The Good

Uprising began as another in a string of Green Lantern crossover arcs that had left me not terribly interested, particularly as there seemed to be so MANY of them. However, little by little, issue by issue, the series did an amazing job of winning me over. Perhaps because it stuck with GREEN LANTERN and GREEN LANTERN CORPS, leaving RED LANTERNS and GREEN LANTERN: NEW GUARDIANS mostly alone, focusing the storyline and not requiring it to shoehorn in every side character from the GL universe. This was very much a John Stewart/Hal Jordan crossover and I feel that gave it an incredible amount of strength, especially as series architects Robert Venditti and Va(AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA)n Jensen's visions were able to take the fore. This issue returns us to Venditti and gives us a great seeming end to the tale only to pull the rug out from under us at the last second. This issue definitely feels like the storyline is coming to a close, with a great move by Hal and a plan for victory that is beautiful in its simplicity.

Billy Tan’s pencils are brought to the fore this issue and his strengths as an artist are emphasized above all else. I’ve been critical of a lack of animation or fluid action in previous issues, but this particular issue is all about powerful figures standing tall and looking gloriously heroic. This is the stuff that will be lionized in future, otherworldly history books. Oh and a sentient planet hurls meteors as a kind of orbital bombardment tactic all crystalized in its glorious sharpness by Rob Hunter, Batt, and Jaime Mendoza on inks. The inks in this title rein in the crazy, varied and wild visuals in a way that makes them clearer and stronger while the incredible Alex Sinclair takes a planet of fire and energy and makes it look not only bright and beautiful, but actually interesting and dynamic to look at.

The Bad

As much as I like the visuals overall on this book, there are times when they either look too stiff or shift from one focal point to the next with neither context nor grace. At times the issue takes on an appearance of animation that’s had almost all the frames stripped out, but the audio left entirely intact. We get scenes of entire conversations happening during moments that deserve to have some quieter tenseness and while we get a great cliffhanger out of the ending, it also comes incredibly abruptly.

The Verdict

Complaints aside, I can’t wait to see what happens in GREEN LANTERN CORPS, and that’s saying something for a crossover title. It’s not a perfect issue, but it doesn’t need to be one as the overall story holding up has been consistent and great, and its flaws are easy to ignore. The panels that work far, far outnumber the ones that don’t and give this issue the image of a grand, sweeping epic, an image it rightly earns. Assuming the final issue makes good on the rest of the series quality, Uprising stands to end as one of Green Lanterns’ truly great events.

Can't wait until Venditti is off this book so Green Lantern can be good again.

Mogo's meteor attack was pretty epic.

Really good issue but after this no more lantern cross overs for a year this stuff gets expensive.

@fastestmanalive: really? GL is still good. The only diference is te stupid cross-overs that DC whats to the other books can sell.

One of my favorite books, but it's been so mediocre lately. The arts not great and I'm not entirely happy with the way they wrapped this story up in a bow. I might have to drop this title for awhile til a new team comes on.

They need to stop these crossovers and get on with a decent story. I am close to dropping this book, which is a shame as I think Vendetti is a great writer (his Flash book has started off really well) and I love Billy tan's art.

This issue was okay. It felt a bit rushed and easy for the corps.

I liked the book. I love Billy tan's art and I like the way Venditti crafts his stories. Its not as epic as John's run but I dont think thats necessarily a bad thing. I will continue to stick with the book for sure.

I agree. Green Lantern has been lame ever since the third army was introduced into Baz's arc. He had potential, then they killed off the entire series with those lame crossovers. Let's get some Green Lantern epic shit going on.