lantern Corps no matter how small will also enjoy this issue. However, I can’t recommend Green Lantern Corps to the casual reader or the average Green Lantern fan who just enjoys either Hal Jordan based stories or big events.