Green Lantern #52 Review and *SPOILERS*

Renegade No More?

Written By: Robert Venditti
Art By: Billy Tan, Mark Irwin, Livesay, Alex Sinclair, Dave Sharpe

Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 4, 2016

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Originally I was all ga-ga over Hal Jordan sporting Krona's Gauntlet and his long jacket, which the latter instantly informs all of us that he's a bad ass.  This was the Renegade Hal Jordan, who took all the woes that the Green Lantern Corps had and put them on his shoulders as he pretended to be the mastermind behind everything that the Durlans got the Universe to believe about the Corps.  I was so excited about this change in status quo for our hero that I was running around and doing handstands, that ultimately ended in me doing a face plant due to my lack of upper body strength, but nonetheless, I was excited............. The stories that came out of this though just didn't pan out as well as I would of hoped.  Hopefully Rebirth comes and makes Hal Jordan great again, but right now I'm kind of off the Jordan trolley for this final issue of the New 52/DCYou run.  In the previous issue we saw Hal Jordan go back off to space to search for the Corps, but ended up coming face to face with the Gray Agents, who want nothing more than to execute Hal on Universal Live TV so that they can get everyone to back them as the new police force of the Universe.  Let's jump into this issue and see where this takes us on our way to Rebirth.  Let's check it out.

Explain It!:

Right from the get go I was a little disappointed in this book because we spend half the issue in a big ass battle scene, where our hero swaps blows with the Gray Agents.  We do get to see the Gray Agents laid out with names like I enjoy, but at this point it seems kind of pointless........ except if you needed to know these characters for some fan fiction or shipping situation you have going on.  Maybe they'll show up in Hal Jordan and The Green Lantern Corps book and if that's the case then this is perfectly reasonable, but I can't help but think back to that body modification loving group of Thanagarians we met previously in this series that were one and done characters, who we also got a full list of names.  It could go either way really, but with these characters showing up at the tail end of this series and having the same motivations as the Sinestro Corps, only less interesting, I just don't find them that interesting........... even if one of them is a frog man with a TV on the back of his head.

Eventually though, the battle is ended when Hal Jordan wills the hell out and begins turning into a construct again and I guess we're going with if he looses control of himself and let's Krona's Gauntlet do the ass kicking driving......... well, he just looses himself and becomes one with the power.  It's short lived though as Virgo and Trapper get him to come to his senses, but even though Virgo came out in the previous issue showing off his smooth space kung fu moves, he ultimately proves useless again here by immediately getting taken hostage by the Gray Agents so that they can make Hal Jordan stand down with his crazy willpower........... Lousy Virgo

In the end, this book picks up substantially in that Hal Jordan realizes that if the Gray Agents get what they want, they'll have free reign to take whatever they want from anyone, all in the name of the law....... not to mention, our hero would have to die too.  With this in mind, Hal gets a little dark in what he's willing to do to protect that which he has sworn to serve and gives a construct of a gun to Trapper.  One reason being that he's afraid of what will happen to himself if he cuts loose to take the Gray Agents down to save Virgo and for another, this way Trapper will be acting in self defense because with the prisoner bracelet he's wearing, if Virgo dies, Trapper dies....... and Hal tells Trapper to take the shot.  With the self defense angle going none of this really seems that dark, but for some reason just Hal Jordan saying "Take the shot", it really took me by surprise.  As our issue closes, the Gray Agents retreat in order to see to their now wounded partner and Hal Jordan says goodbye to his partners as he gives in to what Krona's Gauntlet is turning him into so that he can go out in search of what his new mission will be........... you know, now that he's a construct man and all.

That's it for this final issue of Green Lantern before it goes and becomes Hal Jordan and The Green Lantern Corps and like a lot of this series that's come out since the DCYou, this issue wasn't great and just kind of throws things out there without explaining them.  Yeah, like I said this series is just becoming something else, but I would have liked a little something out of this issue to explain what the hell is going on with Hal, instead of him just parting ways with this chapter of his life and having a battle with characters who have barely shown up in this series.  It was just really lackluster and I don't know what I expected going in, like if this was supposed to act like a last issue or what, but even with this being more of a bridge to the Rebirth series, I just found myself disappointed nonetheless.  The end to this book really picked up the entertainment though as it centered on the mindset of our hero, but even that was kind of short lived because by the end he just said "fuck it", before going all amnesiac construct and taking off.  On a positive note, the artwork of Billy Tan was enjoyable enough and the colors on this book were nice and vibrant.  Hopefully Hal Jordan can get back on track after Rebirth or with the return of the Green Lantern Corps.

Bits and Pieces:

I don't know if this issue means that we can put Hal Jordan's days of being a Renegade behind us, but I'd certainly like it to because this series has struggled since that status quo change and sadly, it doesn't get better here.  I don't know if I'm a big dummy or what, but I kind of thought of this issue as being a final issue or at least having that feel, but really it acts more like a bridge to Rebirth, so make sure you go in with that thought in my mind because nothing really is concluded here.  While the art is okay, we mainly just get a big battle scene with the majority of any character progression happening at the end of the story, which mostly makes this feel like a waste.

5/10