Tony Black reviews Green Lanterns #4…
“Red Planet” part four! There’s no escaping the rage that grows around the world, as new Green Lanterns Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz confront Bleez. But with no training, no backup and no way out, the Green Lantern Corps partners also find themselves out of options.
When we last left Green Lanterns, writer Sam Humphries had placed Simon Baz and especially Jessica Cruz in quite the pickle, and in the fourth part of ‘Rage Planet’ he essentially delivers a two-hander whereby all of the bubbling neuroses and undercurrents of misunderstanding between these two new partners come rushing up to the surface, as conversely Jessica’s consumption of the Rage power being spread by the Hell Tower plunges them into the very bowels of the earth for a very personal confrontation, and it’s yet again indicative of the kind of strong character work which has marked out Humphries run as particularly good so far.
Even though it’s Jessica locked in the grip of Rage, as the virus continues spreading across the planet and the sinister Red Lantern menace hovers in the background, it’s not just she who Humphries gets under the skin of as Jessica & Simon are forced to face their own fears, and issues with each other, in order to survive. Jessica is letting her crippling fear of being unable to save her sister allow the Rage to eat at her insecurities, while for Simon he has to confront the fact he’s not only insecure about his own abilities as a Lantern, but also how hard he’s been on Jessica to prove herself worthy not just to the Corps, but to him.
Humphries manages to shine a light on two realistic, flawed characters getting to grips with who they are in the midst of this crisis, what their rings mean, and what they mean to each other as partners, and it’s great he takes enough breathing room to let them wade through that. We do get a brief time out with Simon’s sister Sira & her worried husband Nazir, given the strange alien in their house who hints at bigger mythology in the background, but it’s largely a strong two hander between our well developed leads.
It’s not a showy piece of artwork either from Blond but it solidly accentuates Humphries writing and allows the characterisation to breathe, which is one thing many of the new Rebirth issues are doing, and Green Lanterns is successfully each week making work. While it will be nice to see the plot really start kicking in further around the Red Dawn that is coming, and the cliffhanger suggests the partners may now have to face the ultimate test of their bond, Green Lanterns ability to create good drama around solid action is not to be sniffed at. Yet again, a fine issue.
Rating: 8/10
Tony Black
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Originally published August 10, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
