I was pretty hard on last month’s zero issue of Green Lantern and the retelling of Guy Gardner’s background in the new continuity.  However one important plot point from that issue carries over into Green Lantern #13 as a threat from Guy’s past is used against him by the Guardians.  Plus the Third Army claims their first member of the Corps.

In the far reaches of space a group of miners find themselves victims of the Third Army as they are gruesomely assimilated into the collective while on Oa the Guardians unleash Xar, the alien that killed several Green Lantern trainees in the zero issue until Guy took him down.  By the looks of things that didn’t sit well with Xar and his new found freedom will most certainly result in a rematch.

Meanwhile on the surface of Oa Guy is being setup honored by the Guardians with the official ceremony naming him Lantern Sentinel, but not all the members of the Corps are happy about it.  But when the speeches are over Guy is put in charge a team to perform escort duty for ambassadors from two warring cultures.  Guy of course chooses John to be on the team, but Stewart is summoned by the Guardians and cannot join them.  

Not everyone is happy that Guy is getting some recognition.

John is informed that pieces of Mogo seem to be assembling themselves and they felt that John should investigate and help Mogo in putting his pieces back together, a task John is more than happy to take on.  While Guy and his team are playing escort Voz informs Guy that Xar has escaped and Guy defies the Guardians to leave his duty with half the team so he can fly to Earth and protect his family.

With Guy following the path the Guardians fully expected him to, Xar is ordered by the Guardians to attack the delegations and leave no one alive, including the Corps members Guy left in place.  This will no doubt lead to Guy’s quick downfall as both warring sides will surely call for Gardner’s head once they learn of the slaughter.  

As Guy and his group approaches Saturn they are attacked by the Third Army and as the issue comes to a close Vandor is assimilated into the Third Army collective in a most brutal fashion.

Is Mogo really returning, or is this another plan to try to get rid of John Stewart.

The Writing –

Tomasi commented at the New York Comic Con Green Lantern panel that he chose Vandor to be the first lantern to fall mainly because he felt the scene wouldn’t have had the impact to the reader had it just been a generic character.  With Vandor given some significant panel time over the last year Tomasi’s choice was a good one and I definitely felt a sense of loss as he feel to the Third Army.  His assimilation strikes several chords and drives home the feeling that this threat is arguably more great than anything we’ve seen in the Green Lantern universe before.  And I don’t know if using the title Green Lantern Sentinel was a nod to Alan Scott’s brief stint calling himself Sentinel or not.

While I’ve been thinking that John’s mission is another ploy to cull an Earth lantern from the herd, Tomasi did comment that fans would see something more on Mogo in the next issue of the title, so perhaps there’s really something to that plot, but the idea of using John’s nobility against him certainly falls in line with the Guardians’ modus operandi of late.  Either way I like that Tomasi continues to make use of defining moments from the past to build upon.

Vandor pays the ultimate price for his service

The one thing that I was kind of left scratching my head about though was how John got off the hook after the Alpha Lanterns were dispatched with.  Regardless of their actions John was still found guilty and it seems like it would have been easy for the Guardians to have used that to get rid of John, but I can see that doing so might cause a critical eye to be put on them by the Corps.  Since that’s not something they really want at this juncture it’s probably best that they swept it under the rug and blamed on the Alphas.

The Art –
Cafu jumps on board for this issue and does a great job in particular on the scenes when the Third Army attack in the opening and closing of the issue.  Some of the face work on Guy Gardner and John Stewart was a little underwhelming in places, but all in all the art looks good.

What Do I Think?
Green Lantern Corps #13 is a solid issue that brings the Third Army threat into the limelight at the cost of one of the book’s supporting characters.  With this new threat unleashed I’ve got a feeling that Vandor is just one of many tragic losses the Corps are going to be faced with as this story looks to be another defining event in the history of Green Lantern.  Four out of five lanterns.

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