Green Lantern Corps: Edge of Oblivion #3 Review and *SPOILERS*

This Time It's Personal!

Written By: Tom Taylor
Art By: Ethan Van Sciver, Jason Wright, Dave Sharpe
Cover Price: $2.99

Release Date: March 9, 2016

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Oh that pesky Universe that existed before our own!  That's right, we're on the edge of oblivion with our Green Lantern Corps as they try to find a way home before everything goes and implodes on itself and we're left blaming Hal Jordan for killing the Corps............. again.  While I wasn't the biggest fan of the last issue for the dopey way our heroes were acting, it did lead to some pretty big developments......... as long as you didn't read the latest issue of Justice League: Darkseid War since that's the furthest in the DC Universe timeline because we witnessed Arisia and B'dg falling into a void of nothingness and from the way Guy Gardner's acting, it appears that these characters are dead........ just don't read that Darkseid War.  As our previous issue ended Guy took his rage out on Kilowog's face so let's jump into this issue and see if our pink buddy is still getting beat on or if Guy has pointed his "Beware My Power"-ness towards someone else.  Let's check it out.

Explain It!:

Our issue begins in a weird way, where we see the Lantern Iolande learning what it means to be a princess when she was a child.  Pretty much though it's all about how her father told her that because of her position, people will look to her for strength and we see that she still believes in these teachings in the Universe that existed before our own because while the Lantern group that she's with are trying to get to Mogo to meet up with the rest of the Corps, they want to stop and rest, much like Iolande wanted to do as a child and since her father loved her the way I guess that she loves her Corps, we see that when they're tired she's willing to carry them the way her fathered carried her............. I'm guessing that Iolande has something big to do with this series' ending because I have no idea why this was included in this issue because it does nothing for the story except show you Iolande, who I don't really know a lot about, but this really doesn't feel like the time or series to have a "get to know your Lantern" segment.  Once we get back to the main players in our story we see that they're still reeling from the attack of Marniel's zealots and the loss of their friends and while our Lanterns try to come up with a plan, Guy Gardner just has revenge on his mind and plans on finding the evil bitch and putting her down.

So apparently this planet that houses the last city of this Universe that our heroes are trying to save is as sentient as Mogo and even though you don't come across sentient planets everyday, Mogo isn't a fan of his contemporary........... because he's an asshole or something, which I can understand because you can't always get stuck with the best companion when the Universe is going to shit, but what I find hard to believe is that this planet knows that this Universe only has four days left until it completely unravels and then implodes.  Is it weird that I'm okay with a sentient planet being an asshole, but I have a problem with it knowing the lifespan of the Universe it inhabits?  Weird or not, I do find it hard to swallow and for the final days of existence John Stewart has decided that the Lanterns will break off into teams in all directions in order to find a weak spot in the fabric of this reality so that they might find a way to escape their fate.  That is except for a select few who plan on taking the fight to Marniel so that they can shove a construct up her ass for killing their friends.  Of course Guy Gardner is leading up this team, but surprisingly he lets Kilowog join him in his hunt for this great evil and it looks like these two friends are willing to bury the hatchet as long as that hatchet goes in Marniel's head for what she's done.  So yeah, we've got Guy Gardner, Kilowog, Simon Baz, Two-Six and a female Green Lantern who seems to be made of fire, who I don't recognize at all........ yeah, as it turns out I don't know much. 

In the end, our heroes create a big ass drill construct to get themselves inside the planet since Marniel supposedly lives deep within it and apparently a big ass drill isn't the best construct to use when you want to have stealth on your side because they're met with a bunch of Marniel supporters, waving guns at our heroes, but they're not really a problem.  While our heroes quickly take out the guards, it seems that Marniel has come to see what all the commotion was about and she's a bit more formidable than her worshipers............ because she can shoot ghost out of her chest......  As it turns out, Marniel is the last of her kind and she carries with her the power of her people.......... which apparently means she can shoot ghosts out of her bosoms and I'm not completely sure why this subdues our heroes, but it does.  As our issues closes, Marniel orders her soldiers to remove our heroes' rings and apparently ghost titties aren't the only thing she's packing when we see that she can reprogram the Green Lantern rings in order to use them herself.  

That's it for this issue of Green Lantern Corps: Edge of Oblivion and while this story kind of seems counterproductive in the whole "We have to find a way home" scenario that this series is about, it was more enjoyable than the previous issue.  Why our heroes don't just transport all the people of this last city who aren't all about death and destruction onto Mogo I don't think I'll ever understand and the idea of them knowing that they have exactly four days until the Universe falls apart kind of comes off silly to me because how do you even judge time in a Universe that's completely devoid?  These are nit-picky things though and the real story in this issue is all about our Lanterns overcoming their obstacles, while continuing to do the right thing for these people that they swore to protect........ also a little revenge, but that just goes with the territory when someone goes and kills your buddies.  The story feels a bit on hold here because of this whole revenge bit, but I trust Tom Taylor to bring this whole thing together in three more issues and like every previous issue Ethan Van Sciver just kills it on art.  The man was born to make Lanterns looks amazing and he doesn't let us down here and speaking of amazing, Jason Wright is the perfect colorist on this series because he gives us that bright, distinctive look that no Lantern book should be without.  All in all though this is a so-so issue that while it continues to be entertaining, just isn't the epic end of the Universe story that you came in expecting, but delivers heart and a comradery that has really been missed since the Lanterns have gone missing in the DC Universe. 

Bits and Pieces:

Guy Gardner's out to kick a little ass in this issue and while some of the overall story is put on hold in order to do this, we still get a decently enjoyable book that looks amazing all the way through.  Now that we're halfway through this series it looks like this is going to be a more personal story for the Lanterns instead of a Universe ending epic, but as long as it keeps delivering the heart that it does here that might not be a bad thing.  

7/10