This all began long ago, during Ron Marz' chronicle of the slow but steady descent into madness by Green Lantern Hal Jordan. His beloved Coast City had been destroyed by the mad alien Mongul, and his bosses the Guardians were not to keen on Jordan's wish to rebuild it using the power of the ring. Jordan then went into space in an effort to get to Oa and take all of the power of the Central Battery into himself. He hurt many Corps members that the Guardians had placed in his way, including taking Boodika's hand, a Lantern he had personally recruited into the Corps. He left each one enough power to survive in the harshness of space before taking their rings because he had not gone that mad. He still refused to take lives. It wasn't until he reached Oa, when the Guardians placed Sinestro, the rogue Lantern and Jordan's arch-enemy, in his way, that Jordan snapped enough to snap Sinestro's neck. Killing someone, even if that someone is an evil, manipulative man that probably deserved it, makes it easier to kill again, especially when one is already unbalanced. So when Kilowog stepped in Jordan's way and told him there was no way he was going to let him take the power of the Central Battery while he was still alive, Jordan killed him too. He flash-fried his best friend. Then, with no one left, Jordan took the power of the Battery, killing all save one Guardian and heading off to parts unknown, his beloved Coast City, the reason for Jordan's jaunt into space, already forgotten in the depths of his madness.

This desecration of a beloved hero may have angered fans, and possibly with good reason, but it does not detract from the fact that this descent into madness was expertly written. Jordan started out only somewhat insane and then continued to fall as other things got in his way until he finally went all the way insane. The steps between wanting your home back and killing almost an entire race of sentient beings are very clear and easy to spot, and this ease is chilling in the sense that it could have happened to almost anybody.

Flash forward a few years, to Geoff Johns' much ballyhooed Green Lantern: Rebirth series that brought back the one and only Hal Jordan after his stints as Parallax, sun re-igniter, and the Spirit of Vengeance/Redemption. Johns did something I found blasphemous: he explained away Jordan's madness as an outside influence. An outside influence in the form of a yellow demon that had been trapped in the Central Battery by the name of Parallax. I found this to be blasphemous because I knew that Jordan would not have to deal with the severity of his actions. Most of the horrible things he had done while mad had already been fixed by Kyle Rayner: he repowered the Central Battery and resurrected the Guardians by giving up his Ion power, he rescued Kilowog from an alien Hell and therefore brought him back to life, and he attempted to restart the Corps on three separate occasions.

I told anyone who would listen that this was a cheap way out so that Hal Jordan could be brought back untarnished. And I was repeatedly told in response that no, this was not the case. Jordan would have to answer for his actions eventhough he had been posessed by an alien influence. The end of Rebirth came and went along with the three issues of the new ongoing and no mention had been made of his crimes (with the sole exception of Batman, who still ended up basically saying, "Yeah okay, go do good now"). But then, the end of the third issue contained a panel featuring all of the Lanterns Jordan had pummelled on his way to Oa, bound by the Manhunters' new leader and a blurb that simply read, "Next: Kilowog!" I was heard screaming from the battlements, "Rejoice! For now Johns will show us how great a writer he is by making Jordan answer for his crimes! Kilowog will surely make Jordan deal with what he has done."

The first thing Kilowog says to Jordan at the beginning of issue four is: "Welcome back to Oa, kid." I was confused. Perhaps Kilowog was being ironic or sarcastic and the next thing out of his mouth would be, "Now keep your friggin' distance, you poozer, because the last time we were up here together, you frickin' killed me." But no, instead, they continue to carry on as if one hadn't killed the other. Jordan speaks of the Guardians as he hadn't killed them all and were only now alive because of the efforts of his successor. Only a page later, Kilowog explains to Jordan that the new Corps will mostly be made up by new recruits. Jordan says, "They don't know who I am... they don't know what I was responsible for..." Kilowog's response? "The universe is a damn big place and in the grand scheme of things, you just ain't that important."

What!?

3600 people suddenly lost the ability to protect their sectors, countless worlds were suddenly without defenders because Jordan took it upon himself to basically commit genocide on one of the universe's most powerful and oldest races and he "just ain't that important?" Kilowog, your trip through the afterlife must have messed you up a little because the only other explanation for this blatant lie is that Geoff Johns isn't as great as we all think he is.

The only saving grace of this issue is Ethan van Sciver's return as artist. His depictions of how the rings work and the glowing of the Lanterns' emblems are all awesome. The scene depicting Kilowog and Jordan flying over a bunch of rings on their ways to prospective new Lanterns is breathtaking (if one can ignore the ridiculous dialogue). The prospective new Lanterns already on Oa are of such a varied type and motley collection, that it seems that maybe they are from 3600 different sectors. Van Sciver is the Green Lantern artist. So much so, that even Jesus Saiz on OMAC Project and Ivan Reis on Rann/Thanagar War ape the style when drawing Guy Gardener and Kyle Rayner, respectively.

There was some actual story in the rest of this issue besides the five pages I've spent this entire review talking about, but the horrible emanations that come from those five pages are so noxious and odious, that the rest of the issue is blanketed under a dark, billowy cloud and hidden completely from view. The only shining light is Sonar's comments on what Jordan had done, but Jordan quickly shuts him up with a big, green fist.

I guess this is how Jordan,and Johns by extension, will deal with this situation from now on.