At last, I have in my hands not one, but two episodes of the first of the summer's big crossovers. Not a preview, or a prologue, but two actual parts of a whole that not only set aside my worries that this 'war' will be both pointless and designed to appeal mainly to the curious newcomers attracted by the pre-release hype for this Summer's 'Green Lantern' film, but also(finally)portray what Krona's quest with the Entities is all about, and show how Earth's Green Lanterns will find themselves set up against one another at a pivotal point in DCU history.
Some people don't care for Geoff Johns' revisionist approach to storytelling, and prefer to ponder for themselves the mysteries of the DCU he tries so hard to explain and skilfully incorporate into long term storylines, not me though. I love explanations of such bizarre DC anomalies as the GL rings' yellow impurity(here unexpectedly restored, as Parallax once again inhabits the Oan Power Battery), why there are so many incarnations of the Legion, and the fact that Rip Hunter is actually the son of Booster Gold, etc. If nothing else, it definitely proves beyond all doubt the guy loves the universe and character's as much as anyone. Of course, I kind of understand the desire to leave certain aspects unexplained and therefore more mysterious. The knowledge that ALL the Guardians once had names and that the Manhunters' genocidal 'malfunction' actually had some purpose behind it works for me, though. At least someone has had a real go at explaining these questions, some of which have bothered me since childhood.
Green Lantern #64 is all about the set ups: seconds after sending half the Corps to arrest Hal Jordan, Krona gets busy making Scar and Nekron's imprisonment of the Guardians in last year's Blackest Night look like a walk in the park, by using them as hosts for the Entities, once again proving that millennia of emotionless logic, borderline fascism and wilful amnesia cannot end well. Sinestro, the sly dog, seems to know a lot about the white light and the book of the black, and it wouldn't surprise me at all to see him attempt to usurp Krona, rather than help destroy what the reborn cosmic nutter has been busy setting in place throughout BD. After all, Sinestro not only was privy to a lot of Abin Sur's findings, but was also the White Lantern for as long a time as it would take to find out plenty about what's really happening here. Also, his newly reforged alliance with the Weaponer is based on a new-found ability to manipulate the White Energy. Yeah, that bugger's up to summat, alright ; he was too quick to jump into the book of the black with the other new Guardians,not only leaving all of the rings behind, but even convincing the one member of the group who had beaten him countless times he'd be better off elsewhere for now. The biggest question for me at the moment is how will all this dovetail into "Flashpoint",and what will the alternate universe Abin Sur's part be?(Actually, I'm more interested in seeing if the Batman of Wayne casinos is Simon Hurt/Thomas Wayne, since I called it the second I saw those teasers, but thats another blog altogether!)Green Lantern Corps 58 brings us up to date with Ganthet and co, who are busy with the in-fighting even before a bout of Parallax possession reveals what John Stewart and Kyle Rayner really think of each other, apparently once and for all altering their relationship. In Infestation Veritas, it seems. As ever, the events in this book don't feel as relevant as in GL proper, but there's still plenty for the die hard fanboys like me. Old Ganthet really has been through the mill of late; losing his lady friend to Larfleeze, suffering demotion from Guardian of his own crew to Green Lantern Honor Guard and ending up Atrocitus' bloodacid spewing bitch. This week he even loses a hand, something he could relate to Aquaman about, except Aquaman has either died, been transported 'somewhere'(either to do with the White Lantern, alternate universes, or both), or has simply gone on into the world of Flashpoint ahead of the rest of the DCU.
Any way, if you've even half a clue of the characters and concepts I've been talking about here, and know a fair bit about what's been going on, then you could do a lot worse than buy these two books, as I think they are building up into something that'll be as much fun and worthy as any of DC comics' other output over the last few years. However, if you're just a casual one comic a month reader or are simply passing time in anticipation of the GL film, you'll probably spend more time looking up reference points off nutty blogs on the internet than you will enjoying the story.
At the age of 34, I'm wondering if I've finally lost enough braincells to fully accept and thoroughly enjoy these hyped up events in my comics, or has the companies grasp finally got in synch with their reach with this stuff? I don't know, but whatever happens I'll be reading all I can just the same.
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