Certainly the reason I was going to walk into a comic book store at all was to see what Geoff Johns, thought by many to be one of the saviors of comic books (and godlike in my eyes considering what he did with the Blackest Night storyline), would do with a rebooted "Green Lantern." This, after all, was the title least in need of a reboot among the entire DC universe, as Johns essentially scrapped the title and started over in 2005, making its latest incarnations one of the youngest for a franchise character.So how does he start it all over again? By shifting the focus back to Sinestro (at least at first) and by not ignoring the Blackest Night storyline, which included the introduction and development of the various color corps. What gets "rebooted" in this "Green Lantern" is the fact that the Guardians of the Universe have reinstated Sinestro as a Green Lantern after his destructive splintering-off to create the yellow "fear" corps, and Hal Jordan, Earth's main lantern, has been stripped of his ring as punishment for his reckless behavior and returned to Earth where we find that he simply cannot function.
Sinestro is not comfortable being a green lantern again, and shows up on Hal's doorstep (where he's seen unable to pay rent, distinguish a staged fight on a movie set from a real one, or handle Carol Ferris, the love of his life) to proposition him. He offers Hal a ring behind the back of the Guardians, but it comes with caveats; the ring was created by Sinestro and cannot be used against him. Also, Sinestro can turn off or control its power as he sees fit. And finally, Hal must travel with Sinestro to Korugar, his home planet, where Sinestro's renegade yellow core have taken over and threaten to destroy the planet.
Despite Hal's reluctance, he has nothing going on Earth and essentially can't turn down a chance to return to service, be it a legitimate green lantern or a bootleg one. So he accepts. The first five issues of the new "Green Lantern" make up the "Sinestro" storyline, in which Hal and Sinestro uncomfortably team up. Sinestro seems genuinely appreciative of Hal's help but by the end of issue #5 sends him right back to Earth when he's through with him. The series begins and ends with glimpses of the Guardians agreeing that the green lantern corps has failed them just as their original manhunter plan did and deciding, after brainwashing Ganthet (a loose cannon for using his emotions), to set into motion the creation of a "third army." This is perhaps the most exciting plot point of the title so far, because it keeps us guessing as to how the green lantern corps will respond to being discarded by the Guardians.
Issue #6 is an oddity, mostly because of the work of guest artist Mike Choi, whose work is so different from the stunning drawings of Doug Mahnke (one of my favorite illustrators) that I found it a little hard to focus. It's not bad art, but Hal doesn't even look like Hal. Fortunately, it's just for the one-off issue before the next storyline gets going in issue #7. The story in #6 involves Hal dealing with life on Earth without a ring and Sinestro engaging Starstorm for assistance but eventually turning to Hal again.
Another color's corp first makes an appearance in issue #7, when the Indigo tribe appears. Hal is unwilling to rejoin Sinestro until he tells Hal that he's seen the Book of the Black and knows that the green lanterns are about to be replaced. The Indigos think the Guardians made a mistake in letting Sinestro have his green ring back and aim to rectify that. In a shocking little twist, Carol appears as Star Sapphire, but we'll have to wait to see where that is headed. And the issue ends with Hal and Sinestro captured and in jail cells.
The series, "The Secret of the Indigo Tribe" continues through issue #10. Hal encounters Black Hand (a key player in the Blackest Night story) and Sinestro is transformed into an Indigo, sort of ironic considering that the creator of the "fear corps" is now a member of the corp of compassion. Perhaps most interestingly, Hal meets an Indigo named Natromo who says he is waiting for the return of Abin Sur. Wait...WHAT??? Natromo tells Hal that Abin taught him that the Guardians of the Universe were evil and would destroy the corps, and Hal is reluctant to tell Natromo that Abin is dead and was the one who gave him his green ring. Natromo is despondent and says that without Abin, there is no chance that the corps can stand up to the Guardians. He destroys the indigo lantern, which returns Sinestro to green and, consequently, removes the indigo power from the other tribe members.
Sinestro orders Natromo to repair the indigo lantern, and he does so, but when an indigo ring hunts down William Hand (Black Hand), he dies trying to escape it. Issue #10 ends on a fantastically suspenseful note, with Hand receiving the black ring, hearkening back to the Blackest Night storyline. So what does this mean? I'm excited to find out.
It should be no surprise that I'm totally on board not only with "Green Lantern," but with its companion Corps book and the two new DC titles, "New Guardians" and "Red Lanterns," all of which I'll review here separately. I love what Johns has done with these iconic characters! He's put Sinestro in a precarious position as a not-quite-reformed green lantern and has stripped Hal of his ability to control his situations; as of issue #10, Hal remains at the will of Sinestro. But they set up some great cliffhangers here. What does the Indigo Tribe or Black Hand have to do with the third army? How, when or will Hal be restored to full, independent power? "Green Lantern" continues to be, as it has always been, my favorite series in the DC universe, and that's even in spite of the disappointing film released last year. No one should let the bad taste from that movie stop them from missing out on the greatest intergallactic adventure this side of Star Wars.
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