Comics / Comic Reviews / DC Comics

Green Lantern Corps #48

By Andy Frisk
June 13, 2010 - 17:10

Amid the onset of a new and undefined (as of yet) threat to the universe, Ganthet (the only Guardian of the Universe worth caring about as a character) resigns his status as a Guardian of the Universe and member of the Blue Lantern Corps to “permanently fill the post of Green Lantern, Sector Zero.” Meanwhile, reconstruction on the Guardian’s home world of Oa continues after the devastating effects of The Blackest Night, and the Alpha Lanterns begin to make moves behind the scenes that may threaten not only all Green Lanterns, but the universe itself…

The new creative team of writer Tony Bedard, penciller Ardian Syaf, and inker Vincente Cifuentes takes the reigns this issue, and while they will be hard pressed to live up to the greatness of the previous creative team of Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason, the writer and artist who guided Green Lantern Corps through a revival of grand proportions, Bedard, Syaf, and Cifuentes get their tenure off to a good start with “Revolt of The Alpha Lanterns Part 1”.

It may seem to be a nearly insurmountable task to create a threat and a conflict for the GL Corps to face that will be nearly as dangerous or threatening as the recent Blackest Night was, but Bedard has a pretty good idea. He’s setting the stage for an internal Corps conflict involving the controversial (even amongst the Corps members themselves) Alpha Lanterns. It looks as if there are some major changes, or more accurately, resolutions shortly down the road to the problem of the Alpha Lanterns. Bedard’s transformation of Ganthet from Blue Lantern Corps founder to Green Lantern Sector Zero hints that Ganthet will play a major role in the upcoming “revolt” of the Alpha Lanterns, as especially in the shortly to launch new GL Corps series, Emerald Warriors. Ganthet and Lantern Gardner’s clandestine and mysterious meeting with Atrocitus makes for strange bedfellows and future conflict as well.

New series artist Ardian Syaf’s style is a bit more of a departure from Patrick Gleason’s than I expected. Gleason’s style, which occasionally was confusing with its massively crowded but visually stunning panels, was unique and original looking. Syaf’s art, while incredibly accomplished and sharp, is very much in the vein of what I think of as the “Jim Lee style,” which includes highly detailed anatomy and muscle work with an eye for background and foreground detail. Again, Syaf’s art is great and visually appealing, it’s just not incredibly different from what we seen in most mainstream books.

Green Lantern Corps has been one of DC Comics’ standout books since its first issue, and even with the creative team changes, it looks like it will continue to be a standout. It’s going to be interesting to see the effect Ganthet will have on the future of the Corps now that he’s down “in the trenches.” More importantly though, it will be interesting to see just what he’s up to…

Rating: 8.5 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12