Green Lantern Week Part 4: Green Lantern Corps

This is going to be the shortest part of Green Lantern week, because there is a fairly limited amount that I have to say about Green Lantern Corps. Like Green Lantern, the third volume of Green Lantern Corps is being written by the same man as volume two, in this case Peter Tomasi. While the previous edition of Green Lantern largely ignored John Stewart before the new volume expanded the role of Sinestro, however, Green Lantern Corps was always a tale of both partners and an ensemble cast.

While the new volume hasn't really had a chance to test out the ensemble- other than leaving it clearly evident that the new rookies introduced in volume 2 are around in the altered timeline, another aspect that I feel weakens the sacrifices of Green Lanterns who had previously been said to have worked with Hal Jordan for many years- the partnership dynamic of the two Earth Lanterns has very clearly changed.

In Volume 2, John Stewart and Hal Jordan were the two Green Lanterns of Earth, while their cohorts Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner were each elevated to the role of Honor Lantern, effectively making them third and fourth in command of the Green Lanterns. In Volume Three, the Honor Guard is effectively removed, a mystery that I'm content to let the story tell or leave as something erased by the "de-aging" of the universe, and Guy and John are instead the Green Lanterns of Earth, though they're clearly senior lanterns who are called upon in times of need, much as Sinestro was in some incarnations of the story.

Green Lantern Corps has been known to tackle threats to the entire Corps, and that is what the first two issues of the new volume have done. After the deaths of several lanterns, Guy and John lead a team of lanterns to face the threat, who we will later learn are called the Keepers and we have seen wield the green light of will.

I mentioned on Monday that Green Lantern Corps was the most effective #1, explaining some degree of the differences in the reboot as well as introducing the concept of the new series. I also feel Green Lantern Corps has long been the more boring of the GL titles, showing a lot of emphasis on life as a Lantern (which is not quite as exciting as life as a space marine, being able to return home easily between missions). This being a space opera story rather than a superhero story, the characters need to be extremely fleshed out and interesting in order to have the same effect, because that is what the emphasis of the genre is. This has been achieved to varying levels of success in the past- I care very little for Isamot and Vath, with Guy, Kyle and Soranith being very successful characters for me. Some other characters that did little for me may or may not return, and Arisia, a long-time beloved character, is equally up in the air. Suffice it to say that so far, this series has kept my attention very well. Only time will tell if it remains as strong.