Let’s be real for just a moment. Given the state of the world right now, despite all our individual differences there is one unifying thought. Despite what people say out loud, we as humans are thinking about the future in some fashion, whether it’s tomorrow, six months, five years or two decades, the future is on everybody’s mind. Now imagine if you lived in a universe filled with strange people and beings actually coming from the future. How would that effect your outlook into the future? Enough meandering, there will be spoilers going forward! You have been warned.

Now I’m just going to jump right to the conclusion of this issue and how I felt Sarko’s death was handled and the missed opportunity for Sarko, Kyle and Natu. Now don’t get me wrong I’m still opposed to this forced relationship between Kyle and Natu, but it was pretty obvious that Sarko’s lineage was tied to them so why there no scene involving any of the three? Perhaps Venditti intentions was to play off the emotions of Kyle and expect readers to feel something as he saw his own son die. It didn’t help that Sarko himself didn’t have enough screen time to make me feel any sympathy for him or Kyle.

As for the rest of the issue, I really enjoyed the pacing of the final action sequence as it delivered a very cinematic feeling without trying to make the comic look like it was drawn by Bryan Hitch. While panel layout was very simplistic the action flowed very well, and the inter cutting between both scenes on Oa and space sector 563 brought the tension up. The only part of the action sequences that puzzled me was how none of the Green Lanterns died while fighting the Michael Bay transformers. Just looking at these constructs and the sharp edges surround them, they should pierce right through flesh. I understand why none of them died, but the decision for them to remove their rings to fight this threat still didn’t make sense.

Now we don’t get Sandoval or Van Sciver for this issue, Ken Marion returns and continues his solid work on the series. Now I know I stated that the ending didn’t leave me with much of a response with Kyle’s reaction to the death of his future son, but Marion’s body language for Kyle, the ruffled hair, and the mask laying on the floor is what makes that page deliver the emotion it desperately needs. Now over the course of the issue, certain panels did looked rushed but the overall look of the comic is great.

Sadly I wanted to like this arc, given that this was the first arc that actually had members of the Sinestro Corps and Green Lantern Corps working together and there wasn’t much of that. Plus the threat of Sarko all felt like it was in a vaccum, there was no consequences to anybody. Yes Kyle saw his son from the future died, but there was not enough emphasis on the connection to make this arc seem important. Now don’t get me wrong the arc and this issue itself was still fun, but there was so much more potential.

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #21 earns a 3/5