Green Lantern #41

Next up is the most recent issue of Green Lantern, written by the spectacular Geoff Johns. For the record, I just took a pair of those new Unisom Sleep Melts(which really do a great job), so if this review is difficult/impossible to understand, blame the Unisoms!

-This issue was heavy on the origin of Larfleeze, the "leader" of the Orange Lanterns. Before I get into Larfleeze though, I'll tackle the events from the rest of this comic.

-On the surface of Okaara, the Green Lanterns, as well as several of the Guardians are battling the members of the Orange Lanterns. John Stewart is the first to realize that all of the Orange Lanterns are just constructs of the ring of Larfleeze, and that Larfleeze is the only true Orange Lantern.

-During the battle, John gets surrounded by Orange Lanterns, but is saved by his one time foe, Fatality, who is now a member of the Star Sapphires.

-Meanwhile, Sinestro is plotting against the Star Sapphires and seems intent on invading their homeworld with a contingent of Sinestro Corps members.

-Besides that, The Green Lantern who was sent by Scar to search for the corpse of the Anti-Monitor(sorry, I'm totally drawing a blank on his name)is attacked by the strange creatures who seem to permeate Sector 666, the sector the Anti-Monitor's body seems to be in.

-Back below the surface of Okaara, Hal Jordan is the prisoner of Larfleeze, who is completely enamoured by Hal's blue power ring. The greedy Larfleeze absolutely HAS to have the unique blue ring and Hal agrees to give it to Larfleeze, under the condition Larfleeze tells Hal everything Larfleeze knows about the Guardians.

-Larfleeze recounts a story from over a billion years ago, back when Larfleeze was a simple thief. Larfleeze and his guild mates steal a box and map from Oa and wind up escaping from the Manhunters who were sent after them. Larfleeze and the other thieves then follow the map(which came from rogue Guardian Krona)to the planet Okaara and discover the treasure there, the orange power battery. As Larfleeze and his guild mate begin to fight each other for sole possession of the power battery the Guardians and the Manhunters arrive. The Guardians decide that fighting Larfleeze would be counter productive, so they offer him a trade, the box(which Larfleeze reveals contained Parallax)for the entire Vega star system. Larfleeze agrees, kills off his guild mates and allows the Guardians to leave with the box.

-After telling Hal the story, Larfleeze demands his prize, the blue ring. Hal tries to remove the ring, but can't get it to come off, so Larfleeze removes Hal's arm! Larfleeze then takes the ring and puts it on, ending this issue.

Allow me to say right now, I CAN'T WAIT FOR BLACKEST NIGHT TO BEGIN!!! Geoff is doing a masterful job with the way he is blending everything together. We have the Green Lanterns battling the Orange, the Sinestro Corps preparing to attack the Star Sapphires, and the Red Lanterns attacking everything in sight! Blackest Night is going to be something else!

As for this issue, it was exactly what I'd expect from a Geoff Johns penned comic, a very good read. I personally would have preferred a little less flashback stuff and more current events, but besides that, I really have no complaints. So now Hal seems to have lost his arm... I can't wait to see how he remedies this situation! For a score, I'll give this comic a very strong 9 out of 10. This is another series that I can't wait to read next month.