It was only a matter of time before the Green Lanterns series would have to make some sort of connection with the greater Green Lantern universe and in Green Lanterns #22 readers ride along with Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz as they journey to Mogo.

 

Right away Jessica Cruz has issues with the notion of space travel, stopping short her trip to Mogo and leaving herself in a position where she has no idea where she is or how to make her way back home.  There’s a major flaw in the script as writer Sam Humphries refers to Earth being in Sector 2184 instead of the correct 2814.  At first I thought it was a lettering error that slipped by the editors, but in seeing how Humphries crafts the dialogue when the ring tells Jessica how far from home she is the math indicates it was what he called for.  I get that Humphries came to the series not well versed in the Lantern universe but at this point simple things like what sector his titular characters inhabit is hard to excuse – and harder yet to excuse the editors who didn’t catch it, either.

I’ve got to get this off my chest as well – doesn’t anyone at DC remember the Templar Guardians?  This issue Ganthet claims that he and Sayd are all that are left – but there are more of them out there somewhere!

 From a pacing perspective the arrival of Kyle Rayner appears to come from nowhere.  We find out later than Simon sent Kyle to bring his partner in, allowing Baz to commiserate with Kilowog about his exploits on Earth.  Jessica’s experience is what one might expect, full of wonder and “gosh wow” moments.  When Jessica learns that she must give up her lantern logo until she receives proper training she has a melt down of major proportions.  Between her ranting and claiming to have been asking for training (when?) the whole sequence left a bad taste in my mouth.

But the bigger problem I have with the issue comes from the characterization of John Stewart.  While John may think of Hal Jordan as a loose cannon he’s far too much of a professional to make a disparaging remark like that in front of two junior corpsmen.  That’s bad leadership 101 and makes John look unworthy of the position he’s in.

The arrival of Rami/Volthoom provides the only interesting moments of this issue as he at first thinks his cover is blown only to be taken in by Ganthet and Sayd.  Neither Guardians see through the facade and Ganthet ends up ready and willing to provide Volthoom with Rami’s notes on the creation of the power ring.  Given one of the images from Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #13 showed an plethora of Volthoom style power rings it’s a fair assumption to think that Volthoom is going to use the knowledge to make his own rings in the issues to come.

The art team does a pretty good job this issue, particularly in portraying the wonder of seeing all the various Green Lanterns flying about on Mogo.  There are several cases of “white boot syndrome” but all in all the issue looks fine.

Green Lanterns #22 isn’t a must read by any stretch of the imagination.  Other than one minor plot point nothing happens and there are several things which should rub Green Lanterns fans the wrong way.  Five out of ten lanterns.