The Green Lantern Corps continue their missions, led by John Stewart, including Teen Lantern Keli Quintela and Far Sector star Sojourner "Jo" Mullein! The mystery of the Dark Sector begins to unravel. To rescue Kilowog and his squad of surviving Lanterns, John enters the realm of the Golden Centurions and their mysterious master, the Lightbringer! Meanwhile on Oa, Keli lies in a coma, while Jo’s team closes in on those responsible for the destruction of the power battery, but a surprise arrival takes a key investigator off the board! And with trillions of lives in peril, John battles the DEISTORM and the challenge of its FUTURE STATES! Meanwhile, Jo Mullein solves the mystery of the Battery's destruction in time to see the rise of a new and ancient enemy. Is this the final end of Oa and the Green Lanterns?! Then in the incredible annual...once an agoraphobic scared to even leave her room, Jessica Cruz overcame her fear to become a Green Lantern and face the darkest and deadliest threats in the universe. But now, Jessica’s gone from overcoming fear to using it as a weapon. When Yellow Lanterns attacked the Green Lantern Sector House she took refuge in when the Central Power battery was destroyed, Jessica turned the tables on them, giving them something to be afraid of, as she beat them one-by-one. But now that she’s been offered a place in the Sinestro Corps, will she accept? This volume collects Green Lantern #7-12 and Green Lantern 2021 Annual #1!
Geoffrey Thorne is an American novelist and screenwriter.
Thorne was born in the United States and currently lives in Los Angeles, California.
After winning Second Prize in Simon & Schuster's sixth annual Strange New Worlds anthology with his story "The Soft Room," he went on to publish more stories in several media tie-in anthologies as well as the Star Trek: Titan novel Sword of Damocles.
As a screenwriter, Thorne has worked with Disney, Cartoon Network, STARZ, developing various properties. His TV work includes BEN 10: ULTIMATE ALIEN & OMNIVERSE, LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT and the hit TNT series', LEVERAGE and THE LIBRARIANS.
Thorne is the co-founder and writing partner in GENRE 19, a studio he formed with artist Todd Harris in 2008.
Okay so I don’t hate this book, I just don’t think Thorne did anything all that interesting here. I mainly read this since it was Jo Mullien’s first big appearance outside Far Sector, which I loved, but sadly she isn’t giving anything interesting to do here. She’s still the best human GL by a mile (Yeah I said it, fight me), but the best moments for her in here were when she interacts with the other, less interesting Green Lanterns. Yes, that includes her finally meeting the walking piece of cardboard himself, Hal “And I have to show them I’m not a child molester” Jordan. Actually calling Hal Jordan that is a bit too much, as cardboard can’t be pedophilic.
Geoffrey Thorne also really likes John Stewart for some reason, and his solution to fans many complaints over the years about Stewart never having a real personality or having one equivalent to a dead squirel is one truly genius: Just turn him into an omnipotent god. Brilliant idea. Bravo Thorne. Round of applause everyone. The Eisners for best writer and best ongoing are already guranteed. Thorne has officially broken new ground.
Jokes aside, reading this shit makes me so goddamn nervous for the new Blood Syndicate relaunch by Throne. That’s my favorite Milestone book ever and judging by the solicitations, it’s about to be my least favorite. I’m glad 5G didn’t happen, but I would’ve much rather have gotten that horror GL book by Jeff Lemire over this run any day of the fucking week.
The best thing I have to say about this run is that I'm glad it's over. The whole thing with John Stewart Ascending was just stupid and unearned. He went from space rogue to godhood in an issue. For a twelve issue run where a lot happens, it's almost all at the very end and left very vague, I suppose to get you to pick up the next GL series so you can know what actually happened in this one. Meh.
This was a weird volume and was kind of huge and took me quite some time to finish it!
So this volume shows whats going on with John and his new sttaus quo as he goes to rescue his mates on some planets where they are fighting some Gold centurions aka Lightbringers and what their insane plans are.. and their leader Esak of the New gods and then we see the Ascension of John especially and whats going on with him and it becomes a bit too cosmic connecting with Kirby new gods and in a way its intriguing as we explore the 4th world connections and all but feels sudden to the whole story at large.
Meanwhile we follow Jo and whats going with her and her investigation into the murder of the guardian and how it maybe a coup by United planets but the revelations turns out to be pretty new and quite exciting and then by the end we see the real villain aka Koyos of the Guardians and what his insane plans are and when the story connects with the John one, it will result in a massive status quo for the Lanterns and cosmos at large!
So yeah it ends in a rushed fight and the villain defeated and new cosmic order and the state of John Stewart and what he goes by next and what HAL and the other lanterns do in the wake of this change, also setting the tale for Dark crisis next!
SO yeah a volume with some good stuff here and there but a bit confusing like whats with the weird energy matrix in OA now, like is the raw power spectrum.. and it could be interesting to explore!
So give this volume a try and I will say its one time read, it has some cool ideas even though it could get confusing here and there! The art is okayish not the best but gets the job done and results in a change which will inform the next wave of GL books and some of them look promising! (P.S. there's a Jess story here as she becomes YL and it was not bad and I kinda liked it.)
A very thick Volume, but one that was pretty straightforward and helped resolve much going on with the Green Lantern title. Considering this is the end of this Volume of the title (yes, some form of a #1 is coming again soon) I think it wrapped up things nicely. Highlights: - Jessica Cruz takes a stage here and joins the Yellow Lanterns (I refuse to call them the Sinestro Corps, since they can exist without him). She comes to realize that fear can be a good emotion at times, especially when used as a motivator for change. She has much to learn, but even earned the respect of Hal Jordan. - Jo Mullein (who is freaking awesome now that I have read Far Sector) is one of the only Green Lanterns left with powers after the Oa Central Battery exploded at the end of the last Volume. She takes on the role of trying to find out what happened. Koyos, a rogue and forgotten Guardian caused much of the problem, entangling himself with magical forces. With John Stewart's help (more on him in a moment), normalcy is restored, not only repowering the Corps, but 1) Restoring the Star Sapphires and the Blue Lanterns, as well as the remnants of all the Lanterns who recently died. 2) Destroying the Krona Gauntlet, which means we will have to figure out what will happen with Keli, and 3) Restoring Hal Jordan's ring to something normal, so he won't be the omnipotent Lantern he has been for many years. - John Stewart is a huge part of the Volume. Still trying to get home (see last Volume), John becomes entangled with New Gods and begins to ascend to something newer and much more powerful (Kyle had a turn as the White Lantern, Hal as the creator of his own ring, and I guess now John), gaining enough power to destroy a cult leader called the Lightbringer, absorbing the Godstorm, and taking on a new role of "Emerald Knight" once the GLC is re-established.
Coming back from that horrible Grant Morrison run, this run of Green Lantern definitely puts the character back on the map. Looking forward to what is next. Recommend.
John Stewart takes on a literal god while Jo Mullein continues her investigation into the destruction of the Green Lantern Power Battery on Oa in this second and final volume.
Like the first volume, this series is far too schizophrenic for its own good. Neither story manages to be compelling without being detrimental to the other, and just when the John Stewart story finally becomes interesting, the series ends. Despite the expanded page count for each issue, it still feels like the book spends too long spinning its wheels and not actually doing anything, and the finale is far too open-ended both in terms of resolving the plot from these twelve issues and setting up whatever's going to come next.
I hesitate to call the entire run 'bad', but it definitely doesn't seem to accomplish...whatever it was that it set out to do, and I'm glad to see the back of it.
3.5... Love Jo, and I want only good things for John, but this... was not necessary. More evil guardians, a lot of incomprehensible babble, Keli and Jessica sidelined, Simon who even really knows... Hal was there I guess... and where were Guy and Simon supposed to even be? Sigh.
I want to make it clear this rating isn't for the reasons some have hated this run. I'm glad Geoffrey Thorne focused on some smaller GL lanterns and I don't care how he feels about Hal Jordan. I really wanted to like this run. It had characters I liked, it tries to give good character development and build on relationships, and its ending gives some more unique variety to the GL's (as well as a sorta maybe reboot since ). But there are so many issues that mar this run. The art is fine. Like the previous volume its going for a realistic look and seems to hire artists better at the special effects like the constructs and the aliens. It makes sense to do that for a GL story but some artists seem to struggle with awkward faces and such which is most likely an issue of time crunch than skill. It does pop during some of the more cosmic moments. To me the the story is a mixed bag. It's clear Thorne wants this epic story with all the Green Lanterns struggling with their lack of power, explaining the powers of those who still have it, and have intrigue over one of the Guardians (which starts good and ends poorly imo), but with the limited issue space that creates issues. It doesn't help that the climax with the backstabbing Guardian is just so... much. Its so extreme and has such intense dialogue that is trying to make it this big issue. Its just too much. A large portion of the story is divided the groups (Sojourner + Teen Lantern (who feels cut from the comics in a to give page space to others + Simon Baz in the first group, and John Stewart and some New God in the second group). I really enjoyed the stuff with Sojourner, Teen Lantern/Keli, and Simon. I like the characters and Thorne builds a sorta found family outta them. The Simon Baz stuff I'm more iffy on. His arc in this run is definitely dampened by the large cast needing time for their own arcs. The spirit quest-vibe is cool. But I'm a DC fan who stay normally to his "niche" (GL and now also Superman) so I have little knowledge in the New Gods as a DC concept. With the focus on the New Gods it feels almost like a crossover comic at a time rather than tying into Stewart's arc. To be clear, I don't mind him I just find it was rushed and described in such over-the-top cosmic dialogue it was hard to follow (especially at the climatic battle). Like the first volume the other GLs are mostly absent although Jessica Cruz (one of my faves) gets to do some cool stuff as It feels like the author wants to give every character a clear arc with time given to each and establish and build unique relationships between each other. And it works at times like the sorta found family of Simon, Teen Lantern, and Sojourner. But it leads to a lot of stuff being covered in a compact 12 issues. I feel if given more time it would've been better but I guess the fan backlash (and most likely sales) kept Thorne from achieving his whole plan for number of issues. If it went on longer, even just another volume, and had a better finale it would've been much better. But sadly this happens sometimes and I applaud his attempt.
Jessica being a Yellow now (though it's literally the same story as when Supergirl became a Red back in the New 52...but I like Jess better, lol). The Blues & Violets being back! The fact that the Guardians are gone (this time, hopefully, for awhle).
Did not like how the story either made sense but was stupid or was stupid & made no sense. For one thing, I refuse to believe John Stewart couldn't form a new ring &/or Lantern for himself after the Battery detonation left him stranded (just like Hal has done at least 3 times). Shoot, Jessica could have too, imo. In this volume she manifests a Yellow Lantern within minutes of donning the Ring, after besting 3 top Sinestro Corps w/o her Green ring. Plus, she already overcame extreme fear and Red Rage back in her & Simon's Rebirth series. No way she doesn't have the willpower to manifest her own ring...For that matter, I think even Raynor could create one (didn't he touch the Source when he became a White Lantern?)
Point being, as glad as I am that John Stewart was the lead character AND given how derivative large parts of the rest of the story are, John becoming an almost-sorta-New God is so unnecessary & borderline asinine.
Also, this is like the 6th (minimum) time the Corps has been decimated & scattered AND the United Planets is formed/"back" and going full steam. You're telling me all the GLs are immediately cut off /stranded but they have no protocols for when situations like that happen? None of Hal's past tricks? No League OR Boom Box OR Hard Comms? I refuse to believe former marine/ inactive engineer & most recent Corps Leader John Stewart wouldn't have contingencies is place.
Also, Also...when did Jess get back? And wasn't she just in the same dark sector during JL Odyssey that John leads the Quest Team into in this book? (Which, if memory serves, doesn't Odyssey end with them returning that sector to the rest of space?...Why's it suddenly dark again?)
Horatius improves upon the previous Green Lantern volume with a more thoroughly explored story, and continually wonderful art. Thorne's plot is better paced, with fewer narrative gaps for which I needed to fill in the context. The destructive elements from last volume force intriguing creative decisions for this one. Characters are forced to think more outside the box, or struggle in ways I'm not accustomed to seeing in GL books.
Marco Santucci's art flows beautifully from panel to panel. I love his beautiful depictions of human bodies and faces. Tom Raney's work appealed less than Santucci's-- especially Raney's faces-- though said faces are more expressive and emotional than Santucci's. Mike Atiyeh's stunning colours added depth, vibrancy, contrast, and variety to every page.
The rising action of V1 of Thorne's run truly finds fulfillment in this second volume, which is a spectacular space opera that captures the scope of the GLC in a way that most authors don't, yet simultaneously gives great individual attention to most of the characters.
The last few issues are a bit of a let-down because they dovetail all that great space opera into a simplistic fight for the future of the universe — which was undoubtedly Thorne's plan the whole time, but not as great as the galaxy-spanning space opera that preceded it.
Still, a worthy volume that makes me want to reread Thorne's entire short-lived arc.
Many different Lanterns in this one- sorry about spoilers? But they kinda don't matter here Jessica- Yellow Lantern now John- becomes a god Simon- loses his ring but wears a mech Keli- shows up to fight some Yellow Lanterns and passes out the rest of the book Sojourner- continually has unlimited power though complains that it could run out anytime
This story seems very wacky and I wasn't sure I understood everything that was happening or the lessons in this one.
At a plot level, this could have been stronger, but the character work was excellent. Every character had their distinct personality, personal journey and place in the story. Jo Mullein, John Stewart, Jessica Cruz, et al, are developed in a way that honors their best past stories and develops them for the new status quo.
Green Lantern is a comic that I've been finding it difficult to get into, but I enjoyed this volume a lot more than the previous one. It's still a little difficult to follow, but the story feels more cohesive.
Just very meh. I liked that it followed a lot of the new earth Lanterns. The best side story was Jessica Cruz taking a yellow ring. Did not care for Hal’s or John’s characterization. And the “ascension” mechanic made the story pretty bland. At least it was readable. 2.3/5
The story was too cluttered with too much occurring. Thorne should have made this solely a John Stewart story with the help of the other lanterns. Focusing on building the newer lanterns up took away from the gravity of Stewart's journey
I think if I'd read more than Far Sector, I'd've enjoyed this book more. Or maybe not. A universe spanning main plot gets outshined (in my opinion) by a personal story. Different artists create a disconnect, but not quite as much of one as that would seem to suggest.