Green Lantern #6 and Annual #1

[HsssH]

So double pack this week so I figure we can use one thread for both issues.

Key things in Annual:
Jessica somehow beats three Yellow Lanterns without a working GL ring, but then gets beaten rather easily by Lyssa Drak. I'm not sure if this a result of bad writing or if the implication here is that Lyssa (and Sinestro) manipulated Jessica into joining them.
Jessica does not want to join them and they make a deal that she'll return to Earth and then send her Yellow ring back to them.
On her journey home she saves some people and meets with Hal. They get into argument, but everything works out and she after all decides to join Sinestro because she can use Yellow Ring to do good things.

Frankly I didn't really "get" this issue. Whole talk about candles and Sinestro's pitch about what he wants to do sounded weird to me. On the other hand I haven't been keeping up with Sinestro so maybe all of that has already been established previously.

Key things in #6:
Last issue we got Teen Lantern fighting Yellow Lanterns, this issue we saw what Jo and Simon were doing.
Nothing really new with Simon, but Jo did trap few Yellow Lanterns and spoke with Sinestro when Simon "rescued" Teen lantern.
Sinestro says that he had nothing to do with battery going boom, but he is going to fill the power vacuum left by it.
On John's side we see remaining part of Kilowog's transmission.
Some golden and angelic enemy is brainwashing populations and doing bad things. John's new alien friend recognizes those things.
They decide to send a rescue party to save Kilowog and whoever else they can.
Before they can leave John notices that one person is always near him (OA, Sergilon and now in their outpost) and corners him.
Surprise, it is Lonar from New Gods and he is here to watch John save (or destroy!) the universe. Oh and those angelic bad guys, it looks like they are using New Genesis tech as well.

I'm not sure if we really needed first part with Jo and Simon, I'd probably have preferred if we just moved forward. But second part with John was solid fun.

[Frontier]

Jess looks weird as a Yellow Lantern. That's all I'll say.

[j9ac9k]

Sinestro says that he had nothing to do with battery going boom, but he is going to fill the power vacuum left by it.

I guess he never learns, since that's exactly what happened when the GLC mysteriously disappeared into the previous pre-Big Bang universe, (for reasons DC never explained) which set up the start of "HJ&tGLC" when Sinestro and his Yellow Corp took over from the GLC. I wonder how much of Sinestro's power grab we'll end up seeing.

Also, speaking of familiar storylines, didn't Jess just get over a stint where she wielded Darkseid's power? I didn't read JL:O, but writers seem to like having Jessica reluctantly side with a bad guy and have them bestow their power on her to wield. What happened to her Omega powers anyway?

[Frontier]

Is Soranik ever going to get her big redemption storyline?

[Vordan]

I liked the Annual a lot, thought Cady wrote a good Jess. Curious what the long term plan for her is though.

[sifighter]

I guess he never learns, since that's exactly what happened when the GLC mysteriously disappeared into the previous pre-Big Bang universe, (for reasons DC never explained) which set up the start of "HJ&tGLC" when Sinestro and his Yellow Corp took over from the GLC. I wonder how much of Sinestro's power grab we'll end up seeing.

Also, speaking of familiar storylines, didn't Jess just get over a stint where she wielded Darkseid's power? I didn't read JL:O, but writers seem to like having Jessica reluctantly side with a bad guy and have them bestow their power on her to wield. What happened to her Omega powers anyway?

Powers undone by time travel and leave it at that

Also I like the use of new gods that Thorne is using in Johns adventures. It’s a neat sci-fi idea.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I was very skeptical of the whole Jess becomes a Yellow Lantern idea, but this story sold me on it. I wish Hal had been written as 10% less of a dick, but I understand that not every writer is able to pull off what Morrison accomplished with Hal's Zen laid back personality so he's unfortunately reverted to the hot headed Johns version again.

But this does seem like an interesting new development for Jess. And even more Fourth World stuff with John, which I think is an awesome idea.

[Frontier]

I was very skeptical of the whole Jess becomes a Yellow Lantern idea, but this story sold me on it. I wish Hal had been written as 10% less of a dick, but I understand that not every writer is able to pull off what Morrison accomplished with Hal's Zen laid back personality so he's unfortunately reverted to the hot headed Johns version again.

But this does seem like an interesting new development for Jess. And even more Fourth World stuff with John, which I think is an awesome idea.

I mean, even Johns-era Hal could be pretty peaceable. I don't think he was a hothead all the time. It just seems like a quick excuse to draw up conflict.

[Quinlan58]

I was fine with Hal's characterization in the Annual. I'd have preferred him to be less of a dick, but it was Jessica's story and Hal being like that served it (without being too out-of-character). Him being pretty hard on a comrade of his swapping Green for Yellow sounds like an appropiate instinctual reaction. If anything, the most unbelievable thing he did was not reacting badly when Jessica said she could use the power of fear to make everything right, since that sounded like it should have fired up Parallax flashbacks in Hal.

Overall liked the Annual, did a great job at showing how subtly seductive the Yellow Rings are, Sinestro talking BS about his noble intentions while also having a golden statue of himself in his office (and as pointed out, making his corps swear by his power) was hilarious, the whole ordeal with the cargo ship was well-done.

The regular issue I didn't like as much. The second half with John was well-done, the incorporation of the New Gods (with them being treated as suitably god-like) is getting better, but the first half didn't really do anything that the previous issue hadn't already done beyond confirming that Sinestro wasn't responsible for the attack on the Battery (which we all already knew).

[Frontier]

I was fine with Hal's characterization in the Annual. I'd have preferred him to be less of a dick, but it was Jessica's story and Hal being like that served it (without being too out-of-character). Him being pretty hard on a comrade of his swapping Green for Yellow sounds like an appropiate instinctual reaction. If anything, the most unbelievable thing he did was not reacting badly when Jessica said she could use the power of fear to make everything right, since that sounded like it should have fired up Parallax flashbacks in Hal.

Wouldn't we all...although I guess that sums up most forced conflicts in Superhero stories.

[Factor]

I'm really over the issues being split in two chapters. I wish John had gotten the chance to be the book's true star for a while.

[married guy]

I'm really over the issues being split in two chapters. I wish John had gotten the chance to be the book's true star for a while.

I agree. It seems like a missed opportunity to me.
John hasn't been given any love really since Mosiac.
I remember when DC announced he would be stepping for Kyle (yes, I'm old) I was wrapt - only for it to amount to sweet FA.

[Redjack]

I agree. It seems like a missed opportunity to me.
John hasn't been given any love really since Mosiac.
I remember when DC announced he would be stepping for Kyle (yes, I'm old) I was wrapt - only for it to amount to sweet FA.

this is a twelve-issue arc, fellas. not two six-issue arcs.

this is a story about John Stewart.

You're just used to a different kind of storytelling.

Stick around. Trust.

[Johnrevenge]

I liked the annual story and how Jess was portrayed. I wonder how long she will be a Sinestro corp.
Issue 6 was good, I love how Thorne wrote Jo and her interaction with Sinestro was good.

[Besouro]

Jess looks weird as a Yellow Lantern. That's all I'll say.

She looks PERFECT as a YL to me even better than her GL form.