Green Lanterns #46 – Tim Seeley, Writer; V. Ken Marion, Penciller; Sandu Florea, Inker; Dinei Ribeiro, Colorist
Ratings:
Ray – 8/10
Corrina: Baz Vs. Baz.
WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW
Ray: The ghosts of the past continue to haunt Jessica Cruz in Green Lanterns #46, as the reader gets closer to the truth of what happened to her that night in the woods. The issue is split between segments set in the past, and currently inside the ring as Simon Baz tries to rescue his partner from her own subconscious. The segments set in the woods are very well-done, tense and violent, but they suffer a bit from the fact that it’s a foregone conclusion. The group of four friends stumbled upon a pair of hitmen burying a woman’s body, and the criminals promptly decided it wouldn’t be hard to bury five bodies instead. Her friends die fairly quickly, and Jessica winds up running for her life. It’s an intense segment, but it’s also very close to what we knew all along, and doesn’t really give us any new information. What happens within the portal that leads to Jessica’s ring, though, is much more interesting, and Simon’s on his own as even Constantine can’t breach the portal anymore.
Inside the ring, Simon finds himself under assault from dozens of undead former hosts of the Power Ring, all cowardly and determined to keep him from getting any further. It’s interesting that while Jessica overcame her own fear and traded in the power ring for a Lantern ring, she still seems to have internalized it and is trapped there in a prison of her own making thanks to Singularity Jain. The reveal of Simon Baz’s evil twin from Earth-3 would be a good twist – except it’s once again ruined by a cover that gives it away before you even open the book. Earth-3 Simon – called Solomon Baz – has an interesting backstory that shows exactly how twisted the rules are on Earth 3, and the issue ends with an interesting twist that shows exactly what awaits Jessica if she’s not able to fight her way out of her own subconscious. As this run enters its final act, I don’t think it’s quite on the level of Humphries’ gamechanging run, but it’s done a good job of expanding Simon and Jessica’s worlds for the future.
Corrina: It’s the mark of good writing when even when you know what’s going to happen next, it still surprises you. That’s the case when the attack on Jessica and her friends finally comes to pass in this issue. I knew her friends died, I knew she somehow survived, but the awfulness of how it went down was a surprise. And by “awfulness,” I mean the emotional gut punch of seeing the tragedy play out, not the gore.
And for an issue set in Jessica’s subconscious (or black hole or whatever Singularity Jain made it into), Simon almost steals the show with his confrontation with Solomon Baz. We have seen little of Simon without the power ring, other than his dating, so his confrontations this issue are revealing. Solomon is also drawn with some depth, with his backstory not simply as an evil mirror version of Simon, but as someone whose morals were warped by his world.
But, I admit, Constantine still gets all the best lines.
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Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
