(Variant Shown)

Green Lantern: Geoff Johns, Doug Mahnke, Christian Alamy, Keith Champagne, Mark Irwin, Tom Nguyen, Alex Sinclair, Sal Cipriano, Gary Frank, Brad Anderson

I decided to display Frank and Anderson’s variant cover to this issue because I just like it. Hal looks so much like the Hal I remember from when I was younger and reading comics. But…it’s funny…because the regular cover and the interior art is a point I definitely wanted to hit today.

This is probably the best of Doug Mahnke I’ve ever seen.

I know, shocking, right? I normally hate his style. But #9’s cover is spectacular. The interiors are also really wonderful. I don’t think I’ve ever been this impressed by Mahnke. Even better is the graphic nature of the art, the content. I was just all-around really blown away here (no pun intended - sorry, little Korugaran boy). Speaking of the bomb-child, that’s what I’m talking about. That whole opening sequence of when Sinestro took back his planet was breathtaking. Not only that, but the rest of the macabre stuff…like Starstorm being melted, and the dead Korugarans. Wow. Kind of surprised this book didn’t get a Teens+ rating.

But the true star of this issue is Alex Sinclair on colors. HOLY COW. The constructs look fantastic, and look at the Indigo cave, where Natromo waits — BEAUTIFUL!! And the last splash page of all the different Indigo members? It’s so vibrant and colorful! Everything having to do with color in this issue ROCKED. That’s important, I think, in a book that’s about a superhero who utilizes color as a weapon (so to speak). And I think Sinclair gets that.

So now to story. Don’t let the cover fool you. At all. Hal only encounters Black Hand once, and it’s more like an, “Oh, look, there he is” kind of moment. Poor use of a great cover, I feel. Because it’s not Black Hand’s madness GL’s drowning in…it’s the Tribe’s.

Now, about the Indigo Tribe…I like FINALLY getting to the origin. THAT’S where the money shot of this ish is, the truth to the origin. They’ve been such a mystery since they appeared in “Blackest Night” (which is mentioned here, thankfully), and I like that we get a hint at the rise of the Third Army here as well. I won’t spoil anything about the origin, except that Abin Sur was involved (in case anyone reading this actually HASN’T read GL #9 yet, and is as behind as I am).

Green Lantern #9, the verdict: I was growing concerned that this book was becoming stale. I mean, sure, it has its moments…but overall I just wasn’t thrilled. Green Lantern remains one of the titles in my pull file at my LCS that I just leave in there for a while instead of purchasing right away. I’m just not excited! But we know the book will never be canceled, so I think it’s kind of unfair that Johns never has to be worried about excellent content month after month. Instead, we’re given this really long, drawn-out story that comes and goes. I was hoping for more of GL on Earth stuff with the relaunch. Maybe soon, who knows? But, bottom line is, I’m excited again. This whole Third Army stuff is pretty intriguing, and I’m hoping DC’s not doing it just for the sake of throwing something different at us. I want more of the GL I know and love before my world is flipped over.

(Photo Source: IGN)