Review: Green Lantern #8
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writers: Jeremy Adams and Ron Marz
Art: Amancay Nahuelpan and Dale Eaglesham
Colors: Romulo Fajardo, Jr. and Alex Guimaraes
Letters: Dave Sharpe
Reviewed by: Matthew B. Lloyd
Summary
Hal Jordan with the help of Razer of the Blue Lantern Corps, finally gets a break on the case of the wonky emotional spectrum. Someone is destroying central power batteries.
Positives
Despite the quality of Jeremy Adams’ writing in the Green Lantern issues of the “Knight Terrors” event, there’s no doubt that the delay from the event has slowed the progress in many series, including Green Lantern. Green Lantern #8 begins to bring together the bigger idea of the issues of the problems with the emotional spectrum and Sinestro’s reasons for being on Earth in the first arc of this series (issues 1-6).
Adams continues to play with the Hal/ Carol dynamic in a subtle and nuanced way as well providing an interesting surprise at the end with some new antagonists. The appearance of Madame Xanadu is also a fun component as she always opens a doorway to something unexpected. As elements come together, revisiting the emotional spectrum promises to be a significant idea for exploration and piques excitement for what’s to come.
The back up story is an interesting callback to the Kyle Rayner Green Lantern series of the 1990’s. Writer Ron Marz returns to the character as he takes Kyle back to his beginnings including a ring construct appearance of Alex DeWitt the character that inspired the phrase “women in refrigerators.” It’s a nice touch that will bring back the memories for readers of those comics from the ’90’s.
Negatives
Green Lantern #8 doesn’t quite bring everything together as some parts feel like they would’ve been better to have played out as the action instead of flashback. While the magic connection between Madame Xanadu and the power rings is intriguing, that association has been more in line with Alan Scott’s ring while the rings of the Green Lantern Corps have remained rooted more in science fiction as a device of alien science. It raises some questions that one trusts Adams will address in this story arc.
Verdict
Green Lantern #8 is a solid read that promises a large drama that will unfold in this series. There are a number of interesting moments in the issues and it really feels like something is beginning in both the stories.
