paschott's review
3.0
Green Lantern Volume 2: Revenge of the Black Hand by Geoff Johns is part of the “New 52” series of comics by DC. This actually picks up issues 7-12 of Green Lantern and Green Lantern Annual #1 from the “New 52” series. This series was DC’s reboot of their universe, starting some characters over, introducing new ones, changing existing characters, and trying to introduce new readers to the series without having to follow all of the back-stories and changes from the prior storylines. With that said, there are still some things that carry over from the old series – in this case the idea of the Black Lanterns, Blue Lanterns, and other color Lantern corps.
This volume picks up with Sinestro (a long-time villain, sometimes hero, in the G.L. universe) visiting Hal Jordan (probably the most famous Green Lantern) at his home to enlist Jordan on a quest to prevent the Guardians from eliminating the Green Lanterns. Sinestro uses his usual methods (fear) to get Jordan’s attention, but eventually Jordan agrees to travel with him.
We are introduced to the “Indigo Lanterns”, whose main attribute seems to be “compassion”. They were apparently formed partly to stop a great evil from conquering the universe, the Guardians who are behind the Green Lantern Corps. Sinestro is taken over by the Indigo tribe and only released when Hal Jordan promises that there’s a way for him to find redemption without the Indigo tribe. The tribe also releases and calls a man who will be a Black Lantern, bringing death and destruction.
There are quite a few scenes that follow, leading to the Guardians releasing the first Lantern and starting their “final descent into madness”. Of course, that’s leading to the next issues of Green Lantern and the related titles by DC. If you want to see where the story is leading and how it ends, I’d recommend following the series through DC Comics.
My thoughts: If you’re a fan of the Green Lantern series and have followed the storyline in the “New 52” universe, you’ve probably already read the comics that make this book. If not, I’d have to recommend at least reading issues 1-6 before tackling this. As a long-time Green Lantern fan, I’ll admit to being a little lost just picking this up and starting from here. I know enough of the backstory to not be completely lost, but not enough to avoid that completely. I don’t think this will be a problem for the main target audience, but definitely know the story before reading this volume. I’m also not a huge fan of the “Black Lantern” storyline overall so this wouldn’t be counted as among my favorite GL stories.
Disclaimer: I was provided with a preview copy of this book by the publisher with no expectations on their part. I was not compensated in any way for this review. The opinions expressed are my own.
This volume picks up with Sinestro (a long-time villain, sometimes hero, in the G.L. universe) visiting Hal Jordan (probably the most famous Green Lantern) at his home to enlist Jordan on a quest to prevent the Guardians from eliminating the Green Lanterns. Sinestro uses his usual methods (fear) to get Jordan’s attention, but eventually Jordan agrees to travel with him.
We are introduced to the “Indigo Lanterns”, whose main attribute seems to be “compassion”. They were apparently formed partly to stop a great evil from conquering the universe, the Guardians who are behind the Green Lantern Corps. Sinestro is taken over by the Indigo tribe and only released when Hal Jordan promises that there’s a way for him to find redemption without the Indigo tribe. The tribe also releases and calls a man who will be a Black Lantern, bringing death and destruction.
There are quite a few scenes that follow, leading to the Guardians releasing the first Lantern and starting their “final descent into madness”. Of course, that’s leading to the next issues of Green Lantern and the related titles by DC. If you want to see where the story is leading and how it ends, I’d recommend following the series through DC Comics.
My thoughts: If you’re a fan of the Green Lantern series and have followed the storyline in the “New 52” universe, you’ve probably already read the comics that make this book. If not, I’d have to recommend at least reading issues 1-6 before tackling this. As a long-time Green Lantern fan, I’ll admit to being a little lost just picking this up and starting from here. I know enough of the backstory to not be completely lost, but not enough to avoid that completely. I don’t think this will be a problem for the main target audience, but definitely know the story before reading this volume. I’m also not a huge fan of the “Black Lantern” storyline overall so this wouldn’t be counted as among my favorite GL stories.
Disclaimer: I was provided with a preview copy of this book by the publisher with no expectations on their part. I was not compensated in any way for this review. The opinions expressed are my own.
timelord's review
4.0
Wow the guardians are so terrible. I want to believe they've been corrupted by some outside force. I miss ganthet.
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