Green Lantern #41

The Good

GREEN LANTERN hasn't felt this different since Geoff Johns' REBIRTH. While this series, as well as the last one, has been a book about Hal Jordan as a member of the Green Lantern Corps, issue #41 is much more just about Hal Jordan and what his new place in the universe is, which is a tad confusing, and it's about establishing Hal as a renegade, which he became after stealing Krona's gauntlets.

First and foremost, Hal Jordan's new look is awesome. Artist Billy Tan, inker Mark Irwin, and colorists Alex Sinclair and Tony Avina put together a brilliant looking splash page that made the teenage side of me weep. Yes, Hal Jordan's new look is super 90s, and I love it. He has the trenchcoat, long hair, and a belt with poaches and while normally, I'd be super-judgey about this, for the role Hal now plays in this book, it's a perfect fit. Their work, as artists is really consistent and moves the book forward.

During RED LANTERNS, we got to see the Red Lantern Corps fly around in a spaceship. Here, Hal has his own ship as well, with his own A.I. called Darlene. Again, a new element is intergrated into the book and it really works, especially because the gauntlets have a mind of their own and don't always work the way Hal wants them to. Writer Robert Venditti is turning this book into more of a space adventure over anything else, which is something that has been lacking at DC.

The ending is pretty nuts and gives a lot more meaning to the title of the new book GREEN LANTERN: THE LOST ARMY. Where in the heck does Hal go for here? Where the heck did the other lanterns go? It's not the most shocking cliffhanger, which is fine, but what it does well is have a question sitting in reader's minds that they will want answered.

The Bad

The reader has to make a lot of assumptions about Hal's journey in order to piece together the big question from this issue: "why is Hal doing what he is doing?" We're left to assume, much like the show Renegade, that Hal is for hire, to do odd jobs, like bring people in. Essentially, Hal is a bounty hunter, of sorts, minus the killing, but the book doesn't give too many clues about that.

The Verdict

The new direction for GREEN LANTERN is bold and unique. It's quite the departure from where the book was at pre-CONVERGENCE, but it's a really interesting direction. The creative team is spinning this book into something completely different. It's not the Hal Jordan we're used to, but let's face it, this character has been through some insane changes over the past 30 years, from Parallax to The Spectre to dead... twice. The one flaw with the book is that the reader is left to assume a bit too much about Hal's place, but aside from that, this was one tremendous first issue.

Even though I think we've seen too much of Hal miserable as of late, I'm still really looking forward to this, it seems like a very interesting and personal story.

It's off to good start

I disagree that this seems 90's, I think it's more pulpy golden age. He seems like Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon to me.

I wasn't so sure on this but I ended up picking this up and I really dug it.

I'm loving his new suit.

it's been so long since the last issue that I can't even remember why Hal went rogue again...anyone feel like filling me in?

I just have one simple question, What is happening with John Stewart? Seriously, can someone please inform me?

@egie_asemota1: green lantern lost army

Hal Jordan is basically a space version of Snake Plissken. I enjoyed the book, especially his use of the ring. It see

I enjoyed the but the cliffhanger was the best, here hoping Green Lantern: The Lost Army is brilliant because i am very intrigued!

@darknightspideyfanboy: thank you. i mean it :)

I think it might be time for me to drop my beloved GL book...I'm just not enjoying it. I'm not necessarily saying that the book is not well-written, but Venditti's run just strays too far from what I love about the GL title. It no longer feels like a GL book to me, but rather like one of those expanded universe stories from Star Wars - which isn't saying that the EU stories are bad, but it's not why I pick up a GL book.

@danhimself: He pulled a Dark Knight. To take the heat off the ruined reputation of the Corps. He planned this with Kilowog so the focus of the Universe would be off all the consecutive issues that put a stink on the Corps and now the focus shifts to Hal.

ah oh yeah...thanks for the reminder

It seems DC has that effect in all their seasoned fans these days.

Feeling the same about a particular book?

I have been feeling pretty disappointed with Dc's direction of Superman for a while now.

I share the reviewers point that Hal no longer has a purpose. His reason for leaving the Corp was ridiculous and completely unbelievable. The Green Lantern Corp has/had over 7500 members which is very very small in comparison to the hundreds of millions of star systems in the Milky Way alone. It's absurd to think that the majority of the Universe would even know of the Corp let alone Hal Jordan. Even assuming that the Corp is as well known as suggested, if they had a bad reputation, it would not change simply because one ring bearer left. The failures of the New-52 Corp had nothing to do with Hal and accordingly, Hal staging the theft of Krona's gauntlet (or whatever that things is he uses) and pretend fighting Killowog would have little to no bearing on salvaging the Corp's reputation. The whole scenario is too contrived.

But hey, "change for the sake of change" is DC's true motto.

I like the new direction. its interesting, different, and awesome imo. I guess I've been in the minority for a while. Also I like the new look.

I could go either way on the new direction. On one hand, it does seem interesting. On the other, the whole Hal going rogue and getting kicked out of the Corps thing has been done to death.

But JESUS the art here is atrocious. God, can we please get a new artist on here?????? There were some parts where Hal didn't even look human. I almost thought that Tan was drawing a toad.

I loved the reason for going rogue and have been really excited for this issue. It was almost a month after I read issue forty that I realized why he went rogue, I need to get back in the habit of reading the previous month issue before reading the new month. I would of totally missed the guardians asking "we need a favor"

Was totally shocked at the final page. How. Why. Where's my favorite character mogo. He does have the ability to just move sectors so since he is their new home base maybe they are just out visiting someone.

But why the 399 cover price? Really bummed because it looks to he like this for all future GL issues and most other dc books

Oh and now GL and justice league really don't coexist. That's small for me though

Great issue, but the timeline complication seems to persist- but I know the motto right now is Story>Continuity . . . Hal Jordan's new fit's imposing, sleek and enigmatic, suitable for the tone

Loved the issue. Great new direction for Hal.