Review: Green Lantern Corps #3
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writers: Jeremy Adams and Morgan Hampton
Art: Fernando Pasarin, Oclair Albert and Jason Paz
Colors: Arif Prianto and Rain Bredo
Letters: Dave Sharpe
Reviewed by: Matthew B. Lloyd
Summary
Hawkwoman, John Stewart and the GLC stop the Red Lanterns and uncover a huge revelation for Shayera and Thanagar. It’s a big reveal!
Positives
Green Lantern Corps #3 is an exciting resolution to the first arc in this new series. The writing team also does a nice job of connecting the events that are transpiring in Green Lantern. The finale and revelation is surprising. It’s nice seeing Hawkwoman and Thanagar get attention.
This issue tries to address some of the concerns one might have with what’s been going on with John personally. It’s a nice continuation of continuity and a solid attempt to touch on some character beats. The same goes for Atrocitus and the Red Lanterns.
Fernando Pasarin does another great job on the visuals in this issue.
Negatives
One of the problems this series has had is the teasing of the John Stewart/ Shayera relationship. This issue doesn’t go any further with it, nothing happens that couldn’t be explained by heroic colleagues that became platonically close. It’s easy enough to just forget about as she has other things to do and does not appear in the solicit for Green Lantern Corps #4.
A little closer look at Shayera this issues unfortunately seems to ignore even more about the character than previously seen in the first two issues. She’s very vicious, perhaps overly vicious. The writers seem to be drawing more for her personality from the Justice League animated series than recent comics, specifically the Robert Venditti series. Shayera is good for being tough and a serious fighter, but in this issue she is over the top in her willingness to kill and let others die.
There’s the insinuation that she should know better…but, I think what really is troubling is that Shayera just seems like she’s there just to tease the relationship with John. It doesn’t help that this is the third time in the past 20 years that Thanagar’s been destroyed. With everything revealed about Shayera in the Venditti series, this just feels off. It’s great to get Shayera, but it just doesn’t feel right and it feels rehashed as well. I love the Hawks and Adam Strange and Rann, but Shayera seems hopelessly caught in moment. Logically she’s in a different headspace and we need more story development to get her to this point instead of assuming this is her default status quo, which is what feels like happened here. Even her chat with John over dinner comes off as a different character than the one willing to kill just a few pages earlier.
Verdict
Overall, Green Lantern Corps #3 is a good comic. There’s nothing more egregious done with Hawkwoman and John Stewart and there’s a lot of fun action and excitement. There’s clever connective tissue with Green Lantern and just enough done with John Stewart’s character to give the issue some depth.
