Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #39 (spoilers)

[jbmasta]

“ZOD’S WILL” part three! The only thing standing in the way of the Green Lantern Corps taking down General Zod and rescuing Hal Jordan from behind enemy lines turns out to be the leaders of the Corps itself—the Guardians of the Universe. Can the Corps change the Guardians’ minds, or will they revolt to save their captured comrade?

Written by: Robert Venditti
Art by: Jordi Tarragona, Rafa Sandoval

A great issue. The response by the Corps, both the Green and Lanterns and the Guardians is very interesting and what's fascinating me the most is how Hal's ring is affecting Kyle, and the possible ramifications of this.

First, the Guardians. They're well aware of the problems caused by their predecessors, but ironically in spite of their brief debate end doing the same thing the Guardians of the Universe would have: nothing. And its the Templar survivors who are in conflict, one saying the Corps have a responsibility to return him to the custody of his Phantom Zone exile (where he escaped during a recent Action Comics arc) and another saying it's a Kryptonian ruling so it's not a problem for the Corps to tackle. No one brings up that the only cosmically active not evil Kryptonian could help, considering Superman knows Zod, would be on more level ground battling the self-professed "Final family of Krypton" due to Zod's new home having two yellow suns and that Superman has a Phantom Zone projector. So unless the Guardians have one stored somewhere on Mogo, getting Zod to resume his sentence without involving Superman is a futile effort. This aside, they're acting like the Guardians of the Universe, but John at least knows they weren't apathetic out of fear of doing the wrong thing.

How the Green Lanterns react is another matter. They know where to go and what they're up against, and feel they owe enough to Hal that it's the right thing despite the Guardians not green lighting (pun unintentional, oddly enough for me, the self-professed pun master) the mission. Hal knows this rescue mission is coming, as does John, who is only surprised it took everyone this long to act. This shows that despite the best intentions of the Guardians they don't know the Green Lanterns as well as the Lanterns know each other, and shows why John should have more influence over the decisions the Guardians reach.

Now the big one. It's shown throughout this issue that Kyle is clearly channeling Hal due to wearing his ring. The Krona's Gauntlet creature from Prism of Time developed a Hal-like personality from Hal's exposure to the Gauntlet, and now his will forged ring seems to be imprinting his personality an even thoughts over Kyle's own. It's not just that Kyle's bravado is turned up past eleven, he's even thinking as Hal would, with the comment about the fighter pilot being used by Kyle and Hal independently.Kyle saying he was getting to like it is kind of worrying if this is a long-term thing. What happens when Hal reclaims his ring and Kyle gets his own back? Will the Hal-ness Kyle is displaying wear off or will he retain some of it? I did like when he did something distinctly Kyle, with Guy cringing at his "who let the dogfighters out' comment (that same page includes a plane where the front has the GL symbol on it, nice touch).

This ties in with a theory I've had since the Fracture arc. At the beginning of that Soranik, having discovered that not only was the antagonist of that arc hers and Kyle's future child but that he knew and did tell her, goes all woman scorned and confronts Kyle. She digs into him and his insecurities about romantic relationships, calling him Alley Rat before branding him with the Yellow Lantern symbol. Even though Sora had a natural right to be angry, the whole Alley Rat and branding thing seemed especially extreme. Alley Rat is Sinestro's go-to name for Kyle, and holds a big grudge against him (plus if Sinestro knew about Kyle and Sora, over protective father would put it mildly). I think that Sinestro imprinted some of his own personality onto the ring he gave Soranik, part as a means of ensuring her coopereration and a back-up plan if things don't go to his plan (which they don't). The whole Sarko thing proved the catalyst for this mental infiltration.

Which leads me to further speculate that when this 'season' ends, or when Sinestro returns to cause trouble for the Corps, that his antagonism with Hal will play out with Soranik and Kyle physically battling it out, bearing the essence of Sinestro and Hal respectively. Hal is sort of like a father figure to Kyle, or at least the cool older brother (I remember an early Geoff Johns era issue where he took Kyle flying in a plane, leaving their rings in the hangar), while Sinestro is Soranik's father.

[Rakzo]

Thought this was a pretty fun chapter. Good character bits here and there and we even see some insight on Zod's motivations.

Spectacular art from Sandoval as well.

[Anthony Shaw]

“ZOD’S WILL” part three! The only thing standing in the way of the Green Lantern Corps taking down General Zod and rescuing Hal Jordan from behind enemy lines turns out to be the leaders of the Corps itself—the Guardians of the Universe. Can the Corps change the Guardians’ minds, or will they revolt to save their captured comrade?

Written by: Robert Venditti
Art by: Jordi Tarragona, Rafa Sandoval

A great issue. The response by the Corps, both the Green and Lanterns and the Guardians is very interesting and what's fascinating me the most is how Hal's ring is affecting Kyle, and the possible ramifications of this.

First, the Guardians. They're well aware of the problems caused by their predecessors, but ironically in spite of their brief debate end doing the same thing the Guardians of the Universe would have: nothing. And its the Templar survivors who are in conflict, one saying the Corps have a responsibility to return him to the custody of his Phantom Zone exile (where he escaped during a recent Action Comics arc) and another saying it's a Kryptonian ruling so it's not a problem for the Corps to tackle. No one brings up that the only cosmically active not evil Kryptonian could help, considering Superman knows Zod, would be on more level ground battling the self-professed "Final family of Krypton" due to Zod's new home having two yellow suns and that Superman has a Phantom Zone projector. So unless the Guardians have one stored somewhere on Mogo, getting Zod to resume his sentence without involving Superman is a futile effort. This aside, they're acting like the Guardians of the Universe, but John at least knows they weren't apathetic out of fear of doing the wrong thing.

How the Green Lanterns react is another matter. They know where to go and what they're up against, and feel they owe enough to Hal that it's the right thing despite the Guardians not green lighting (pun unintentional, oddly enough for me, the self-professed pun master) the mission. Hal knows this rescue mission is coming, as does John, who is only surprised it took everyone this long to act. This shows that despite the best intentions of the Guardians they don't know the Green Lanterns as well as the Lanterns know each other, and shows why John should have more influence over the decisions the Guardians reach.

Now the big one. It's shown throughout this issue that Kyle is clearly channeling Hal due to wearing his ring. The Krona's Gauntlet creature from Prism of Time developed a Hal-like personality from Hal's exposure to the Gauntlet, and now his will forged ring seems to be imprinting his personality an even thoughts over Kyle's own. It's not just that Kyle's bravado is turned up past eleven, he's even thinking as Hal would, with the comment about the fighter pilot being used by Kyle and Hal independently.Kyle saying he was getting to like it is kind of worrying if this is a long-term thing. What happens when Hal reclaims his ring and Kyle gets his own back? Will the Hal-ness Kyle is displaying wear off or will he retain some of it? I did like when he did something distinctly Kyle, with Guy cringing at his "who let the dogfighters out' comment (that same page includes a plane where the front has the GL symbol on it, nice touch).

This ties in with a theory I've had since the Fracture arc. At the beginning of that Soranik, having discovered that not only was the antagonist of that arc hers and Kyle's future child but that he knew and did tell her, goes all woman scorned and confronts Kyle. She digs into him and his insecurities about romantic relationships, calling him Alley Rat before branding him with the Yellow Lantern symbol. Even though Sora had a natural right to be angry, the whole Alley Rat and branding thing seemed especially extreme. Alley Rat is Sinestro's go-to name for Kyle, and holds a big grudge against him (plus if Sinestro knew about Kyle and Sora, over protective father would put it mildly). I think that Sinestro imprinted some of his own personality onto the ring he gave Soranik, part as a means of ensuring her coopereration and a back-up plan if things don't go to his plan (which they don't). The whole Sarko thing proved the catalyst for this mental infiltration.

Which leads me to further speculate that when this 'season' ends, or when Sinestro returns to cause trouble for the Corps, that his antagonism with Hal will play out with Soranik and Kyle physically battling it out, bearing the essence of Sinestro and Hal respectively. Hal is sort of like a father figure to Kyle, or at least the cool older brother (I remember an early Geoff Johns era issue where he took Kyle flying in a plane, leaving their rings in the hangar), while Sinestro is Soranik's father.

I love your POV on this. I never considered Sinestro possibly using a ring to influence his own daughter. It does fit with him being such a manipulative bastard.

[Bigwinnie101]

God this book is so damn good

Also Your theory has way more legs after this chapter revealed how Hal's ring is influencing Kyle. Man this going to be a great read when most of this stuff wraps up.

[Comic Book Addict]

I liked this issue, with the Lanterns coming to rescue Hal. I was struck by how...human Zod seemed when he was talking about Krypton and his son.