Green Lantern #27 Review

Writer: Robert Venditti

Artist: Dale Eaglesham

Colorist: Jason Wright

HARSH REALITIES

“All is not well.”

Ever since Hal Jordan has taken command of the Green Lantern Corps things have no gone the way he probably would have liked. After Hal and Kilowog’s battle with the Dekann, the Lanterns try to see if they can finally start rebuilding their new home in peace. Nothing can go wrong with Hal watching over everyone…right?

The Ups: I believe since day one of Venditti’s run on Green Lantern, he has been building such a grand plot for the series that just keeps placing layer on layer of intense story until the moment it’s about to give an amazing payoff and that’s the direction I believe this issue is taking us in. While still recovering from the effects of the battle with Relic, Venditti keeps adding conflict after conflict never giving Hal and the rest of the Corps a break and with the way this issue ended it’s all about to get a lot worse. It definitely struck a nerve seeing the condition of Saint Walker, finally having to deal with the effects of losing his entire Corps at the hands of Relic shows a strong hopeful man broken. As sad as it is to see Saint Walker in that condition, it’s also very exciting because now I believe Venditti is building him up to have a major role in the upcoming arc (one can hope pun intended.) Eaglesham and Wright bring a lot of solid, detailed, and very colorful artwork throughout this issue, but they truly shine in the last few pages. Without spoiling anything, let’s just saying what happens is not pretty but the vision of the events and how amazingly detailed it is only made me that much more excited for the next upcoming arc.

The Downs: The only downside to this issues is that the plot seems to often job from one point to the next without much transition to set it up. While the pace is good, sometimes I have to reread some parts to process the jump within the story just to make sure I am understanding what’s going on.

Overall: A great way to start Green Lantern in the new year and Venditti is getting better with every issue. Next month starts the new arc on the double issue with the Red Lanterns and as long as the story keeps this pace and the art is on par with what Eaglesham and Wright brought us, then Green Lantern is going to be the series to watch for in 2014!

Grade 4 of 5