Comic Book Review: Green Lantern #49

Book Information

Written by Geoff Johns

Art by Ed Benes

Plot

John Stewart takes a trip down memory lane, in the worst way possible.  Can John Stewart endure the emotional torment of seeing the ones he loved back from the grave?  As a former American soldier, Stewart must call upon his life experiences to defeat the oncoming horde of Black Lanterns and show that his serious and stoic manner is not such a bad thing after all, especially when it comes to fighting an entire planet of Zombie Lanterns!

My Thoughts

The re-examination of a character is always an exciting thing.  Green Lantern fans have always listed John Stewart as the most underused Green Lantern in DC’s history.  When taking time to deviate from the regular story to take a deeper look into a character’s personality, the writer must take care in making the story connect with readers in a very emotional way, and this book does just that.

What makes John Stewart so different from the rest of the Corps is his strike force mindset.  While the rest of the corps always rely on the ‘logical’ thing, Stewart calls upon his life experiences and memories of war to battle the hundreds of risen Lanterns out to do him harm.  It was very nice to finally flesh John Stewart out and allow readers to become more familiar with him.  The lesson we learn from this issue…Don’t antagonize a war veteran!  Otherwise, you are in for a major fight!

As much as I like Doug Mahnke and his art in Green Lantern, I almost had an orgasm when I discovered Ed Benes would be doing the artwork for this month’s issue of Green Lantern.  No artist comes close to the talent level of Ed Benes in my humble opinion.  The two paged spread of Stewart using his ring to create his army construct was a detailed stroke of genius.  The battles scenes were also an amazing piece of work in which Bene’s colorists should be given a raise.

Now as much as this issue rocks my face off, I find it strange that this story is found in the regular Green Lantern title.  This feels more like a Blackest Night tie-in and should have been kept separate from main GL titles.  But who knows, maybe Geoff Johns didn’t have enough time on his watch to write a tie-in for Blackest Night, and this might have been something johns had his heart set on writing.  In any case, it is a good issue.

Overall

In and of itself, you couldn’t ask for a better issue.  I found the supplemental story at the end a little strange and corny, but this issue is definitely a must have.

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars

Next Issue Coming January 27^th, 2010

BLACKEST NIGHT spreads with an oversized anniversary issue! Surrounded by friends and enemies, Hal Jordan goes into battle with a being he will never defeat – the Black Lantern Spectre! Can Saint Walker, Sinestro and the others put a stop to this bizarre Spectre rebirth? 

Plus, Atrocitus reveals a tie to a power that may make him the most unbeatable of all the Lanterns!