Green Lantern #31 Review

Willpower isn’t for all.

Uprising starts in this beautifully drawn book as the ‘Durlan and co’ armada try to draw first strike.

The first strike takes place as Mogo is the target of an armada made up of former Green Lantern allies and enemies.

Vendetti doesn’t do anything earth-shattering here, but it’s a steady start and has some ‘hell yeah’ moments from the Corps.

SPOILERS FOLLOW……………

The heads of the three main enemy factions – a Durlan Ancient, a Khund commander Khurtz and Nol-Anj have assembled an armada near the sector which houses Mogo and the Green Lantern Corps.

On Mogo, Green Lantern leader Hal Jordan assigns the duty of collecting intel from the Khund attack ship they recovered to the non-users (i.e. the Lanterns who refuse to use their rings due to the emptying-of-reservoir problem) which include Graf and Tomar Tu.

In the mess hall, the Lanterns have to deal with another problem – food. With their cook turning out to be a Durlan, this has hit the crew – but mostly Kilowog.

We get a little light on Gorin-Sunn’s past, as one of the rings benefits come to light.

As Hal assembles his group to learn whether there has been any headway in making a detector for Durlans, Mogo informs him that multiple unidentified spacecrafts have entered their star system.

Kilowog takes command of the central hub and learns that many of their former allies constitute the armada, which Hal uses to try and broker a peace pact.

The Durlan imposters reveal themselves as they attack a ship, making it look like the Corps is attacking.

But with them exposed, Hal and his group are able to overpower the Durlans with their superior knowledge of the Lantern rings. This creates a setback as the Durlan Ancient orders a retreat, despite the Khund’s reluctance to stop.

As the armada leave for now, Hal decides that they need to recover the replaced 'missing' Green Lanterns.

This ‘event’ feels like it has been going on forever, but it throws up nuggets of great moments thanks to character exploring stories like this. Graf and the other non-users deem the use of the ring harmful, but Gorin counters it by saying it has allowed him to journey beyond his planet. Nothing is black or white.

Also, Hal’s moment of ‘Willpower’ was brilliantly executed. Most of the times the reader forgets that Hal is the head because he is the best there is at exercising his will, and this reaffirms it. If there was a moment Hal became a true leader of the Corps, this was it.

SPOILERS END…………..

A good start to what is the main chapter in this Universe vs Green Lanterns saga thanks to Billy Tan’s artwork coupled with some measured writing by Vendetti.

This arc has been going on for a very long time, but this is a required issue and hits the right points thanks to the well crafted buildup.

So, I give it 9.0 out of 10.

+Excellent artwork

+Great character moments

+Themes explored well

-Still feels like the arc is dragging its heels