Book of Doom: Green Lantern #13

Welcome to the first edition of the LOD Book of Doom, featuring Green Lantern #13, written by Geoff Johns, art by Ivan Reis. It’s the continued adventures of Hal Jordan as he battles the cyborg Superman and a world of Manhunters. Hal is trying to save the other GLs that have been imprisoned by the Manhunters and used as living batteries, but the other GLs still think Hal is a villain. Also, Hal’s old flame Arisia isn’t dead anymore…

I have to start out by admitting that I haven’t read a Green Lantern story in years. I’ve never been a huge fan, though I’ve liked most the Lanterns except Kyle. But before Infinite Crisis, the most I’d read DC was in the aftermath of Superman’s Death, when Hank Henshaw (aka – Cyborg Superman) was introduced as a villain. For more on his background, check out his wikipedia entry.

In this issue, Johns uses all the tools that have made him one of my favorite writers: He hints at a mystery (referencing 52 quite abstractly), he includes old-fashioned big ass comic book battles, he shows a complete knowledge of the history of DC and uses it extensively and he has fun with cool characters. I went from having no interest in picking up a GL book to planning to follow this series for as long as Johns is writing it.

There’s definitely some confusion (especially to a GL novice like myself), and the end of the battle happens REALLY quickly, and Henshaw is supposed to be this fearsome villain but he gets blown up more often than Red Tornado, but everything else is fun, intriguing, just great comic book content. It made me feel like a kid again.

Perhaps the greatest moment comes with Guy finding out he has to serve a month of “prime duty,” which means guarding Superboy-Prime’s prison. We see the little blue men vaguely discussing Henshaw, Sector 3601 (where the Manhunter world was located), 52 AND how Superboy is somehow related to it all. What’s great is instead of just having Infinite Crisis as this huge event, then starting over and going in a new direction, Johns is keeping the mysteries coming and showing that regardless of the huge conclusion of that series, its events did not end. They are still impacting the DC Universe.

For a conflicting review, I turn things over to Fin Fang Doom:
Two words came to mind while reading Green Lantern this week: “late and “whaaaa?!?!?!?!?” This issue was certainly not for those of us who aren’t life-long (or at least 15-year-long) readers of the exploits of Hal Jordan. I had never seen any of those “dead” Lanterns other than Arisia, and I didn’t even know that she and Hal were an item. I had no idea Cyborg Superman was just some crazy guy with enhancements. I thought he was just an evil soul-less robot, which in my view is a much cooler villain. And I couldn’t stand that they kept calling him “Henshaw.” There must be something better they could call him (I don’t know, maybe Cyborg Superman?).

The “we don’t forgive you, but we respect you” exchange at the end between the un-dead GLs and Hal was so cliched it hurt. Showing Superboy-Prime again was cool, but will probably end up hurting his appearance next time he shows up. Just bringing up GL “Prime Duty” and letting the fans figure it out would have been much better. I did love the mention of “52” in the confines of the DCU, as it’s been a while. Of course, if this book had come out reasonably on time (which would have been before Superman Returns came out, judging by the ads), it would have came at the same time as all the other mentions in Supergirl & TLOSH and so forth, so in this case, lateness may have helped the story. Of course, if it had come out on time, I may not have forgotten everything from the previous issue and actually enjoyed the story. Coming out the same week as the much-better Green Lantern Corps certainly didn’t help any either.

Is it just me, or has the quality of Geoff Johns’ stories really taken a nose dive since Infinite Crisis ended?