Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Green Lantern Corps #32 Review




Deception is the truth.


The Lanterns arrive at Daxam to thwart a imminent Durlan invasion. And Sodam Yat, the lost lantern, returns home.

Daxam has been an interesting place since it was first introduced, represented as inhabited by one of the most xenophobic of races that went out of it’s way to brainwash their young into continuing their ‘honored’ tradition.

Not to mention that Daxamites are distant cousins of Kryptonians and a yellow sun does wonders for them.

While I love what Jensen is doing with the Corps, I was less impressed with Chang’s surprisingly disappointing artwork.

SPOILERS FOLLOW………….

The Lanterns, led by John Stewart and including Sodam Yat, journey to Daxam, which is as unwelcome as ever.

Slight backstory...........

The Daxamites are so xenophobic that their ignorance of alien threats led them to be slaughtered mercilessly and enslaved when Mongul, who had recently taken over the Sinestro Corps in lieu of Sinestro’s imprisonment by the Green Lanterns.

Sodam Yat was the only exception who was able to escape thanks to being chosen by a Green Lantern ring. His exploits during the Sinestro Corps war alerted everyone to the fact that Daxam possessed the same traits as Krypton and this ability was used when Sodam, channeling Ion the Green Lantern entity, make Daxam’s sun yellow to overthrow Mongul.

And this is the reason why the Durlans have taken such keen interest in them. If they can replicate the Daxamite physiology, they would be an army with Superman like soldiers.


Though Daxam seems to have learnt from its mistakes. As Sodam Yat is shown around by his father, we see a huge arsenal of weapons and armed soldiers prepping for war.

Back on Mogo, Von Daggle attempts a life threatening action to give the Corps an edge. Taking out Salaak, he enters the ring battery and corrupts it so that the rings can identity the deceptive Durlan presence using his own DNA.

As the Lanterns debate whether it is right to hurt the apparently xenophobic Daxamites, the rings are updated with Von Daggle’s actions and detect everyone around them as Durlans.


Apparently, the Durlans played the Ozymandias card (i.e. finish the plan before alerting the heroes about it) and captured the Daxamites, taking their DNA by force. Then they waited for the Lanterns to emerge and capture them.

This leaves Sodam, who is already in a vulnerable state physically, all the more remorseful for having exposed Daxam to the entire universe, making them prominent guinea pigs for predators like the Durlans.

One of the Durlan elders attempts to take Sodam for it’s own, but fails as John’s backup arrives – a contingent of all time Green Lantern enemies that have sided with the Lanterns for a greater enemy.


Sadly, it’s too late as most of the Durlans leave to bathe in the energy waters of Zezzen so that they can permanently take the Daxamite form. While the Lanterns leave to stop the Durlans, Sodam remains behind intent to making his race invisible to the eyes of the universe again.

As I’ve said before, Daxam is an interesting subject given the themes of xenophobia and now abuse. While Sodam rightly claims that the xenophobia made sure that Daxam was never discovered and it’s people’s powers abused by the likes of Mongul and the Durlans, it’s is a one-sided argument.

The fact that Daxam ensured their invisibility by committing several horrible acts of torture to any alien who touched down on their planet and the fact that it was something waiting to happen with or without Sodam are valid points that Yat fails to consider because after all – in the end, he is one of them.

Still, overall, I like that Jensen still gives time for the little touches – one of which was Feska concerned that her planet had turned against the Corps (and by proxy branded her a criminal and most likely her family as well) and Jruk’s constant ‘Hulk’ moments.

SPOILERS END……………….

This issue had a lot going for it, but was unnaturally bogged down by some below-par artwork.

Still, this is turning out to be an engaging and deep event, and I cannot wait to see how it resolves.

So, I give it 8.0 out of 10.

+The character moments
+A good social commentary of Daxam
+Some good action pieces

-The artwork is below par

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