Green Lantern #25 Review

GREEN LANTERN #25
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Ivan Reis, Ethan Van Sciver and Oclair Albert

Well, considering how much was left to be resolved, I was worried the Sinestro Corps War would faulter with its final chapter and I'm happy to say I was worried over nothing. Johns, with the help of the incredible art from Reis and Sciver, managed to wrap up the Sinestro fight, the Anti-Monitor, Superman Prime and everything in between in one of the best endings to an event in recent memory.

Before I get into any major details, I just have to give more props to Sciver and Reis. This issue looked fantastic and the opening splash pages really show off the scope of this story and make it look like an actual war. Every time I go back to look at those pages, I find a new character I recognize, whether it's random Teen Titans, Captain Marvel or various Green Lantern Corps members. There's very few instances where it's a non-descript character and considering there's got to be dozens of characters on each page, that's an incredible feat. Another scene I loved was the Blackest Night Prophecy where they show off the different Corps. So many cool character designs on that page. I hope they actually get used if they do introduce all these new factions.

With the art props out of the way, I'd like to get back to the story. Pretty much everything you'd expect happens this issue, but is still better than your wildest dreams. Hal and Kyle team up to take on Sinestro while the Lost Lanterns open up on the random Sinestro members. However, this fight is about the only thing I was even slightly disappointed in. Instead of an epic battle of will and fear, we get both Green Lanterns rings sapped of all power by Manhunters. Later, after the Anti-Monitor and Warworld went down, the Manhunter's deactivated and Hal used one to drain off all of Sinestro's ring's power. From there it turned into a slugfest. I was unaware Sinestro was so formidable a melee combatant. He looks rather frail, to be honest, but holds his own against both Kyle and Hal. It was still a great fight, but I would have liked to have seen them exhaust their powers on each other first, then battle it out man to alien.

Over in New York, the Anti-Monitor finally starts doing some damage and begins to destroy Earth and the Multiverse. This leads to the Guardians, themselves, unloading on the Anti-Monitor with all their powers in one of the best scenes of the book! I really didn't expect the Guardians to do much after they turned Sodam Yat into Ion, but they were all over the place this issue. In the end, the entire Green Lantern Corps pulls Warworld down on top of the Anti-Monitor as they erect a forcefield to contain the detonation. Many of the Sinestro Corps were caught up in the blast, including Cyborg Superman, who died thanking the Green Lanterns.

The Anti-Monitor actually survives that explosion and is barely keeping his energies contained in his shell when Superman Prime betrays him, flying through his chest and then tossing the dying husk into space. Prime then takes on everyone, heroes and Sinestro Corps members alike. He even attacks the Guardians and manages to actually kill one of them. However, the resulting energies from that death are used by the other Guardians to warp Prime out of this universe and, as Countdown and the epilogue of this issue show, into the Multiverse.

Just when we thought everything was over, we get an epilogue of epic proportions. Sayd and Ganthet form the hope-based Blue Lantern Corps. The Guardians continue to rewrite the book of Oa. In one of the sadder endings, Cyborg Superman's broken and mangled upper portion of his skull is found by the Manhunters and he is brought back to life, a single tear running down his face as he realizes he still can't die. Finally, Johns sets up the seeds for the Blackest Night, which is listed as coming in 2009, as the Anti-Monitor crashes on a barren planet. Someone speaks, saying he has arrived, and the screen pans out to show a giant black lantern power battery.

Verdict - Must Read. Fantastic ending to an incredible storyline that was phoenominal from start to finish.

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