GREEN LANTERN #50

[ PARALLAX PRICE CRASH ] 

Do you know what the difference is between Hal Jordan and a ninja? Well, Hal's a pseudo space cop, where as a ninja is a judo-faced fop. Which reminds me, please check out the following comic book created by Robert Venditti, Billy Tan, Vicente Cifuentes, and published by DC Comics, in March, 2016.

TO QUOTE Emile Durkheim: 'It is too great comfort which turns a man against himself. Life is most readily renounced at the time and among the classes where it is least harsh'.

THE REVIEW:

Have you ever seen someone punching themselves right in the face? I have. It was in this very issue of Green Lantern, issue number 50, a so-called bumper-sized anniversary issue.  

Now at the start of the book, we're presented with a scene where Hal Jordan, also known as Parallax: Scourge of the Galaxy, is reminiscing about the destruction of Coast City, his version of Coast City, obviously in another universe. I'm sure you know the type of thing I'm referring to: Hal just looking off into the distance and talking to himself about past regrets, what he should have done differently, and all of that melancholy type stuff people with regrets normally dwell on.

Then, once that scene has run its course, we're then presented with the next section where we see this universes version of Hal Jordan, also known as the artist formally known as Green Lantern, at hospital, with his family, talking and playing with them in a very homely and pleasant manner.

Well, that is until -- yep, you guessed it -- Hal suddenly comes face to face with the other Hal. And, as you can expect from most comic books story-lines, they fight, they don't give each other enough time to speak, and basically, from that moment onwards, POW! BAFF! BIFF! Ops! To be continued.

But to be honest with you, dear reader, apart from this yawn-some style of tried and tested set-up, the rest of the fight was fairly enjoyable to follow. For instance, at the start of it, Parallax truly seems moved when he first meets his family (who he presumed died during the destruction of Coast City). This was then coupled with a number of facts that added some more weight and substance to the overall plot, like the fact that this version of Parallax is the one who was around prior to being killed during Final Night, as well as our Hal -- you know, that chap with the gauntlet -- being more powerful than we originally think he is.

Saying that, though, you don't want me to say too much, do you dear reader? No spoilers here. eh? Instead, you'd rather hear me praise Billy Tan and Vicente Cifuentes for choreographing a very clean and crisp action sequence that literally jumped off of the page. This was also backed up with a number of well thought out pieces of dialog written by Robert Venditti, as I especially enjoyed the discourse he wrote between Hal and his brother, Jim, about how certain people beat themselves up more than they should do.

Life imitating art? Boy, I sure love it.

So overall I really did enjoy reading this issue of Green Lantern. Despite the general premise being a fairly tried and tested one, to me, the implementation wasn't.  

THE MUSIC:

I wished Hal Jordan, either of them, heard the following song sung by Jerry Butler before appearing in this issue. The song is called, 'Make It Easy On Yourself', and do you know what? They should.

Musical match-up made.

THE COMPARISON:

Being an actor isn't very easy on anyone involved. Not only do you have to find work, maintain a healthy work-life ratio, and get better at doing it too, on top of that, sometimes you can immerse yourself into a role so much, you can't help but beat yourself up in the process.

Yes. That's right. This issue is the Robert De Niro of comic books.

THE CONCLUSION:

At the very end of this issue something rather peculiar happens to Hal Jordan. So -- wait-for-it, wait-for-it -- just for fun, can you guess what actually happens to him out of the following eight options? Could it be...

1. He replaces Jim Gordon and becomes the new Batman.
2. He has a sex change and starts calling himself Helen.
3. He punches a dog in the face and marries a sheep.
4. He shaves all of his hair off and becomes a member of the Hare Krishnas.
5. He has an affair with a duck and goes quackers.
6. He turns into a glowing green apparition.
7. He falls asleep in the middle of a nuclear explosion.
8. He becomes an actor and punches a dog in the face, marries a sheep, has an affair with a duck, then sings about Hare Krishna, bald.

Nuff said.