Green Lantern by Geoff Johns (New 52)

[Hardwick89ONE]

I too love Johns' run on GL, but i sometimes feel like in the last issue of any of his given story archs, he just glosses over story elements, pushes aside character motivations and magically (and all too easily) has to characters triumph over the enemy/situation in an unclear, illogical, not-so-clear kind of way. His set up is always great. World-building is what he's best at...but I'm starting to wonder if he's spreading himself too thin or just running out of ideas...?

 

[Hardwick89ONE]

Oh and I completely agree with the characterization/portrayal of the guardians. There's something "off" about it/them, which I'm not digging. However, I do totally buy their new goal/desire to extinguish free will throughout the universe--that, i think, is a logical jump for their unemotional/logical minds...and a pretty cool story idea. Just the way they're going about it doesn't work for me...yet.

 

[E]

I read Green Lantern #0 and am intrigued by the new Green Lantern. That might mostly be because he's based in Michigan but I thought the back story with the accidentally terrorism plot was at the very least interesting.

Isn't the ring that Baz received Hal's old ring, and basically a fake?

 

[Ultimate Houde]

I thought it was Sinestro's.

 

[E]

I thought it was Sinestro's.

I thought Sinestro created it using his own ring...?

 

[Ultimate Houde]

I think I'm confused.

Which doesn't surprise me.

 

[Friday]

I read Green Lantern #0 and am intrigued by the new Green Lantern. That might mostly be because he's based in Michigan but I thought the back story with the accidentally terrorism plot was at the very least interesting.

Isn't the ring that Baz received Hal's old ring, and basically a fake?

I'm not sure... I mean, yeah, its a fake, but it got suped up by the Indigo Tribe. Still, it shouldn't be a full fledged search a replacement out ring. I'm not sure if Baz got that one.

I thought it was Sinestro's.

But Sinestro shouldn't be the GL for sector 2418, he's one sector over, so his should pass on to someone else.

 

[E]

I think I'm confused.

Which doesn't surprise me.

I don't think it's that confusing, unless I'm missing something here. Hal was kicked out of the Corps and Sinestro decided he needed him so he made a ring himself and gave it to him. Hal died (sort of died?) and the ring he had - that Sinestro made and gave him - went out to search for a replacement and found Baz.

I'm not sure... I mean, yeah, its a fake, but it got suped up by the Indigo Tribe. Still, it shouldn't be a full fledged search a replacement out ring. I'm not sure if Baz got that one.

You'd think so. Maybe there's more to it.

But Sinestro shouldn't be the GL for sector 2418, he's one sector over, so his should pass on to someone else.

Yep exactly.

 

[Zombipanda]

.........

The new Muslim Green Lantern stole a van (who steals a van anyway?) that coincidentally happened to have a bomb in the back of it?

That's some subtle storytelling. In a time when being brown or talking with an accent can be enough to get you detained, it's very brave of DC to tell a story about racial profiling where the victim drives a bomb into a building.

 

[Seldes Katne]

I don't think it's that confusing, unless I'm missing something here. Hal was kicked out of the Corps and Sinestro decided he needed him so he made a ring himself and gave it to him. Hal died (sort of died?) and the ring he had - that Sinestro made and gave him - went out to search for a replacement and found Baz.

It looked as though the two rings merged before going off in search of a new Lantern. One of the theories I've seen around the 'Net is that the rings are now looking for replacements who have personalities similar to the previous owners'. The fact that this particular ring keeps emitting "Error" messages might account for the fact that it just went to the nearest available candidate instead of going to Sinestro's sector, where it should have been searching. Or it might have been influenced by the merging of Hal Jordan's ring.

 

[E]

It looked as though the two rings merged before going off in search of a new Lantern. One of the theories I've seen around the 'Net is that the rings are now looking for replacements who have personalities similar to the previous owners'. The fact that this particular ring keeps emitting "Error" messages might account for the fact that it just went to the nearest available candidate instead of going to Sinestro's sector, where it should have been searching. Or it might have been influenced by the merging of Hal Jordan's ring.

I'm having a hard time remembering a lot of what I'm reading in the New 52 books because none of them really seem to have a coherent direction they are going in and the GL books are probably the worst at this, so I think I missed the rings merging. Or I just didn't grasp what that meant. I'm not sure if this all warrants another read-through because I don't know if it's good enough.

I hadn't heard the similar personalities theory but it sounds feasible. It also sounds like it could be over thinking it because it is a copy and if it is merged with a real ring that could cause errors. Who knows what Sinestro might have programmed into a ring he created.

 

[Seldes Katne]

I'm having a hard time remembering a lot of what I'm reading in the New 52 books because none of them really seem to have a coherent direction they are going in and the GL books are probably the worst at this, so I think I missed the rings merging.

I enjoyed the first year on Green Lantern and GL: New Guardians, but I agree the sense of direction seems off now. I think I'm the only person reading this book who's not impressed with the newest Green Lantern, mainly because I think he's just made the Sector 2814 GL's an official cliché: all five (or six, if you count Alan Scott) are male, American, and from Earth. The implication is that the North American continent is the only inhabited part of the planet, and that Earth is the only inhabited planet in the sector, and women just flat-out aren't good enough to get a green ring. I get that a lot of people would rather read about human characters than aliens, although that seems odd to me in a title that literally features characters from all over the universe. But I think it's now been taken to ridiculous extremes. I'd have been more interested if the ring had gone to Simon Baz's sister.

New Guardians now seems really rushed -- Kyle Rayner is supposed to master all the Emotional Spectrum colors, and he's going to do each in a single issue. That seems a little unrealistic to me, although it's in part because he has to get this done before a certain point in the Third Army arc, so it's due more to an editorial mandate than because it's supposed to make sense.

 

[E]

I think I'm the only person reading this book who's not impressed with the newest Green Lantern, mainly because I think he's just made the Sector 2814 GL's an official cliché: all five (or six, if you count Alan Scott) are male, American, and from Earth. The implication is that the North American continent is the only inhabited part of the planet, and that Earth is the only inhabited planet in the sector, and women just flat-out aren't good enough to get a green ring.

Human Earth women, maybe...there are females in the Corps. But yeah, not many.

I'm not really impressed with the new GL either. It's an interesting direction I guess, or at least I'm interested to see where he takes it, but it's pretty flat.

 

[E]

The last few issues of the 3 main Green Lantern books have been a lot better. Green Lantern #18 in particular was markedly better than previous issues.

What I REALLY liked was the art for all of the scenes that take place in the Land of Death. The low light and facial features were all done perfectly.

The story was pretty good too. Baz enters to retrieve Hal but Sinestro escapes instead, leaving Hal.

I'm still not sure I get all of the split ring stuff but I guess it needs a re-read.

 

[E]

Did anyone read #20? It was Geoff Johns's last GL issue.

I know a lot of people don't care for what he did with GL but I really liked it. It basically got me reading DC; I don't think I was reading ANY DC whenI started GL (around the time of the Sinestro Corps War). I thought all of the stuff with the other Corps and the Black Lanterns was all brilliant, at least conceptually, and I really liked most of the stories.

The New 52 stuff was a little weaker but still solid and good. I wasn't crazy about Hal "dying" but all of the stuff in #20 made it worth it. It really was a good issue, brought a lot of things full circle, and set things up nicely for the future. The looks back at the lives of the various characters was well done.

I would definitely buy a Geoff Johns Green Lantern Omnibus, even though I have a lot of the collected editions from Rebirth up through Blackest Night.

I wonder how they would collect all of that, because there were a number of crossover stories he didn't write that still tied things together.

 

[Zombipanda]

Did anyone read #20? It was Geoff Johns's last GL issue.

I know a lot of people don't care for what he did with GL but I really liked it. It basically got me reading DC; I don't think I was reading ANY DC whenI started GL (around the time of the Sinestro Corps War). I thought all of the stuff with the other Corps and the Black Lanterns was all brilliant, at least conceptually, and I really liked most of the stories.

The New 52 stuff was a little weaker but still solid and good. I wasn't crazy about Hal "dying" but all of the stuff in #20 made it worth it. It really was a good issue, brought a lot of things full circle, and set things up nicely for the future. The looks back at the lives of the various characters was well done.

I would definitely buy a Geoff Johns Green Lantern Omnibus, even though I have a lot of the collected editions from Rebirth up through Blackest Night.

I wonder how they would collect all of that, because there were a number of crossover stories he didn't write that still tied things together.

Really? I like a lot of what Johns has done with the series but I thought this issue was a hot mess. The action felt like cluelessly watching some kids playing Magic: The Gathering. "I summon Parallax!" "Now I summon Nekron!" "We'll shoot all our lights up at Mogo and then he'll direct them down!" "ONOEZ! HIS POWER LEVEL IS OVER 9000!" It wasn't a story so much as it was Johns going "Hey y'all! Remember all those sometimes cool things that happened over the course of my run? Well let me remind you with no sense of closure!" Seriously, the issue was just another instance of a bunch of lanterns throwing things at a bland and forgettable villain, and then a brief retrospective that gave a very pat summary of "Where are they in the future?" for the main characters. I can only recall a couple things that stick out from the mediocrity for me. Sinestro

Spoiler

saving Sayd and Ganthet, while predictably telegraphed, seemed like a fitting finale to the Guardians

and Sinestro's "We'll always be friends bit" was cute, even if it felt a bit unearned and out of character.

I thought it was a miserable finale to a sometimes magnificent run.

 

[E]

I wish I had a better response other than "it just didn't seem anywhere near that bad to me" but it really didn't. "I summon Parallax!" "Now I summon Nekron!" - I guess I can kind of see that, but they were the biggest pieces on the biggest board. I don't think I could think of a better resolution...

 

[Nurhachi]

I'm in the same boat as you E. I hated DC before Geoff John's Green Lantern. Still catching up though. I'm only up to Blackest Night.

 

[E]

I'm in the same boat as you E. I hated DC before Geoff John's Green Lantern.

Well, I didn't hate it. I just didn't read any of it because I wasn't interested in it. The last thing I read of DC before his Green Lantern was probably...Death/Return of Superman maybe?