The Good
Since Robert Venditti took over as the writer on GREEN LANTERN, this book has been flipped on its head. Issue #30 of GREEN LANTERN is where I feel Venditti's fully owns this book and its characters. Everything he's done has been fantastic, for the most part, but this issue has all of the moving pieces Venditti has been setting up in full motion. Essentially, Hal Jordan and the rest of the crew are trying their best to clean up the mess the Durlan created, a few issues back.
Readers who have been enjoying this series will spend most of the issue wondering how everything is going to be cleaned up by the new Green Lantern Corps. It's incredibly suspenseful and will keep the reader guessing. Each story plays heavily on the last one, which creates a larger, fuller story. If you're not a fan of stories like this, then you may be a bit turned off by this one, but Venditti is really making the Green Lantern universe his with this story.
Venditti opens this issue up with an extremely emotional moment as the lanterns pay their respects to fallen lanterns, including Kyle Rayner. It's a fantastic scene and really gives credibility to Hal Jordan to the leader of this corps as he gives a speech in remembrance of Rayner.
The last scene of this issue is utterly wonderful. Not all members of the Green Lantern Corps are created equal and not all of them are so law abiding. Readers are treated to a very shocking moment which doesn't help the larger situation by any means.
The art really impressed me on this issue, especially the colors by Tony Avina and Alex Sinclair. The colors in this book are a cool mixture of the old and the new, right from page one. There's lots of flat colors, layered on first, then some hatching to darken things up in other areas, but what one of these colorists did that was really cool was not use straight black for the hatching. It almost looks like colored pencil, shades darker, to do the hatching. It gives the art a wonderfully soft feel to the scene, which works incredibly well in the opening pages, which are extremely emotional.
The Bad
No real problems with this issue. This direction is so fresh and interesting. If anything, it's easy to say this isn't new reader friendly because like most of Venditti's work, his stories are so closely tied to each other, which is easily the best part of his writing.
The Verdict
GREEN LANTERN #30 is the issue that will really grab readers and make them believe that Venditti was the perfect choice to run this series. From the opening to the last page, we are treated to some solid storytelling and seeing Hal Jordan really hone the role of leader. If you're aware of what's going on in GL, this is probably one of the better places to jump on the book. We're in the midst of a fantastic new era for Green Lantern.
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