Graphic Content
By Wally Flores Jr.

 

EMERALD ERA

   
With the release of Green Lantern #20 comes the end of Geoff John's run of overseeing the character and basically the Green Lantern corner of the DC Universe. Geoff John quickly became a favorite writer of mine during his run on JSA many years ago. He had the ability to tell enjoyable stories while crafting the groundwork for the next story to come. So, when I found out that he was going to be taking the reins of the Green Lantern corner of the DC Universe I was very happy to hear it. Johns started off big by bringing back Hal Jordan from death. While I may identify most with Kyle Rayner, Hal was who I grew up with and the reason I care about the Green Lantern concept so much.

The Beginning

   
Overall, John's run has been very enjoyable. Under his guidance Green Lantern became a much more important character in the DC Universe. This has its good and bad elements in my eyes. The good in it for me was that more people now appreciate the character, and while I didn't like the movie all that much I have to say I'm glad the character reached a level of popularity that DC was willing to take a gamble on a movie about him. The bad for me, was that now there is so much Green Lantern merchandise being made. That simply hurts my wallet as I collect Green Lantern stuff. Yet, as with anything, when popularity grows there are more problems.

The Middle

   
One of the largest problems that have come during John's run during all things Green Lantern is that there were more and more "huge" events. We had the "Sinestro Corps War", we were introduced to all new colors of Lanterns, we had the "Blackest Night", the "Brightest Day" and the "War of the Green Lanterns". Whether or not you liked the stories you could not avoid their impact, even if you weren't a Green Lantern fan. Then came the "New 52", and while those recent stories still occurred, the way they now unfolded isn't completely known and that has created a very mixed bag in understanding their impacts. Plus, the momentum built by those stories didn't stop when the DC Universe rebooted.

After the DC Universe rebooted we had a short breather from major events in the Green Lantern corner of the DCU. However, we were soon off and running again with the "Rise of the Third" army, which was basically an extended prologue leading up to the "Wrath of the First Lantern". Both of those stories were interesting, but they didn't give me the enjoyment of the stories that came from the previous events. I really can't tell if the stories just weren't well crafted or the quality was impacted by the rebooting of the DC Universe. Still, no matter how the stories were told, their impact will remain for the time being. The end of the last story and John's run was quite abrupt though, and that has caused a few problems too.

The End

   
Issue #20 of Green Lantern raised a lot of questions and has resulted in some frustration for readers. While the speed of the last two events occurred didn't help, there are some story elements that people are worried about that I think they're not really taking the time to look at. While I have no problem with people pointing out legitimate problems with stories, I do have a problem with people not being willing to do some level of work in understanding a story. So, I'm going to look at a few of the problems I've seen mentioned.

First, I've seen people concerned about how Ganthet survived Sinestro's assault of the Guardians. People seem to think that the Guardian that was "saved" for Atrocitus to hunt was Ganthet. It wasn't. If you read Red Lanterns #20 you'll find that at no time during his pursuit of the Guardian does Atrocitus say it's Ganthet. My best guess is that people seem to think that since the Guardian has fairly long hair, it had to be Ganthet. Ganthet has a ponytail (only female Guardians have no hair). Even after his emotions were "purged" from him by the other Guardians he kept his ponytail. So, the problem people are having with this is due to not paying attention to details.

The next problem I've seen people having (and I myself had briefly) was how Sayd could still be alive. During the "Rise of the Army" it looked as though Sayd died in issue #15 of Green Lantern: New Guardians. I say "looked" because it was definitely presented that way. The problem is, there were no actual witnesses. The ring bearers present were teleported away, and the only "proof" of Sayd's death was a remote confirmation from the Guardian's system. We know that the Guardian's systems are far from perfect and can be hidden from (during the "War of the Green Lanterns") , and that Guardians are very resilient (the Guardian's shock at Hal being able to kill Krona during "War" showed that).

More information regarding Sayd was given in the Larfleeze backup story in Threshold. The important information was given in issue #5. In that issue Larfleeze once again states that he wasn't there when Sayd died, and that because of that he couldn't capture her "essence". The Sayd construct is basically a "program" Sayd installed in Larfleeze's mind/ring as she assumed she would one day die by his hands. Remember, Sayd didn't wish to be with Larfleeze. She made a deal to stay with him for the benefit of others. I think creating the appearance she had died while being attacked by the Third Army would be a great way for her to finally escape Larfleeze's grasp. Now, in Green Lantern #20 we do see Larfleeze has Sayd, but we don't know how/when. This could be a continuity error, but I'm guessing it's something that will be "fixed" at the start of Larfleeze's new monthly comic. I hadn't planned on reading it (as I'm not that big on the character), but I probably will now to see if that's what the first story is.

Finally, there are concerns about the new Guardians that have come from the Chamber of Shadows and questions about Volthoom's general existence. I personally don't have any problems with the new Guardians. They are a better match for a universe with an emotional spectrum. While the previous Guardians could have had their emotions returned to them (and they actually did), the atrocities that occurred due to their choices were going to come back to haunt them in time. It just happened sooner rather than later. Volthoom's existence does seem a bit "forced", but as the emotional spectrum has become more rooted and retconned into existence there really did need to be a reason as to why the Guardians saw them as problematic. The way Volthoom used them (or rather how it was hinted he did in the past) was definitely the cause for the Guardians being concerned about the emotional spectrum. Unfortunately the Guardians chose to abandon those emotions rather than find a way to work with them. The old Guardians definitely had a tendency to overreact in regards to perceived threats.

While the closing of Geoff John's run was extremely fast and not as smooth as it could have been, it still made the attempt to create a fairly defined line to end storylines, and I actually appreciate that. I've seen major storylines handed off from one writer to another and many times things become muddled. I'm not sure what the next era of the Green Lantern corner of the DCU will hold, but John's era running it has been something to remember. The next person overseeing it has a lot of work to do, and I'll be here to see what it's like.

 


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Review Copyright © 2013 Wally Flores Jr.

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