Green Lantern 52 Review ~ The Blog of OA

The last Blackest Night bannered issue of Green Lantern was released this week, and there's plenty of Internet buzz about some of Geoff Johns' cosmic revelations. To be sure, Johns has painted the origins of the universe is some pretty broad strokes that have fans either loving it or labelling it blasphemous. So what's the hub-bub about?

Like last week's Green Lantern Corps, this issue is somewhat of a placeholder, not advancing the plot so much as revealing the as-yet unrevealed information about the cosmic order of things and providing some action sequences to keep the issue chugging along. In fact things are pretty much the same at the end of the book as they are on the first page minus a few casualties. But it's the revelations here that highlight the issue and set the stage for stories yet to come and perhaps motivate us to contemplate on the nature of the universe and how all our various mythologies and religions could be viewed through a pseudo science lens.

The issue starts out with John Stewart and the Green Lantern Corps miles above Coast City still dealing with the throngs of Black Lanterns and Xanshi while Hal looks on as the newly christened White Lantern Sinestro deals out the damage to the Black Lanterns on Earth. Just a comment on Sinestro's new look - is there a reason that the handle bar mustache and the mask are back? He hasn't had that look in years and the only thing I can come up with is that, in his subconscious, Sinestro compares his role as a White Lantern to his glory days in the Green Lantern Corps and so his appearance is shaped by his id's desire to be looked upon as what he once was - the greatest of the Green Lanterns.

Sinestro's insights into the white light reveal a lot of information about how the entity settled on Earth, spontaneously spurring the creation of life in the oceans. A being wills itself to move and sparks its own evolution into Ion - much like I thought it might. Following suit are the other entities with a bug evolving into Parallax.

The next part is what has some fans up in arms, even being labeled a "retcon of the bible" on one message board. We see love bloom and the Predator entity form and then shortly after a snake portrayed as the entity of Avarice, "a creature eats what it does not need." There's certainly some allusions here to the biblical Adam and Eve and the snake, who Doug Mankhe draws coiled on the branches of an apple tree. Likewise parallels are drawn between rage inspiring murder between Cain and Able. Hope is drawn from prayer made during rain storms, perhaps alluding to Noah and "at last, compassion is offered to us all" certainly could be connected to the death of Jesus on the cross.

While none of these allusions is directly made they are left for the reader to determine what they mean to them. It is certainly not a stretch for Christian followers to make those connections as you can see, but for those who don't follow religion it is just as easy to see no connections at all if one chooses not to. Not being a theologian myself I'm not certain there are any biblical events that tie themselves to the origins of Ion or Parallax at all, nor do I know if any of the imagery provided links to other religious or mythological origins of life on Earth.

What's most interesting to me as someone who is not entirely sure what I believe in is that what Johns' is doing by layering the pseudo scientific concepts of the emotional spectrum on top of creationism and Darwinism is that he kinds of shows how both belief systems complement each other in a way. I think that makes some people uptight and certainly those who are adamant that their belief system must be the only way will find problems with the heady concepts that Johns is toying with.

Sinestro and the seven emotional entities

The two page spread that follows should be a poster. Here is Sinestro, surrounded by the emotional entities simply stating, "we live." The choice of the creatures is fascinating as many of them represent the kinds of creatures that might have been worshipped by various cultures long before Christianity took hold, albeit that Parallax and the Predator don't really look any anything I've ever seen before. And how a squid like creature represents compassion I don't know, nor is the Predator anything that would ever make you think he represents love. But they are intriguing to say the least and there certainly is fertile ground established to explore their meanings down the road.

Nekron attacks Sinestro and causes what appears to be a mortal wound, and once again all seems lost. Xanshi's orbital approach begins to cause massive upheaval around the globe caused by the interference of both planets' gravitational fields clashing with each other. Xanshi fires a massive energy bolt into the ocean causing a massive tidal wave that crashes down upon Coast City. Hal manages to contain the wave before it causes too much damage before being overwhelmed by Black Lanterns.

Hal on the brink of certain doom

Xanshi's technicolor destruction

Hal calls on John Stewart to rally the troops to stop Xanshi before it can inflict even more damage. John once again faces Katma Tui and as Black Hand and the Black Lanterns come ever much closer to killing Jordan, John Stewart's strike force destroys Xanshi from within. Xanshi explodes in a brilliant explosion of color and nice one page splash. Xanshi's fate causes pain in Nekron and Black Hand as a whole lot of Black Lantern rings lose their connection and Hal is saved.

As the fractured remains of the destroyed planet rain down on Coast City, every hero works as a unit to shield the city from destruction, all the while Sinestro literally pulls himself back together. Once whole again, Sinestro proclaims that he is "the true Guardian of the Universe" and our issue fades to black.

There are probably more splash pages here than in any single issue of a comic I think I've ever read. But putting things into perspective I guess that's fine considering that this is the next to the last issue of a massive event. The story is epic and so the artwork is as well, with Doug Mahnke really doing a wonderful job.

I'm not bothered at all by the big picture that Geoff Johns is painting with this story. I'm very open minded about the subject and I don't find this to be a huge stretch of the imagination, in fact I find a certain logic to it that's appealing to me. Comics can be modern mythology and I think that Blackest Night is a fine example of how we can continue to probe and examine the greatest of all mysteries without alienating everyone but those who have the most unyielding of beliefs.

For example, for those who believe in creationism can easily view the white light entity as the divine instrument that God used to forge life on Earth - the method that God used to create everything springing forth from a seed which he planted here. For those of Darwinism school of thought the white entity could simply the spark which caused life to evolve. It's all there if you choose to evaluate how literally you take your faith. Johns certainly isn't saying that is how life evolved here, but he uses his concept of how live evolved in the DCU as a way for us to examine our own belief system. So I have to give him credit for the ballsy move and appreciate his creativity.

I do however have some criticism about the execution of the issue. The dialogue is a bit clumsy at times, especially when John Stewart confronts Katma Tui (again) and we get a regurgitation of how John has gotten passed his past. And apparently "aaaieee!!" is THE sound effect for pain these days. The New Guardians and their deputies are relegated to the background and the Black Lantern Justice League is no where to be seen at all this issue. And the covers to both the regular and variant issues would have been much better sans the word balloons.

But perhaps what I'm most disappointed about, not by this single issue though, is a wasted opportunity. We've seen Kyle confront the death of Alex DeWitt in GLC #46 and Guy Gardner deal with the abuses of his past in GLC #45. This issue is not the first, but the second time that John Stewart has confronted his Katma Tui and Xanshi demons, with the first being three issues back in GL #49. But what about Hal Jordan?

Sure Hal forced Parallax to merge with him so that he could take on the Spectre in GL#50, but he didn't fight his own way at all, he only triumphed in his willingness to sacrifice himself for the greater good, but he failed to overcome that demon on his own. An the biggest missed opportunity was the chance we had for Hal to be confronted head on by the death of Martin Jordan and Hal's desire to know his father's last words. How awesome it would have been for a Black Lantern Martin Jordan to confront Hal, taunting him with the false version of history. Or a Black Lantern Jessica Jordan scolding Hal for all the things he did that drove them apart. Just as the other three Earth based lanterns got that moment so should Hal. Yes, there's still Blackest Night #8 left but I have a feeling that the final issue in the event will be focused solely on wrapping up the story and setting the stage for "Brightest" Day. And we're pretty much passed the point of adding any more new twists to the story at this stage.

While that doesn't affect my view of this issue, it does color my opinion a bit on Blackest Night as a whole. But this issue earns a solid four lanterns.