Green Lantern #18 Review

Wrath of the First Lantern is going to be the last story arc by Geoff Johns on a Green Lantern book for the foreseeable future, and he is making sure that it is going to build up to an epic conclusion. It will be a sad day when #20 comes out and Johns leaves, however what he is producing with this book right now is as good as anything he has done on the series as a whole.

This particular issue focuses on Hal, Sinestro, and Simon as they are all stuck in the land of the dead. Only two of them can get out so one of them will be left there with no way of escape. The way this ended really shocked me, as I was convinced there was going to be a way round this problem, but there evidently was not one.
I also really liked the way Sinestro behaved during this whole scene. I am sure that he will backtrack at some point ( or maybe not ), but he seems very single minded with his approach to take take the First Lantern. It is clear that his idea will not work; but is this something he is going to realise before it is too late?

We also got a bit of a back story about Volthoom, the First Lantern. This helped make sense to some things that he attempted to do in the last issue. It also went a long way as to explaining just how powerful he is. I for one was not aware of how much power he possesses. He can literally reshape the whole universe into anything he wants, as well as reshaping the past. This may be common knowledge to some, but I couldn't believe it.

The art in the scene in the land of the dead was awesome. I loved the tone, which really did compliment the story, but unfortunately at some points I was really not sure as to who I was looking at. Sometimes characters would have their backs turned so it was hard to make out who exactly was speaking. This is only a minor problem, and it is not a big enough problem to make me have wanted the art to be any different in this scene.

Overall this was yet another solid instalment in the Green Lantern series. I really cant wait for the next two issues, as I imagine that the consequences and the stakes are going to be getting much bigger very quickly.
The score I am giving it may seem a bit low considering all the praise I have just given it, however I do feel that there does need to be a change. This book has gone right down the list of priorities with Johns; even though the issues remain consistently solid, I do think that they could be of higher quality like a lot of the issues in this current run. One thing is is for sure though; Johns is not going to go out quietly.


Rating: 7.7 / 10