Red Lantern Supergirl debuts and St. Walker goes in search of his mojo
I was going to hold off on reading the special Green Lantern / Red Lanterns #28 flip book because DC poorly timed their release dates and the first part of Red Daughter of Krypton won’t see print until February 19th’s Supergirl #28, but doing so means not reading Green Lantern Corps #28 either and, well, even though I’d like to think that I could be a Green Lantern my willpower isn’t that strong! Having not followed the new 52 exploits of Supergirl I’m not sure how she came to be in the possession of a Red Lantern power ring, but by the interviews with Tony Bedard and Charles Soule is sounds like Lobo has found a way to exploit Kara’s emotional state and, for now, she has become perhaps the most powerful character in the DC universe.
Before I begin reviewing Green Lantern #28 I have to take moment to comment on how brilliant it was for DC to agree to give readers a double dose of the comics without raising the price above that of a single issue. It’s a great marketing device to get readers who might only read one of the titles to try out the other, and for people who already read both they have one less issue to buy unless they end up buying two to keep their longboxes completely accurate. DC really should consider doing it more often to help promote books that might need an extra lift whether the stories in the two books intersect or not. In this case they do simply because Robert Venditti and Charles Soule worked closely together on how the agreement between Hal Jordan and Guy Gardner would pan out and these issues provided a great crossing point. In fact the whole flip book idea was pitched to DC by Venditti.
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| Teenage Kryptonian + Red Lantern ring = one pissed off super threat |
Issue twenty eight leapfrogs over the events in Supergirl #28 and regardless of the reason the Kryptonian has somehow been chosen by one of the rings that Atrocitus sent out in Red Lanterns #21 and she encounters Lok and Barreer as they race to aid fellow Green Lanterns that may need help in the wake of the attacks on all of the sector houses. Kara exhausts herself as she attacks the two Green Lanterns due to her recent indoctrination into the Red Lanterns and the two take her back to Mogo to be locked up.
On Mogo the villains turned short term allies of the Green Lanterns are sworn in as best as Hal can come up with an oath of allegiance for them. The notion that the Durlans could very well be walking among them has the Green Lanterns on edge and the internal tension is played up nicely. But when Kara arrives and causes mayhem the issue moves into second gear. The high point of the issue for me was seeing Saint Walker once again despite his mental state at the moment. For someone who hasn’t watched Green Lantern: The Animated Series Robert Venditti creates some great dialogue for Walker and Mogo that are reminiscent of the show. Venditti also has a great grasp on Walker’s voice and his interaction with Hal when he comes seeking help for Kara recaptured for me the wonderful Shaolin Monk quality of the character.
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| Saint Walker remains one of Geoff Johns’ greatest creations |
The issue wraps up with Hal taking a small contingent of Green Lanterns to Ysmault in hopes that Guy will know what to do with Kara and finding that the Red Lanterns have rolled out the unwelcome mat. That leads to the flipping point of the book where the story continues in Red Lanterns #28.
For the most part the art on this issue is good, although I feel like Billy Tan has yet to get a real handle on Hal Jordan, who seems less muscular and younger than he should as does John Stewart. There’s also a lack of attention to detail on simple things like the collar on Hal’s uniform which flips back and forth between a straight up mandarin collar to the cutout version.
At the end of the day Green Lantern #28 is a well rounded if average issue that serves to move along the over-arcing narrative while effectively introducing Supergirl’s new status quo and handing the story over to Charles Soule where it will have a more permanent residence while Kara goes through her journey as a Red Lantern. Three out of five lanterns.
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