Epilogues should come AFTER the finale.
Green Lantern Corps #20 came out two weeks before the comic that it was an epilogue for (Green Lantern #20). Although the cover clearly had “epilogue” written on it (I even highlighted it in the image above), and the fact that every lantern book that came out last month informed us that the finale was taking place in Green Lantern #20, several people who purchased the comic were quite upset to find out the finale of the event was spoiled.
Fortunately, I noticed the warning at the top of the page, so I’m reviewing it today. If DC doesn’t have the common courtesy to wait, don’t worry; we here at DC Comic News have your back! With that said, let’s get to the book.
The Positives
All of the Green Lantern books will be getting new writing teams starting next month. While I’m a big fan of Peter J Tomasi’s writing, I can’t say that it isn’t time for a new team. After issue 16 and the Annual, the end of the “Rise of the Third Army” arc, everything seemed to just stop for this book. I’m hoping this is because Tomasi has been working his tail off over on Batman and Whoever This Month Happens to Feature.
The artwork was nice. The brief action sequence starting with Guy Gardner racing home with Saint Walker was kind of cool. Fernando Pasarin and Scott Hanna were certainly not the problem on this issue.
The Negatives
I’m going to try to avoid spoilers as much as possible in my reviews, and this is a great issue to start off with as far as that goal goes because nothing happens. John Stewart and Fatality have a pretty awkward moment with Mogo (why does Tomasi love that planet so much?) and that’s all we get from them. I suppose I’m okay with that, since it was simply an epilogue. At the same time, in a world of comics where there’s always a to-be-continued ending, it could be seen as a little disheartening to spend $3 where one of the main character simply just hangs out with his lady friend.
Guy Gardner’s story in this issue is a little more compelling in theory, however I think the medium just wasn’t right. Basically, Gardner takes a vacation, taking time to relax with his family, declaring that the other lanterns can handle all the intergalactic drama while he spends time with the people he loves. There are a few little chuckle moments in this story, but all in all, it is hard to draw and write nothing. Perhaps this would have been depicted well on film? Like I said, I thought the concept of this portion was great; the execution was just not all there. The highlight of Guy’s portion, after his initial action sequence (which admittedly was kind of cool) was a joke panel featuring him waiting in line at the DMV. I kid you not. Even this, however, is made a little disappointing by an awkwardly worded joke. “Even the DMV has more power than a Green Lantern” would have been more effective if the other customer had said “Even a Green Lantern has less power than the DMV” or something to that effect. The original wording diminishes the value of the corps.
Verdict- 2/5 
The artwork was nice, and the writing wasn’t poor, it was just lacking any sort of forward movement. Perhaps that was what Tomasi was going for, going at a different pace compared to what we have seen thus far, taking a moment to reflect and collect ourselves before entering into the next stage of the comic. For what it is worth, Green Lantern New Guardians #20 did a much better job of this. I also wish that the book had been released with the rest of the Green Lantern books, but that is being incredibly nitpicky and I’ve been negative enough on this review.
