Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #50 – Robert Venditti, Writer; Rafa Sandoval, Penciller; Jordi Tarragona, Inker; Tomeu Morey, Colorist
Ray – 8/10
Ray: The whole Green Lantern line is getting a major revamp in the current months, with Grant Morrison taking over on one major monthly title with Liam Sharp. That means the current era is wrapping up, and with that comes the closing act to Robert Venditti’s run in Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #50. Venditti has been consistently writing Green Lantern ever since Geoff Johns left the books in 2013, which is one of the longest runs on the character ever. Despite following in those massive footsteps, he expanded on a lot of his concepts and introduced a host of new plot elements. The final threat was the Darkstars, a ruthless band of murderous space cops founded by the Controllers – and led by disgraced former Lantern Tomar-Tu. Now, the final battle erupts in this oversized final issue, filled with great visuals but maybe without enough space to fully explore the implications of its story. For the first half of the issue, John Stewart is leading the Lanterns in a battle against the Darkstars, while Hal Jordan is caught in a one-on-one brawl with Tomar-Tu.
The second plot is much more interesting than the first, as Hal never quite gives up on getting through to his former protege. I was a little disappointed that this issue never quite brought up the parallels between a grieving Lantern falling to a dark power, and what happened to Hal (like was mentioned in Supergirl this week). The Lanterns have worked with several villains and anti-heroes over the course of the arc, and while Arkillo and Hector Hammond proved honorable, Zod was always the biggest danger – something that is borne out when he goes rogue and goes after Tomar-Tu in the finale for revenge over the destruction of Krypton (which Tomar-Re failed to prevent). This sets up Tomar-Tu’s sacrifice and brings an overly neat conclusion to his arc. The fight scenes were spectacular, but the best segment in this issue is the final few pages, as the Lanterns decompress and start anew, Guy Gardner seeks drinking partners, and Hal makes a long-awaited return to Earth to find Carol. Venditti’s run had its ups and downs, but it was never less than entertaining, and the finale certainly delivered.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
