Green Lantern #14 (DC)

(via dccomics.com)

writer: Geoff Johns

artist: Doug Mahnke

There's a ton to talk about with this issue.  I'm going to start with what's on the cover.  Now, Geoff Johns writes both this series and Justice League.  Having an issue of Green Lantern that features the League, written by the man who writes both series...you would kind of expect a lot of similarities.  One of Geoff's unacknowledged strengths as a writer is his ability to write for the occasion, rather than an overly uniform style.  His style is knowing what makes a particular franchise work, and he's done this successfully for more than a decade with a great number of iconic properties.

Part of this, of course, owes to Doug Mahnke's distinctive style.  Mahnke has been working with Geoff on Green Lantern for years now.  He's not an artist who gets a great deal of publicity, but he's distinctive and dynamic, and as Geoff has obviously determined one of the best in the industry, and maybe it takes an issue like this for people to notice.  Just like Geoff, Mahnke doesn't allow the fact that he's doing the League transform Green Lantern into something else.  While this particular phase of Geoff's saga doesn't feature a plethora of characters, there have been plenty of moments like that.  Both are keeping this one intimate.

Now, the reason the League shows up in the issue is because of the new ring-bearer  Simon Baz, Geoff's own Green Lantern eight years in the making.  He's been flagged as a terrorist, which has nothing to do with his being a Green Lantern, but has certainly added a great deal of complications to that fact, and even in this issue is forcing him to learn about his new role in an immediate way.  This is fascinating stuff.  Sometimes people don't see how DC can be anything like Marvel, much less the reverse (of course, some people probably can't see these distinctions at all, but they are definitely there), but as I've said before, Geoff is basically getting to do his version of Brian Michael Bendis on Ultimate Spider-Man (the Peter Parker or Miles Morales version), following a new career as it develops rather than rushing into the expected.  In this instance part of that is being rushed, simply because of the heated nature of Simon's life.  

It also means, hopefully, that Geoff is really only getting started, which for some of us is an entirely welcome prospect.

In some ways, though, there are signs that he may no longer be writing Green Lantern the way he once did.  "Rise of the Third Army" is an event crossover in much the way "War of the Green Lanterns" was just before the New 52 reboot.  It does not seem like it's anywhere close to "Blackest Night," say, or "Sinestro Corps War."  The Third Army itself is not so awesome as many of the other concepts Geoff has brought to the franchise.  The First Green Lantern is far more interesting, and tellingly is already supplanting the Third Army as the real star of the event.  The Third Army is supposed to be the culmination of the Guardians of the Universe's revised plans for maintaining order, replacements for the robotic Manhunters who proved emotionally compromised (because they had none) and Green Lantern Corps (compromised because have emotions), perfect because it removes free will from the equation (will being, of course, central to the concept of the Corps).

In some ways the Third Army is exactly like the Black Lantern Corps that starred in "Blackest Night," and Geoff acknowledges this with Black Hand's return.  Black Hand became a far creepier villain when he started reanimating the dead, which he does again this issue with one of the Guardians who had previously stood sentry over the First Green Lantern.  

One of the biggest teases of Geoff's current work, however, is the final fate of Sinestro and Hal Jordan, who dominated the first year, brilliantly, of the reboot.  Are they gone for good?  Probably not, but they're still in limbo, visible only for a few pages at a time.  Though Simon Baz is the new star and the most interesting element of the book, there's a lot of snatches of story going on.  "Rise of the Third Army" doesn't have an event book like "Blackest Night" to accompany it, and perhaps it couldn't support one, but that's another odd thing about it.  It's been hyped for months, and yet seems like just another of the many crossover arcs that have begun to dominate the New 52, almost like the ubiquitous "Rotworld" event that ran through the arcane titles for months on end.  

If you're suddenly wondering if you should even bother with it, I would caution that you stick around. Maybe Green Lantern Corps or Green Lantern: New Guardians is a better place to look if you want to read more about "Rise of the Third Army."  Green Lantern itself is where you'll see how the bigger picture unfolds.  Right now that picture is still developing, much like Simon Baz.