Green Lantern Corps #15 – Morgan Hampton, Writer; Fernando Pasarin, Penciller; Oclair Albert, Inker; Arif Prianto, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: This series has pulled in a full cast of characters, and its scope is even bigger than its sister book right now. There are two main plot threads in this issue, and the first one features Guy Gardner and his team in search of the emotional entities. They’re on the trail of Proselyte, the Blue Lantern entity, and they’ve tracked down its energy – but it happens to be smack dab in the middle of Manhunter space, and those old predecessors of the Lanterns are not willing to turn over a new leaf. It’s interesting seeing Guy take on this leadership role, and Hampton is doing an amazing job of giving him some nuance that a lot of writers forget about. He’s not just the tough guy or the sarcastic jerk, he used to be a teacher and is actually one of the most practical and consistentm members of the Corps. Aya, one of the newest members of the Corps, really steals the show as well due to her non-organic nature.
However, the other half of the story really delivers the most powerful scenes of the arc by a mile. John has liberated Soranik Natu from the influence of Parallax – but at the cost of being possessed himself. As Soranik and Katma-Tui team up to free him (and the former faces some of her worst memories herself), John finds himself trapped inside his own mind, forced to relive his worst memories – from his abusive father, to his biggest failure on Xanshi. It’s enough to break him down, but he gets an unlikely savior in the form of the construct of his mother, inhabiting his ring, as his charge dips lower and lower. Anyone who wishes they could say goodbye to a deceased loved one and get a little more words of wisdom from them, if only for a few minutes will be breaking down during this issue. It’s easily some of the best stuff Hampton has written during his DC tenure so far.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes
