Most of the action in Green Lantern Corps #39 takes place between the panels of events already depicted in Blackest Night #1. It doesn’t really do much to advance the story of that cross-over event at all. So if you are only reading it as a BN tie-in, it’s pretty skippable.
But, if your a fan of the Green Lantern Corps, there’s still a lot to like. Especially if you’re a fan of Kyle and Guy as I am. On their way back from earth, Guy and Kyle trade stories about how they spent Tribute Day. Guy discusses his date with Ice while Kyle talks about his visit to Jade’s grave.
Then Kyle drops a bombshell of the soap opera variety. It turns out that when the Star Sapphire revealed his true love to him, Kyle saw Jade. He lied to Soranik Natu to spare her feelings. Oh the drama! As a long-time Kyle fan, I love it when Kyle’s love life gets complicated.
Kyle and Guy are soon joined by Lanterns Natu and Iolande. They are just in time for the raid of Oa by the Black Lantern rings as depicted in Blackest Night #1. Now, I know a lot of people don’t love Patrick Gleason’s work the way I do, but his depiction of the assualt of Black Lantern rings was far more awe-inspiring to me than the exact same scene as drawn by fan-favorite van Reis. I love them both, but this is the kind of thing Gleason truly excels at.
The issue also checks in on Arisia on Daxam, Kryb on Zamaron and Mongul on Korugar. Unfortunately, none of these stories are really advanced. That combined with the fact that we’ve already seen the raid on Oa gives this issue a bit of a “filler” feel.
However, there are lots of great character moments to love. And I’m a huge fan of Gleason’s work on this book. And the last page, though thoroughly predictable, was very satisfying for this long-time Kyle fan.
