Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #26 Review and **SPOILERS**

It’s Always the New Gods

Writer: Robert Venditti 

Penciller: Rafa Sandoval 

Inker: Jordi Tarragona 

Colorist: Tomeu Morey 

Letterer: Dave Sharpe 

Cover: Sandoval, Tarragona and Morey tomeu

Cover Price: $2.99

On Sale Date: August 9, 2017

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

Are we gonna see Space Ape in action?

Please let us see Space Ape in action. Find out if we do in my review of Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #26, just below!

Explain It!

Despite a bunch of Sinestro Corps members taking off with Soranik Natu…sorry, Soranik Sinestro last issue, things are pretty chill for the Green Lantern Corps. Everyone is getting along pretty well, the galaxy is responding well to the Corps’ law enforcement, and Guy Gardner hasn’t punched anyone in a week. Everything is so copacetic, in fact, that Salaak asks Kyle Rayner and Hal Jordan to go collect some information on a sub-gravitational field somewhere in the cosmos, to Kyle’s chagrin. But when they get there, they find that the whole area is gone—well, in outer space, everything is sort of “gone,” but there’s evidence of whatever planetary systems that were in this sector having been obliterated! Scanning from survivors, they pick up a familiar PING PING PING sound, which can mean only one of two things: either a Hot Pocket is finished heating, or there’s a New God lurking around with a pinging Motherbox in hand.

A Boom Tube reveals the culprit—it’s Orion! That son of Darkseid, raised by Highfather, who flies around on some kind of weird truss and wears a metal hockey helmet. Hal is pretty suspicious of Orion, considering the last time they met, the New Gods tried to destroy the Green Lantern Corps, and the other ring-wielders as well. But Orion is there seeking help, and…I guess the Green Lantern Corps are bound to offer it? I mean, New Genesis and Apokolips have got to be out of their jurisdiction. Orion needs the White Lantern, who used to be Kyle until he gave up his extra powers a few issues back. This puts a kink in Orion’s plan. Another thing that wrecks Orion’s plan are Omega Beams that seem to come from nowhere and blast Orion right in the chest! Hal wraps Orion in some light construct bandages and they rush back to Mogo for medical help. There, Orion is brought back to life, but then the thing that destroyed that space sector earlier tracks him to the Green Lantern headquarters: some big metal monster that came from within New Genesis! We saw that happen at the beginning of the issue, I forgot to mention that.

The artwork in this issue is absolutely spectacular, I think Rafa Sandoval may be the new Best Green Lantern Artist in the stable. Though the colors do a lot of the work here, so applause for Tomeu Morey as well. As for the story, I know Eric is going to be pissed that the New Gods are involved again, but I can dig this. These giant metallic monsters, lit in various colors, are really intriguing, and they seem to want to kill the New Gods, so Eric should be glad about that. I really enjoyed this issue, and the characterizations of the four main Green Lanterns. It’s a great beginning to a mystery, whether that mystery remains interesting going forward will remain to be seen.

Bits and Pieces:

This opening issue to a new story arc is pretty great, and makes me really excited for what's to come. Much of the good feeling can be attributed to the fantastic artwork, which sets a perfect tone for what looks to be a pretty bombastic story. Let's see what will happen together!

8.5/10