Green Lanterns #4 Review and *SPOILERS*

Rage Rising

Written By: Sam Humphries
Art By: Ed Benes, Robson Rocha, Tom Derenick, Rob Hunter, Mark Irwin, Vincente Cifuentes, Jay Leisten, Tom Palmer, Marc Deering, Blond, Travis Lanham
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: August 3, 2016

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

When the hell did Simon go and become the most important Lantern who ever existed?  I mean, he can pull people out of comas with his will, he's rocking this new Emerald Sight that we really know nothing about and as of last issue he can cure....... or at least temporarily cure Red Lanterns.  It's crazy, especially when Jessica is still facing so many challenges in her own Lantern prowess.  This team is definitely heavy on the Simon at this point and that may be what led Jessica to be infected by the rage in the previous issue and with that new freeing emotion in her heart, she may just take some of her frustrations out on her partner.  Let's jump into this issue and see if our Green Lantern heroes can overcome the rage within them and take down the Red Lanterns before Red Dawn ever comes to be.  Let's check it out.

Explain It!:

Our issue begins with Simon just getting the shit beat out of him by the raged up Jessica Cruz, but eventually the beat down stops so that she can pull Simon into the hole within the Hell Tower....... in which they both just seem to fall all the way to the bottom, for no real reason.  It's within this part of the story where I begin getting excited though because we're finally going to see the two Lanterns have to use their power battery after Hal went and combined their two into one in the Rebirth issue.  I know it's not something that should get me that excited, but from how that Rebirth issue presented it, it seemed like that was going to be a big deal of this series and we've yet to see these two heroes recharge their rings........... So yeah, excited!  

Once at the bottom of the Hell Tower, Simon realizes that shit is going to be tough when Jessica Cruz comes to because his power levels are low as hell, but luckily...... or really conveniently he's able to muster up enough will and energy to cure Jessica of her rage before his power levels drop to zero, but one problem I have with this is Jessica and Simon charged up at the same time, so you'd think that they were both running on empty...... but their GL costumes stay on.  Yeah, this is a minor nitpick, but we need to have some continuity going in this series........ more on that later...... At least on the Lantern front because we take a pause from the action to check in on Simon's family dealing with their new Guardian house guest and while nothing really goes on in this scene, it does make it very strange that he'd know of Hal Jordan or even of John Stewart since he says that he was banished from Oa thousands of years ago for his work on the Phantom Ring. 

In the end, our heroes come to terms with their own insecurities, what with Jessica's fear of not being able to do the job....... and to my surprise a more in depth reason that Simon carries a gun with him.  It's because he's actually afraid that he won't be able to cut it as a GL either instead of the normal explanation that he doesn't trust the ring to come through all the time.  I really dug that look into Simon, but after that moment of reflection between the two, that gets Jessica to cowboy the hell up, the two escape the Hell Tower, but are confronted by the Red Lanterns..........  and I'm immediately upset again because in the continuity of the DC Universe that's established, Zilius Zox and Skallox died fighting with Guy Gardner against Atrocitus, but here they're alive and well and I hope beyond hope that Sam Humphries has an explanation for this because the way the Red Lanterns have been treated over the past year is disappointing for anyone who followed and loved the Red Lanterns series.

That's it for this issue of Green Lanterns and while I can't say that a lot goes on in this issue, there are some moments that the normal complaints that our two heroes have against one another are really explored and looked at that gives their normal whining a bit of weight....... Now, it isn't a lot, but at least we're given something a little different than the norm.  Other than that though we're given things that will probably drive GL fans nuts....... I'm not saying I know all of you, but I can assume from what drove me a bit nuts and that's the inconsistent power levels, what one can do with their powers almost depleted and the costume remaining even though the ring isn't active........ Not to mention Zilius Zox and Skallox being alive and well here and working for Atrocitus again.  I know I've been bitching again and again about how and why Bleez would be working for big A again, but adding these formerly dead characters to the roster, after witnessing their heartbreaking sacrifices against the character just kills me and I need an explanation to be given so that this new status quo isn't just swept under the rug.  Besides for me not really being impressed with the story and downright angry at the inconsistent continuity, I do have to tell you that the art and colors in this issue were fantastic despite the amount of people on this, which usually means disaster and I hope that this series at least maintains this sort of quality in its look because I loved it.

Bits and Pieces:

While the story might not impress in its amount of progression and may get people to rip their hair out at the continuity errors, I do have to say that the art in this book was spot on and really let our heroes shine....... that's about it though........ Well, besides for the normal whining and complaining that this series has seen, we did get a glimpse of something behind all that, that gave some weight to our main character's emotional turmoil...... I really hope that this series picks up because despite what we've seen so far, I really want to enjoy it and get behind these characters.

5.8/10