6/04/2011
The Story -
John Stewart has teleported himself and Kyle Rayner to Mogo's location as the largest member of the Green Lantern Corps continues to spew rings to recruit more members for Krona's army. Over ten thousand rings from Mogo's reserves have launched themselves to various sectors in search of a ring bearer and despite his best efforts John cannot contain them.
The two men plunge below the surface of Mogo with hopes that Kyle Rayner will be able to restore Mogo to normal, and as they approach Mogo's mind the living planet attempts to defend himself by conjuring an image of Katma Tui to slow John and Kyle down while some of the mind controlled Green Lanterns attack the two from behind.
Kyle manages to come to terms with how to use his new blue ring and begins to heal some of his fellow lanterns by removing the impurity from them. John and Kyle make it to Mogo's brain and Kyle summons a blue construct of Bzzd to try to bring Mogo around. It starts to work when past events complicate matters.
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| Kyle's Bzzd construct tries to turn the tide of the War |
Way back during Blackest Night in Green Lantern Corps #44 in January of 2010 we saw Mogo enter the fight to save Oa from the onslaught of Black Lanterns. Mogo used his gravitational pull to draw the Black Lanterns off from the surface of Oa and pull them deep into its own planetary core to burn. We find now that the this didn't come without its ramifications as Kyle and John discover the horrible truth that the black energy did not get purged when the Blackest Night ended, but it infected Mogo and is being set free.
While Kyle temporarily disabled and the rest of the possessed lantern bearing down on him, John Stewart makes the hard choices and comes to a fateful conclusion. Using the ability of the Indigo ring to absorb and use the power of the other colors of the emotional spectrum, John absorbs the power of the black and applies it to his Indigo sniper rifle. Against Kyle's protests John Stewart finds a position and pulls the trigger. With that the issue ends with the image of Mogo exploding from within as John's bullet kills the largest lantern who ever lived.
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| DC's "Holy Crap!" moment of the week brought to you by John Stewart. |
The Writing -
Whew, what an ending! Of the three Green Lantern issues that came out simultaneously this one sure packed the biggest punch as far as I'm concerned. Tony Bedard just nailed this issue with great pacing and I found that really helped when the issue reached its end and you could almost feel the urgency that compelled John to make the decision he did to sacrifice a comrade for the greater good and this will be something else that will haunt him for years if this remains part of continuity.
The Art -
Tyler Kirkham is my favorite artist on the Lantern books these days and I'm glad that he's sticking with the family after the big relaunch of the DC Universe in September, joining Tony Bedard on the new Green Lantern: The New Guardians title that will star Kyle Rayner and a cast of colors. I think my favorite bit of work in this issue, besides the conclusion, had to be the image of John Stewart, bearing the burden of his decision and feeling the weight of the world as Atlas with Mogo on his shoulders. It's an epic image that will stick in my mind for months to come.
What do I Think?
This issue rocked as far as I'm concerned. The ending certainly is a huge factor in my opinion of this issue, and while it is sad to see Mogo gone, I'm not one hundred sure he'll stay that way. But this issue had it all from action to moral dilemma. Five out of five lanterns for this one.
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