Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #49 Review and **SPOILERS**

Let’s Wrap it Up

Writer: Robert Vendetti 

Pencillers: Rafa Sandoval and Sergio Davila 

Inker: Jordi Tarragona 

Colorist: Tomeu Morey 

Letterer: Dave Sharpe 

Cover: Fernando Pasarin, Eber Ferreira and Jason Wright 

Variant Cover: Tyler Kirkham and Arif Prianto 

Assistant Editor: Andrew Marino 

Editor: Brian Cunningham 

Cover Price: $2.99 

On Sale Date: July 25, 2018

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

I think there’s only one more issue left to this series, so we’ve got to be wrapping it up now, right? Hector Hammond’s going to wreck the Controllers and the Darkstars will go stupid and then the Green Lanterns will save the day in time for a graduation ceremony for the final issue. That would make sense to me! See if my suspicions are correct in my review of Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #49, commencing forthwith!

Explain It!

Now that the justice-seeking Darkstars have declared all-out war against the Green Lantern Corps—without having ever actually sought any real justice, mind you—it’s balls-to-the-wall widescreen action with lots of one-liner proclamations and cleverly-used power ring constructs. Looks great, and it would be very welcome, had we not waded through four issues for the privilege, and had the last issue not been more or less the same exact thing. This issue makes note of the Darkstars’ ability to teleport at will, which patient readers will recall was something John Stewart hoped to circumvent with the Eradicator’s aid. So that comes to bear here.

First, however, Hector Hammond severs the connection between the Controllers and the Darkstars, severing their telepathic links with one another and, for some reason, making them notably weaker. All of the Darkstars’ ailments are exhibited in their new spokesperson, Tomar-Tu, who gives the command for the Darkstars to return to base. But uh-oh! John Stewart is able to make an Eradicator-designed machine as a ring construct that nullifies the teleportation. Now the Darkstars are stuck in Space Sector Zero—and that lines them up for the biggest conflict of all with the brash, tough-talking Hal freaking Jordan! *wailing guitar solo*

I really don’t understand anything in this story. Why are the Darkstars such a threat around the universe, when they only seem to be in major conflict with the Green Lantern Corps? Why is Tomar-Tu in charge, when he wasn’t even close to the first one to accept the Darkstars’ mantle? How did losing their telepathic connections with one another make the Darkstars more susceptible to punches? This whole thing seems so dragged-out and lazy, with very little thought given to the actual character set playing the antagonists. Looks very pretty, but it’s a lot of ink and fury signifying nothing. The series wraps up next issue, so there’s that.

Bits and Pieces:

All of the stuff set up four issues ago comes to bear here, highlighting the pointlessness of the last three issues. Gorgeous artwork and brash epithets do not an interesting story make. This is a tale hobbled by superfluous moments and completely bereft of any palpable consequences. The series will go out with a whimper.

6/10