Green Lantern Corps #26

While Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis have been kicking butts and taking names over on Green Lantern, there's another book on the racks that's been continuing to bring really good Green Lantern action that's been sadly overshadowed by the main title.  That book is Green Lantern Corps.  Without a doubt, Johns and Reis have created one of the best books at DC right now.  Nevertheless, Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason are following quickly behind with their A-game, giving us a great mix of space opera and gritty cop drama.

This issue marks the end of "Ring Quest", a story devoted to the Honor Guard assembling to investigate the rise of a new player in the Sinestro Corps: Mongul.  As our heroes hunt down the giant alien menace, we've discovered the Black Mercy, Mongul's typical weapon of choice, was once an agent that brought hope and mercy (naturally) through it's powers of illusion before Mongul perverted it into a weapon of terror and fear.  Last issue ended as the Honor Guard was attacked from behind by Mongul which is where we start up here. 

Here Mongul really shows off the tyrannical and sadistic nature he's been displaying his entire existence, threatening Mother Mercy (the Queen Mother of all Mercies) with infanticide and even cutting his conjoined henchmen in two out of pure annoyance.  It's a vicious moment, one of many throughout this issue.  If there's anything truly noticeable about this issue, it's the brutality all through it.  From the aforementioned segregation via Mongul to Guy Gardner's first act of lethal force (beheading one half of Duel) to the other half being blown apart by the Honor Guard to Bzzd flying straight through Mongul's eye to Mongul's dissected body as plant food at the end, this wasn't your daddy's Green Lantern.  It was really an eye opener to see these traditionally moral idealists now be the hardened realist soldiers.  And Gleason really made it bloody and surprising as well.  It was Ultimates-level intensity which is a very interesting change for the Green Lantern mythos.

This issue wasn't all blood and gore.  In fact, the book had, as always, some very intriguing character explorations through the Honor Guard being in the thrall of the captive Black Mercies.  The fears of these people make for truly incredible depth.  Kyle's fear is essentially fear itself, being the victim of Parallax once again.  Stel's is to become an tool of evil, boiled down into a yellow power ring.  Iolande looks to fear being torn between her job and her planet.  By far the most interesting, Vath faces the possibility that there'll be a universe without war, giving him no purpose.  Isamot's feelings of inferiority come to play as we see him served up as a meal to the "real" Thanagarians.  Soranik fears her predecessor, Sinestro.  Bzzd fears the ring leaving him, making him just another "bug" once again.  Guy fears the deahts of his friends.  They're all very telling on the nature of these people and why they do what they do.

We also get a series of touching moments that truly give importance and depth to this issue.  Beyond the already mentioned lethal use of Guy Gardner that clearly shakes and disturbs the man, we're shown Bzzd's kamikaze run through Mongul.  It's a really touching moment, the nigh-insignificant bug taking down the arrogant giant.  This leads to Bzzd's sad but poignant death and the ring going to Mother Mercy (as does Duel's SC ring) leading to Mother Mercy choosing the the former after all the pain and suffering it's caused as Mongul's unwilling consort, a nice ending of redemption and choice after so much bloodshed and violence. 

This was a great end to the arc and a truly wonderful issue from a team that really doesn't get enough praise.  Tomasi gives a very good take on the team as almost an intergalactic cop drama like the Shield (except with less corruption) mixed with Star Trek (with less shirtless Shatner) while making very likable characters and a really interesting story.  Beyond some missteps this issue with Mongul (he looked off somehow in a few shots), Gleason is really rising on my barometer of really good artists.  If you like big sweeping space epics or gritty realist crime stories or just like to see more of the Green Lantern Corps beyond Hal Jordan, I'd suggest you pick up this comic because it really is a lot of enjoyment to read.