Green Lantern #43

As I stated in my review of GLC from last week, that series has been consisently better than the main Green Lantern title for about the past six months give or take. While normally that wouldn't be important, since we are inching closer to Blackest Night the big summer epic penned by Johns some were beginning to worry that Green Lantern's slippage was a soon of things to come. Thankfully, Green Lantern #43 has put these collective fears to rest by bringing the book back to a level of excellence which was once its norm.

They first thing that you'll notice is the art which starts strong and stays strong throughout the entirety of the issue. Art in the previous arc was not my favorite thing in the world to look at although I didn't dislike it as much as some because I felt it fit the tone of the story. Regardless, Mahnke's pencils and the crisp and clean coloring are a welcome improvement over the dark and muddy work in Agent Orange.

What is most impressive from Johns here is that he crafts a story that grabs your attention and maintains it even though most of us reading knew exactly where the story was ultimately going to end up. In this issue alone, like he did with Larfleeze in the Agent Orange arc, Johns has made William Hand a character you are going to want to see more of come Blackest Night. One concern I have is that Johns is going to be too busy with other bigger characters in the DCU that he won't have time to shine the spotlight on some of these wonderful villians he has taken the time to build up in Green Lantern.

Blackest Night #1 is finally hitting stores this Wednesday and thanks to Green Lantern #43 I am as excited as ever.