By Van Jensen, Robert Venditti, Neil Edwards and Tom Derenick
The GL universe has become one of the more consistent parts of The New 52. In this issue, Venditti’s epic Green Lantern run continues; this time with the help of Van Jensen’s scripting. It’s not as solid as GL and GLC have been for the past 7-8 months, but there is enough juicy setup to keep us going.
This issue acts as a continuation of what has been happening in both Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps. The Lantern’s battle with the Durlans is heating up and the stakes could not be higher. Both teams are used prominently and used to maximum effect. Actually, most of the Lanterns get some really great moments. The weakness in the issue is the backstories. Every few pages, we are thrown out of the main plot and presented with a flashback for a GL and/or villain. Unfortunately, these parts are a tad dull and take you out of the main story, which happens to be the meat and potatoes.
The art duties are split between Neil Edwards and Tom Derenick. Neil Edwards pencils the main plot. While some panels look fine, character’s facial expressions are jarring. In one panel, Hal looks like he’s sad, when he should be happy. He’s also facing the opposite direction of the thing that is making him so joyful. Perhaps this was meant to be two separate panels, but that is not clear at all. Tom Derenick draws the flashbacks, which work much better. His work has a very “comic book sci-fi” tone and there is some impressive detail in many panels.
It’s odd how this issue worked out. The main plot is better than the flashbacks, but the flashback’s art is better than the main plot’s. These things happen, I suppose. In any case, things are still looking decent for the future of the Green Lantern franchise and Venditti/Jansen achieve this by completely wrecking our heroes’ lives. All is how it should be.
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