Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #21 Review and **SPOILERS**

I’m My Own Grandpa’s Murderer

Writer: Robert Vendetti 

Penciller: V. Ken Marion 

Inker: Dexter Vines 

Colorist: Dinei Ribeiro 

Letterer: Dave Sharpe 

Cover: Ethan Van Sciver and Jason Wright 

Cover Price: $2.99

On Sale Date: May 24, 2017

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

We left on quite the cliffhanger last issue, didn’t we? John, Guy and most of the Green Lantern and Sinestro Corps throwing down their rings before those pointy prism monsters! Hal and Rip Hunter on their way to space sector whatchamacallit to retrieve Krona’s Gauntlet! Kyle and Soranik…well, flirting while shoving the infirm into Sciencells for safekeeping. But everyone was doing something! Let’s not delay, then, and hop right into my review of Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #21, right now!

Explain It!

On the surface of the planet Mogo, the Sinestro and Green Lantern Corps have removed their rings in order to face off against the prism monsters, hand to, uh, razor-sharp multi-appendage. I mean, this really seems like a bad idea, fellas, most of you are walking around in blue jeans and t-shirts now. Still, they do a pretty good job just punching away at these pointy birds, and after a quick smooch in the Sciencells being repurposed as a makeshift infirmary during the prism invasion, Soranik Natu and Kyle take their rings off and join in on the fun. Meanwhile, Rip Hunter and Hal are zipping over to Space Sector 563 to retrieve Krona’s Gauntlet and face Sarko—but they don’t know that the gauntlet has become a full on suit of sentient armor or something! Or maybe they do. They find out pretty quickly, anyway.

The Sinestro and Green Lantern Corps are working well together, but when Kyle and Soranik show up with a butt-load of guns, things really get cooking. Still, they’re overpowered by the prisms and held in place…but for reason the prisms do not attack. John is knocked out, so he can’t bark order and scream “HOORAH!” triumphantly, but Kyle can see the “information ring” Rip Hunter brought through the time rift, hanging from a chain around John’s neck. I guess this means he and Rip and going steady. Kyle accesses the ring to discover Sarko’s lineage…and it’s like immediately obvious that Sarko is Kyle and Soranik’s son from the future. I mean this is supposed to be the big last page reveal, but if you didn’t guess it before then you’ve got to be absolutely positive now. Kyle wigs out, throws on his ring and takes off to see his baby boy.

On that barren planet, Hal is fighting against Krona’s Guardian, namely because he caused all this mess in the first place. The battle wages in Space Sector 563 and on Mogo, and when it seems all hope is lost Hal rips the Gauntlet from the Guardian and shuts down the whole operation. In its’ death throes, the Guardian sends out a piercing emerald beam that, uh, pierces Sarko. Right in the ticker. Or some vital organ, I’m not sure where the ticker is on Korugarians. Kyle shows up just in time to see his future son die, which is something a future parent should never have to live through. He retrieves Sarko’s body, buries him on Mogo, sobs on the last page. And Krona’s Gauntlet? Well it’s secure in some transparent case, surely never to do harm again.

This was all right, I suppose. It all ended pretty much the way we expected, and the only lasting damage was to a villain we’d just met and Kyle’s frail psyche, but there were a lot of good team and character interactions along the way. I must admit, I wouldn’t mind seeing more blending of these Corps. And I wish Rip Hunter had more to do than warn everyone about the imminent calamity. But it was an okay story. The art in this issue is pretty slick, though a lot of the characters were looking more gaunt and 90s-esque than I’d like. A fairly tame conclusion to a decent four-part series.

Bits and Pieces:

The conclusion to this arc is satisfying and predictable, like a warm glass of milk. There are worse things for a periodical to be than dependable, and I like how this series has been going lately. This book has been doing a good job of scratching my Green Lantern itch. Though the doctor did say to come back if it persisted for longer than a week.

7.5/10