GREEN LANTERN #50 (DC): This is a tough one for me. Doug Mahnke draws a hell of a comic, simultaneously channeling Brian Bolland, Pete Woods, and a little bit of Ivan Reis for the Blackest Night flavor. I really like his art, and in particular, the double page splashes in the center and end of this issue are killer. And Geoff Johns writing in his “action movie” mode, which is always a fun time. But… Well, there’s actually three “buts” here*.

The first is that this is far more Blackest Night #6.5 than Green Lantern #50, which is unfortunate. I’ve been loving how Johns has dovetailed the Green Lantern stories between issues of Blackest Night, planning out an arc for Hal Jordan than runs separately from the “main” series. And in particular how the GL stories have been more character based than the BN stories. So it’s a bit of a bummer to get a landmark issue that’s working more on one level (action!) than at least two (action and character!).

The second “but” is that, spoiler time, The Spectre has been taken over by a Black Lantern, and Hal Jordan’s immediate solution is to let Parallax, the evil entity that nearly destroyed the entire universe previously, free from his prison. There’s not even a ton of equivocation here. It’s like, to use the most awful example possible, if on the first day of World War II, America bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The reaction from the bewildered, horrified world would be, “Wait, what? You haven’t tried anything else yet.” Obviously I’m trivializing a sad day in world history by comparing it to a comic book, but given the import of Hal Jordan/Parallax to the DC Universe, I’d say it’s sort of the equivalent. I’m not going to say I have a million other solutions to the Spectre problem presented here, or that they should have stretched out this decision for a longer time than it took, but damn if it doesn’t come off as Hal Jordan kind of likes Parallax and was coming up with a lame excuse to see him again.

The third “but” is… Well, I actually kind of don’t want to say specifically what it is, in case Johns still has it up his sleeve. But years ago, when we first got that glimpse of Blackest Night at the end of The Sinestro Corps War, I smacked my forehead and said, “Of course! This means Johns can bring back [character], and finally bring to a crescendo the emotional arc of his entire run on Green Lantern.” And so far… That hasn’t happened. There’s still a few issues left, so I’m crossing my fingers and holding out hope, because if this character doesn’t come back, it’s a huge missed opportunity. It’s also, I understand, my own problem. It’s not up to me to dictate what Johns writes, and if he doesn’t do a story I want, just because I want it, doesn’t mean he’s wrong. It means I should get over it.

But, but, but… If he doesn’t at least have this moment, where [character] finally says… Something Hal Jordan has wanted to hear for a long time, at least since Green Lantern Rebirth, and mentioned several more times throughout the past 50 issues, it’s a real shame. I guess I’ll just have to stay tuned.

That all out of the way, though this issue is a little too two-fisted justice for my liking, there’s great art, fun fights, and ends with a cliff-hanger interesting enough that I’ll have to pick up the next issue. That’s probably an endorsement for this ish right there.

*Heh. Three butts.