Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #48 Review and **SPOILERS**

Let’s Get Ready to Talk About the Rumble

Writer: Robert Vendetti 

Penciler: Rafa Sandoval 

Inker: Jordi Tarragona 

Colorist: Tomeu Morey 

Letterer: Dave Sharpe 

Cover: Doug Mahnke and Wil Quintana 

Variant Cover: Tyler Kirkham and Arif Prianto 

Assistant Editor: Andrew Marino 

Editor: Brian Cunningham 

Cover Price: $2.99 

On Sale Date: July 11, 2018

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

All around the planet Mogo 

The Darkstars punished evil 

The Lanterns fought back 

The Darkstars’ attack 

Pop! Goes the reader

Have a looksee at my review of Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #48, right here!

Explain It!

So here’s a little bullshit switcheroo that pissed me off: this issue begins a new story arc, continuing directly from the cliffhanger of the last issue. I don’t care if you name it something new, or if it will wind up in another trade collection—this is, for all intents and purposes, the “Darkstars arc,” and will remain so until the Green Lanterns vanquish the Darkstars or the Darkstars eliminate every murderer in the galaxy. Indeed, this issue opens with the Green Lanterns and Darkstars clashing on Mogo in Space Sector 0001, while our Core Four Lanterns sort of hang out nearby with their attachés—namely General Zod, Arkillo, Hector Hammond, and Orion. And there, they formulate a plan. Hold on, didn’t Kyle say John Stewart had a plan last issue? And wasn’t John Stewart working on some kind of teleportation doohickey with General Zod and the Eradicator two issues ago? I mean, I know those issues were largely pointless, but some stuff still happened. Now, the order issued by Stewart is “don’t kill,” which is pretty much a dick move when you’re going up against hypnotically-controlled robot murderers.

On Mogo, the Darkstars move to check out the ScienCells—I assume to kill all the criminals therein—but Mogo moved them deeper within himself, so the Darkstars will have to do a bit of a scavenger hunt. Kilowog and the Lanterns fight valiantly against the Darkstars, but it isn’t until our boys show up that their constructs have any palpable effect. How come only the Core Four ever makes cool constructs, like monster trucks and gigantic knights? You would think space would be littered with every manner of nostalgic toy and wish-fulfillment construct during one of these epic battles. And the battle does look epic, but it appears to be a distraction for the most part—because the issue leaves off with Hal and Hector Hammond facing the Controllers, who have been mind-controlled and ordered into a pillar like they’re the Master Control Program from Tron.

I was so annoyed to see this issue beginning with a “new” story arc. This is the same story arc, already bloated with two largely unnecessary issues, continuing to run in place while we wonder when the stakes to this tale will ever show up. This issue has what I’ve considered the “core” team on Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps: Sandoval, Tarragona, and Morey. And boy, there are some absolutely spectacular images in this book. The space fighting, in particular, looks like something that needs to be framed and hung above the family mantle. But this story is too plodding for my tastes. As a singular issue, you could probably have a good time with it. But if you’ve been reading along for at least the last couple of months, you might wonder why you’ve been wasting your money and time to watch Hal and the gang chat it up all flipping day and night.

Bits and Pieces:

After four or five issues of set-up, the Green Lantern Corps and the Darkstars finally face off. Perhaps in another dozen or so issues, there will be a resolution. That is, unless someone has to take a minute to deal with their elementary school bully or something. The merciful thing would be to finish this series and move on. Preferably with this exact art team, thank you very much.

6/10