Green Lantern #45

Geoff Johns had kind of hinted that John Stewart would be featured in this issue of GL (if I'm remembering my rumors right). While John did get some important development with the "raising" of Xanshi as a Black Lantern planet, he doesn't get a whole lot of face time through the issue. Most of the book is dedicated to Sinestro's attack on the Star Sapphires and the confrontation between Sinestro and Carol Ferris. I enjoyed seeing the two of them face off, mainly because the two characters have such an interesting history. They both have been close to Hal Jordan, but they haven't necessarily had much contact with each other, so they basically have to operate off of what they've heard about the other. Sinestro's biting comments about how Carol's life has been full of disappointments were pretty mean, but I do worry that setting Carol up as a character who will do anything for Hal makes her pretty weak. I like that she's the only Star Sapphire who retains control (making that group seem like they might be villains after all).

Sinestro gets a big flashback too, as we see his true love. Green Lantern Corps showed that Sinestro is Soranik Natu's father, and Johns shows us the mother this issue; Abin Sur's sister. So that makes Soranik the niece of Abin Sur. This is a big retcon, but at the same time it really binds Soranik into the GL mythos in a neat way. Johns and Peter Tomasi have made her into a central figure in GL continuity.

Doug Mahnke's art looks fantastic, as always. He seems to be having fun with the odd-looking Sinestro Corps and his splash page where LarFleeze sees all his victims return? That was just classic.

Good