I've had some mixed feelings on Green Lantern since it began. Whilst I love these characters, Hal being Earthbound might be one of the least interesting things I'd have wanted to see done with the character. I love the GL books for their space adventures, for the amazing things that can be included, and sweeping, epic stories that just can't be replicated as an Earth based hero. So sticking Hal in one place, with him mostly dealing with relationship woes had me dipping in interest somewhat. However, this issue finally feels like the tiny nuggets of information we've been given up to this point are finally paying off, and that an interesting story has started to form.
Mostly a flashback issue, the months release takes us back to when the United Planets first start to take over the Green Lantern Corps, and goes into what some of the Earth Lanterns are doing, and why Hal quit. With the news that Sector 2814 is being quarantined, some of the veteran Earth Lanterns begin to voice their disagreement, but quickly agree to stay for a while to see out some special missions that only their experience and strength can deal with. The only one that we learn of is that Guy has been sent to arrest Lobo, something that might bring his character into the upcoming Superman story involving a city full of Czarnians and Brainiac perhaps.
Hal and Kilowog are assigned to guard the president as he travels to Korugar to meet with Sinestro, in an attempt to bring Korugar into the United Planets. Obviously, Hal isn't on board with this, and doesn't trust Sinestro, and his former mentor is able to push his buttons in a way that gets Hal kicked out of the room and sent back to the ship. It's whilst this happens that a trio of Sinestro Corps members attack the meeting, trying to kill the president. Rushing back to help, Hal is able to get the president safely back to the ship whilst Kilowog holds off the Sinestro Corpsmen.
However, when the yellow Power Battery has a flair of energy it seems to explode outwards, vaporising Kilowog and the three Corpsmen. This, along with Sinestro coming into the United Planets, and Earth being locked off, leads Hal to quit the corps. Whilst this flashback doesn't reveal how or why Sinestro ended up stuck on Earth, it does explain some of the strangeness happening with his ring the previous two issues, where it changed to a Red Lantern ring, and Sinestro was lost to his rage. This is definitely shaping up to be the main mystery of the series, as Razer reveals that the Central Power Battery of the Blue Lanterns has also been destroyed.
Speaking of hope, the inclusion of Razer is perhaps one of the most interesting, and exciting parts of the book too. DC has already teased Aya in the comics, and having Razer just walk up to Hal and talk about their past friendship and adventures is a very interesting development. Is it saying that the show happened, but perhaps in a different way that fits into the continuity we already know? Perhaps. And I'm not even sure that I need a definitive answer to that. Just his inclusion, and the book acting like a continuation of the show is good enough for me.
Alongside the shift in story, this issue also featured a change in art team. Amancay Nahuelpan takes over art duties, and Romulo Fajardo Jr. provides the colours on the book. I think this might be my favourite art on the series so far, and everything looked fantastic. All of the human Lanterns looked really good, and every alien looked especially cool. I think being able to draw really weird stuff in really cool ways is definitely a big plus for good Green Lantern art, and this team do so on every single page.
I hope that this tone and style of story continue for the series going forward. I'm interested in finding out what's going on with the strange surges of power, and I'm hoping that we get to get Hal away from Earth and get some of the kinds of Green Lantern stories that I love the most.
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