Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Green Lantern Corps #45
DC Comics
Tomasi, Gleason, Buchman & Champagne
Green Lantern Corps takes a breather from Blackest Night in order to get Guy Gardner's red ring off of his hand in this issue. It's now very clear to me that the Blackest Night storyline has been stretched out much longer than it should have been as this is the last of the three core Blackest Night titles to throw out a filler issue in the middle of the big crossover. It's not to say it's a bad issue at all, but it's a story that could have occurred anywhere else in the post-Sinestro Corps War universe. It's a fine issue but it does pull out a couple of anti-climatic moments to solve some of the plot. It's not a great issue but it is a competent one.
Guy Gardner is a Red Lantern and his friends try different things to get the ring off of his hand. The interesting thing about this concept is that it is very similar to an entire arc in the Green Lantern title called Rage of the Red Lanterns. While that was an arc and this is only one issue, it still feels like this issue dragged on too long.
What ends up happening is that the Green Lanterns need to find a Blue Lantern to get the red out of Guy. This is a problem because none of the Blue Lanterns are around. This kind of speaks to another problem which is that this issue is almost completely removed from the war of light and Blackest Night. It literally feels like this issue could have fit in anywhere in the last twenty issues or so. Between this issue and the John Stewart Green Lantern issue it feels like these series (and Blackest Night) have been stretched further than the storyline really can support.
The issue ends with a very convenient escape hatch which opens up a different can of worms. I won't spoil the ending, but what the ending does is begs for the question to be asked as to why the Green Lanterns don't use "this" problem solving mechanism every time they have a difficult obstacle. It's a similar argument with why Earth needs so many heroes when they have someone as powerful and fast as Superman.
The artwork saves the issue. It's big, loud and colorful. Also, the art plays a huge role in the "This is Your Life" atmosphere that Guy is taken on. There are a couple of excellent spreads that act as a visual origin and character history for Gardner. It's a good visual story.
If you like Guy Gardner then this is a good issue for you. However, between the flat dialogue and the head-scratching diversion from the main story, this story isn't on the level of previous installments from this series. The art helps prop this one up but ultimately this is not an essential issue and really has little to do with Blackest Night and very little to do with the war of light.
2.5 out of 5 Geek Goggles
