Single Issue Spotlight - 1/30

So this week was a fairly eventful one comic book wise, as Justice League: Shitty for Justice and the new line-up of Justice League #41 debuted in addition to other books that were actually good as opposed to those I've just mentioned. With Peter's reviews forthcoming, I'm going to focus on my favorite issue that I read this week, an issue which was very good: Green Lantern #50. I'm going to be talking about this book in some detail, so for safeties sake, I'm going to introduce our newest character here at Event Fatigue: The Spoiler Pirate! Take it away, matey!

Terrific. Hit the jump for the review.

Green Lantern #50 - Parallax Rebirth 

$3.99 - Worth Several Times That

I'm not going to worry about spoiling the ending of the book, since it's right there in the title and on the cover of the issue. In fact, the ending is great because you know what's going to happen yet the build-up to it is really remarkable and fantastic. So even though you know where it is going, getting there is far more enjoyable, something that cannot be said about most surprise endings in comic books that come out of left field with the intent merely to shock the readers. This was not a surprise and therefore was able to build to the moment in a incredibly enjoyable way. The event is, of course, Hal being bonded with Parralax again in order to throw down with the Black Lantern Spectre.

Before that, however, the book excels because of all the character work that Johns instills in every scene, beginning with the new Lantern recruits bonding with their partners. Blue Lanterns Barry and St. Walker, Sinestro and the Scarecrow, and especially Red Lanterns Atrocious and Mera are given some great scenes where they work together against the Black Lanterns. Orange Lanterns Lex Luthor and Larfleeze end up fighting each other over the orange rings as Larfleeze tries to take his ring back. Atrocious and Mera really steal the show, like in this scene they share:

Hardcore. That's the best way to sum the Red Lantern Corps up. After throwing down for a little while, the Spectre shows up looking to get a piece of Hal again, even going so far as turning him into a Black Lantern, which just adds yet another notch in Hal's Lantern belt. Man, Hal is a Lantern slut as he keeps racking up rings faster than Larry King. Ba-zing.

After Ganthet frees Hal of the Black ring, all of the different corps all fight against the Spectre but fail to get the upper hand. Hal brings up a plot hole from Green Lantern Rebirth (ah, the glory days when there was just one lantern corps) where the Spectre was too afraid to go toe-to-toe with Parallax. This is where the book really works great, as we get some excellent Hal, Sinestro and Carol Ferris moments as Hal is determined that he can now control Parallax and not be taken over by him again. Johns has been really on top of his game in the Green Lantern issues, that it really makes me sorry to see how off the main mini has been. There's none of the trademark Johns magic in the main book, but here in this book it's got everything that made Sinestro Corps War so great. Not mention that Doug Mahnke is fantastic yet again, as his art is top-notch and I'm very excited that he's going to be sticking around GL post-Blackest Night. Again, I really enjoyed this issue very much, and it's totally worth it, especially for any fans of Green Lantern.