Green Lantern #31 – Jeremy Adams, Writer; Montos, Artist; Romulo Fajardo Jr, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: Hal Jordan’s journey through his old address book has taken him to Green Arrow and Batman as he seeks advice on his bizarre encounter with the Book of Oa. But now his next stop is in Central City, as he needs help from Barry Allen – but it might be Barry who’s in more immediate need. Barry, who lost his powers at the end of Absolute Power, has successfully found evidence of criminal activity from a new mob boss, enough to put the guy away for life. That is, if he survives to trial. The boss has put a hit out on Barry, and the police trying to take him into witness protection are in on it. Barry barely escapes with his life just in time for Hal to show up, fending off the crooked cops, and the two are able to catch up – just in time for the boss to call in his next agent, a massive metahuman enforcer by the name of Bruto, who is ready to tear through the city to find Barry.
With the villain hot on their trail, Barry and Hal are able to catch up on the go, but this issue has much less to do with Hal’s personal struggles than it does with no-holds-barred action. Bruto is a hilarious villain, essentially a massive hulk of a man who also talks like an old-timey gangster with a 1920s vibe, and makes for a massive threat. Montos was a great choice for the artist on this issue, bringing a noir vibe to what’s usually a much larger-scale comic. Every one of these one-shots has had a slightly different vibe to it, which helps to make this a great bridge arc before we head back to space. The title’s getting a huge shake-up soon, with Kyle Rayner taking over the lead role. So far, Jeremy Adams has done an amazing job of building up Hal for this big test ahead, and this arc has been more about getting him in the right head-space for his next big cosmic adventure.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes
