Hal Jordan And The Green Lantern Corps #24 Review

Things are getting much more complicated for the the Green Lantern and Sinestro Corps alliance. It was never an easy alliance to begin with but now with it being revealed that Tomar-Tu killed Romat-Ru it looks like things are going to get worse for both sides. How long John Stewart and Hal Jordan can keep things under wraps is the big question coming off the last issue of Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps. Will John end up make a decision that hurts the alliance in the long run? Or is there a way John and the others can resolve things to keep the Green Lantern and Sinestro Corps alliance going strong? Let’s find that out with Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #24.

Writer: Robert Venditti

Artist: Ethan Van Sciver

Colorist: Jason Wright

Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10

Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10

Overall Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: A few days earlier in Space Sector 2265, Tomar-Tu and Fantas-M have pinned Romat-Ru down in an asteroid belt.

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Even though he is defeated Romat-Ru continues to push that he is having fun still being a killer and mocks the fact that even if he is arrested and taken to the Sciencells he will escape and kill again. Tomar-Tu gets enraged and launches a blast that kills Romat-Ru and turns his body into ash.

Before Romat-Ru’s ring goes to find a new user Tomar-Tu captures it and convinces Fantas-M to not say anything before they head back to Mogo.

In the present Hal demands to know why Tomar-Tu killed a Yellow Lantern. Tomar-Tu apologizes.

John shows up and tells Tomar-Tu to hand over his ring. Hal doesn’t think Tomar-Tu should do that but John reveals that he saw the footage of Romat-Ru surrendering before he was killed. Hal is stunned but tries to stand up for Tomar-Tu given their history.

Tomar-Tu takes off his ring as he understand what he did and says people will know what he did now, hurting the alliance. John says that it is his problem now and immediately deactivates the Romat-Ru’s ring, much to Hal’s surprise. John flies away as Tomar-Tu once again tries to apologize.

Elsewhere Iolande tries to get Soranik to train with her but Soranik flies past her.

Soranik finds Kyle drawing next to a tree and destroys the Green Lantern ring he gave her while yelling at him “Kyle You Should Have Told Me We Had A Son.”

At the Sciencells John dismisses Voz so he can talk to Bolphunga alone. Before he leaves Voz mentions that Soranik was at the morgue alone with Sarko’s body.

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Once alone Bolphunga makes fun of John as he knows what Tomar-Tu did. John has Bolphunga sit down and reveals that Bolphunga’s entire crew has been arrested and he has the evidence of Tomar-Tu’s crime. Bolphunga wonders if John is going to kill him even if it against the law.

John says that Bolphunga is going to serve out the rest of his prison term and that the Cepheid Raiders will learn that their “leader” tried to bargain in order to cover his own hide. John then leaves Bolphunga back in his cell locked up.

Elsewhere Kyle explains that the reason he hid the fact Sarko was his and Soranik’s son from the future was so she didn’t have to live with how their son became twisted and cruel. Soranik slaps Kyle hand away and reveals that she conducted an autopsy on Sarko and was thinking her possible future with Kyle as she cut open their son before learning the truth.

Soranik knocks Kyle down. She then tells Kyle that his choice to not talk to her about the truth of Sarko’s origin was filled with the fear that she would be the love that would slip away and he would have a wounded heart. Soranik then burns the Sinestro Corps symbol into Kyle’s chest as a reminder of his fear. Soranik leaves Kyle passed out and flies away, but not before calling him an “Alley Rat.”

Back in Tomar-Tu’s room Hal asks Tomar-Tu why he didn’t come to him for help. Tomar-Tu says he didn’t want to stain Hal’s name and that he accepts whatever punishment comes his way. Hal says that there will be redemption for Tomar-Tu.

At the communication center John tells Salaak he has an announcement to make and he wants all sectors to hear him.

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Elsewhere Kyle stumbles in on Guy and Arkillo playing cards. Guy asks Kyle who burnt the mark of the Sinestro Corps on him. Kyle weakly says Soranik as he passes out.

John begins talking to all the Green and Yellow Lantern Corps members across all the sectors. He reveals to everyone that Tomar-Tu has confessed to killing Romat-Ru. John goes on to say that Tomar-Tu will be put to trial and will receive proper sentencing for what he has done.

At Tomar-Tu’s room several Yellow Lantern bust in demanding Hal hands Tomar-Tu over to them. End of issue.

The Good: An alliance between the Green Lantern and Sinestro Corps was always going to be a fragile thing. Now with Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern #24 we are exploring what the strength of the new alliance will be. Through that exploration we are able to get strong character development across the board creates a situation where Robert Venditti is balancing the series on a shade of grey level.

Painting the internal struggle of the Green Lantern and Sinestro Corps alliance in a shade of grey shows us that that there is more than just the core Lanterns involved in the decision making. Given their long history with each on the battlefield there was no way Venditti can just hit the reset button just because most of them are on friendly terms now. Addressing that fact with Tomar-Tu’s action in killing Romat-Ru after he surrendered showed us the delicacy of the matter.

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The fact that Romat-Ru teased Tomar-Tu and Fantas-M about how he was going to get out eventually showed us that even with the alliance in place not everyone is for it. Romat-Ru being the catalyst that causes the fracture makes him an even more important character by dying. Tomar-Tu accepting what he did also gave him something that makes him more than just a guy following in his father’s footsteps. Where Venditti goes with Tomar-Tu will be very interesting if a trial is allowed to happen.

With this occurring we are going to see how strong of a leader both John Stewart and Soranik are for their respective sides. For John’s part, it was good to see that he didn’t try to hide everything that happened, something we were teased with John doing given his dialogue in the last issue. John making the announcement to both sides across the galaxy showed his own strength as leader. Now how John handles the delicate nature of everyone’s reaction on both sides will be the true test of John’s tenure as leader of the Green Lantern Corps.

That strength is made a bit rockier now that Soranik is showing signs of her father’s attitude. While a separate matter from Tomar-Tu’s action, Kyle Rayner causing Soranik to fully embrace her role as the leader of the Sinestro Corps and wielder of fear has clear larger ramifications. The last line Soranik delivered as she called Kyle an “Alley Rat” just like Sinestro was a big moment for the character. With this new attitude and John revealing that Tomar-Tu killed Romat-Ru it is easy to see Soranik wanting to break the alliance as she and her Yellow Lantern Corps family will want to go back to doing their own thing.

Hal trying to play the role of the reasonable one in this situation was an unique way for Venditti to go with him. Usually being the hot headed one in the group Hal trying to figure out what is really going on with Tomar-Tu’s decision and then attempting to convince John to not take Tomar-Tu’s ring away was something different for the character. It showed us a Hal in a bit of a different light as he used his words rather than fists to show how important his Green Lantern brothers and sisters are to him.

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With Venditti writing a character focused story with Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #24, Ethan Van Sciver artwork delivers on all fronts. Sciver’s artwork gets across how much drama is happening around Mogo as John, Hal, Kyle, Soranik and Tomar-Tu are faced with tough choices. Sciver is especially impressive with how he drew Soranik. She comes off as both a compassionate and angry person in her confrontation with Kyle. The lasting Sinestro Corps symbol scar that Soranik leaves on Kyle came across as an even more important moment with how Sciver drew the scene.

The Bad: Nothing.

Overall: Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #24 is an outstanding character driven comic book. Robert Venditti writing was at the top of his game as he challenges the strength Green Lantern and Sinestro Corps alliance with Tomar-Tu’s actions in killing Romat-Ru and Soranik confronting Kyle about their future son’s fate. All of that is wonderfully brought by Ethan Van Sciver, who makes you feel for every character involved with how he framed every page in this issue.