Green Lantern #5 – Geoffrey Thorne, Writer; Tom Raney, Marco Santucci, Andy MacDonald, Artists; Michael Atiyeh, Colorist
Ray – 8.5/10
Ray: This series has been chaos since moment one, with the Green Lanterns nearly being destroyed by a cosmic attack and many mainstays going missing in action or dying outright. And now, for the first time, there may be someone to blame—Sinestro, the long-time nemesis of the Corps. At least that’s what Teen Lantern thinks, as she takes her makeshift ring and rains down hell on his planet. The opening of the issue, featuring the apocalypse descending on Thaal’s fortress as he sleeps, is some brilliant artwork from Tom Raney. As the mystery narrator describes it, Keli doesn’t have any of the limits or the knowledge of the Corps. All she has is rage, and it’s solely aimed at the Corps’ nemesis.
The problem is, the mystery narrator is an intriguing character who has the ability to use fear as a weapon in a very different way from other fear-based villains like Scarecrow. She’s creepy, haunting, and not overtly evil. And we already know who she is thanks to solicits and covers, another example of DC not being able to preserve their own story twists. It’s essentially given away when she recognizes another character by name later in the story, but the suspense in the early pages would have been preserved. But this is a good spotlight for all the main characters in this issue, complete with the threat of an old enemy now returning to take his revenge on the damaged Corps. The energy in this story is great.
The second story, focusing on John Stewart, is more laid back by comparison. Having fought off the slavers last issue, John is now facing another problem—the people he saved might not want him there. Many blame him for the attack and fear another one coming as he makes them a target, so he launches a massive evacuation mission and gets ready to reunite with the survivors on Oa for the first time. The best part of this series so far is how it manages to tell a compelling story despite being about as far-flung as it can get.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
