I
am hoping there was a flaw with the PDF I received of this issue of Hal Jordan. The entire first page consisted
of nothing more than five long panels stacked atop one another, with 14 caption
boxes of Ganthet’s thoughts. For the cost of comic books today, and the amount
of padding stories often contain to make it into trade format, I expect better
from the art team. Especially when that team consists of four artists. Really?
Four professional illustrators and the opening page is five black boxes?
Needless to
say, this left a bad taste in my mouth. “Maybe the writing will be phenomenal,”
I hoped. I was disappointed. Continuing Ganthet’s internal monologue, he
describes the four human Green Lanterns on page 3 – and again on page 19. And I’m not sure, but those four panels on page
19 look like they were swiped from previous issues.
The story
focuses on the four GLs defeat of the Controllers. Hardly a spoiler, kids,
because we all knew they would win the battle. But it’s set the stage for –
well, that would be spoiling things. Let’s just say it not only bodes ill for
the Green Lantern Corps, but possibly all the DC Universe. Time will tell.
Overall,
this issue was a disappointment from the first page. Maybe if I read all the
chapters in one sitting, I’ll feel better about the story as a whole. But this
is the pitfall of reviewing serialized fiction – it’s difficult to assess the
entire project when it’s being fed to you in bite-sized pieces.
Rating:
3/10