Henshaw takes control!
Creative Staff:
Story: Dan Jurgens
Art: Mike Perkins
Colors: Hi-Fi
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
What They Say:
Then, Hank Henshaw, the Ravagers and Eon battle the Green Lantern Corps on Mogo for the fate of the universe! (In other words, it’s Tuesday.) Hal Jordan has had enough of this Man of Steel knockoff, so he’s seeking out the former Cyborg Superman with the sole intention of handing him his butt! However, Henshaw’s ability to hack the Corps’ power rings may give him all the leverage he needs to take over the universe.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Green Lanterns series is a few issues away from ending and we’ve got a lot of things to get through within it before that happens. Dan Jurgens excels at keeping a good pace to books and stories like this while also delivering an engaging story. Everything is ramping up here to the big final act moments and it plays well, right down to the splash pages. Pages that Mike Perkins handles beautifully as there’s a lot of action and movement going on in this book. With Henshaw on the move and the Corps reacting to events, it’s pretty chaotic and that keeps everyone moving about and lightly overacting with each revelation. Perkins gets the designs just right and has some really strong pages – especially the end page.
Henshaw’s assumption of power from a distance has been interesting to watch once the truth came out and while it strains credulity a lot, I do like how he’s basically taken control of the Ravagers to have a force to command while also employing someone powerful like Eon. And he’s able to work the Ravagers into a froth since they were dealt a bad hand when it came to the Guardians ages ago and are thirsting for revenge, which makes it even easier for Henshaw to manipulate and praise into action. They’ve accomplished a lot for him and seeing them shift gears to head out to Oa to deal the big blow is pretty exciting. Having Henshaw literally come out through the Battery only makes it more so, particularly with his color design at the moment and having the Phantom Ring in his employ.
Prior to that, the Corps is coalescing as best as it can on Mogo to try and deal with things and understand what’s happening through the Guardians. The reveal about the Phantom Ring nearly sets them all off and even more so since it’s basically in line with Baz being accused. It does come out later than Henshaw manipulated all the rings but that hasn’t sunk in that Baz was manipulated pretty hard. But what we get is a pretty good fight before that as they defend Mogo and stave off Eon, who can replicate himself, all while Henshaw makes his big move to take down the Corps and the Guardians entirely. It’s well-executed even if it misses out on the easiest way to take out the corps by killing their rings while they’re in space and then unable to breathe. Where’s the fun in that, I guess?
In Summary:
I’ve definitely been enjoying this action-filled arc for Green Lanterns since Jurgens came on but it’s also fairly clear that it’s light in terms of story and character. At most, we’ve had some good stuff for Baz as he was manipulated and a bit for Jessica as well, but there’s not much here beyond that. Which is fine because sometimes you just need a good action arc and Jurgens is delivering it. I do wish we had a consistent art team for it for the run but each one we’ve had has been solid and this is what happens with bi-weekly books. Mike Perkins does a great job here and I really like the look of it overall, especially with Hi-Fi’s color work.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via DC Universe
Release Date: September 19th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
