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Underground > Comic Books >

Green Lantern: On The Ring Again

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02:36 / 22.06.07

See (in regard to that image) NO NO NO. Gawd, there was soooooooooo much angst regarding this the last time they trotted it out, and now they do this (given that it'll almost certainly have to be undone at some point in the future in any event). This and another recent very pointless big name death make me wonder about a certain editor in chief and his direction for the DCU...

anyway...

I too am really digging the corps, though the Gibbons drawn issues are a bit sucky. Guy's vacation arc was a bit ugly ugly. Gleason seems able to the futuristic space stuff with a helluva lot more style.

As for the main title. Initially I was quite underwhelmed, but it has picked up speed as its gone along. The Manhunters arc was a good read, and the lead up to the Sinestro Corps has been well handled.

Now hopefully that spoiler image is the result of multiversal maddness and not what it quite obviously appears to be, *sigh*

Our Lady Has Left the Building

05:02 / 22.06.07

Or is the Kyle Rayner title not selling much so they can afford to kill off the character? That's why they turned Jordan into Parallax in the first place, so it's a neat symmetry there at least.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

05:17 / 22.06.07

The Manhunters arc was a good read, and the lead up to the Sinestro Corps has been well handled.

The main book included a really stellar sequence with Batman being in contact with the Justice League only to get cut off by a Sinestro Corps yellow power ring appearing in front of him and trying to select him to be Sinestro Corpsman 2814, on the grounds that he can "instill great fear." A nice little moment that included a Batified Sinestro outfit.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

22:11 / 27.06.07

...and the Sinestro Corps special is out today. I was actually quite entertained by it, they managed to use some of the Infinite Crisis and 52 baggage effectively, I was left with a greater sense that something epic is potentially going on in the Green Lantern books, and while I wasn't actually surprised by the turn of events leading up to the image spoiled above, I wasn't transported to a horrified Nineties mindset again. Surprisingly bloody yet surprisingly restrained. No backs were broken. The pacing was right up there. I liked the use of Professor Zoom to underline the fact that this is a very old trope - the "equal yet opposite" counterpart gimmick - and it promises to be a space epic grand guignol.

Plus, it was nice to see a female Guardian.

Essential Dazzler

22:30 / 27.06.07

If a man was to read Sinestro Corps and enjoy it, what back issues should a man consider reading to enhance his enjoyment and understanding, and what future issues will he be required to read?

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

15:16 / 28.06.07

It's been sort of smattered over in the main Green Lantern title for a while, starting around 11 or 12 with the Cyborg-Superman's return. Most of that isn't essential, as it's mostly just brief vignettes of evil aliens being chosen by yellow power rings to join the Sinestro Corps. #15 & 16 are semi-important for including Amon Sur - Abin Sur's son - joining up with Sinestro, although he seems to be largely ignored by the special that just came out. There was a brief storyline in Corps with Mogo infected by a member of Sinestro's Corps.

Not sure how many issues it's going to run in the future, although I know it mainly sticks to GL - there will be some stuff in Corps, notably the next issue with Soranik Natu coming up against Sinestro himself and some more development for the Korugarian situation.

It's been pretty pop corn so far. GEOFF!!JOHNS!! was responsible for the special which wasn't too bad, but we'll see.

06:30 / 01.07.07

I really enjoyed the Sinestro corp special. It manages to put together a truly universal level threat. Things blow up, good guys take a pounding and a megavillian shows it up right at the end. Proper popcorn comic fun!

SPOILER ALERT...

Despite my misgivings about the kyle/parallax thing it did work with the story, and does give the Sinestro corp its full roster of ultimate villians, especially how now it seems its the Anti-monitor behind it all. Kyle seems have been captured rather than corrupted by parallax in any event, so hopefully this means its a more reversable situation than the hal/parallax thing was and not the start of a long waste of a good character.

Mr John's has sorta made a threat that if you really played things out, would probably crush the green lantern corp very quickly.

Pretty art too.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

15:27 / 01.07.07

I was a little disappointed that they didn't redo Kyllax in yellow, rather than a Crab Faced Version of the original Parallax armour, merely for concerns of the overall "look" of the Sinestro Corps.

Mr John's has sorta made a threat that if you really played things out, would probably crush the green lantern corp very quickly.

One of the elements - touched on in the special - that Gibbons has been obsessing over in Corps is the prophecy delivered to Abin Sur by the Empire of Tears from that old Alan Moore story (I swear, Soranik Natu is the only thing about the series not cribbed from Moore), the "forbidden chapter" of the Book of Oa, detailing the end of the Corps - and events are lining up in that direction with the appearance of Ranx the Sentient City and the Children of the White Lobe -- between all of that and the Sinestro Corps, I can quite easily see them ending the Green Lantern Corps once and for all.

Or some element of reality will have changed as a result of the 52 and the prophecy will be undone. Or there will be some eleventh hour twist on the prophecy and our heroes will be saved.

09:09 / 02.07.07

I wanted to see a yellow Parallax too. It doesn't quite work in the green.

Not sure about ending the Corps for good. It seems to me that DC editorial have understood that the corps is one of the GL mythos's strengths, hence the creation of the Sinestro Corps, the GLC comic, and the Tales from the Sinestro Corps short. The rich (predominantly, but not entirely) Mooreian vein that is being mined at the moment is a product of the Corps's existence. Also, we've had a Corpsless GL before and twernt good.

21:24 / 02.07.07

The Kyle as Parallax thing looks to be short-lived -- the “Sinestro Corps War” storyline kicked off by the special is a three or four month crossover between the two GL titles, part of the ending of which would seem to be telegraphed by the solicitation for issues 34-31 of Countdown: "Kyle Rayner joins the Challengers from Beyond!" My guess is post-Parallax Kyle is all emo and humiliated and no longer trusted by the GLs, and joins the multiversal explo squad as an angsty escape strategy.

00:25 / 03.07.07

Damn! A few NYC places have truly sold out of this, so I'll find it somewhere else or get the 2nd printing...

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

05:04 / 03.07.07

Yellow Parallax is a *must*. In green, he throws off the balance of Sinestro's gang of miscreants.

Not sure about ending the Corps for good. It seems to me that DC editorial have understood that the corps is one of the GL mythos's strengths, hence the creation of the Sinestro Corps, the GLC comic, and the Tales from the Sinestro Corps short.

It was more of a stray thought than anything -- and I think in the event of the Corps falling, we'd see an end to Green Lanterns as a whole, not a "Kyle is the one true Lantern" scenario. But, I envision a last minute save. I'm hoping for more of the GLCorpse, of course.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

15:12 / 12.07.07

For people interested in following the Sinestro War stuff, Green Lantern #21 is out this week. Three pages of recap before we get to the action, and then it's Hal having a secret talk with the individuated Guardians Sayd and Ganthet. Kyllax definitely needs to go golden. I'm not sure how I feel about the Lost Lanterns but I'd like to see them get more screen time, preferrably away from Hal Jordan so we don't have to sit through endless reduxes of the "We don't trust you!" / "It was Parallax!" / "We're watching you!" back and forth we're usually being subjected to. Jack T. Chance certainly has been toned down.

18:39 / 19.08.07

This whole Sinestro War story has been fun, in a 'mindless fun summer popcorn action movie' kind of way. Fun to see the Anti-Monitor rear his whitish-yellowish-strangely-shaped head again.... and it seems Johns has some sort of actual big payoff/resolution to this whole thing planned. I think this is an example of Johns doing some decent work and having fun, slam-bang action big battle stories.

18:43 / 19.08.07

Johns has said in interviews that he really likes Kyle as a character, and the vibe I get from other comments that he's made is that, like with Hal, this possession by Parallax is temporary and we will soon see the 'good' Kyle back again, and hopefully the story will have evolved Kyle's character forward somehow...

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

14:02 / 20.08.07

It's definitely trying to vibe on the blockbuster format, but I'm finding the pacing's way off -- trying to sustain the plotline through one special and multiple issues of each regular series is stretching it a little thin. We're what? Halfway through? And I'm already more interested in what the aftermath is going to be and how the Corps is going to look in light of all this, the Alan Moore prophecies coming true and such.

I'm also wondering what the legal situation is with Superboy-Prime, whether he's included in the lawsuit, and what they're going to call him -- is he getting a new name? Anti-Monitor Junior?

Our Lady Has Left the Building

19:46 / 19.09.07

Borrowed the 'Rebirth' trade off a friend and was surprised to find I quite liked it, the two big flaws were explaining that the Guardians had been made to forget that Parallax existed in the battery, the other was the more stylistic thing that Johns sucked at the whole being possessed by evil thing. I mean, it's one of the oldest storylines in comics, you'd think Geoff could crib it from somewhere else, but there's no real emotional sense of any of the GLs being possessed by evil and then finding it within themselves to fight it off, they're just written as possessed one minute and free the next. And one Guardian more powerful than the wrath of God. Really?

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

20:21 / 12.12.07

Boy GL #25 was one of the funnest comics ever.

And Summer! 2009!

BATMAN VERSUS THOMAS AND MARTHA WAYNE!!

20:10 / 13.12.07

Yes, this new issue was pretty mind-blowing, in terms of visuals (Reis & Van Sciver) and just sheer bigscreen FUN. Plus Johns sets up and teases the next TWO YEARS of GL saga tales and they're feeling hugely entertaining too. (and some of the major developments take a cue from one of Moore & O'Neil's old 1980s GLC tales).

21:06 / 13.12.07

Wotta fucking surprise, given they've, thus far, wrung 14+ issues out of two panels in 'Tygers'. It was actually a blessed relief that DC prevented me from downloading past part 10 or whatever because I could literally feel the returns diminishing with every moment I wasted reading them.

So did the Empire of Tears ever actually sho...no, I really don't want to know. I won't say Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill doing six or eight pages isn't the best GL story ever, because it almost certainly is, and you know I always wondered if Ranx, the Sentient City had ever showed before or since, kinda wished it had and really it's fandom in microcosm: be careful what you wish for, because it might actually be totally boring.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

22:30 / 13.12.07

*sno--huhwh?*

Sorry, I think I blanked out there somewhere. I think I made it about one third of the way through the crossover before I gave up. Did any of the Corps manage to distinguish itself against the others? Because they all blended in to each other by the time I stopped.

Somebody wake me when the F-Sharp Bell shows up.

00:00 / 14.12.07

Caan't recall all the details RE padding issues, but I did read many parts all in one gulp a few weeks back and enjoyed everything. The finale is a corker: all four main GL's get some really nice sooperheero moments, plus those two bleeding heart liberal Guardians.

22:18 / 14.12.07

this was really fun, very entertaining. Some great moments. And I note I'm not the only comics fan to have picked out the Black Lanterns' logo as being that of The Black Hand (or whatever his name was), old GL villain that showed up briefly in issue 3 or 4 or something of this new series by Johns.

My one concern is: too many Lanterns now (or a'comin')? Alpha Lanterns plus every color and then Black & White... still, it's cool to see someone do something dynamic with the book.

Shiny: Well Over Thirty

05:28 / 30.12.07

Finnaly read issue 25, and I have to say it's quite probably the most ridiculous thing I've ever read from Johns. I don't really mean that in a bad way though. Twas actually quite entertaining in fact, despite reading sort of like the over caffeinated ravings of someone who's mind is rapidly slipping away. Multi-coloured lanterns! Black Lanterns! Green and Yellow Lanterns to team up to fight them! Summer two thousand and bloody nine! Insane, bizarre and mostly nonsensical, but very fun, even if the preceeding 20 or so parts of the crossover where largely pointless.

15:01 / 09.01.08

so the Alpha Lanterns have actual Lantern power batteries grafted into their midsections? eeewww.

Why are Salaak's eyes glowing an eerie green in #26? Is something up with our pink-skinned many-armed hero?

Interesting that in late 2007, #25 had a promo for the summer crossover event ("The Blackest Night") of 2009... kinda gets us all psyched up for DC zombie madness that won't show up for 2 years, essentially...

Will DC ever give John Stewart a new, non-80s fade haircut?

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

20:18 / 09.01.08

Salaak works pretty closely with the Guardians and with the Oan archives or whatever, so it's possible he's absorbed some of it or has modified his own brain or senses with the ring to process the information more efficiently. Arisia may have taught us dubious gender/age politics in the Corps, but she also taught us that the rings can be used to alter a person's body or brain...

Caught up on the end of the Sinestro War today, and I did like the future Corps stuff. I feel a little fired up about things again and might hit Corps, particularly if Gleason does more work and Gibbons does less.

Shiny: Well Over Thirty

06:38 / 10.01.08

I think Gibbons is gone now, and replaced with Peter Tomasi. who I mainly know as the editor of 7 Soldiers and most of Geoff Johns stuff. His first issue of GLC seemed okay. I was especially happy to see that he seems to drafted the recently ressurected Ice into the supporting cast for Guy.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

03:46 / 01.02.08

So, are people still interested in Green Lantern, post-Sinestro? Because #27 is out this week, the ramifications are gearing up, Ash the vampire-hunting GL returns, and a new breed of Lanterns are created.

Alpha-Lanterns.

I don't want to blow the SHOCK TWIST ENDING to the episode (which actually did kind of shock me, even having seen solicit cover images), but the Guardians are kicking it hardcore. And Chaselon looks ridiculous.

A little decompressed, for my tastes. Everything happens, basically, in one room on Oa and we get GL political jockeying, some dubious debate about Green Lanterns killing Sinestro Corpsbeings (clearly they should have actually *drafting some specifics* when they set up the First Law of Killing Sinestro Corps Members).

And McKone is looking slick, though he could really do with some tweaking to his ring construct designs.

12:38 / 01.02.08

I like some of the concepts behind GL these days, but I will confess to being a bit tired of "the Guardians are secretive, manipulative bastards" trope.

You'd think that being wiped out and/or regressed to children would make them a little more flexible....

Our Lady Has Left the Building

14:50 / 17.03.08

Are you saying kids can't be bastards? I've just torrented the Sinestro Corps stuff and had a read, it was fairly fun, if overlong in places, I loved the constant refrain of the rings of both sides zipping off to find new owners. Not being someone that ever read Green Lantern I found it surprising that the Guardians had, up to now, not allowed their policemen to kill, and I loved how Sinestro claimed to still be working in the best interests of the GLC.

But, but, but, and this is a big problem that I have with the little of Geoff John's stuff that I've read so far, his total unwillingness to even pretend to kill off his bad guys. We have Cyborg Superman, one of the dullest villains to come out of the Nineties. We have Emo Superboy, one of the stupidest ideas to come out of DC comics. John's supposedly kills them both off, then in the very same issue shows them surviving (the Cyborg surviving an explosion which almost destroys the Anti-Monitor. The Cyborg is harder than the Anti-Monitor, really?) And the Anti-Monitor survives, and finds a baddy supposedly even worse than him.

This doesn't read like a satisfactory end to the story and it also doesn't make me feel interested in reading the next issue. Instead it makes me mostly feel like I've wasted a few hours of my life reading the preceding issues and not to bother going any further (I thought mostly the same about 'Infinite Crisis'). What did other people think?

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

04:43 / 18.03.08

While I enjoyed the Sinestro War stuff for the most part, I found after a while that there wasn't really enough variety in what was happening to grip me for too long--it's essentially an extended fight scene with different clusters of people but they began to feel interchangeable. The ending--while he opens some interesting doors, it limited the potency of the story to merely being a prelude.

All the Sodam Yat stuff bored me to tears as well.

It isn't like he's incapable of producing small nuggets of joy -- his Action Comics arc with Superman and Legion has fun moments, like the Subs saving the day by hijacking a school bus and crash-landing it. The Green Lantern stuff had some nice pieces to it but Johns seems too busy setting up the next story to really captivate me with the current one.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

03:57 / 10.10.08

Checked in with Tomasi's GLCorps this week because, I don't know, Star Sapphire was on the cover and I haven't read any cute power ring adventures in a while (I should really go read my copies of the Quarterly again), and it wasn't bad. I could surmise what was going on without there being impossible amounts of exposition and recap. Ice's presence seems to be coming to an end, suggesting some awkwardness of having a non-GL in a Corps-book supporting cast role.

I wanted more Soranik Natu. She was shaping up to be a good character but -- and this has to do with the set-up of the book -- there were too many people! And plot-lines! Either give us a bigger book with more stories in it, or focus on a tighter cast.

Star Sapphire stuff was good, but seriously, they need a male Sapphire to break up some of the weird vibe. It tends to ... well ... we know the "emotional spectrum" is ridiculously reductive, sure, but it's silly enough for a silly super-hero comic. But it threatens to push itself over the edge.

22:57 / 11.08.09

I know the comics section of Barbelith seems kinda dead lately (I haven't come on here in months and months) but is no one even mentioning Blackest Night? It's fun... it's one of the better Johns-events out there, like the Sinestro War or GL: Rebirth was entertaining. And everyone is speculating 'who is behind the Black Lanterns' and all that. I guess it makes sense that the characters Johns can play the most with are Aquaman and the Hawks. I'm looking forward to #2 and onwards of Blackest Night... plus, Ivan Reis' art is pretty freaking glorious -- as is Manhke's. I know Johns gets too fanboyish sometimes and too gross-out sometimes, but overall this is a really enjoyable 'event' that doesn't leave a bad taste in my mouth. His GL work is a lot better than Flash: Rebirth... and Legion of Three Worlds was ok but not great, with George Perez-y goodness but a lot of the less fortunate Geoff Johns-isms (gore, gratuitous deaths, Superboy Prime acting like a 5-yr year old throwing a tantrum, and returning again...and again...and again (see issue #4 of the upcoming Adventure Comics). Don't know why Johns likes a villain with such childish mentality/motivation.

but: Blackest Night. I say check it out.

13:11 / 12.08.09

It all seems a little Marvel Zombies at this point (the most recent of which was a great little "impulse zone" read and had Werewolf By Night in, therefore rendering it immune to criticism).

Nice touch that the method of recharging the BL rings recharges all of the ones in the area but only 0.1% at a time meaning there'll have to be a whole lotta "recharging" going on.

02:24 / 13.08.09

well, the reason it doesn't feel like a Marvel Zombies ripoff to me is that Johns has been building up to this for years, and that it's accompanied by the Spectrum War of Light... it ain't just the Black Lanterns we gotta deal with here.

Although issue 2 is a bit disappointing in that not much actually happens, and we get about 6 pages of Evil Zombie Aquaman taunting the AquaFamily about the same stuff over and over.

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