Green Lantern Corps: Peter J. Tomasi, Fernando Pasarin, Scott Hanna, Gabe Eltaeb, Dave Sharpe

Wow, this was a fast read! It was paced perfectly, and it was full of edge-of-your-seat action! The Alpha Lanterns continue their ruthless campaign against Guy Gardner and John Stewart, taking out their frustrations on Kilowog and the others who helped rescue Stewart from the Sciencells.

Varix, one of the Alpha Lanterns, starts to have second thoughts about what the Alpha Lanterns are doing…the lengths they’re going to, and the rules they’re bending. Well, the feeling seems to be widespread, because soon everyone is disobeying the Alpha Lanterns. There’s a great moment of defiance from Salaak, one of the staunchest of the rule-followers in the Corps. I cheered for him at this part when I normally think of him as an annoyance, or comedy relief.

John and Guy go down to the Ring Foundry and find all of the designs and prototypes of all the failed machinations the Guardians built. The Manhunters, the Alpha Lanterns, and something called the Psions. I’m not familiar with these, actually. A part of the Green Lantern mythos of which I’m unaware, interesting. John gets an idea, and assembles a large group of animatronic warriors to fight against the Alpha Lanterns.

In the attempt to beat them back and overthrow the Alpha Lanterns, these machines start to mold together…and it results in a very intimidating splash page that’s beautifully done by Pasarin.

Meanwhile, the Guardians are just watching. They’ve become so disillusioned with their own Corps, the lives of these people that they’ve chosen to fight for them, that they don’t even care what happens to them. They’re all just pawns in their greater game. A means to an end. Well, they’re the thing that needs to “end” for the means to become real, the Third Army. Interesting that Guy and John didn’t find any clues to this Third Army in the tunnels of Oa. That’s definitely where I thought that sequence was going.

We do discover, in line with that, all of the new rings the Foundry is making aren’t leaving to find new recruits. In fact, they’re all stuck there in an unbreachable containment field.

The loyalty the other Lanterns display for Guy and John is really incredible, and it made my heart soar to watch them endure great pain for these GLs. It’s funny, the things the Alpha Lanterns are saying and doing to them…and the unanimous refusal to cooperate from the Corps members…is very similar to what John went through with the Keepers. And the Alphas don’t even realize what they’re doing. Boodikka in particular. How ironic that the Alphas are now in a position that could force the same kind of actions from a Lantern that John had to take. The hypocrisy of it all is staggering.

I normally say how amazing Pasarin’s artwork is…and it still is…but I want to take a moment to take my hat off to Gabe Eltaeb, the colorist. Do you realize how much freaking green is in this title? There’s green in almost every single panel. EVERY ONE. That’s hard to do without making the entire book bleed together into an ugly pile of boogers. I’ve seen Green Lantern constructs that looked like that, too, trust me (mainly from the Golden Age, but still). It’s not easy to make the look of a book up of just one color and still make the visuals interesting and, more importantly, striking. It’s got to be an image that stands out from the rest of the book, the other panels surrounding it. And while Pasarin does a great job of showcasing different things on each page, it’s Eltaeb who makes it easy to read and not an eyesore of green. Nice work.

Green Lantern Corps #11, the verdict: This is quite excellent. If this issue were a delicious alcoholic beverage, I wouldn’t sip at it gently because it’s too strong and it’d burn going down. It’s smooth, tasty, and easy to drink so that I can enjoy it thirstily. If it were a dessert treat, it would be enjoyable, sweet, probably green, and good to the last bite. Not something that you get three-quarters of the way through and decide you’ve had enough, or the taste is getting too strong, or it’s leaving a film in your mouth. No. Green Lantern Corps, and #11 specifically, is everything good about story, character, and art, wrapped in a neat, well-wrapped package. That’s green. I can’t get enough of this book. To me, it’s the best of the GL titles. No contest. Nice job.

(Photo Source: Newsarama)