Reviews
Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps, Vol. 7: Darkstars Rising by Robert Venditti, Rafa Sandoval
dryden's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
rashthedoctor's review against another edition
4.0
So here ends the Hal Jordan and GL corps run of Venditti and Man I enjoyed the hell out of it , even this one .
Venditi finished his run by every bit and piece of his Hal Jordan story yet and definitely managed to not only tie loose ends but also give a good action heavy story arc. The last 2 books in this story arc specially were just filled with action , considering DC comics and Marvel comics don't really have that many consecutive action panels unless its some mega event or something .
The book still left out some loose ends and the ending also did feel a little rush , which is saying something considering this was a thick volume , having more pages than the usual DC volumes .
The artwork was again decent , but the consistency in the artworks felt missing at times
Overall a very entertaining read
Venditi finished his run by every bit and piece of his Hal Jordan story yet and definitely managed to not only tie loose ends but also give a good action heavy story arc. The last 2 books in this story arc specially were just filled with action , considering DC comics and Marvel comics don't really have that many consecutive action panels unless its some mega event or something .
The book still left out some loose ends and the ending also did feel a little rush , which is saying something considering this was a thick volume , having more pages than the usual DC volumes .
The artwork was again decent , but the consistency in the artworks felt missing at times
Overall a very entertaining read
the_rox13's review against another edition
4.0
Synopsis: The Darkstar Mantles overcome their programming and defect against the Controllers. Tomar-Tu becomes the first recruit for the Darkstars, who promise to enact lethal justice in the universe. To combat this, each of the Lantern Honor Guard goes to find allies for the fight. Hal recruits Hector Hammond; Guy gets Arkillo; Kyle cashes in that favor from Orion; and John convinces the Zod family to help. That is the really brief version, but this section is literally half of the book. Oh, and I guess at some point Guy is possessed by a Darkstar mantle, but he overpowers it, surprise.
Tomar-Tu leads the Darkstars on an invasion of Mogo to kill all the prisoners in the Science Cells, but the Darkstars realize quickly the prisoners have been moved. Kyl, Guy, John and their allies show up to back the Corps while Hal and Hammond go to free the Controllers from Darkstar control, who are being forced to connect the Darkstars telepathically, so they're like a hivemind.
Hammond suppresses the link while Hal fights Tomar then overloads the Darkstar Mantle machine (?) with willpower, which causes all the Darkstars to deactivate. Zod shows up to kill Tomar-Tu since his ancestor was Krypton's Lantern, but Tomar kills himself under the weight of what he's done instead. John sends out more Lantern rings to seek recruits and Hal returns to earth and reunites with Carol Ferris in a kiss.
Review: This has definitely been the most solid volume in awhile for this run, not to say this run is bad. I'll give my thoughts on the volume then the overall run. I thought this was action-packed and a fun climax to the series as a whole. I'll tell you, the Green Lantern books always know how to throw a war party. It's always a good time story wise and artwise seeing the Lanterns beat the shit out of people.
I love a Lantern gone bad so I was down with Tomar as the villain here, even if he was technically under the influence of the Darkstar Mantle. Kinda blows he's dead now, but I guess we have that kid now. I thought the Darkstars were good villains as well. I suppose it could have been a commentary on the death penalty, but I digress. The Darkstars are brutal and without mercy. I thought it was nuts how there was a page or three of them just killing people they deemed guilty. But I did have to laugh when they beat the Controllers at their own game.
Where the book might falter for some people is the built up to the fight. And I get it, it's a big build up - they spend A LOT of time getting those allies together pagewise - just to have Hal will it all away, literally. He does that in this series more than he should - it's almost god-like power at this point. I suppose that's a flaw of the overall run. Hal doesn't have anywhere else to go but to power back down. Maybe that's next? I don't know, I haven't read anything on the Green Lantern series.
I thought the run overall was ok. I didn't think it was great, but I didn't think it was bad either. If you're a fan of Green Lantern, I would recommend picking it up. I'm not sure how well it would play to people with no previous knowledge of the character (weird, probably).
Tomar-Tu leads the Darkstars on an invasion of Mogo to kill all the prisoners in the Science Cells, but the Darkstars realize quickly the prisoners have been moved. Kyl, Guy, John and their allies show up to back the Corps while Hal and Hammond go to free the Controllers from Darkstar control, who are being forced to connect the Darkstars telepathically, so they're like a hivemind.
Hammond suppresses the link while Hal fights Tomar then overloads the Darkstar Mantle machine (?) with willpower, which causes all the Darkstars to deactivate. Zod shows up to kill Tomar-Tu since his ancestor was Krypton's Lantern, but Tomar kills himself under the weight of what he's done instead. John sends out more Lantern rings to seek recruits and Hal returns to earth and reunites with Carol Ferris in a kiss.
Review: This has definitely been the most solid volume in awhile for this run, not to say this run is bad. I'll give my thoughts on the volume then the overall run. I thought this was action-packed and a fun climax to the series as a whole. I'll tell you, the Green Lantern books always know how to throw a war party. It's always a good time story wise and artwise seeing the Lanterns beat the shit out of people.
I love a Lantern gone bad so I was down with Tomar as the villain here, even if he was technically under the influence of the Darkstar Mantle. Kinda blows he's dead now, but I guess we have that kid now. I thought the Darkstars were good villains as well. I suppose it could have been a commentary on the death penalty, but I digress. The Darkstars are brutal and without mercy. I thought it was nuts how there was a page or three of them just killing people they deemed guilty. But I did have to laugh when they beat the Controllers at their own game.
Where the book might falter for some people is the built up to the fight. And I get it, it's a big build up - they spend A LOT of time getting those allies together pagewise - just to have Hal will it all away, literally. He does that in this series more than he should - it's almost god-like power at this point. I suppose that's a flaw of the overall run. Hal doesn't have anywhere else to go but to power back down. Maybe that's next? I don't know, I haven't read anything on the Green Lantern series.
I thought the run overall was ok. I didn't think it was great, but I didn't think it was bad either. If you're a fan of Green Lantern, I would recommend picking it up. I'm not sure how well it would play to people with no previous knowledge of the character (weird, probably).
ashlightgrayson's review
4.0
This series ended on a very high note. The last arc focuses on the concept of redemption and how far is too far when it comes to handing out justice. We see the downfall of a former hero and unexpected alliances forged when a threat too large for the Green Lantern Corps to handle on their own appears. I like stories that focus on debates of morality and this one has a great back and forth between Hal Jordan and Tomar-tu. Hector Hammond also adds a lot of dimension to the intrinsic debate that is the focus of the story. We also get a very hopeful open ended ending to this run. I'm planning on picking up other Green Lantern runs and I hope most of the ones I pick up are as good as this one. An amazing last volume!
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