Review: Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #40

It seems that no matter how well you plan something, there is always a fly in the ointment to spoil your fun.Â Now, depening on your point of view, that fly may well be Zod and his binary sun soaked Kryptonian family who areÂ stopping Kyle and the gathering of Lanterns from rescuing Hal, or its Kyle and the pesky Lanterns stopping Zod from killing the aforementioned Jordan.Â Regardless of the side you pick, the respective flies cannot diminish how fun a read this issue is.

Basically, this book is the pre-climax issue, where the groundwork of the big showdown next issue is laid.Â Still like a baseball team that loses in the World Series, there are lots of little “big games” to contest.Â For the record, we have Kyle versus Zod, whislt various Lanterns take on the various Kryptonians.Â It’s a Royal Rumble of a contest, with winners andÂ losers mainly on one side.Â Until, a not totally unexpected combatant enters the fray in a totally unexpected way.

Robert Venditti has been working his magic on this book for some time now.Â I personally still prefer Green Lanterns, but that has more to do with the characters involved rather than Venditti’s writing.Â Here, surrounded by a familiar cast, things can feel a little a “been there, done that”.Â This issue kind of blows that away with the modus operandi being a clever inversion of how you think rings should behave.Â Venditti, also has the dialogue down perfect, in all the combatants, including having John Stewart stand up to the Guardians of the Universe.Â There is a also a minor parallel to a certain Justice League issue for poor Guy, that made me laugh.

The art is provided by Rafa Sandoval, whose work here is impressive, especially when you consider that cast he has to work with.Â Each character gets their time in the light, as minor battles interrupt the main event of Kyle versus Zod.Â The level of almost cinematography on show, as Sandoval moves the characters around is fantastically energetic and holds a level of cohesion that some bigger event type books have somehow missed.Â Accentuating Sandoval’s pencils is inker Jordi Tarragona who uses fine lines to make the characters pop against the background battles.Â If truth be told, the art does remind me of Tony Daniels in a lot of ways, which in partÂ I like, being as I am a Daniels fan, although I wouldn’t mind seeing Sandoval’s own style peek through more often.Â Colorist Tomeu Morey somehow manages to keep all the green under control, splitting it up with a dessert locale, to strike balance throughout the book.

I love the fact that Zod is becoming something of a major villain in the DC Universe, after stints in Suicide Squad and the Superman books.Â Venditti has clearly understood how a super-powered zealot would feel if his home was destroyed, and the high and mighty Lantern Corps did nothing to save it.Â For a book that I don’t read, featuring characters that I am not fond of, I was completely taken by surprise with how much I actually enjoyed this book.

Writing – 4.5 Stars
Art – 4 Stars
Colors 5 Stars

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Written by; Robert Venditti
ArtÂ by;Â Rafa Sandoval & Jordi Tarragona
Colors by; Tomeu Morey
Published by; DC Comics

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network