Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Green Lantern Corps #37
DC Comics
Tomasi, Gleason, Buchman & Nguyen
Green Lantern Corps hits a lot of plots in this issue. It’s another solid effort as it juggles a bunch of threads, some from this title and others from the parent Green Lantern title. The comic has some good battle scenes and some nice character development. There were a couple of odd points in the book, but for the most part the comic is a winner.
The issue opens with Sodam’s sacrifice. He essentially uses his Ion power to turn the red sun into a yellow sun. In the process he apparently kills himself and gives the people of Daxam similar powers as Superman. It’s an interesting exchange. I’m not convinced he’s dead, but the good news is with Blackest Night around the corner he may come back sooner rather than later.
Right after this scene the citizens of Daxam are ready for revenge on Mongul for invading their world. Instead, Sodam’s Green Lantern partner manages to rally them into an organized group that is ready for training and strategy. This part of the comic was so strange to me. This is a planet that hates aliens and now they have powers and they decide to follow an alien’s lead whom they just met? It just felt so unnatural that she would be able to unite everyone around her so quickly.
The next part of the issue that is very intriguing is the meeting of Saarek and Ash. They were both sent on missions to find the body of the Anti-Monitor. They both seem to have very grim talents involving revenge and death. They have something in common because Saarek can hear Ash’s dead wife’s voice in his head, while Ash kills lots of things in the name of his dead wife. This part of the comic really helped to showcase each of their personalities as it would seem they will both have big roles in Blackest Night.
The final part of the comic is the battle that is still raging on Oa. The Lanterns are still dealing with the prison breakout, in what seems to have been going on for many issues. The battle is actually pretty good as we get some isolated panels on some very familiar villains. The action is heavy in this part of the comic and this is where the art is at its best.
The artwork has some great moments, like in the huge spreads of the battles. There are plenty of nuggets in these very detailed scenes. I also enjoyed when one of the Sinestro Corps gets imbedded in the book of Oa like Superman’s villains in the Phantom Zone in Superman the Movie. However, there are portions of the comic that had a cartoon feel to it. I’m not sure how intentional this was, but in particular the scenes with the Guardian Scar barfing out the black tar. It just seemed like the images had too much of a comical cartoon look to them. The color array used in this comic was terrific. It’s a key to the story as a whole and it gets used well in this comic.
There is another small drawback with this issue and that’s how unfriendly it is for new users. The comic literally opens right in the middle of the action. There is little dialogue to let you in on any of the happenings on Daxam. A new reader would most likely be lost. That probably isn’t a good thing.
This comic was very good. I enjoyed the newer characters getting some panel time. I also liked the battle on Oa. There were some minor problems here and there but for this most part this link is another strong one in the chain. We are just so close to the Blackest Night story that all of these issues are essential reading.
3.5 out of 5 geek goggles
