Green Lantern Corps #31 ( DC / Tomasi / Gleason / Buchman )
A prelude to “Blackest Night” chapter! As the growing power of the Star Sapphires intensifies, the next law is burned into the Book Of Oa by the Guardians resulting in further life-altering reverberations amongst the personal lives of the Corps. Meanwhile Kyle and Natu battle Kryb for the soul of Lantern Amnee and Matoo’s infant son.
Here we are, the third chapter in the Sins of the Star Sapphire story arc, and things are getting both interesting and icky. The story opens with the Guardians reviewing and enacting the new laws in the Book of Oa. 1) Lethal force against the Sinestro Corps has been authorized. 2) Lethal force against all enemies of the Green Lantern Corps. 3) Physical relationships and love between Green Lanterns is forbidden within the Corps.
I totally see the reasons for the first two laws. If someone is trying to shoot you, you shoot back. I get it. The third law is a disaster waiting to happen. Especially given that one of the Corps main adversaries derives its power from the emotion of love. Peter Tomasi is really setting this up to be a huge conflict. The Corps has many members that have dated, even married and reproduced. Given our own reality, cops marry other cops. It’s not that uncommon. Kind of like soldiers marrying other soldiers. The Guardians think they know what’s best for their people, but you know that it is going to come back and bite them in the posteriors. Like so many other things they’ve done (Manhunters anyone?). I’m looking forward to seeing how far down the dark dictator-ish path the Guardians are going to go before their own Corps starts to turn on them.
As for the icky: The Green Lantern Corps, as a book itself, has been dealing more and more with violence against children. I understand the why’s and the how’s and Tomasi’s reasoning for doing it, but it still gives me the heeby-jeebies. The Sinestro Corps has decided to attack all the GL’s families as a way to instill fear in the Corps. I get that. But the Sinestro Corps member Kryb doesn’t’ just kill families, she steals their infant children and keeps them in a cage made out of her body. If that wasn’t enough, we see that she secretes a special infant formula that has mind control properties. Huh? But wait, there is more! Lantern Pree, who is very pregnant, has a huge mad-on for Kryb and open up a can of whoop-ass, kinda. Her unborn works through her ring and appears as against green baby attached to the ring by an energy umbilical cord and beats the tar out of Kryb. Very very odd and disturbing.
Through Kryb’s mind control of some other GLs, Lantern Pree is knocked out and the last panel is of all the lanterns holding her down while it looks as if Kryp is going to perform a C-Section to steal Pree’s baby. Well that’s just gross.
Like I stated before, very disturbing. This is still very well done book in both story and art, but given the intense subject matter I’m afraid I have to pull Green Lantern Corps off the “Family Friendly” list. It may not have all the sex, violence, and language that your usual mature audience book does, but just the themes and subject matter make it cross over to something that I wouldn’t let younger kids read.
Grade: B
