By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Fernando Pasarin (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)
The Story: It would be embarrassing to lose a battle to yourself, wouldn’t it?
The Review: I might have said this before at some point—in fact, I’m sure I have—but when a comic basically boils down to all action and little plot, that gives a reviewer very little material to work with, no? You can’t very well analyze a battle sequence for deep meaning or symbolism, nor can you offer much more of an evaluation other than it’s simply good or bad, which is more of a reflection on the art than the story.
This issue is essentially all action, and little plot—or at least plot that makes much sense. As we get closer and closer to the final battle with the First Lantern, it becomes clearer that the central players are going to be Hal, Sinestro, and possibly Simon, while the rest of the Corps once again get relegated to important but minor back-up status. Guy and John will no doubt carry out some crucial task along the way, and their fans can take solace in that, but the fact that neither of them have every been the ultimate hero in a Green Lantern crossover speaks volumes about their actual place in that franchise.
If there is some major role they’re meant to be playing, they don’t have much time left to do it. The last couple issues have basically consisted of their torture by the hands of Volthoom,* and here they only begin to recover from that harrowing experience. In fact, I’d suggest that these last few issues have been Tomasi desperately stalling for time until the big confrontation with Volthoom can take place.
Nothing makes that more clear to me than the use of Mogo in this issue. As cool as it is for our planetary Lantern to show up and save everyone, it also feels distinctly like a sci-fi version of the deus ex machina, where the moment Mogo appears, all our problems are solved. It’s pretty hard to deny, especially on the heels of the Annual, where it* basically decimated the entire Third Army by itself. Here, it not only severs the connection between the entire Corps and Volthoom (quite a feat in itself), but it finds a rather roundabout way to revive and recharge its fellow corpsmen (and Yrra).
While the idea that somehow fighting their doppelgangers restored everyone’s will is suspect and a little ridiculous, it does lead to a fairly incredible sequence of one-on-one duels, which is just an excuse for Pasarin to show off in the short time he has left before his run on this title comes to a close. Everything you loved about his art is on display here: the great sense of choreography, his ability to manipulate dozens and dozens of characters at once so that they all have something impressive to do, the intensity of movement, and over it all, an eye for realism that makes the whole thing look convincing. It’s not deep storytelling, but it’s no less engaging in its own way. It also explains why Chriscross had to be brought on to fill in last month; there’s no way Pasarin could have drawn everything here with his usual degree of quality with the usual amount of time allotted for an issue. With all the varicolored doppelgangers in the issue, Eltaeb certainly has his work cut out for him.
Conclusion: Kudos to Pasarin for some terrific action, but otherwise the story feels distinctly like a throwaway, which is not the best way to lead up to a finale.
Grade: C
– Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: * And I still think Volthoom’s manipulation of reality in order to spur more emotion out of the characters is both pointless and ridiculous. It’s not so much reality-altering as your usual mind games.
* I figure since Mogo is apparently both a he and a she, the most efficient way to refer to our big Lantern is “it.” You know, as opposed to saying “he/she” all the time.