Green Lantern #26

By Robert Venditti and Billy Tan

Venditti’s run on Green Lantern has been an absolute treat. Hal hasn’t been this fascinating since Johns’ run was in its prime. It’s going to get even better too. You can tell that Venditti is setting up Hal for a massive fall.

Things are already looking pretty grim for Mr. Jordan. On Planet Dekann, Hal and Kilowog are up against Star Sapphire Nol-Anj and essentially the planet’s entire population. As powerful as these two guys can be, those are not great odds, especially if you’re trying to avoid civilian casualties.

What follows is Hal calling for backup and getting it in spades. The action in this issue is absolutely crazy. Hal creates a bar (with broken bottles and everything) to smash dudes’ faces with and eventually Mogo comes to play. Needless to say, the fighting tends to stop when a giant massive planet that’s a member of the GLC shows up. Venditti and Tan handled all of the action with a grace that many superhero comics lack.

As cool as Hal is, Venditti is focusing on some of his more negative traits. That’s fine, Hal is going to learn some very hard lessons and it’s going to be great to watch it all go down. There is also some clever political allegories at play that make this title more than a superhero book where the good guy punches the bad guy, although there’s plenty of that awesomeness too.

Billy Tan is back! This is a massive improvement from last issue. All of that sweet action mentioned above is beautifully rendered by Tan, especially the more interesting constructs created by Hal and company. Speaking of company, the amount of detail given to each and every Lantern is stunning. Everybody has their own distinct personality, even if they’re just standing around or fighting in the background.

I spend a massive chunk of my time on social media, promoting this title. It’s unbelievably magnificent. If you have ever been interested in superhero comics as a character study, then this is the book for you. If you just want to see Hal punch ugly aliens in the face, well….this book is still for you.