Green Lantern #23 Review

GREEN LANTERN #23
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Ivan Reis

Wow. Simply wow. This book was amazing. This rivals the Sinestro Corps Special for the level of quality and awesomeness. My only complaint is that the book was too short and a few of the fights seemed rushed. Other than that, the book was just short of perfect.

The book starts with the battle with Lyssa Drak, the Keeper of the Book of Parallax and the person holding Guy and John captive. This is where my complaints on the shortness of the fights start. This one is over in a few panels and while they do not actually take down Lyssa, they free Guy and John and are on their way back to the surface in the span of a page or two. Before heading back to the surface though, Hal replaces his critically low on energy ring with several yellow rings, which was alluded to on the spectacular homage cover.

Meanwhile, the scene switches to the Anti-Monitor working on the Ion entity as the Lost Lanterns show up looking for it. I was a little disappointed that this scene was changed a bit from when we last saw the Anti-Monitor explode out of the floor in the hallway in Green Lantern Corps, but this scene was equally impressive, so I cannot really complain. Before the Lanterns can even being to attack, the Anti-Monitor annihilates Ke'Haan right before their eyes, leaving nothing but a charred skeleton. Seeing this, Hannu, the only Lantern that has full power in his ring since he relies on his own physical powers, unloads his full power on the Anti-Monitor, freeing Ion, but doing little to no damage to the Anti-Monitor.

Back to Hal and his Lanterns, they encounter a large platoon of Sinestro Corps members, including none other than Sinestro and Parallax. Sinestro makes short work of Hal, who can barely control the fear based rings, while Parallax nearly kills Guy before Ion and the Lost Lanterns burst threw the ground beneath them with the Anti-Monitor in hot pursuit. It is now that Hal and the rest realize just how powerful the Sinestro Corps is with the Anti-Monitor revealed as their Guardian. With Ion in their possession, they flee Qwaard and the Lost Lanterns opt to take Ion back to Oa while the Earth based Lanterns return to Earth to warn them of the danger of the Anti-Monitor and hopefully get help from the JLA and anyone else they can find.

The final pages flash back and forth between the preparations of the Guardians, who have rewritten the Book of Oa, and Sinestro. The Guardians have gathered most of the Lanterns to Oa, the center of the universe, believing Sinestro will attack there next and it is also revealed that lethal force has been enabled for all the rings. Sinestro, however, is planning to attack Earth, the center of the Multiverse and has Superboy Prime in position, soaking up yellow sun light I assume, while Cyborg Superman reveals War World is prepared to move out. The issue ends with a sea of yellow light above Earth as Parallax leads the charge against our planet.

This issue was a joy to read and this should be DC's mega event that crossover into every book. The scale and scope of this crossover is incredible and every issue is packed with highlight reel moments. As I stated earlier, the only complaint is Johns' appears to be trying to put too much in each issue. The battle with Lyssa and the Anti-Monitor are a couple of instances of this. A page or two and then a few skipped scenes as the Lanterns are escaping with no real explanation or visibly shown means of escape. Thankfully, Johns has a bunch of one-shots to fill in the gaps along with Green Lantern Corps to fill my appetite for all things Sinestro Corps War related and hopefully it will hold me over until the next issue of this spectacular book.

Verdict - Must Read

Related Posts