HUBBA HUBBA HUBBA WHO DO YOU TRUST?! ME?! Okay now that I’ve gotten the Batman 89 reference out of my head, time travel is the one of the trickier aspects when writing in a shared universe. In most cases time travel is not done well and ultimately it gets forgotten the moment that particular story arc concludes. However when time travel within comics is done well, it can make readers beg to learn more about what might coming down the pipe. Now that a certain character has joined the GLC as of last issue it’ll be interesting to see if Venditti drops any future mention of things to come. Warning there will be spoilers going forward, read at your own risk.

I know that I don’t mention coloring all that much, and that’s because in my view you shouldn’t notice the coloring. Now before that line is taken out of context, the coloring (like inking) is there to enhance the line art. Just like the offensive lineman in a American football game is important to how well the team does, you only really notice them when they do something that sets of a penalty. In this issue we are introduced to Sarko a character from the future and I bring this up because when you first see Sarko he passes either for a human or a daxamite (that’s a word I haven’t used in a while), but the following pages his skin is that familiar shade of pink seen only on Kuragarians.

I know it’s a minor thing, but it really threw me off enough for me to question who this new villain was.

Oddly enough this issue was mostly set up, in the vaguest way possible. Given that Rip Hunter is from the future, it seems only customary that you only want to tease a potential future in which the Green Lantern Corps no longer exists (it seems like every future ends with the destruction of the Corps), and because Venditti is dealing with potential futures that may or may not come to pass, so it was set up without actually setting anything up (except for the assault of Oa). It was a weird dichotomy of telling a reader information that is vital for the story yet use time travel as to why not enough information was not given at this time.

One thing that does have me irked is the complete forgetting of Kyle and Carol as a couple. Now if I missed an issue at some point that established that Kyle/Carol was no longer a thing then that’s on me. It just felt weird for Kyle to ask out Natu the second he’s no longer white lantern Jesus. Given Natu’s rise within the Sinestro Corps and her attempts to make the uneasy alliance actually work, a relationship between Kyle just makes no sense to me. Both characters have moved on and relying on a pass relationship to give these two characters something to do just seems like a waste.

Ken Marion returns on art and I have to mention the sequence between Space Ape and Gorrin-Sun as really good comic book art. You have in these sequence of panels great beings from an alternate timeline (bayformers look aside), great emotional depth from two protagonist and a villain who carries that perfect posture. Plus I really admire that Marion’s style is like a modern Neal Adams, yet still distinct. Overall another consistent job well done from Marion.

Hal Jordan & The Green Lantern Corps #19 earns a 3/5