Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps, Vol. 7: Darkstars Rising

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps

by Robert Venditti, Rafa Sandoval (Illustrator)

When the last surviving Controllers--ancient beings who hope to outdo the Guardians at bringing justice to the universe--revive the Darkstars, the result is a force beyond even their control!

Beginning with a disgraced Green Lantern who is recruited right before Hal Jordan's disbelieving eyes, the Darkstars quickly form an army of armored law enforcers who face every villain with lethal, unrelenting force ... an army whose numbers and power dwarf that of all the Lanterns combined!

But while Hal Jordan, John Stewart and Kyle Rayner search the universe for unlikely allies--from the New Gods to Hector Hammond to even General Zod--the Darkstars have found an unexpected new recruit of their own! Will Guy Gardner become the one foe Hal Jordan and the Corps cannot hope to defeat?

Written by the New York Times best-selling author Robert Venditti (The Flash) with thrilling art from Rafa Sandoval (Catwoman), Ethan Van Sciver (Green Lantern: Rebirth), Fernando Pasarin (Justice League) and Brandon Peterson (Titans), Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps Vol. 7: Darkstars Rising collects the explosive series conclusion from issues #42-50.

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Science Fiction, Comic Book, Adventure

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 8, 2018

About the author

Robert Venditti is a New York Times bestselling author of more than three hundred comic books and graphic novels. Some of his works include the monthly comic book series Justice League, Superman ’78, Hawkman, and Green Lantern for DC Comics, X-O Manowar, Armor Hunters, and Wrath of the Eternal Warrior for Valiant Entertainment, and the graphic novel Six Days, inspired by the story of his uncle’s participation in D-Day. He has also adapted Rick Riordan’s global bestselling Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus novels, as well as Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia and Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz. His graphic novel The Surrogates was adapted into a feature film by Touchstone Pictures, and his work on The Flash was the basis for season three of the CW television series.

Venditti lives in Atlanta, where he both writes and serves as a storytelling consultant for some of the most recognizable entertainment brands in the world.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Darkstars return to comics with a new mission to mete out justice permanently. They run around the universe killing anyone that breaks the law. It's a great idea, pitting different characters' ideology of what justice is against the Green Lanterns. Tomar Tu was turned into a very interesting character during this arc. The story does lose me though when the Darkstars start killing Green Lanterns. They quickly transition from meeting out their "justice" to straight up murdering other peace officers in the Green Lanterns. That's quite the logic leap. Venditti has turned John Stewart into the most interesting GL during his run. That trend continues here. I really like how much of a strategist he's become. Hal has become the least interesting character in his own book. Guy is a lot of fun too, full of machismo without reverting to his JLI jerk roots. The same rotating group of really good GL artists that's been on the book for a while get a turn on the book .

[Mizuki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review for vol. 6: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I'm totally not happy with Tomar-Tu ended up becoming a Darkstar, otherwise I'm fine with most of the things in this volume.

Plus, I'm very happy with the plot about the God Brain and how the guy used his mind trick to change the outfits of General Zod, the Green Lanterns and the New God from their combat customs into party outfits, baseball outfits and swimsuits until John told him to stop and Zod is displeased! That's the highlight of the story for me. XD

By the way, is the history of Hal turning into Parallax still being recognized in this timeline or is it wiped away!? When the topics of justice, giving criminals a second chance and redemption are brought up, NO ONE ever mentioned Hal-Parallax at all. I'm confused. @__@

So...this is the end of the Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps series, and off we go to the Darkstars stuff now?

Review for Green Lantern: Agent Orange: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Malum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before I read Venditti's Rebirth run of Green Lantern, I had never read a Green Lantern comic before, and never really cared to. When Rebirth came around, I decided to try out heroes that I never read before.

I'm glad I did, because the Green Lanterns are my favorite heroes now. I have read classic Green Lantern, omnibuses, and classic big events, all because of Robert Venditti's run.

I loved every volume of this run and, while I'm sad to see it end, I am super excited to see what Grant Morrison will bring to the table when he takes over writing duties on the next Green Lantern comic.

[Xavier Hugonet · Rating 5 out of 5]

The controllers are at it again. They never learn. They form a new army of darkstars which gain consciousness and decide to replace the GL as the police force of the universe. The main problem is the controller’s philosophy embedded in them : All crime must be punished by death.

A neverending social dilemma is studied in depth during this story. Jailing offenders and giving them new chances taking the risk of them reverting to their evil ways, or eliminating the threat once and for all.

Thee latter isn’t the philosophy of the GL corps. They will rally allies and even enemies to stop this seemingly limitless new force and, in the process, reestablish the reputation of the corps all over the universe.

Then, it’s time for a massive recruit campaign to make the corps what it once was again.

This title is still epic and universe spanning science fiction. And that’s what it should always be.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's the final countdown, as Hal and the Green Lanterns face their worst foe yet - the harsh justice of the Darkstars!

These final nine issues of HJ&TGLC (not feeling that acronym) are split into two arcs, but it's all one big Darkstars story that draws on all of the characters that Robert Venditti has seeded across his entire run, bringing back Zod and the Controllers, Hector Hammond and Orion, and everyone in between in one final knock-down brawl for the fate of the universe.

While the spectacle and the set pieces are excellent for the most part, the moral dilemma that the Darkstars present could probably have been explored a little more. Venditti uses it nicely to give the characters different perspectives, but it all devolves into fighting to win the day. Rather than a proper 'victory' for the right point of view, the good guys just punch through the problem, which seems like a bit of a waste.

The artwork gets a little hectic, with contributions from the ever-excellent Rafa Sandoval who does big splash pages like no one's business, as well as Brandon Petersen who has shown up across this run at times already, and new additions Fernando Pasarin (who's no stranger to the Green Lantern franchise after runs on Emerald Warriors and GLC back in the day) and Clayton Henry (whose clean and clear style has made him a Valiant mainstay these days).

Hal Jordan & The Green Lantern Corps goes out with a bang - it's a bit prolonged, and misses a little bit of prime story that could have been mined for more, but it's high on action, high on character work, and high on beautiful artwork, so I'd say that qualifies it for the 'going out on a high' badge of honour.

[Subham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Talk about epic stories of DC and this is surely one of them.

Lethal Justice is here and its Darkstars as we follow the fallout of the metal event and when they become sentient and recruit Tomar-Tu as their leader its a war on multiple fronts. So all the lanterns have to team up with their villains to stop this threat and I love the way Venditti brings it all together with John recruiting Zod, Hal well Hammond and Guy and Arkillo while Kyle and Orion team up and all have their own mini arcs and all are excellent particularly Hal and Guy and the emotional resonance is awesome and when the final battle starts its epic and emotional and gives off such a great lesson in the end.

Its one of those stories that will stand the test of time as one of the best GLC stories and the end of a great run as the writer manages to bring together all the plot points from this run and also give nod to the previous stories which came before and shows the 4 corpsmen at their best and well it ends with a hopeful future and the art throughout is amazing. This is probably one of my favorite GL runs and DC runs easily. Just a great story on its own also! A must read!

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great end to Robert Venditti's often underwhelming Green Lantern run. Venditti presents a big new foe in the new Darkstars, and imagines a series of skirmishes spanning multiple issues, but he does it right. We get lots of great character work, especially for Guy. Meanwhile, Venditti touches upon many of his plots, giving closures to stories like the battle with Zod, the alliance with the Yellow Lanterns, and (especially) the evolution of Hector Hammond. This is how to tell an epic story, without losing it to flash and dazzle.

[Dr Rashmit Mishra · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

The moral conflict is laid out a bit better than is typical for a GL story, but the nuanced Zod of the last arc is replaced with a cartoonish tyrant, and once again the scale overwhelms the interest.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Up and down series ends on a high note.

[Wing Kee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun end to a pretty fun run.

World: The art is good, it’s the best when Sandoval is doing the pencils but overall the art has been consistently good for this run and the last three issues were spectacular. The world building is also pretty good, it’s a continuation of Dark Nights Metal and uses the pieces that Venditti has created since his run began, this is all a coming together to end with as loud as a bang as possible before Morrison comes aboard to do his thing.

Story: The two stories found here are fun, they move fast, they are tied to characters and they hit hard emotionally. The idea of the Darkstars is not an original one and the discussion of letal force has been for this book the longest time and honestly not really a fitting one cause in Johns run they had lethal force for a while. That being said, comic book memories are short an each author does their own thing and this is Venditti’s story about the idea of justice. As I said the story moves fast and is fun and it pretty much what you expect from Venditti. That being said there were some pretty big logic leaps this time around when gathering the team to fight the Darkstars, some of those choices are cool but if you think about it make no logical sense whatsoever, but then again ‘because comics’ comes into play. At the end of the day it was big bombastic fun which is what this series is. The final panel I will say was not earned but at the same time long time coming, Venditti did some weird things to these two characters along the way (especially with Kyle) so it didin’t really make sense, but as I said, I loved it cause in DC comics their relationship has gone on so long without any real development for a very very long time.

Characters: The Earth Lanterns are well defined I love that Johns started it and Vindetti furthered it. His take on Guy is pretty fantastic and John, what can I say he is amazing and it makes sense where he is. The rest of the cast there were a lot of them but not a lot of time for them. I love Three Six the most out of all of Venditti’s creation and I wish we saw her more but oh well. The Darkstars were solid as a villlain, nothing specially original about them but they served their purpose. Tomar-Tu was done well and using him and the history behind him was a good solid end conflict for Hal.

A solid end to a pretty fantastic run of Green Lantern, I can’t believe I’m saying this but Morrrison has some really big shoes to follow after Johns and Venditti.

Onward to the next book!

*read individual issues*

[John Yelverton · Rating 3 out of 5]

It would be easy to say that with all the potential universe ending events Green Lantern has endured these past few years, that this book was simply suffering from fatigue, and that's why it didn't resonate like earlier books did. Rather, I think that this was a completely wasted opportunity. The Darkstars and the Controllers have always been a major thorn in the side of the Green Lantern Corps and the Guardians. You make their new armor more powerful than the most powerful weapon in the universe, and don't do anything with that plot device. It really just felt like a wasted opportunity.

[Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 🌟

The Green Lanterns fight the Darkstars. General Zod and Arkillo help.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Teamwork, personal morals, and hope are the dominating issues of this Volume. I really appreciated having of the issues for this story in the same Volume.
Highlights:
- If the Green Lantern Corps are the good peacekeepers of the galaxy, the Darkstars are the bad. Green Lanterns stand for justice via peace and mercy. Darkstars stand for justice via punishment and vengeance. Stemming out of the events of Dark Nights: Metal, a group of telepaths known as the Controllers have lost control of their creation, the Darkstars. Existing as suits of armor, the Darkstar mantle searching for those in the galaxy who want justice via violence.
- The first casualty of the Darkstars in Tomar-Tu. Confined to a sciencell for taking revenge, Tomar-Tu still laments over not being able to kill the criminal who killed his father. As Hal is speaking with him, a Darkstar mantle shows up in Tomar-Tu's cell and he accepts the power, using it to escape.
- The GLC needs allies to fight against the Darkstars. Hal goes to find Hector Hammond, Kyle to get help from Orion of the New Gods, Guy grabs Arkillo, and John brings in Zod. They only are able to get these allies because a universe controlled by Darkstars would be bad for all.
- Briefly, Guy Gardner joins the Darkstars to get revenge/justice for how his father treated him growing up, and Arkillo is able to help him forgive and overcome, enough for Guy to break out of the mantle by sheer will.
- The Darkstars attack Oa, and the plan the GLC has been working on has to go into effect. Hal leads Hector Hammond to attack the Controllers, destroying the hive mind the Darkstars have. Once they can no longer communicate easily, the allies and the entire GLC (or at least it seems like) fight against the Darkstars. Hal is able to use his overwhelming will to remove the Darkstar mantles from the being inside the suits, giving them free choice as to whether or not they will fight.
- In aftermath, Zod kills Tomar-Tu as retribution for Krypton's destruction. But two rays of hope shine brighter... 1) a new batch of Green Lantern rings go out to find new recruits, and 2) Hal goes back to Earth and begins to rekindle his romance with Carol.
However.... this is the end of the title! All the Volumes have been consistently good. Having also recently read Green Lanterns, I wonder when/if we will get back to a huge story affecting all the lantern corps.
Still, great action and nice art. Recommend.

[Kris Ritchie · Rating 2 out of 5]

More of a 2.5, I mean it wasn't bad but to me it wasn't particularly anything new.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

After a few disappointing chapters, Venditti's long run of Green Lantern has come to a close in a most satisfying way. It’s got all the rousing team moments and balls-to-the-wall action we’ve come to love from Lantern books, with a great enemy in the Darkstars. Venditti gives all the heroes a chance to shine, but I must say that the standout in this series is his portrayal of John Stewart, who proves to be the best leader the Lantern Corps has ever had!

[Adam Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fitting conclusion to Robert Venditti's run on Hal Jordan and the Green Lanterns Corps as the Darkstars return more powerful than ever and recruit a disgraced Lantern to lead them as they seek to dispense lethal justice throughout the Universe. After an initial attempt to defeat the Darkstars fails, John Stewart realizes the Green Lanterns can't do this alone, they'll need some help from their friends and a few enemies too.

While there are technically two stories in the book, they are linked, so this book is a 9-issue space epic that has plenty of call backs to prior arcs that come together in a coherent story that occasionally raises some questions of justice while never ceasing to be a fun heroic space opera. Overall, a fitting end to a fun run.

[Roxanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

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).

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another book that proves why the Green Lantern titles cannot be missed--and also that makes me wonder why I didn't start reading them sooner. An epic story that's a culmination of all the previous events and character interactions from previous volumes: the fracture of the Green and Yellow alliance, Hector Hammond, General Zod, the Green Lanterns' assistance to the New Gods, etc. Everything comes together in this story that isn't just about the Green Lantern Corps fighting off a darker version of themselves--the difference between police and a police state--but is also a fight for the very soul of the universe. A lot of comics explore the idea of justice v. vengeance, but I'd go as far as to say that this story has done it the best, showing that true weakness doesn't come from thoughts of violence, but from actions of violence. We are all people and therefore, fallible, and it's easy to want the easy way out (in this case, "final justice"), but the path we actually choose is what makes us who we truly are. Add into that some fantastic comic book action and some in-depth analysis of my personal favorite Green Lantern, Guy Gardner, and you have a graphic novel that JUST WON'T QUIT! I honestly can't recommend it enough, and I'm eager for the next volume. (Side note... at first, I was afraid they were obliterating Guy's character when he became a Dark Star. I was like, "No, I like him! Don't demolish all the development and evolution you've done with him!" But then I loved that it was actually a strategic move; Guy wanted to get inside the "head" of the Dark Stars, but when he did, his darker emotions about his father overtook him, showing both (1) How fierce and violent and formidable the Dark Stars are, and (2) Allowing for some great character insight into who Guy Gardener is and what makes him tick. The parts between him and Arkillo, especially where Arkillo is like, "If you really think even the worst don't have a chance at redemption, like you believed with me, then kill me now." [paraphrased]. And then Guy's willpower took over, and... BAM! Back to being a hero! That was SO AWESOME as a fan of that character! Another side note... Hector Hammond being a hero is also kind of great. He's terrifying with how powerful he is, and, as you read, you know everything could go wrong--how long until he's a villain again? But you're still hoping for him, because you sense a genuineness in his desire to be good. I also really enjoyed the page where he kept putting the GLs, Zod and Arkillo in different settings while they were talking strategy because he wanted them to "be happy." I literally laughed out loud.) Okay, I'm going to stop with side notes. Basically--this is an awesome book!

[Pablo Rodriguez Perez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Y llegamos al final de Hal Jordan and the GLC. Ahora le toca el turno a los Darkstars reactivados por los Controladores un par de tomos atrás. Aunque la historia avanza a un ritmo aceptable (es decir, ni muy rápido ni muy lento), siento que le faltó un poco para ser cierre de serie (y de escritor).

El disparador de la historia ocurre cuando Tomar-Tu (ex Gl ahora prisionero por asesinato sobre un criminal desarmado) recibe una de las armaduras de los Darkstars, y se le ofrece liderarlos para ejecutar la justicia del "ojo por ojo". Asesinando a cualquier criminal sin pasar por juicio ni jurado. (Se imaginan un universo sin abogados?). Tomar-Tu acepta a la primera, ya que no se arrepiente para nada de sus actos y considera que las leyes de los Green Lantern ya son obsoletas.
Ante la imposibilidad de enfrentarse a los Darkstars, John Stewart ordena a todos (osea, los GL terráqueos (es decir, los GL terráqueos sin Jessica Cruz ni Simon Baz porque parece que tienen la entrada prohibida a éste Título)) que vayan en busca de refuerzos al tener un enemigo en común.

(Acá quizá empiece a mechar comentarios con Spoilers)
Hal Jordan viaja a la tierra y le pide ayuda a Hector Hammond. Guy Gardner va en busca del Yellow Lantern Arkillo. John Stewart le pide ayuda a Zod (y acá cierra la idea del tomo anterior que había quedado en el aire). Y Kyle Rayner viaja a Nueva Génisis para pedirle ayuda a Orión (al que le había salvado la vida un par de números atrás). Cada uno con un problema distinto para comer páginas, finalmente los llevan al enfrentamiento.
La resolución está bien manejada a mi parecer, al menos como usaron los recursos de Hammond y la tecnología de Zod. Ya que si las cosas no ocurrían de determinada manera en determinado momento... iba a estar complicado. Pero algunas cosas que no me terminan de cerrar:

1) John pide un ejercito para poder hacerle frente a los Darkstars. Lo que obtiene son 4 personajes.
2) Uno de esos personajes es Zod. Al que le quieren explicar (cada 2 paginas) que no debe matar. Porque no buscaste a Superman y te ahorrabas varios dolores de cabeza?
3) El final parece un poco apresurado. O me dio esa sensación. Y el suicidio de Tomar-Tu? Se lo hubiesen dejado a Zod.
4) Encima éste, se va conforme diciendo que la deuda por la destrucción de Krypton esta saldada (?)

Se entiende por otro lado que al ser el arco final del guionista, use a los personajes que fue planteando a los largo de estos números... pero parece un poco forzado y no realmente las primeras mejores opciones para reclutar.

Como sea! la calificacion de las estrellitas es 4 sobre 5. Porque de todos modos la lectura es muy entretenida y tiene muy buenos momentos. Veremos que pasa con Morrison!

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally settled on the final collected issue of Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps, and what a finale it is! After the whole rescue mission of the Guardians from the Controllers and the smackdown General Zod, the Green Lantern Corps are not looking too good when Tomar-Tu gets enhanced by a Darkstar suit, an armor made by the Controllers to formulate an army, only this suite has a mind of its own. Enhanced by the darkness of the Darkstar, Tomar-Tu escapes imprisonment and leads recruitment of the Darkstar, who share the radical view that all criminals need to be exterminated. Hal and co attempts to stop them, but finds themselves overpowered. The Corps ultimately decides that handling the Darkstars needs allies, all four human Lanterns embark on their own recruitment to stand up against this army, gathering friends and foes who are willing to oblige.

As the finale of this space opera, it is definitely great! The pacing is even throughout the entire collection and the art remains in superb standard, even with different illustrators. And like the premise suggested, there is a return of notable characters who have appeared in past arcs gathered for the ultimate showdown. This finale thoroughly shows the greatest of the Green Lantern Corps, no matter how bleak things appeared for them, they never gave up the cause of justice and hope. Even with that, there are still plenty of twists and turns in this finale. Honestly this Rebirth series has remained strong since the start, despite my hesitance, and hopefully, if I do manage to find the rest of the continuation down the line, I'll definitely be getting into reading those. As the last panel says, this is never the end! And so does the story of Hal, John, Guy & Kyle continue into a new saga!

[Beelzefuzz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two glaring problems ruined this book for me. The first is the main bad guy was never really setup to be a menace in the reader's eyes. One person killed someone in the past and became a darkstar and killed another person, so now there has to be a big battle between darkstars and green lanterns because all the darkstars besides that one have a high potential to kill. In the book characters talk about how policing intent is not a thing they can do, just the aftermath, but they are kind of doing that.
The other logical flaw is that they are fighting the darkstars because they will kill people and killing people is wrong, but the GLs keep asking if they can just kill the darkstars to make everything easier. The answer is no because their orders from John are to not kill. So if the people in the fight do not agree with the ideology then why are they even fighting, and if it is just because they should always follow orders, then that is weakened by the fact that John disobeyed orders to set off the last story arc.

Both of these issues kept nagging me throughout the story and really there is not much story here. Bad emerges, punch it, punch it harder, punch it even harder, and now everything is fine.

Good riddance, Venditti run. You started out terribly at the end of New 52 and never really got good only approaching decent a few times.

[Kyle Dinges · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume brings and end to Robert Venditti's 97 issue (!) run on Green Lantern books over the last 8 or so years. Like the rest of his work with the characters it's just mostly rock solid work. He knows these characters in and out and hits all the expected beats for each. I felt like the Darkstar was a pretty good new villain to come up with from scratch and it made for a satisfying ending. It's admittedly hard to go this long on a book without it getting stale, but Venditti managed admirably in my opinion.

My biggest gripe here is that they've spent a few years building a stable of cool female characters in the Corps and I don't think they speak a word across all 9 issues? You've got a good foundation to add some gender diversity, make sure not to let that lie fallow.

The art from all parties is solid here. In particular, Sandoval's pencils on the final few issues of the climax are really great. He's getting a ton of splash pages to work with and really taking advantage.

I'll miss Venditti but let's see what Morrison brings to the table!

[Will Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to say that in real life I am not in favor of the death penalty (what a start to this review!) but in ComicBookWorlds, where there are many, many MASS MURDERERS, I actually do think some of them should maybe be put out to pasture. I say this to say that this volume didn't present the huge moral quandry that it wanted to, in my opinion.

Also, the Darkstars, potentially the GLs biggest threat since the last cosmic threat they faced, were defeated in one trade paperback...

Otherwise, I liked this! It was fun to see Hector Hammond's journey(?) and Guy + Arkillo = heart

[Ross Alon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fitting (mediocre) ending for a series. The ending almost felt organic even if somewhat rush (well, Grant Morisson wanted to ruin another super heor).
Venditti wanted to be Geoff Jones, his whole run is a failed attempt to be Jones, but he didn't love the characters and their world. He didn't really try and add something to their mythology, just play with the existing tools, and it was okay.
So I won't miss this run, but I didn't hate it as well.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did they seriously wait all this time to remember Carol existed? Ugh. This series was good for pretty much one thing only, and that is Guy and Arkillo becoming vitriolic best buds. Everything else is forgettable.

[Alex E · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Darkstars have an interesting way of dealing out Justice. Basically, if the crime is bad enough, then the sentence is death. As you can imagine, this doesn't sit well with the "police" of the universe. So the Green Lanterns have to band not only together, but with other, less desirable types as well, to overcome the army of Darkstars.

This book is really the culmination of Venditti's time on the book. It takes elements from each major storyline and combines them to make this grand story of might vs right. It definitely makes you question the tactics of imprisoning these horrible criminals instead of just killing them, as the Darkstars argue that the universe would be better off without them. And of course, this is something in line with DC's stories overall, especially with a hero like Superman, who can easily kill - well, pretty much anyone, but instead opts for a chance of redemption. In the end, the GLC does hold true to their morals, and save the day in spite of the Darkstars fury.

I did enjoy the Venditti run, as it introduces a lot of interesting things to the world of the GLC. I think story was good, but started off kind of clunky and a bit simply. But once it got going, the story ballooned to a full blown epic worthy of the GLC.

Highly recommended for fans of the Green Lanterns.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm most familiar with Venditti's The Surrogates, which I think is a pretty good science fiction tale. Having seen reviews of his GL work online and knowing this volume was bringing back the Darkstars in some form I opted to give a go.

I know the star rating does not makes this sound like an outstanding read, and it isn't. It is good solid SF/super hero comic book work without most of the Geoff John's trappings that I personally disliked (the whole emotional spectrum of color thing with the rings never worked for me).

When the Darkstars were first introduced they were competitors to the GL Corps. Both were interstellar cops, they each had different benefactors handing them the goodies.

In this tale the twist is that The Controllers bring the Darkstars back, but now its the Darkstars version of justice (shorthand version-the Dirty Harry movie Magnum Force).

From a character viewpoint some good bits for Guy, John and Hal. The goal of showing the difference between the two schools of justice (arrest and trial vs. kill the murderer so the murderer never kills again) is done well enough.

If this is mean as a way to lead into the upcoming Grant Morison run with the character they could have done a much worse job.

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series wraps up with a galactic threat created by the Controllers, but definitely not under their control, and tries to provide a satisfying answer to 'why don't we just kill the villains.' It doesn't really pull it off, but there's some decent action, as several of the plot threads from the past few volumes get tied together, as Zod, Arkello, and Orion all join the team to pull off a pretty decent plan driven by John. We get plenty of action, some decent layouts, some overwrought plot threads (Guy of course goes over to the other side for an issue, but is able to recover himself, and the last page gives Hal a happy ending he has does absolutely nothing to earn in the whole series), and another case of the Green Lantern Corps ignoring useful allies to go it alone.
This ends the Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corp series, and it's been an uneven but ultimately average series. There were some good ideas earlier on, especially with the Yellow Lantern Corps, but none of them ever ultimately went anywhere.

[Andrés · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably closer to a 4/5, but Venditti has done such a good job overall on this series that I'm giving him that last star as a thank you. This series opened with a bang, dropped it a notch for a few volumes (I was disappointed that the Emerald Space was never explored again, not to mention what they did to Soranik), then picked right back up leading to the final showdown with the Darkstars, even enlisting the help of General Zod from the previous volume.

Started with a bang, and ended with a bang. Honestly, the only thing missing would've been an epilogue of some kind... or more volumes! Given what Venditti's done here I have to think his New 52 run was probably forced on him. Over the span of 50 issues he managed to bring back the feeling of Johns' run and bring us great stories of Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps. I'm sad to see it end, but it was a blast while it lasted!