Green Lantern #34 Review

Creative Team
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Ivan Reis
Inkers: Oclair Albert and Ivan Reis
Colorist: Randy Mayor

Issue Rating
Story: 8/10
Art: 8/10
Overall: 8/10

Issue Summary
Near the grave of Martin and Jessica Jordan, the parents of Hal Jordan, Hal and Sinestro are fighting Atrocitus without the use of there power rings as William Hand (the future Green Lantern villain known as Black Hand) looks on. Atrocitus continues to blast Hal and Sinestro with their on Green Lantern energy he absorbed into his device. Hal and Sinestro are able to get out of the line of fire long enough for Sinestro to summon his Green Lantern power battery to recharge both his and Hal's powers.

As Hal and Sinestro recharge their powers Atrocitus starts to chase after William to kill and take the power death William has in him. Before Atrocitus is able to get a hold on William he is attacked by the repowered Hal and Sinestro. Even with their powers back Atrocitus still dominates the fight and smashes Sinestro with a yellow trackter. Hal then uses his all his rage and uses it to construct a massive jet to destroy the yellow trackter Atrocitus was holding above his head. Sinestro takes this oppurtunity to place the finishing blow to Atrocitus with a huge Killowag contrut with his ring.

Hal goes to check on William but William just runs away with the device Atrocitus was using. Sinestro than tells Hal he is just a rookie and that he cannot pierce the spectrum barrier. Hal has enough of Sinestro's lecture and has his ring take him to Carl Ferris.

Hal arrives at Carl's house and knocks on the door letting himself in when Carol opens the door. Hal starts to look through the whole house for Carl only to find that Carl is in his sick bead. Carol tells Hal that since Hal's dad accident Carl felt so guilty for causing his best friends death that it affected his health to the point he is now. Carol also tells Hal that it has been her running Ferris Air this whole time while saying that she is just acting as a mediator for Carl so that people don't think he is sick. Hal apologizes to Carol and tells Carol that she is not alone. Hal and Carol then kiss on the porch.

Later in the middle of the desert Hal uses his power ring to make an image of his father when he was a pilot. Sinestro than interupts Hal's quiet moment and gives him another lecture. Sinestro than tells Hal he is still a rookie and has a lot to learn about being a Green Lantern. As Hal and Sinestro shake hands they get a message from their power rings telling them they have broken the rules of time alloted for officers to interact and must return to Oa to be discipline. End of issue.

Highlights of the Issue

"I have the power"

"Sinestro lays the smacketh down on Atrocitus ass with a Killowag construct"

"This isn't what Hal expected to see or do"

"It looks like Hal and Sinestro have to go to the principles office"

Review
Green Lantern #34 continues the story of "Secret Origins" and while the past five issues were nothing but average retelling the same story most Green Lantern and Hal Jordan fans know this was the first issue that was not only entertaining but this issue actually added to a character's origin.

I will talk about that in a bit but I know that there are some fans that are pissed of whole "Secret Origin " story but I think it is necessary for Johns to try to get new readers up to speed with Hal Jordan's history. This story is meant to be new reader freindly and for those people that just got into Green Lantern during "The Sinestro Corp Wars." That is the important thing about this story because there were a lot of fans that got into Green Lantern because of "The Sinestro Corp Wars" and Johns knows that and has given the oppurtunity for those new readers to catch of with the origin of Hal Jordan without having to buy the back issues telling this origin.

Now while this is a new reader friendly story there is still plenty to entertain new readers once you get past this story being a retelling of a known origin to long time fans. But for long time Green Lantern fans they should notice the tweaking Johns did to the origins of William Hand (aka Black Hand) and furthering the future Red Lantern Atrocitus role. Both characters are suppose to play a large role in the upcoming "Blackest Night" storyline next year so it is good to see that Johns is using this origins story to futher develop major players for future stories.

As I said before Johns did some tweaking to William Hand's origin who became the Green Lantern villain Black Hand. The tweaking Johns did is to make the energy absorbing device Black Hand has used against while fighting the Green Lantern actually be a device Black Hand stole from Atricitus instead of him constructing the device himself. This adds more of a connection between Black Hand and the Green and Red Lanterns. Also with Black Hand's appearance in DC Universe #0 in front of the Black Lantern power battery the addition of Atrocitus talking about Black Hand connection to death adds to the reason he will probably end up being the leader if the Black Lanterns.

On Atrocitus origin this help build up Atrocitus as a Green Lantern villain and a member to the Red Lanterns. Throughout this story the reader can see why Atrocitus is chosen to be a Red Lantern with all the rage he showed in his battle with Hal and Sinestro. Also as seen in this issue Atrocitus was enough of a threat without a power ring to take on and dominate the fight with Sinestro and Hal. This helps not only build the threat of Atrocitus but also the Red Lanterns who currently only have three members in their group. And considering the storyline that follows "Secret Origin" is "Rage of the Red Lanterns" we will probably see more of Atrocitus soon enough.

Again the strength of this story has been with Hal and various future allies and enemies. In this issue we see the start of Hal's friendship with Sinestro that is doomed to fail and his growing closer to Carrol Ferris. The most interesting relationship is the Hal and Sinestro because of the inevitable down fall of these two mortal enemies. I really like how Hal Jordan acted like a complete rookie with a lot of anger while still showing the potential that leads him to become the leader and one of the greatest Green Lanterns in history. And while it looks like Hal and Sinestro are going to be punished I only expect the Guardians to have Sinestro become Hal's teacher and partner to teach him to be a Green Lantern since it is only some time after Sinestro become's Hal's teacher that Sinestro becomes evil.

Now even though I thought this was an aboce average issue it is sill the case that is just a retelling of Hal Jordan's origin that I already knew. And because of this being a retelling of an origin many long time fans will see a lot of predictability to the story which I can understand that it would be a turn of to them.

Also because of this being a retelling of Hal's origin I think I would recommend new readers to wait for this story to come out on trade paperback form since this story will probably read much better when it is collected in TPB form.

Ivan Reis served up plenty of great artwork and did a great job on the the Atrocitus vs Hal and Sinestro fight. My favorite part of the fight was when Sinestro used his power ring to construct an image of Killowag to put the finishing blow to Atrocitus. I thought it was both awsome and funny at the same time.