Tony Black reviews Green Lanterns #6…
“FAMILY DINNER”! The rookie Green Lanterns try to reconcile some of their differences, when Simon Baz makes a terrifying offer to Jessica by inviting her over for dinner with his family. Can the two survive this with the mysterious Guardian tracking the duo?
‘Rage Planet’ overall has been a fine start for Green Lanterns under writer Sam Humphries, balancing some terrific character work for Simon Baz & Jessica Cruz alongside a suitably epic storyline for the protectors of Earth to take on as their first challenge, and in this finale their partnership is truly cemented as they take the battle to Lord Atrocitus and his Red Lanterns in trying to finally stop Red Dawn from kicking off, and free the planet from the ‘rage’ infecting it. Humphries manages to stick the landing, character wise, but it’s just a shame he unleashes a level of convenience in the final third in terms of the villain’s plan, which allows the story to continue.
Nonethless, before we get there, challenges continue to abound for Simon & Jessica – the former in serious peril at the mercy of the Red Lanterns as he tries to take down the Hell Tower, the latter still trapped by her own anxiety. Humphries has dragged this introspection on a touch but the plus side means when we finally see Jessica break free of her psychological shackles, she manages to fly and it’s a real sense of triumph that allows us to witness what is a narrow victory for the Lanterns. It’s where they go from here now which is the most interesting; Atrocitus is far from done, Bleez the rogue Red Lantern has her own agenda, and we finally discover the identity of the mysterious visitor who came to the Baz family – and a brand new MacGuffin is thrown into the mix!
Overall though, Green Lanterns as a series is off to a really healthy start, and looks set to continue its impressive run; taking two characters who could have been difficult & unsympathetic in Simon & Jessica and rounding them off well, while carrying through a plot which at the end backtracks a little but it’s a small quibble. One of the stronger Rebirth runs so far – let’s hope it continues!
Rating: 7/10
Tony Black
Originally published October 3, 2016. Updated April 16, 2018.
