Green Lantern Corps #26 Review

Written by: Van Jensen and Robert Venditti
Art by: Bernard Chang
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: December 11, 2013

One Punch

I admit it, I like John Stewart.  He's not my favorite Lantern (that would be Kyle), but he comes in a close second.  Granted, he's not a ball of flaming excitement, but I like his stoic, calculating nature.  He's a marine and an architect for Christ's sake.  He may not be the life of the party during the Lantern Christmas gatherings (or maybe they celebrate that awful "Life Day"), but I would chose him to lead the Corps any day of the week and twice on Sundays.  As a book, Green Lantern Corps has been the victim of an identity crisis.  With all the crossovers and the Corps story line leaking into the main Green Lantern title, I was becoming worried that the Corps book was becoming redundant.  Thankfully, this issue has renewed my faith in the title.

So, what do we get with this issue?  For starters, we see John and Hal hash out some of their recent issues, including the whole Guy is a Red Lantern problem.  I have been very vocal in my growing hate of Hal in the GL books and I loved it when John gave him what he had coming.  Next we get a side story involving some of the new recruits heading to Jruk's home world to resolve a political issue.  Of course, it makes total sense that on Jruk's home world, political issues are solved in a gladiatorial arena known as the Blood Bowl.  Last but not least, we get to see John, with help from Mogo, rebuild the GL headquarters.  While the other story lines were more exciting or relevant to the major story, this part was my favorite.  We get to see John Stewart, architect, at work.  Throughout these story lines there is the brewing mystery of the shapeshifting villains that are trying to destroy the Corps.

Van Jensen and Robert Venditti are giving me what I want from Green Lantern Corps.  I like the new recruits and the whole process of rebuilding the Corps itself.  After all the recent crossovers, I'm glad we get to slow down things a bit and see where each book is individually.  John Stewart is the rock of the Corps and I'm glad he is the focus of the book again.

Bernard Chang's art is as good as expected.  He gets to run wild with the varied Lanterns and the scenes on Jruk's homeworld were real good.  Plus, he gets to draw the Blood Bowl and doesn't disappoint.

Bits and Pieces:

Green Lantern Corps #26 is a good return to what I want from the book.  There are various new and interesting recruits off on adventures, John Stewart showing why he belongs as the leader and Hal getting punched in the face.  We also get a mystery brewing that could take down the Corps, possibly from within. This feels like the start of better things to come.

8.5/10