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Info:

• Title: Green Lantern #43
• Written by: Geoff Johns
• Art by: Doug Mahnke, Christian Alamy
• Colors by: Randy Mayor
• Letters by: Rob Leigh
• Cover by: Doug Mahnke, Christian Alamy, Alex Sinclair, Rodolfo Migliari, Nei Ruffino
• Published by: DC Comics
• Publication Date: July 8th, 2009
• Cover Price: $2.99
• Series:

GREEN LANTERN #43 Review

GREEN LANTERN #43 Review
© Mania

As this summer's Green Lantern event Blackest Night moves it's storyline from it's prelude to this issue's prologue, Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke unleash the Tale Of The Black Lantern. As the only color of the spectrum yet to be officially introduced for the upcoming war between the lanterns, the Black Lanterns get their herald here. The story serves as an origin tale on two levels for one character, William Hand: The Black Hand. Blending everything about him, from his childhood through his career as a second rate villain, we're shown how his entire life has led him to this moment, this purpose. This is as dark a tale as one could hope for in the introduction of the first Black Lantern; creepy, violent and extremely menacing...he might just be the baddest baddie in the DCU right now, and things are obviously about to get way worse for the Green Lantern Corps.

The Good

Everything, from cover to cover, is amazing in this book. Following the Blackest Night Prelude across the Lantern books has kind of flatlined as far as excitement goes, but (and I'm not exaggerating here) this just cranked things into overdrive as to getting the anticipation right back up. This is a very morbid tale and is quite graphic. Unlike when most books go morbid and graphic, Geoff Johns succeeds in bringing the drama to it as well. The characterization is nothing short of fantastic and the reader is left being perfectly primed for the war that's about to start. Have you heard the theory that a hero is only as good as their villain? Well Green Lantern should become astronomically larger in those regards because The Black Hand just shot straight to the top of awesome villains with this one. All of this and the perfection of Doug Mahnke's artwork as the icing on the cake! He's one of the best artists in the industry and he proves it on every page.

The Bad

The fact that I don't have the next issue in my hands right now.

The Bottom Line

Cover art to GREEN LANTERN #43 by Doug Mahnke

This is one of the best single issues of a monthly book that I've read in a long time. If anybody has any doubts as to why Geoff Johns has the fanbase and respect that he does, I submit Green Lantern #43 as Exhibit A. Also, in regards to fanbase and respect, let's talk about the skills of one Mr. Doug Mahnke for a minute. As far as working professionals in DC's stable of artists, this guy should be regarded as one of (if not the) best in the lineup. It's not an accident that he was the go to guy when Final Crisis needed help and he is absolutely fantastic on every page of this book. There's a bit of ret-conning going on here but it's used in a way that adds huge amounts of depth to a character most of us have probably never looked at twice. After a bit of stagnation with the prelude issues for Blackest Night, Black Hand's new origin and birth as the first Black Lantern will have you bouncing off the walls for Blackest Night to officially explode. There's no question as to the grade of an A I'm giving this. If anything, it's a reminder of how mediocre most books are and the fact that (unfortunately) how low our standards seem to have become when giving them praise. This book succeeds in hitting that legitimate high mark, I just pray to the comic gods that there's more of this coming.