The major comic companies put out enough comics that sometimes it can leave your head spinning and eyes bleeding as you search the new titles each week for something worth reading. To aid in your Geeky endeavors, Speak Geeky To Me on occasion reviews new titles from the major companies to spotlight the best and worst of what’s available at your local comic shop. So sit back, relax, and enjoy a new Comic Review.

 

The Info Bit

Title: Green Lantern vol.5 Annual #1

Genre/s: Superhero/Sci-Fi/Horror

Writer: Geoff Johns (Justice League, Aquaman)

Penciler: Ethan Van Sciver (New X-men, The Flash: Rebirth) & Pete Woods (Legion Lost, Wildcats)

Inker: Ethan Van Sciver & Cam Smith (Uncanny X-men, Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors)

Colorist: Hi-Fi & Tony Avina (Justice League, The Boys)

Publisher: DC Comics

Page Count: 48

Price: $4.99

 

The Review Bit

The new Green Lantern annual is a thick prologue to the upcoming Green Lantern event, Rise of the Third Army. It’s almost hard to believe it’s been a whole year since the last Green Lantern event, as it feels like these things are happening every month since the Sinestro Corps War. But right off the bat 3 things jump out on this cover, and only one of them is the event header. The Green Lantern annual has an extraordinarily strong cover, with the bleeding Green Lantern symbol on a pitch black back drop, and a rather hefty cover price. Five dollars is a lot of a single issue comic, even at 48-pages, but sadly this is where comic prices are going it seems. Atleast with Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver on board, you’ll usually get your money’s worth.

Green Lantern annual #1 picks up right where Green Lantern vol. 5 #12 left off, with Hal and Sinestro buried 6-feet under thanks to Black Hand. However, before that is dealt with, we get a brief history of the Green Lantern Corps and its Guardians of the Universe. As Hal and Sinestro struggle to put down Black Hand, the Guardians are busy preparing to create their new army to replace the Green Lanterns. To do this, Geoff Johns once more masterfully crafts a retcon that doesn’t really contradict continuity so much as expand on it; something Johns has become a master at. Fans soon discover there are more Oans than the Guardians, hidden away in something called the Chamber of Shadows. Also in this cryptic chamber is what is known as “the first lantern”. After a small scuffle between the short blue Oans, with those new characters calling out the Guardians as having lost perspective, the Guardians run off with the first lantern, intending to use him to power their ‘third army’. However, before the Guardians can get their prize back to Oa (or wherever they were taking the first lantern), they discover Hal and Sinestro are just about to defeat Black Hand. Apparently the Guardians now have a vested interest in William Hand and see this as an opportunity to finally get rid of those meddling Green Lanterns that were always bucking the system. The Guardians transport to Earth, aid Black Hand, and lead to a questionable fate for both Hal and Sinestro that will undoubtedly cause the origin of the new Green Lantern set to premier next month in Green Lantern #0. While that might be the end of the comic for Hal Jordan and Ethan Van Sciver’s art, Geoff Johns continues another 10-pages with art by Pete Woods as we actually see the first of the Third Army created. While Pete Woods is a fine comic penciler, these pages definitely come off as intending to be horrific, yet the art fails to present that, especially after seeing Van Sciver’s work moments earlier, which is rather ideal horror art. That said, the police officer who appears in the Green Lantern epilogue story looks oddly like Mr. Van Sciver.

Geoff’s story is a good and solid addition to the modern Green Lantern mythos. As long as you are a fan of what Johns has been doing with the Green Lantern universe these past 7-years, you are sure to enjoy these additions. The story certainly has a darker tone, much like Blackest Night, with the whole Black Hand and zombie thing unfolding before Hal and Sinestro. That works ideally with Ethan Van Scivers brilliant and horrific art style. Ethan, of course, is a master penciler and one of the better artists in the industry, so little need be said of his contribution to this book. Ethan brings his A-game, with great paneling, amazing detail, and disturbing visuals (particularly in a scene that causes Black Hand to temporarily lose an eye). Hi-Fi coloring does a great job complimenting Ethan’s art with vivid and mood defining colors. Really this is just another high end Green Lantern story, staying on par with the book’s high quality over the past half-plus-decade.

The Rating Bit

Green Lantern annual #1 is a great read that most Green Lantern fans will undoubtedly love. It accomplishes all fans might want in an annual, being a thicker story with some character defining moments and plot changing scenes. Ethan’s art is amazing and Pete’s isn’t half bad. So as this annual keeps on par with the general quality Green Lantern has experienced under Geoff Johns, it easily earns a 9 out of 10.