Okay listen, it’s been a weird twenty four hours for just about everyone. I know that’s not what you come her for but I just have to get this off my chest. Despite the difficult time, the follow moments are what will define us. Sides were chosen, one of fear and one of will, but we have to look past our differences because there’s more at stake than we realize. Wait… I hope you don’t think I’m writing about the president election? Hell no I’m talking about Sinestro and Green Lantern Corps uniting as one, but holy **** Donald Trump is the President of America. Spoilers ahead, read at your own risk.
Even though this is superhero comics and death is pretty much meaningless I have to admit that Venditti opening of this issue with Hal Jordan’s ring declaring him deceased (with a error message as well) left a chill running down my spine. It’s really a simple page when you glance at, but Van Sciver’s detailed art with floating debris gives it that eerie feeling it needs. Venditti puts the demise of Hal Jordan right in your face. No fanfare, no tears, just a lone Lantern ring trying to find it’s owner in the depths of space.
Since the previous issue was action packed, it makes sense that Venditti would want to slow the pace of the series before jumping right into the next big arc. Which is true half of the issue, but honestly it just felt like I was reading a catch up letter to previous Green Lantern stories as told by Natu. It’s your basic exposition page that establishes context for readers who were not aware of why Natu was with the Sinestro Corps, but it seems that Venditti wants to keep the exposition to a minimum, and keep the action rolling.
That seems to be the modus operandi for this series, have a emphasis of action. Which means that allows for both Rafa Sandoval and Ethan Van Sciver to play a bigger role as they are allowed to tell epic set pieces and tell the story through the art. Much to my surprise, Venditti and Van Sciver bring back Starro the conqueror for a one hell of sequence of pages. Starro has always been depicted as this massive floating star fish that seems ever expanding like and ocean. Seeing Starro as drawn by Van Sciver was awe inspiring, having the angle of the panels always looking up to Starro gave the creature the daunting presence that it deserves. I love the detailed touches that Van Sciver included, namely Starro’s retna looking strained which would make sense since it’s trying to maintain a psychic connection to millions of people. Seeing the gigantic size of his tentacles against the Green Lanterns is a great sense of scale. Gonna say it again but Van Sciver and Sandoval make a great one two punch.
As for the “team up” of Sinestro Corps renegades and Green Lantern Corps forces, I think it could provide something we haven’t seen in Green Lantern. A team dynamic where you can’t trust the person next to you, if Venditti plays it right it won’t be all sunshine and rainbows but I hope at least between John and Natu it isn’t all bickering. If anything their dynamic of how leadership should be handled is the most interesting prospect of what is to come.
While this issue maintained the excellent consistency of the series, it doesn’t do enough to make it exemplary from the rest.It does have me invested into where Venditti intends to take this uneasy alliance, especially when it looks like Brainiac will be involved somehow.
Hal Jordan & The Green Lantern Corps #8 earns a 4/5