Green Lantern 56 Review ~ The Blog of OA

After several years of Hector Hammond popping up here and there, the big headed one moves to the forefront just as we begin to gear up towards next summer's big budget movie. That and a visit to Larfleeze's new digs leads to more delightful creepiness - oh, and we finally find out who the voice is in Hector's head that we've been witnessing for a while now.

Special shout out to Doug Mahnke's cover this month as well - the lazy eyed look for Hector is particularly weird as Hal tries to keep himself from being symbolically swallowed by Hammond. The variant cover by Art Germ is also spectacular featuring Saint Walker coveting the orange lantern, proclaiming "All will be MINE!" - if you can pick it up it's worth the extra money even though the Blue Lantern doesn't go anywhere near the power of avarice in this issue.

The Story -

At Belle Reve Prison Hector Hammond is pleasing himself with visions of him saving Carol Ferris, switching roles and power sets with Hal Jordan. The guards interrupt Hector's imaginings, protected by armor that prohibits Hammond from being able to get in their heads.

The voice that's been talking to Hammond is revealed to be our diminutive mystery figure (again, I'm calling Appa Ali Apsa here but I beginning to think otherwise), who has been slowly building a relationship with Hammond. Here he tells Hammond that the guards are no problem since he is close enough to assist Hammond in wreaking some revenge as he "evolves" some rats who physically attack the guards and sets Hector free to get what he really wants. And in Hammond's morose eyes we see reflections of the two most important people to Hammond - Hal and Carol.

Hammond's desires

The reason why I said I was beginning to lose some of my belief in the identity of our new antagonist lies with Hammond's escape and the beings ability to make the rats' heads appear to grow in size. That wasn't something that the "Mad Guardian" did before, although certainly he could have learned some new tricks in the years since we last saw him.

We cut to Hal Jordan in North Branch, Minnesota where he is learning about the activities of Larfleeze, who has taken residence there and started a robbery spree to satiate his need to have everything. A costume faux pas here as Hal's costume has somehow changed and the green across the front is now straight across rather than coming to a point. Not as major a mistake as white boots, but still, this is one of DC's best selling books and editorial should be catching this kind of thing.

Hal wonders the forest to discover the trees lit up like Christmas by the Orange Lantern constructs. They charge Hal and he creatively uses his ring to force feed the charging construct with so many green junk food constructs of his own that the greedy Orange Lanterns literally pops like an over inflated balloon.

...goes the orange weasel!

Hal turns to find a literal junk yard filled with all the junk that Larfleeze has stolen in his vain attempt to quench his never ending thirst to have it all. Hal finds Larfleeze writing at a desk. Larfleeze loves Earth due to the overwhelming sense of consumerism, saying "I've seen commercials!" Larfleeze tells Hal that he will no longer be stealing anything because of "the gift giver who resides within your icy lands."

This then is the set up for the upcoming Larfleeze Christmas Special that Geoff Johns has mentioned as recently as the San Diego Comic-Con, where the Orange Lantern will go in search of jolly old Saint Nick. Hal tries to tell Larfleeze that there is no such thing, but Larfleeze of course is convinced by the overwhelming evidence that Santa Claus is real and Hal is just trying to prevent him from getting everything he's ever wanted.

Hal begins to explain the need to protect the entity of avarice, Ophidian the Tempter, from being kidnapped as Ion and Parallax have. Just as Hal is about to get information from Larfleeze on how Ophidian was trapped in the lantern, Hector Hammond shows up, and he's far more interested in learning how to free the entity. Hal fights in vain as Hector is able to probe Larfleeze for the information he needs so that he can gain the power that he believes will change him and allow Hammond to get Carol Ferris.

Cut to Nanda Parbat where the Question and Saint Walker perform final rights for Charles Szasz. Walker lives up to his ring by showing Renee Montoya that she needs to properly grieve for her fallen namesake, giving her some hope for her own future. Adara, the entity of hope, circles overhead, signifying that Earth has been blessed.

Hope springs eternal

He's a Super Freak, Super Freak!

We jump back to Minnesota where Hector Hammond has overwhelmed Larfleeze and Hal Jordan and manages to swallow the orange lantern and allowing Ophidian to possess him. Flashes of the locations of the other entities pop through Hector's head before Hammond, looking really nasty with his new found power, tells Larfleeze that it is time for Ophidian to get even with Larfleeze.

The Art -

For the most part I'm still really happy with Doug Mahnke's work since taking over from Ivan Reis, but the slips like we saw here with Hal's costume just shouldn't be happening in a high profile book by the title's regular artist even if it's one of his first ten issues. And there are places where the Green Lantern emblem looks too small. So while the book as a whole still looks good, the inconsistency takes it down a notch to me.

The Writing -

How can anyone complain about keeping up the pace of a title like this after Blackest Night? Geoff Johns continues to keep readers interested by weaving new patches to the tapestry of the Green Lantern mythos while still adding levity where needed and keeping his cards pretty close to his vest. If I had to criticize anything it would be the way that the Nanda Parbat scene interrupted the flow and pacing of the build up to Hector bonding with Ophidian. There's this frantic battle to protect the entity of avarice as Larfleeze and Hal battle Hammond, and then - boom - we're jarred with the touchy/feely Saint Walker and Renee Montoya - then, boom we're back to the action. This scene is important for some reason, I mean Johns doesn't take a dump without a plan, but the placing of the scene in the issue broke the pacing a little too much for my own tastes.

What do I Think?

I know I'm biased, how can I own this site and not be? I love this book! I'm still at the place in my life, even after reading comics for almost forty years, where I can't wait to get home to read Green Lantern. I have to sit in my car in the parking lot with this one and read it then and there. That's either a testament to my geekhood, the quality of the book, or both! While the story it still great, I'm giving it three lanterns due to the art inconsistency.