Green Lanterns #45
Story: Tim Seeley
Art: Ronan Cliquet
Colors: Hi-Fi
In Green Lanterns #45, while a black hole looms over where Jessica’s apartment use to be, we see the beginning of Jessica’s most feared memory: the hunting trip that caused her to lock herself away for years. In the meantime, the Justice League is scrambling to get the black hole under control and call in some unexpected backup to get a handle on the situation.
***WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD***
Green Lanterns #45 is a great mix of world ending stakes, funny dialogue, and a much different kind of origin story than we are used to. Since the start of the Green Lanterns title, Jessica has struggled mentally and emotionally, trying to come to grips with what happened in the woods that night. This fear of hers has only been heightened by the fact that some of that memory is missing (mainly the faces of the killers), but then Singularity Jain offered her services.
In #44, we were left to question if Jess had taken Jain up on her offer to help her bring those missing memories to light, but Jain leaves nothing to question in this issue. It was clear to all (except Simon for some odd reason) that Jain was playing a bigger game when Jess and Simon found her. When we first met Jain (BOLPHUNGA!!!), she could easily consume anything she wanted, including the GL’s light; but when Jess and Simon found her, she put up almost no fight at all compared to that first meeting. Jain lets it be known that she herself lured the Lanterns, and because of it, she has a new client.
With taking the offer, Jessica has to relive that day to try and shake the repressed parts loose. The living memory itself is very fun to read. You get the awkward factor (awkward situations seem to be Jessica’s other forte) when you find that one of the guys on the trip is her ex, and he is now dating her best friend. The fourth member of their party looks way too much like Oliver Queen for me to not believe it is Ollie. I know it can’t possibly be Ollie, but look at how Ronan Cliquet drew him and how Seeley wrote him (Mr. Skito) and tell me that isn’t our Ollie. Regardless, the most interesting part of this issue is how different Jessica is. The Lantern who saved a whole planet of squishy pink scavengers was also a skilled outdoorsman.
Meanwhile, the Justice League is running out of time and options, but Simon brings the one being who he believes can stop it. The back and forth between Singularity Jain and Batman is highly entertaining. Seeing the hero who uses fear better than most Yellow Lanterns face down Jain (who is definitely the devil… or something much worse) made me laugh pretty hard. The laughs quickly turn to fear when Wonder Woman loses her patience and wraps Jain up in her lasso. Jain reveals the truth (or maybe not. Who knows? She’s terrifying.) about her meeting with Jessica, and then shows off her power again by using the lasso against Wonder Woman and corrupting her momentarily. Let me say that again. Jain corrupted Wonder Woman with her own lasso. Like I said, terrifying.
One of my favorite parts of this issue is when the League’s backup arrives. The League in its current form can be a little humorless (especially when there is a black hole swallowing the city), so the introduction of Constantine into this story was very welcomed! While adding some levity to this issue, Constantine also brings some good news… kind of. While the black hole would be even too much for Superman, Simon can get in because of his connection to Jessica. The only problem is that he can’t bring his ring.
Once inside, Simon see’s something much different than what we were led to believe was going on in the black hole. Simon quickly finds that he is actually in Volthoom’s realm. I had suspected that Jessica’s time with the Ring of Volthoom (Justice League, New 52) would have something to do with her missing memories, but Seeley delivers a great twist when we see Hal Jordan appear wearing a very familiar butterfly on his chest instead of the GL crest.
Cliquet’s artwork with Hi-Fi’s colors show the severity of what the League is facing beautifully. The black hole is a void of black as the building below is having its every atom pulled apart. When Simon enters the black hole, you can almost smell the ozone he speaks of. It’s a stark contrast to the peaceful (for now) woods Jessica is living, and it leads us to a much more sinister conclusion than we may have expected.
Green Lanterns #45 is the most exciting chapter in the Ghosts of the Past yet. This is the origin story that we’ve heard about for this entire series, and finally we are getting to see it. We are also seeing that the Lantern’s power rings are more powerful than we thought (and we knew how powerful they were when the right lantern is in control). I can’t wait to see how this ends (even if I really don’t want it to end)
8/10
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