Green Lantern #40 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Robert Venditti
Art By: Billy Tan, Mark Irwin, Tony Avina
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: March 4, 2015

He's The Hero The Universe Deserves, Just Not The One It Needs Right Now

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

In the last issue of Green Lantern we saw some serious shit going down in the universe as something was turning entire planets to stone and every magic based character on Earth felt the effects..... That doesn't matter though so just put it in the back of your mind because it doesn't really come up here.  What you should be thinking about is the bad press that the Green Lantern Corps has been getting across the Universe ever since Uprising.  At the end of last issue it looked like the Guardians came to Hal Jordan and wanted him to take a proactive approach in making the Green Lantern title more than a dirty word and I thought that Hal was just going on a mission of good will......... Man, I couldn't have been more wrong.  Let's check out this issue that promises to change the status quo in Green Lantern for a long time to come.

Explain It!:

Now, the issue goes and does that whole thing where we start out at a point and then go back so we can see how we got there, but I'm just going to go linear for this.  Our story begins with Kilowog clearing out the mess hall on Mogo by cooking a dish from his home planet.  It's during this time alone that Hal walks in and asks Kilowog for a favor.  Now, in last issue when I thought that Hal Jordan would go out and be the face of the Green Lantern Corps last issue, it seems that I was right and wrong.  Hal's going to be a face all right, it just happens that he'll be the face of evil that the Corps is supposed to overcome and get the trust of the Universe again.  The reason that Hal tells Kilowog, besides for them being BFFs and all is because Hal needs Kilowog to be there when he goes rogue.

The big act that Hal puts on to fool the rest of the Corps begins with him going into the Corps vault and stealing Krona's gauntlet, which is a backpack connected to a gauntlet that allows someone to tap into the green emotional spectrum and since the backpack acts as a power battery, no need to recharge.  To make the whole "evil" thing real, Kilowog is supposed to try and stop Hal and it's really sad because even though Kilowog knows what Hal's up to, he doesn't want his best friend to go down this route and tells him if he's planning on doing this he'd better make it real because Kilowog certainly is.  After a big fight between the two, more of the Corps show up to see Hal over Kilowog's body and our once greatest Green Lantern flees the scene.

I KNOW THAT A RING LEAVES THE LANTERN WHEN THEY DIE BUT MAN WAS I AFRAID THAT KILOWOG DIED HERE

In the end, Salaak tries to get Mogo to stop Hal from leaving but Krona's gauntlet has too much power and Hal begins his life on the lam and we find out that Salaak isn't able to track Hal Jordan because he left his ring in his locker and there's no way to track the gauntlet.  I wonder how many hearts that Hal broke on Mogo by going rogue here.

That's it for this issue of Green Lantern and while I don't like the fact that one of my favorite heroes of all time has to take on the role of a villain, it certainly does keep things fresh in the Green Lantern stories and I can't wait to see where Venditti takes this after Convergence is over.  It's funny because I say I don't like the idea of Hal evil posing but I loved the fight between Kilowog and him because it really made me relive the moment where Hal and him fought in Emerald Twilight when Hal became Parallax and it was a nice feeling of nostalgia to have.  The art in this book is great and the fact that Billy Tan left out a lot of backgrounds here really elevated the story by just focusing on the relationship of Hal and Kilowog and how strong that friendship is as the two are beating the hell out of each other......... Actually, the whole art team should be congratulated because the pencils, the inks, the colors, all great stuff here.  See you all in June when we can finally continue this story and see how Hal survives on his own.

Bits and Pieces:

This issue of Green Lantern has totally changed the status quo of the book and I don't know what will be harder; seeing Hal Jordan in this new role or having to wait two months to actually see it.  This is a great issue that explores the deep friendship between Hal Jordan and Kilowog and it's told through excellent art.  Certainly an issue that keeps this series fresh and makes me curse the name of Convergence for getting in the way of my stories.

9/10