Here we are once again with the second Green Lantern title in the post Geoff Johns era. Now while last weeks Green Lantern proper book was average at best, we have now the beloved sister title, Green Lantern Corps, that takes center stage. Will this book continue to be the darling favorite or has it taken a turn for the worse? Let’s dive in and find out shall we?
This time new writer Van Jensen takes scripting duties while Robert Venditti plotted the book, however once this issue is over it shall be known who is truly behind the reason for this books success. We open up with John Stewart teaming up with his apparent on again off again girlfriend in Fatality or Yrra as she wishes to be called. This all leads into John and Yrra into a exciting action sequences against new aliens attempting to steal a dangerous reactor for unknown purposes. These first three pages are a great way to introduce one of our main characters, a bit of his back story and a bit of a fun off world battle. It is admirable that Jensen chose to just drop the reader into a already moving the story and forces the reader to catch up, which is executed perfectly.
Since the Green Lantern Corps title implies focus on more than one Green Lantern, we soon meet our monitor Salek who is feeling remorse for the recent Third Army and First Lantern storyline. Now while the first three pages did a great job of dropping the reader in without boring exposition, the page between Salek and the new Guardians comes off as clunky and kills the momentum from the first few pages. It should be appreciated that this page does give the mission statement for the book in a ongoing basis, a sign that Van Jensen has a long term plan, which should be considered a good thing. Add the introduction of new unique aliens and Jensen piles on even more things to keep the readers interested.
However the middle issue is where the John Stewart’s chapter in the story takes a turn for the cliche, in which Stewart is given the choice of saving a planet or going after the threat, if the reader has never read a Green Lantern story in the past 9 years then this is a non issue, yet delivers a nice character moment between John and Yrra, but if the reader has read Green Lantern within the past 9 years then John and planet destruction is now turning into a horrible trope that doesn’t need to brought up again.
Van Jensen closes the issue with how the perception of the Green Lantern Corps is within the 3600 sectors and the Corps itself. This not only brings something new to old readers but it can and most likely should entice readers to stick around to see how the heroes of the book deal with perceptions while training to maintain peace across the sectors, add into those unique aliens introduced near the middle of the issue now joining the corps itself and you have a perfect recipe for coming back in 30 days.
Bernard Chang is the perfect artist for this title, Bernard brings great action sequences and great character renderings. Chang breathes life into a script already beaming with personality. Bernard also brings great facial expressions to his characters, the best example would be the two pages of interaction between Salek and Soranik and if you were to remove the word ballons you can simply look at Saleks face and instantly become aware of his sense of betray, loss, and resolve. Fans should want Bernard Chang to stay on the book for the long haul.
Overall, Green Lantern Corps is an excellent issue for long time readers and especially great for new readers, add in some fantastic art by Bernard Chang and the reader is given a nice starting point.
Green Lantern Corps #21 receives a 4/5
Review by Ben Castruita