Green
Lantern: Rebirth #6
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Ethan Van Sciver and Prentiss Rollins
The
rocky ride of Green Lantern: Rebirth comes to its
thrilling climax this month with issue #6, and we can now
say that we have another great story in the GL canon. Great,
but not the best. Still, keeping in mind there aren’t
very many truly mind-boggling Green Lantern stories, that’s
nothing to scoff at.
Geoff Johns begins
his conclusion at that last painful moment where Batman
stubbornly refused to believe Hal Jordan isn’t evil.
At first, it seems like we’ll be spared this odd confrontation,
but Batman won’t let up after Jordan ignores him,
and Hal clocks him. Apparently, it’s Green Lantern
business, so Jade and Alan Scott cage the JLA to prevent
them from trying to help fight Parallax.
But THEN we get
one of those fanboy-tastic scenes where the five Green Lanterns
take on Parallax, each in his own special way: John using
his complexity, Guy sloppily firing raw willpower, Kilowog
blasting full force, Kyle surrounding his enemy with his
limitless imagination, and Hal focusing attacks with precision.
It’s
a group characterization that takes a little liberty with
continuity but resolves one of the greatest problems to
plague the franchise: how to make a group of heroes with
the exact same set of powers each seem unique and interesting.
And,
really, that’s what Green Lantern: Rebirth
has achieved. It has reinterpreted the saga of the Green
Lanterns and only subtly modified the history. Granted,
it’s a subtlety that has completely altered certain
aspects of the story, but it satisfies longtime fans while
exciting new ones.
While
the overall story is marred by a slow beginning and Johns’
idiotic obsession with making Batman look like a villainous
thug, it works. I still don’t know if the direction
being taken for the new Green Lantern is a good one (the
return of a certain giant-headed villain), but Geoff Johns
has opened his run with an exciting tale and, while Ethan
Van Sciver’s art was great, Carlos Pacheco’s
will probably be even better.
Rating:
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