The enemy of my enemy is my friend, a phrase that has been echoed throughout the ages. The readers of Green Lantern have seen this phrase come to fruition over the past year, but it looks like that trusting a shape shifter is never a good idea no matter what the circumstances are. Plus now that we know that the Durlans have been hiding the true game changer for this war without telling their allies. If I know anything about partnerships, it’s that hiding something can lead to a terrible break up. So let’s not waste anymore time and see what Uprising part 3 has in store.
It’s a refreshing to open a book that briefly recaps events in previous issues from a different perspective. It’s still does job while also gives the reader something more engaging to read rather than seeing the same characters refer to something that happened a few minutes ago for them. While I’ve been a fan of Tan’s art, his single page splash of seems off. Hal himself seems more angular in the pose Tan has him in and Salaak just seems giant in proportion to to Hal.
Transitioning to the nefarious villains, and it’s here where the true plot of the story begins to reveal itself. In what starts off as a pissing contest between the Durlans and Khund goes horribly wrong for the Khund empire. Perhaps the coolest moment of the arc yet, as one Durlan ship explodes, followed by the entire fleet.
This felt like something out of a movie, truly a cinematic moment. Tan’s facial expression for the main Khund commander is sadly on the tad silly side, as his expression comes off as his the commander is constipated instead of angered at the back stabbing. It’s a immersion ruining facial expression.
Oh and because we can’t forget Nol-Anj barely escapes.
Venditti cuts back to Hal and his squadron attacking a random Durlan platoon, with some very generic action pieces. While this page does clue Hal that something odd is going on, but with the subsequent scene with Nol-Anj, this small action scene comes as a filler. A mere means to still tell the reader that the war is still going on.
Kilowog recalls Hal back Oa due to Nol-Anj showing up right up on their doorstep. This scene does a nice job of delivering humor with her words prior to arriving on Oa, and her arrest by Gorin -Sunn.
Hal decides to interrogate Nol himself and this scene is mainly one big exposition dump that helps pushes the plot forward. Hal does show his growth as a leader, but sadly the conversation just simply isn’t as engaging at is should be. From an art side, Hal’s face seems to change shape from each panel. It’s quite distracting for a scene that has important plot points that need to be addressed.
The issue concludes with the reveal of another aspect of the Durlans plot, with the book itself ending around a sentient sea.
Green Lantern #31 sure felt like filler in some aspects, but the plot of the Durlans continues to be strong and is still engaging and it leaves readers with questions of what else is up these shape shifters sleeves. Tan’s art here wasn’t terrible it was consistent for the most part, just several parts came off as weird or distracting. The title continues to remain solid overall.
Green Lantern #32 earns a 3/5
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