Green Lantern #41

I was down on Geoff Johns for a few months, but I'm really coming back to digging his work. The Kingdom story in JSA and the Secret Origin story in GL seem to have been a brief aberration from the high quality he usually delivers.

This issue he gives us the origin of Larfleeze. And while it is hardly a revelatory or shocking thing, it is still fun for what it is. Larfleeze has very quickly established a voice. His love of food and eating is wonderful and I also dig his new description as "a boar crossed with a muppet." And of course, Hal Jordan has to mention that he always loved the frog. I think it is because Kermit knew it isn't easy being green, a lesson Hal had to learn. Heh. Larfleeze's original pact with the Guardians isn't that shocking or really that underhanded. The Guardians gave him the Vega system if he'd keep the Orange Lantern battery on Okara. Larfleeze was a thief who had stolen the Parallax box (I don't remember that at all) and the Guardians just wanted that back and Larfleeze out of their thinning hair. I would have liked a little more GL action this issue, since there is still that huge special strike team operating in Vega, but I understand we needed Hal to headline this one. At least John Stewart showed up and got to act cool too. Larfleeze gets some more fantastic dialogue: "You're a welsher!" Next issue I'd like more from Torquemada, my new favorite background GL.

Phillip Tan's art has improved each month he's been on this title. The scratchiness that bothered me at first is gone and this book looks fantastic now. I'm not sure I care for the whole race of Larfleezes, but I'm sure that wasn't Tan's decision.

One last thought: isn't it a strange time when GL has been the driving force of the DC Universe for so long? Back when I was reading Emerald Dawn, the Old Timer story, and Kyle's adventures, I never would have guessed.

Good