Green Lantern Corps #34 Review

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #34
Written by Peter J. Tomasi
Art by Pat Gleason and Rebecca Buchman

While I was slightly disappointed last month when Tomasi had opted to push the Mongul vs Arkillo fight off until this month's issue, the wait was definitely worth it.

This fight was an epic clash of the titans that say both combatants left bloodied and hurting before ending in a very Nova vs Annihilus-like manner as Mongul ripped out Arkillo's tongue.

While the entire issue wasn't devoted to this fight, I thought it was the perfect length and if Tomasi had attempted to draw it out any further, he would have diluted the effort of each character and, in the end, downplayed the brutality of the fight. Was glad to see Arkillo wasn't killed off either. However, if he keeps losing body parts at the end of each fight (he lost a finger to Kilowog in their last meeting), he's going to be pretty hard up come Blackest Night.

The rest of the issue weaved through several plotpoints, most related to future storylines or the current troubles on Daxam. Sodam Yat's reunion with his mother made for some interesting reading as he verbally abuses her and practically forces her to beg for help, all the while mocking the rascist and xenophobic Daxam's plight, even going so far as to claim they deserved what they got after what they had done to him and the countless aliens they murdered to keep Daxam 'clean and pure'.

Continuing with Kyle and Natu's budding relationship, we saw more on Kyle's painting project from last issue and I enjoyed the discussions about the law forbidding their love and what they'd do about it if they get caught. However, with Kyle's track record for girlfriends ending up dead (usually stuffed in fridges, too), I'm not sure if I want one of my favourite non-Earth based Green Lantern being his girlfriend...

Another interesting subplot dealt with Scar and her machinations. Seems she's become more more overt and went so far as to engineer the release of a recently captured Red Lantern, who was freed of his restraints and let loose in the Sciencell area. I wonder if he'll simply kill a few Green Lanterns and escape or if he's going to cause a huge riot and the escape of the numerous Sinestro Corps members?

Finally, Guy Gardner had the line of the week as he makes light of the number of different coloured corps showing up lately, going so far as to claim it was like "Walt Disney threw up" in reference to the newest Blue Lantern corps and possibility of more to come.

Verdict - Must Read. This was worth it for the Arkillo vs Mongul fight alone. Add all the delicious subplots and Blackest Night related goodies and it's hard to go wrong with this book.

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