“Defenses Down”
Creative Staff:
Story: Jeremy Adams
Art: Fernando Pasarin, Oclair Albert
Colors: Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
What They Say:
Hal Jordan must don the weapons of DC’s greatest villains to escape Amanda Waller’s clutches and reconnect with the heroes who are set to strike back at this new Absolute Power! Meanwhile, Carol sets out on a mission to help others, learning what it means to be a hero along the way. PLUS: Witness the rise of the SHADOW LANTERNS in an all-new backup story by MARC GUGGENHEIM and DARICK ROBERTSON!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Green Lantern continues to be a favorite of mine going back decades but I haven’t read much since the Flashpoint reboot over a decade ago. I’ve enjoyed the character in a bunch of the non-continuity books over the years and have decades of prior reading of Hal and most of the gang. This series has Jeremy Adams stepping in to guide Hal to a new place in the DCU and it’s my first time reading their work, which they handle well here. With this installment and it being a tie-in, we get anew art team with Fernando Pasarin and Oclair Albert taking over the duties and doing a solid job of it. There’s a good dynamic look to the action here, the designs are great, and with the color work from Fajardo Jr, it delivers a solid experience without overdoing the green.
The tie-in event continues but this one is weaker on the ongoing story of the series and leans more into the story of the event, which isn’t my thing. There are decent parts and it’s certainly just fun to watch Hal. Since he’s managed to escape from his cel, he’s made his way onto the massive ship that Waller has where his ring has been moved to. While he’s able to get it, there’s no power to it, so he still has to do a bigger escape. It’s not easy since he’s got no powers but what he does have is access to a host of different weapons from various heroes and villains that Waller has acquired. It’s basically a semi-comical tour of them as he deals with the foot soldiers and non-Amazo forces that Waller has in this mission. From javelins to magic sticks and a few fun things in between, it’s enjoyable watching him provide nods to how good the weapons actually are and that he has to thank a few of the villains someday for being able to utilize them. It carries through the book and lands in an amusing place tying into the larger event with Wonder Woman and Batman that will play out elsewhere.
Similar to the previous issue, there are subplots I’m not interested in such as the Alan Scott thing and the backup feature itself. But we do get some time with Carol as she’s found herself with the JSA types in Fate’s tower where they’re hoping she can go out into the world and find some heroes to bring back there and strategize with. It’s not what she expected and they’re all so young that it’s throwing her off a lot. Of course, she’s going to have a real problem now that Nathan is something more and looking for her. I also like that we get a bit more time with at last Thaaros as he’s trying to make it clear to the others on the council that they can’t just rest of their laurels as there’s always a bigger threat out there to deal with and they need to be the biggest and baddest in the universe so that nobody looks at them twice. I get it but it’s also why it’s doomed to fail.
In Summary:
I’ll admit, I had a bit more hope for this issue after the last one but it’s pretty bonded to the Absolute Power event and that just didn’t do a thing for me. Some of the smaller moments are good and Hal’s escape attempt certainly works for me, but it throws him right into the bigger event that I’m not reading and just slows the forward momentum of this series. Carol’s fun to watch with this and I appreciate the time spent to flesh out Thaaros a bit more but hopefully we get a good chunk more to it so that it feels fully realized. The artwork is good even if Hal comes across a bit more intense and muscular than I think a lot of us attribute to him but it also comes with some absolutely goofy facial expressions and movements that balances it out since he is often definitely an absolute dork.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics
Release Date: August 14th, 2024
MSRP: $4.99
