GREEN LANTERN #2

[ I WANT A BARGAIN! ] 

Do you know what ploy I the hate most, out of all the ploys that someone can impart on someone else? Teasing. As I find this type of taunt just shameful and child-like in nature – especially if the person who is doing the teasing is not me. Just ask, Writer: Geoff Jones; Artist: Doug Mahnke; and Publisher: DC Comics, what I am talking about – especially in November 2011.



THE STORY:

Now if Hal Jordan thought that life could not get any worse for him, the purple-skinned snide-sod, Sinestro, turns up at his door, and – taunts him – slaps him – before giving him a proposition that Hal cannot refuse – a green power ring.

So this is a good thing, right? Wrong – because this offer does come with one proviso – Sinesto can deplete this power source whenever he so chooses to. And worst still, Sinesto demonstrates this to Hal, when suddenly, out of the blue, a bridge collapses nearby, and they both aide with the rescue – in a manner of speaking.

In the aftermath of this bold event, Hal and Sinsetro are abruptly attacked by the perpetrator of this collapsed bridge – Gorgon, of the Sinestro Corps. And even though Sinestro does manage to vanquish this one time ally, in so doing, he also explains to Hal the reason why he gave him the power ring in the first place – so that he can help him save his home world of Korugar.

To be continued...

THE REVIEW:

Whilst reading this second issue of Green Lantern, I was reminded of a sit-com of times past called ‘Soap’. Now for those of you who are not in the know, ‘Soap’ was a parody of a daytime soap opera, which starred the likes of Billy Crystal and Robert Guillaume, and set in a wealthy neighbourhood. OK, I know what you are thinking to yourself – so what does any of this have to do with this issue of Green Lantern? Well, in a round about way, both this issue and ‘Soap’ have one thing in common – they both made me laugh for the wrong reasons. Here, have a look a this clip...

Now with this clip in mind, please listen to what I say next. The basic gist of the whole issue, is that Sinestro gives Hal Jordan a new power ring – which is in under his control – so that Hal can help Sinestro save his home planet of Korugar (or ‘cougar’ as I like to call it, it sounds funnier). However, for Sinestro to accomplish this task, he basically ‘takes the piss’ out of Hal for a couple of minutes, slaps him around for a bit, before they both get themselves into a bit of ‘mischief’! Well – I mean – couldn’t Sinesto just say from panel two of page one ‘Take this ring and help me save my planet’? Wouldn’t that have been much simpler?  But no – the writer, Geoff Jones, had to turn this into a page-filler full of exposition and bold poses, which – as I said before – made me laugh.

Granted, on the reverse side of this argument, John’s story did have a nice and pithy way of telling this tale – as it illustrated as well as vocalised the premise. And in addition to this, I did like the way that the artist, Doug Mahkne (not monkey), draws action scenes – as he has a panoramic and detailed manner to his line work, which elevated this story much more than what it actually was.

Overall, this issue off Green Lantern wasn’t all that bad – as it was unintentionally funny – it looked good on the page – and the zinger at the end is making me anticipate what next issue will bring. Want to guess what that is?

A clean comic book – like ‘Soap’.

THE RATING: B