Green Lantern, Vol. 8: Agent Orange

Green Lantern (2005) (Collected Editions)

by Geoff Johns, Philip Tan (Illustrator), Jonathan Glapion (Illustrator)

Test pilot Hal Jordan was chosen to become a Green Lantern, one of an intergalactic police force. Armed with his incredible power ring, which creates anything he can imagine, he protects Earth from extraterrestrial threats of every kind. This graphic novel sequel to "The Sinestro Corps War" is the prelude to the next major event in the DC Universe, "The Blackest Night", and features the war of light exploding across the Vega System. The Green Lantern Corps led by Hal Jordan battle the bizarre Orange Lantern Corps and their commander, Agent Orange, the most disgusting, filthy and vile being in the universe. Plus, the secrets of the Guardians' pact with the criminals of the universe that had previously kept the Vega System off limits is finally revealed.

Collects GREEN LANTERN #39-42, BLACKEST NIGHT #0.

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

128 pages, Paperback

First published November 10, 2009

About the author

Geoff Johns originally hails from Detroit, Michigan. He attended Michigan State University, where he earned a degree in Media Arts and Film. He moved to Los Angeles in the late 1990s in search of work within the film industry. Through perseverance, Geoff ended up as the assistant to Richard Donner, working on Conspiracy Theory and Lethal Weapon 4. During that time, he also began his comics career writing Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. and JSA (co-written with David S. Goyer) for DC Comics. He worked with Richard Donner for four years, leaving the company to pursue writing full-time.

His first comics assignments led to a critically acclaimed five-year run on the The Flash. Since then, he has quickly become one of the most popular and prolific comics writers today, working on such titles including a highly successful re-imagining of Green Lantern, Action Comics (co-written with Richard Donner), Teen Titans, Justice Society of America, Infinite Crisis and the experimental breakout hit series 52 for DC with Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid. Geoff received the Wizard Fan Award for Breakout Talent of 2002 and Writer of the Year for 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 as well as the CBG Writer of the Year 2003 thru 2005, 2007 and CBG Best Comic Book Series for JSA 2001 thru 2005. Geoff also developed BLADE: THE SERIES with David S. Goyer, as well as penned the acclaimed “Legion” episode of SMALLVILLE. He also served as staff writer for the fourth season of ROBOT CHICKEN.

Geoff recently became a New York Times Bestselling author with the graphic novel Superman: Brainiac with art by Gary Frank.

Reviews

[Alejandro · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s dangerous to mix lanterns and oranges!


This TPB edition contains “Green Lantern” #38-42, and an excerpt from“Blackest Night” #0. Featuring the “Agent Orange” event.


Creative Team:

Writer: Geoff Johns

Illustrators: Philip Tan, Ivan Reis, Dou Mahnke, Eddy Barrows & Rafael Albuquerque


ONE RING TO CONQUER THEM ALL

Well, let’s be honest, in a comic book title where all the main characters wear rings, and nowadays, more than ever, with more color corps, there are now a huge bunch of characters wearing rings…

…sooner or later, there has to appear its equivalence for Gollum.

It’s just logical.

Enter: Larfleeze, the Orange Agent.

The Orange light of the cosmic emotion spectrum represents avarice, and it won’t extinguish until greed would disappear from the universe…

…sooooo you can pretty much guess that we will have Orange light for a while!

Not only that, the Orange light is so powerful that it can kill people and make a “copy” of the deceased ones and make an avatar-like facsímile to be stored in the memory of the Orange Lantern and to project them to make its own twisted and covetous version of Orange Lantern Corps…

…a whole army of light characters, all controlled by one individual, in this case, Larfleeze.

The Orange light is so powerful that the Guardians of the Universe, back in the old days when they were still enforcing law through the Manhunters, they opted to make a deal with Larfleeze, giving him his own space sector, the Vega System, to make whatever he wanted to do there and leave the space sector out of the jurisdiction of the Manhunters and later of the Green Lanterns too.

This deal with the devil works out for millions of years, until now…

…when the Controllers, a Guardians-wannabe group, that they have tried to do their own space cops force, trying with the Darkstars and other even more lame Green Lantern-wannabes, but they always lack of the advantage that the Guardians of the Universe possess…

…an own emotional spectrum light source under their control.

So, in this messy current space scenario when emotional spectrum corps are rising everywhere, the Controllers became nervous to become irrelevant in the new change of galatic powers…

…and they had the terrible idea of trying to take the Orange light from Larfleeze.

Baaaaad idea!

And now the whole universe will suffer the consequences…

…since Agent Orange isn’t confined to the Vega System anymore!

Like Gordon Gekko said: Greed, for lack of a better word, is good.

And Larfleeze can’t agree more about that.


THE BLACKEST NIGHT IS NIGH

More and more emotional spectrum corps are rising, making more diverse and also more unpredictable the space scenario of DC Comics as never before…

…Green Lantern Corps, Sinestro Corps, Star Saphires, Red Lantern Corps, Blue Lantern Corps, Agent Orange,…

…and you can find a cool section in this TPB describing each of those mentioned Corps with their own main characters and key information about each team…

…BUT…

…also, you will find a “sneak preview” of the mysterious Indigo Tribe and…

…the Black Lantern Corps!!!

The comic books of Green Lantern never will be the same…

…they are better than anytime before!

[Diz · Rating 4 out of 5]

While Larfleeze is not my favorite character by a long shot, his introduction as the Orange Lantern in this volume is a great addition to the emotional spectrum of the Green Lantern mythos. The showdown between Hal Jordan and Larfleeze as they struggle for a ring of the Blue Lanterns is a lot of fun to read.

[Mizuki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll be honest, the main reason I picked up this comic is that I've been reading Green Lantern/Flash fanfics this week. XD XD XD

I really like the concept of the Blue Rings of Hope and the motto about 'hope needs will' and the Blue Ring actually made me LOL when it said 'All will be well' upon its departure in the end. This Ring really is hopeful, right? XD XD XD

The artwork really isn't my cup of tea---the characters are drawn finely but I just don't like the bright coloring. Yet the story does make up for my displease with the coloring, I read through the 128 pages really fast. The setup for the Green Lantern world (or universes) is really interesting, I wonder what is the deal with John Stewart and Fatality? Is the romantic tension between them going anywhere later on!?

By the way, the titular character Agent Orange and his design are nice too! This character is so interesting! And what's the deal with the mysterious Black Lantern!??? They look really badass too!

*goes back to read Batman online fanfics*

Other book reviews:

Batman and Robin by Peter Tomasi & Patrick Gleason Omnibus https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Review: Red Hood: Outlaw vol. 1 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Review: Batman: Battle For the Cowl: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Review: Batman: Life After Death: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Review: Batman & Robin: Batman Reborn https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Book Review: Batman: The Long Halloween https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Review: The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told Vol. 1 (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)
Review: Batman: A Death in the Family https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say? I love avarice.

The rest of the premise is holding my attention quite firmly, and I love the rainbow corps. The only thing that's missing is a bunch of raggedy and bloody unicorns. Maybe when Blackest Night finally gets unleashed?

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the Lantern mythology, the Green Lantern Corps has always been forbidden to act in an official capacity in the off-limits Vega System.

In this book, we found out why: there is yet another light of the emotional spectrum that burns there, the orange light of true greed, and the Guardians of the Universe want to keep its existence a secret. Geoff Johns continues to impress by introducing another Lantern, Agent Orange aka Larfleeze, the sole keeper of the Orange Lantern, who happens to be one of the more interesting villains I've read recently in comics. His backstory, his power, and the nature of the orange light is fascinating and has potential for even more exploration.



Now I'm even more excited to jump into what this has all been leading up to, the Blackest Night event.

[The Lion's Share · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been waiting to read more about Larfleeze for a while now as he is one of the more interesting lanterns due to his unique powers.

A bit disappointing that he wasn't focussed on as much as I would have hoped but it does help explain why the whole vega system was off limits to green lanterns and also shows how Sinestro's plan is playing out exactly as he planned.

[Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 🌟

The Green Lanterns fight Larfreeze.

[Sesana · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a lead-up to the big Blackest Night event. It's very short, and the sole purpose is to introduce Larfleeze and the Orange Lanterns. Orange Lantern, really, as Larfleeze is too greedy to allow anyone else to have an orange ring. Orange being the light of greed, you see. Considering that I read Blackest Night before I got my hands on Agent Orange, I can say with confidence that one can read and understand Blackest Night, and Larfleeze and his role there, without having read Agent Orange. Which is good, honestly, because this is one of the least inspiring of the Green Lantern collections I've read lately. If you just want to get up to speed on Darkest Night, don't bother.

[Jeffrey Schulte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blackest Night is Near!

This book was I interesting, It felt sort of underplayed. I thought we were going to get a better understanding of what Hal fights for, but it ended up being a stupid answer. It just set up more for blackest night

3/5

[Joebot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Larfleeze!!!

[Jean-Pierre Vidrine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not since G'nort showed up in the late 80s has a cartoony character been introduced into regular continuity and utilized so well as in the case of Larfleeze. Being part of the Prelude to Blackest Night, Agent Orange introduces the Orange Lanterns and their owner, a bestial glutton that (despite everything about it) quickly becomes a favorite character. The fact that both the aforementioned G'nort and Larfleeze were both introduced through Green Lantern canon is a testament to how versatile the concept really is. This book is a testament to Geoff Johns' talent for building on DC concepts and really expanding their possibilities. We've recently had the Larfleeze Christmas Special. One hopes for more Larfleeze (and more G'nort, I say!) in the future.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another lead in to blackest night, not as good as rage of the red lanterns but the introduction of larfreeze was really good another interesting character and lantern corps introduced. Other than that, the book didn’t have much else but I still enjoyed it a lot.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

My least favorite of the lead-ups to Blackest Night. You get Larfleeze's origin story. Sorry, not interesting. The rest of it felt like a rehash of other stuff I'd already read.

[David Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Agent Orange was a fun read with the only downside being that it was short. Unlike most stories that directly lead into a big event, this book was not filler; it added to the GL mythos by giving us the origin of the Orange Light and Larfleeze, expanding on the Blue Lantern Corps, and setting us up nicely for Blackest Night. Even though it is new-reader friendly for those of you wanting to jump on for Blackest Night, there are some supplemental back-ups in this book that tell you everything you want to know about all the different Corps.

Hal's main struggle in this book is dealing with the Blue Ring of Hope that's been forced on him. He finds it difficult to have any hope, seeing hope as useless (you can hope all you want but you have to use willpower to actually get something done, according to Hal). He eventually manages some hope in a cynical and humorous way, and we see the kind of power the Blue Ring holds.

The art's not as good as Ivan Reis but it more than suffices, Philip Tan brings some good character designs to Orange Lantern Corps. I'd recommend this, even to new readers (though I'd suggest you going back and reading everything due to its high quality).

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another reread for Goodreads.

This acts as a great lead in to the Blackest Night event. We also get introduced to the Orange Light of Avarice and it’s Lantern Larfleeze, who is a Gollum (from Lord of the Rings) type villain. What with everything going on at the moment, the orange light must be strong.

We also get some of the other colours of lantern show up, which is pretty cool. And a very epic moment involving titular Green Lantern Hal Jordan.

As previously stated this is a prequel to the Blackest Night event and there is some intrigue and set up for said event.

The only downside for me is one of the bonus stories involving Larfleeze just didn’t work for me. We do however get a handy breakdown of all the different Lanterns in the spectrum (so far), key players, powers, weaknesses, origins etc.

All in all a decent addition to the Green Lantern canon. I do recommend at least reading Secret Origin before this to at least get some of the backstory for Hal. Personally I want to track down and read all the books in this series.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was so fun! A tale of Green Lanterns fighting Larfleeze aka Agent Orange aka the most greedy being alive in this universe. The guardians made a deal with him to not harm anything and when the controllers free him, he attacks Oa and thus in return the GLC along with guardians attack him and Hal still has that blue thing attached with him and the fight and there are interesting moment and we learn what the real power of Larfleeze is and all the more, and Hal becomes one too for a time being but the way it ends is good and we get a tale of Glomulus too! Interesting stuff with John and Xanshi and Fatality! I liked how this arc introduces more lantern corps and this one was so much more interesting!! The art by Eddy Barrows is just too gorgeous!

[Sandee is Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

it's been a while since i've read anything from green lantern so i was a bit worried i might not get what was happening when i started this. i have this on my shelf i think for a year now and only gotten to read it today.

So thoughts:
• it's pretty straightforward. it introduced the agent orange, Larfleeze freakin weird name i keep forgetting.
• gives you more reason to hate the guardians.
• i am not well-read on green lanter myth so i wasn't aware that there were other lanter colors aside from green and yellow.
• it feels like a filler
• it was funny how easy you can control the blue ring
• the art is exquisite as usual

[Will Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Larfleeze and the Orange Lantern is a fun new antagonist to the series, though I'm not a fan of Johns' retcon that *this* was the reason an entire sector was off-limits for Green Lanterns to patrol. It's also fun seeing the Guardians manipulate their competitors against one another (like how they sick Larfleeze on Ganthet and Sayd's Blue Lantern Corp). It's good, just not great and I'm ready for us to just get to Blackest Night already.

[Matt Ferra · Rating 3 out of 5]

More interesting lore and more colors added to the Green Lantern mythos, as well as an interesting lead-up to get you hyped for Blackest Night.
The hardcover TPB I own also comes with little infographics in the back about each Lantern corps, which I find very interesting and helpful.

[Jado · Rating 5 out of 5]

Larfleeze more like shart cheese

[James Love · Rating 5 out of 5]

Orange = Avarice

A must read. If you liked The Hobbit this entry is very similar in many ways. Agent Orange aka Larfleeze is a cross between Gollum and a werewolf. The art is vivid and well done. If only the same artist had been chosen for the Green Lantern Corps preludes to Blackest Night.

[Gabriel Wallis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another great Green Lantern graphic novel leading up to the Blackest Night. In this graphic novel, Agent Orange, Larfleeze, is introduced... thus the whole of the Orange Lanterns is introduced. I know, it sounds a little confusing, but you just have to read the graphic novel to understand. Spoilers, you know. I really enjoyed this graphic novel. I just can't wait to get to the Blackest Night!

[Eric Burton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm basically just repeating myself at this point, as this is another great entry in the series. Love the character of Larfleeze, and his backstory shed some really interesting light on more of the GL mythos. This saga is one of the top 5 comic runs of all time. Can't wait for Blackest Night!

[Brandt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every time I read Geoff Johns Green Lantern (as well as Green Lantern Corps) I keep thinking of that old acronym Roy G. Biv, which tells us the different colors of the visible color spectrum as they appear in a rainbow. After all, Johns has introduced readers to an entire color spectrum of power rings that was insinuated by Silver-Age Green Lantern writer John Broome (although whether Broome realized it himself is unlikely--he only came up with the yellow rings and what would eventually become the violet rings) and since by the time we get around to Agent Orange we now have seen five of the seven colors of the visible light spectrum representing different "emotional" states--Red (hate), yellow (fear), blue (hope), violet (or sapphire--love) and in the center of it all green (willpower, or determination, if you will.) For readers of The Sinestro Corps War we have already been given a preview that the last two colors will eventually be represented, and Agent Orange is the opportunity to see what the Orange light represents.

When we left Hal Jordan at the end of Rage of the Red Lanterns he was both a Green and a Blue Lantern. Jordan has no desire to be a Blue Lantern, but until he can sincerely answer the ring's question of what he hopes for, it won't allow him to remove it. In addition, the blue ring has a side effect of overcharging the green ring--when hope becomes part of the equation, it becomes obvious determination is more powerful. The hope rings seems to be underpowered without a Green Lantern nearby to use the overcharging capability, but as we saw in Rage, the hope rings have an ability to cancel out the powers of the more "destructive" emotions in Johns emotional color spectrum--the Blue ring allowed Hal to avoid being enslaved by the red ring and his rage. In this volume we learn which emotion the orange ring represents--and it falls in line with what we humans consider the shittier emotions out there--we like to believe that we are above hate and fear and this new emotion (I won't spoil it here), but it's not true. As with the red ring, the blue ring is able to deflect the power of the orange ring as well since it seems that having hope can help us shut down those more self centered emotions. Of course, sometimes hope can come off as sort of naive, and thanks to the actions of the Guardians of the Universe, stewards of the green light and (mistaken) believers that the willpower that powers them doesn't have an emotional element, at the end this naivete is exploited by both the eponymous Agent Orange and the Guardians to meet their conflicting goals, which seems to be the opening salvo in fulfilling the prophecy of "Blackest Night."

Having read all of Johns Green Lantern run to this point, I want to once again congratulate him taking something implied by the early days of John Broome's Green Lantern and creating such a rich tableau for the different powers, especially since he seems to divide the spectrum into "shitty" emotions and "good" ones, but given what we have seen up to this point, the way he has ordered it makes a lot of sense, not just because of Roy G. Biv, but because of what emotions they represent and how they link together--Hate leads to what orange represents to fear, and hope leads to what indigo represents (this is indicated by the Blue Lanterns in Agent Orange but again, spoilers!) which leads to love, and there is willpower and determination in the middle--driven by both hope and fear. On a metaphysical level, Johns has done something very clever with Green Lantern throughout his run and being along for the ride has been great fun.

[Rihards Husko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another color of the emotional spectrum lights up the DC universe, illuminating both the hidden truths of the Guardians’ past and the black shadow looming over their future.

Geoff Johns’ writing for Green Lantern may not be particularly subtle, but I can’t deny it just *works* for me. Expanding the basic idea of Green Willpower and Yellow Fear already long established in the DC Universe into a whole range of colors and powers is just such an incredibly *cool* concept. And it is done by both bringing forth old allies and enemies, as well as creating new ones, while tying it all together to existing lore... I’m not a big enough DC nerd to know just how much retconning goes on, but everything feels like it makes sense to me, and I love it.

It also helps that vivid colors denoting both faction and specific powers works *incredibly* well in the visual medium of comics. Every clash between different corps pops with bright colors, and pretty much always looks super neat, although I found some of Philip Tan’s work in this book to be a little off at times. It’s still a good-looking volume of Green Lantern, but there were definitely panels I side-eyed.

Larfleeze is a great new villain, somewhat hilarious and very intimidating at once. I hope he is featured in the series going forward.

One issue with Agent Orange: it is the next part in a serialized story, and just *barely* has a beginning or ending of its own. This is not a standalone book, if that’s a problem for you.

The biggest actual problem I had with the book has nothing to do with its contents, but the format I read it in. The Kindle version of this book has atrocious formatting (the splash pages are formatted into a single vertical page with black bars on the top & bottom. What?), and just generally low quality images. Thankfully, Comixology had none of these issues, just be aware.

All in all, great stuff, and I can’t wait for Blackest Night.

[Adam Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the introduction of Larfleeze into the Green Lantern mythos fairly disappointing. I enjoy the actual character, his origin, his purpose, the way he wields his power. I just thought the artwork failed to really showcase his design. He was kept in shadows during all appearances previous to this volume, so I expected him to look really cool. And I do think the design is probably cool, but the colors really dampened the visual impact.

The story itself, leading us directly into Blackest Night is solid but there were no plot points that blew me away. The trope in Johns's run of Hal Jordan ending up, at least briefly, getting the power from each portion of the spectrum he encounters is tiresome. Poor John Stewart, Guy Gardener, and Kyle Rainer, really get the short end of the stick during Johns's. Stewart's story basically being That Planet You Ruined Forever Ago? Yea The Person Who Used To Hate You For It Now Forgives You But At An Excruciating Pace. Gardener's story is Girl You Loved Who Used To Be Dead Isn't Dead Any More And Wants You To Stop Running From Your Problems. Ehh. And Rainer's story is Paint Your Sadness Away, And Also We Just Introduced A New Rule That Lanterns Can't Romantically Intertwine So We're Going To Toss You A New Love Interest Who Is Also A Lantern. Sure.

You need a fifty-thousand word Wikipedia entry to highlight Hal Jordan's story.

I do recommend this for fans of Larfleeze, or anyone interested in The Blackest Night storyline. While I like it a little less than most of Johns's run, it's still better than most of the books DC was putting out at the time....and now.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Following on from 'Rage of the Red Lanterns', Hal Jordan struggles with his blue and green power rings as the War of Light begins in earnest.
Then, in the forbidden Vega system, an ancient enemy is awoken who wields the orange light of avarice and covets Jordan's blue ring.

Part of the Prelude to Blackest Night, this book introduces another new lantern corps, albeit one with a difference. Unfortunately, where the introduction of the new corps was really interesting at first, here you can't help but think 'Oh, we're doing this again are we?'. I think it's because so many new power ring colours have been introduced one after another that it doesn't feel fresh anymore.
On top of that is that, off the back of the previous book 'Secret Origins', this feels like another diversion from the build up to 'Blackest Night', rather than a true advancement of that storyline.

Don't misunderstand; this is still an enjoyable Green Lantern book, it's just not as engaging as some of the other books of the series.

* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.com/ *

[Christian Oliverio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Filling in the gap between Geoff Johns Green Lantern Volume 4 and the Blackest Night Crossover, we get the introduction of another lantern corps and continue some consequences left over from the Rage of the Red Lanterns, directly leading into Blackest Night.

There was a lot of fun action here. Hal has both a blue and green ring, but isn't able to fully use either, leading to him having to think his way out of a lot of sticky situations. The plot flows seamlessly from the two stories, making this very much not a standalone. Still, it is a great chapter in the larger story of the War of Light.

Now, we can't talk Agent Orange without talking Larfleeze, who is both terrifying and fun. Picture Gollum as an alien who has a superweapon that can summon the souls of those he has eaten mixed with the seagulls from Finding Nemo. You can play him straight as a terrifying threat or have him be a joke character. This somehow does both and I loved it.

In short, another great chapter in Geoff Johns' stellar run, featuring the introduction of Agent Orange.

[Noah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even better than Sinestro Corps War, only one I think was better was Vol.6 secret origin. This one sets up blackest night as does rage of the red lanterns vol.7 and the 2 GL Corps books. Larfleeze was an amazing villain in this book and was introduced very well, I’ve only read comics in the new 52 with Larfleeze and let me say they ruined him on there. Larfleeze was a frightening villain in this book (but not terryfing) the perfect villain type imo. Larfleeze in the new 52 is presented as a goofy laughable charchter who is mildly annoying. I’m glad he wasn’t created that way and I hope he can return to his original form.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume sees the introduction of Larfleeze, the Orange Lantern. I find it odd that you see all these new color lanterns popping up all at once after having never been mentioned for so long, but the stories are good enough I can overlook things. This also is a lead in to Blackest Night, which looks awesome. This Geoff Johns run has been the best run of Green Lantern Ive read, and really one of the best runs of any comic I've read for that matter.