COMIC BOOK REVOLUTION

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #8

War of Green Lanterns has definitely gotten off to a bit of a slow and lumbering start.  The first two chapters of this big event have not given the reader much of any actual plot progression or any new material at all.  With the incredible amount of build-up that we have been getting on the Green Lantern titles since the end of Blackest Night, I would not have thought that even more set-up would have been necessary once War of the Green Lanterns actually began.  Hopefully, the third chapter of this big event will kick this story into high gear and actually deliver some new material and solid plot development.  Let's hit this review for Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #8.

Creative Team

Writer: Peter Tomasi

Pencils: Fernando Pasarin

Inks: Cam Smith

Colors:Gabe Eltaeb

Story Rating: 4 Night Girls out of 10

Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10

Overall Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis:  Guy, Kilowog and Arisa are all heading back to Oa to report to the Guardians. Along the way, the Parallax impurity hits our three heroes. Guy and Kilowog are able to shake off Parallax attempt at mind control, but Arisa does not. Kilowog and Guy are then attacked by a massive horde of Green Lanterns.

Kilowog encases Guy in an emerald bullet and flings him far away. Kilowog tells Guy to go figure out a way to free the Green Lanterns. Kilowog holds off the Green Lantern horde for as long as he can, but he eventually falls in battle and gets captured.

Guy then radios for any remaining free Green Lanterns. Only Hal responds. Guy tells Hal to meet him at the Green Room. We see Guy on a polar planet much like the planet Hoth. He creates a giant flaming Green Lantern symbol in the snow. This place in the Green Room. A remote location where Hal and Guy decided they would meet in the time of a crisis. Suddenly, Hal arrives on the scene.

The two begin to show the effects of Parallax much like Kyle and John in Green Lantern Corps #58. Guy thinks Hal lacks the brashness to make the tough decisions. Hal thinks that Guy is reckless. Guy thinks Hal is dangerous since he almost killed the Corps and the universe when he was controlled by Parallax.

The two men start brawling while arguing with each other who is going to be the one to stop Krona and whose plan they are going to follow. The two finally realize that it is the Parallax impurity in their rings that is making them insanely irrational and want to fight each other.

Both men power down and revert back to their normal human selves. If they don't power up their rings then Parallax cannot influence their minds. They then decide it is time to come up with a plan to save the Green Lantern Corps. End of issue.

Commentary:

The Good:  Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #8 was a character driven issue despite the brawl that we got between Hal and Guy. The physical confrontation was simply a manifestation of the much larger and pervasive philosophical battle that was wages between these two characters. This issue presented a battle of wills of two men who deeply believe that their path is the proper path to save the Corps that they both love.

Among other characters, the conflict of this issue would have simply been a debate scene. However, with characters like Hal and Guy, the only type of debating that they know how to do is with their fists. Both characters are Alpha dogs with supreme confidence in their abilities. Despite their rivalry, the fact is that both men are more similar than they are different.

I did enjoy the character work that Tomasi delivers on both Guy and Hal. Tomasi is able to craft some excellent tension between the two characters. The tension builds steadily as the issue progresses until it reaches its boiling over point when the fists start flying.

Tomasi is able to nicely show the differences between Hal and Guy and manages to hold the reader's attention despite the fact that we do not actually get any new information at all in this issue. The conflict between Hal and Guy has been teased since the first issue of this title so most readers will simply be satisfied with finally seeing this conflict come to fruition. 

Pasarin's artwork is excellent. Pasarin's art is a perfect match for a cosmic super hero title. His smooth and detailed style of art makes this a rather pretty issue to look at. Pasarin certainly injects plenty of emotion into this issue. All of the characters' facial expressions are well done.  The fight scene is quite dynamic with several pretty double page splash shots.

The Bad:  Unfortunately, Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #8 offers the reader little to no plot progression at all. Nothing new happens in this issue. The only thing that resembles plot development is that Guy and Hal are now together. That is it. That is simply not enough story content and plot progression for one issue.

This third installment of War of Green Lanterns is simply way too slowly paced. The first two installments were slow enough. By the third chapter, War of Green Lanterns should already be rolling with more purpose and at a much faster pace than what we got in this issue.

The massively teased conflict between Hal and Guy was incredibly anti-climactic. I was expecting this to be some serious fight between the two characters that lead to a permanent schism. I was also expecting to get a clear winner and loser.

Instead, we got a cliched fight where both men are subject to mind control that wiped away their inhibitions. The fight itself was a standard issue comic book fight between two heroes where there is no winner or loser. Instead, both battle to a stand still while finally figuring out that they are being used. All in all, it was incredibly unoriginal and uninteresting.

Overall:  Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #8 was a disappointing read. This third installment to War of Green Lanterns can easily be skipped. Nothing at all happens in this issue. All the reader needs to know is that Guy and Hal are now teamed up together. Even at the newly reduced price of $3.00 this issue still fails to deliver any actual plot progression or content worth your money. I would only recommend this issue to readers who are determined to read every single chapter of War of Green Lanterns. Otherwise, skip this issue and pick up the next chapter. You won't miss anything.