Hal Jordan And The Green Lantern Corps #36 Review

Hal Jordan And The Green Lantern Corps #36 Review

Hal Jordan And The Green Lantern Corps #36 Review

“Twilight of the Guardians” has brought back one of the classic Green Lantern Corps villains in the Controllers. In addition to the return of the Controllers it looks like Robert Venditti is planning to have the Guardians return to their former glory. It would only make sense given the history and the direction this story is going with the Controllers and Guardians. Though that may not be completely the case given how different things are now within the DC Universe cosmic corner. Let’s find out how things go with Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #36.

Writer: Robert Venditti

Artist: Jack Herbert and Jose Luis

Inker: Jack Herbert, Mick Gray and Cam Smith

Colorist: Jason Wright

Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10

Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10

Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner fight the Controllers in order try to save the Guardians. The four Green Lanterns are able to corner the Controllers.

Hal Jordan And The Green Lantern Corps #36 Review
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Kellic steps forward and blasts the four Green Lanterns with an energy wave. The four Green Lanterns are unable to break free from the wave as Kellic taunts them for their failure in being heroes.

Kellic has the other Controllers begin the process to harvest the other Guardians.

As the process begins Hal and John launch a surprise attack that Kellic dodges. Hal and John surprise Kellic by saying he wasn’t their target, it was actually the Guardians’ containment pods.

The Guardians team-up with the four Green Lanterns to easily overpower all of the Controllers.

Ganthet stops Zalla from killing Kellic as vengeance is not their way. Kellic uses this opening to have him and the other Controllers escape.

The Guardians thank the four Green Lanterns for saving them and reflect on the Guardians they lost.

The four Green Lanterns take the Controllers base apart and arrest the Controllers’ mercenary army.

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At the Green Lantern Headquarters on Planet Mogo Ganthet gathers the remaining Guardians to a special meeting room. There Ganthet says he refuses the Controllers to be the legacy their people leave behind. He states that four Green Lanterns from Earth where able to stand against immortals and that they should play their role in helping guide and govern the universe. He then provides the remaining Guardians new Green Lantern robes, similar to the original Guardians of the Universe.

At a barren world in Space Sector 0001 Kellic gathers the Controllers to go over how if they want to match the Guardians and Green Lantern Corps power they must build their own army. Kellic then unveils a new army for them to control called the Darkstars

The Good: As Robert Venditti brought “Twilight of the Guardians” to a close by creating a big shift in the leadership in the universe. In doing so we see a old threat become an even bigger one with some new elements. That all combined to create intrigue in the history between the Guardians of the Universe and Controllers, even for those unfamiliar with the latter characters.

Sometimes going the pure evil route is the best way to go. The Controllers are proof of that as they have very little redeeming qualities. These are villains that thrive on living in the dark side of conflicts as they live up to their names of Controllers. Having such villains makes them even more unique in the universe the Green Lantern Corps now exist in where we see different shades of grey for all the Lantern Corps. And with the Controllers building their own army in the Darkstars we have a fresh unknown force for the Green Lantern Corps to go up against.

Hal Jordan And The Green Lantern Corps #36 Review
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Venditti further got the Controllers over by making sure they left an impact on the Guardians of the Universe. Their actions in harvesting several Guardians showed Ganthet and Sayd that their inactions in the last few years may have been a mistake. Ganthet taking the loss of his fellow Guardians as the reason to gather his brothers and sisters to return to their original roles as Guardians of the Universe.

What will make this change in the status quo for the remaining Guardians of the Universe is how much has changed since they abandoned their old post. Just in the Green Lantern Corps alone we have seen the group go through massive changes that led to John Stewart becoming their leader. And given that John has finally come into his own as the Green Lantern Corps leader it’ll be very interesting to see how Venditti treats the interactions between him and the Guardians of the Universe.

Though there may be some conflict as the Guardians of the Universe and Green Lantern Corps adjust to each other again at least there is a strong foundation for both. Venditti makes it very clear that Hal, John, Kyle and Guy being characters that take on any challenge that comes their way as motivation for Ganthet to act. Establishing that respect factor creates a positive foundation for how things will go between the Guardians and GLC this time around.

Hal Jordan And The Green Lantern Corps #36 Review
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Before looking at the credits I did not know that there were multiple artists and inkers working on Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #36. Jack Herbert and Jose Luis did a good job making sure that their art styles matched one another. That made it harder to tell when the art switch happened, giving more of a focus on all the actual action going on screen. Herbert along with Mick Gray and Cam Smith did a good job in keeping that consistency with their inking. And tying it all together was Jason Wright strong coloring that maintained that consistency.

The Bad: Nothing.

Overall: Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #36 provided a strong ending to “Twilight of the Guardians” arc. Robert Venditti got over the impact the Controllers return had to the entire Green Lantern franchise. Their return to prominence was the perfect way to also bring the Guardians of the Universe back into their original roles. How that goes over with all the changes that have happened within the Green Lantern franchise make this shift in the Guardians’ status quo very intriguing.